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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19139-8.txt b/19139-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a56d46 --- /dev/null +++ b/19139-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11235 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the +XVII Century, by Clarence Henry Haring + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century + +Author: Clarence Henry Haring + +Release Date: August 29, 2006 [EBook #19139] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, David King, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE BUCCANEERS IN THE +WEST INDIES IN THE +XVII CENTURY + +BY + +C.H. HARING + +WITH TEN MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + +METHUEN & CO. LTD. +36 ESSEX STREET W.C. +LONDON + +_First Published in 1910_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +The principal facts about the exploits of the English and French +buccaneers of the seventeenth century in the West Indies are +sufficiently well known to modern readers. The French Jesuit historians +of the Antilles have left us many interesting details of their mode of +life, and Exquemelin's history of the freebooters has been reprinted +numerous times both in France and in England. Based upon these old, +contemporary narratives, modern accounts are issued from the press with +astonishing regularity, some of them purporting to be serious history, +others appearing in the more popular and entertaining guise of romances. +All, however, are alike in confining themselves for their information to +what may almost be called the traditional sources--Exquemelin, the +Jesuits, and perhaps a few narratives like those of Dampier and Wafer. +To write another history of these privateers or pirates, for they have, +unfortunately, more than once deserved that name, may seem a rather +fruitless undertaking. It is justified only by the fact that there exist +numerous other documents bearing upon the subject, documents which till +now have been entirely neglected. Exquemelin has been reprinted, the +story of the buccaneers has been re-told, yet no writer, whether editor +or historian, has attempted to estimate the trustworthiness of the old +tales by comparing them with these other sources, or to show the +connection between the buccaneers and the history of the English +colonies in the West Indies. The object of this volume, therefore, is +not only to give a narrative, according to the most authentic, available +sources, of the more brilliant exploits of these sea-rovers, but, what +is of greater interest and importance, to trace the policy pursued +toward them by the English and French Governments. + +The "Buccaneers in the West Indies" was presented as a thesis to the +Board of Modern History of Oxford University in May 1909 to fulfil the +requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Letters. It was written under +the supervision of C.H. Firth, Regius Professor of Modern History in +Oxford, and to him the writer owes a lasting debt of gratitude for his +unfailing aid and sympathy during the course of preparation. + +C.H.H. + +Oxford, 1910 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Preface + +CHAP. PAGE + +I. Introductory-- + Part I.--The Spanish Colonial System 1 + Part II.--The Freebooters of the Sixteenth Century 28 +II. The Beginnings of the Buccaneers 57 +III. The Conquest of Jamaica 85 +IV. Tortuga, 1655-1664 113 +V. Porto Bello and Panama 120 +VI. The Government Suppresses the Buccaneers 200 +VII. The Buccaneers Turn Pirate 232 + Appendices 273-74 + Bibliography 275 + Index 289 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Map of the West Indies _Frontispiece_ + From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_. + + FACING PAGE + +Spanish Periagua 1 + + From Exquemelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux_, + 1744. + +Buccaneer Vessels 76 + + From Exquemelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux_, + 1744. + +A Correct Map of Jamaica 85 + + From the _Royal Magazine_, 1760. + +Map of San Domingo 86 + + From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_. + +Plan of the Bay and Town of Portobelo 154 + + From Prevost d'Exiles' _Voyages_. + +The Isthmus of Darien 164 + + From Exquelmelin's _Bucaniers_, 1684-5. + +'The Battel between the Spaniards and the +pyrats or Buccaniers before the Citty of +Panama' 166 + + From Exquemelin's _Bucaniers of America_, 1684-5. + +Plan of Vera-Cruz 242 + + From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_, 1730. + +Plan of the Town and Roadstead of Cartegena +and of the Forts 264 + + From Baron de Pontis' _Relation de ce qui c'est fait la + prise de Carthagene_, Bruxelles, 1698. + + + + +THE BUCCANEERS IN THE +WEST INDIES IN THE +XVII CENTURY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + +I.--THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM + + +At the time of the discovery of America the Spaniards, as M. +Leroy-Beaulieu has remarked, were perhaps less fitted than any other +nation of western Europe for the task of American colonization. Whatever +may have been the political _rôle_ thrust upon them in the sixteenth +century by the Hapsburg marriages, whatever certain historians may say +of the grandeur and nobility of the Spanish national character, Spain +was then neither rich nor populous, nor industrious. For centuries she +had been called upon to wage a continuous warfare with the Moors, and +during this time had not only found little leisure to cultivate the arts +of peace, but had acquired a disdain for manual work which helped to +mould her colonial administration and influenced all her subsequent +history. And when the termination of the last of these wars left her +mistress of a united Spain, and the exploitation of her own resources +seemed to require all the energies she could muster, an entire new +hemisphere was suddenly thrown open to her, and given into her hands by +a papal decree to possess and populate. Already weakened by the exile of +the most sober and industrious of her population, the Jews; drawn into a +foreign policy for which she had neither the means nor the inclination; +instituting at home an economic policy which was almost epileptic in its +consequences, she found her strength dissipated, and gradually sank into +a condition of economic and political impotence. + +Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor in the service of the Castilian +Crown, wishing to find a western route by sea to India and especially to +Zipangu (Japan), the magic land described by the Venetian traveller, +Marco Polo, landed on 12th October 1492, on "Guanahani," one of the +Bahama Islands. From "Guanahani" he passed on to other islands of the +same group, and thence to Hispaniola, Tortuga and Cuba. Returning to +Spain in March 1493, he sailed again in September of the same year with +seventeen vessels and 1500 persons, and this time keeping farther to the +south, sighted Porto Rico and some of the Lesser Antilles, founded a +colony on Hispaniola, and discovered Jamaica in 1494. On a third voyage +in 1498 he discovered Trinidad, and coasted along the shores of South +America from the Orinoco River to the island of Margarita. After a +fourth and last voyage in 1502-04, Columbus died at Valladolid in 1506, +in the firm belief that he had discovered a part of the Continent of +Asia. + +The entire circle of the Antilles having thus been revealed before the +end of the fifteenth century, the Spaniards pushed forward to the +continent. While Hojida, Vespucci, Pinzon and de Solis were exploring +the eastern coast from La Plata to Yucatan, Ponce de Leon in 1512 +discovered Florida, and in 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa descried the +Pacific Ocean from the heights of Darien, revealing for the first time +the existence of a new continent. In 1520 Magellan entered the Pacific +through the strait which bears his name, and a year later was killed in +one of the Philippine Islands. Within the next twenty years Cortez had +conquered the realm of Montezuma, and Pizarro the empire of Peru; and +thus within the space of two generations all of the West Indies, North +America to California and the Carolinas, all of South America except +Brazil, which the error of Cabral gave to the Portuguese, and in the +east the Philippine Islands and New Guinea passed under the sway of the +Crown of Castile. + +Ferdinand and Isabella in 1493 had consulted with several persons of +eminent learning to find out whether it was necessary to obtain the +investiture of the Pope for their newly-discovered possessions, and all +were of opinion that this formality was unnecessary.[1] Nevertheless, on +3rd May 1493, a bull was granted by Pope Alexander VI., which divided +the sovereignty of those parts of the world not possessed by any +Christian prince between Spain and Portugal by a meridian line 100 +leagues west of the Azores or of Cape Verde. Later Spanish writers made +much of this papal gift; yet, as Georges Scelle points out,[2] it is +possible that this bull was not so much a deed of conveyance, investing +the Spaniards with the proprietorship of America, as it was an act of +ecclesiastical jurisdiction according them, on the strength of their +acquired right and proven Catholicism, a monopoly as it were in the +propagation of the faith. At that time, even Catholic princes were no +longer accustomed to seek the Pope's sanction when making a new +conquest, and certainly in the domain of public law the Pope was not +considered to have temporal jurisdiction over the entire world. He did, +however, intervene in temporal matters when they directly influenced +spiritual affairs, and of this the propagation of the faith was an +instance. As the compromise between Spain and Portugal was very +indecisive, owing to the difference in longitude of the Azores and Cape +Verde, a second Act was signed on 7th June 1494, which placed the line +of demarcation 270 leagues farther to the west. + +The colonization of the Spanish Indies, on its social and administrative +side, presents a curious contrast. On the one hand we see the Spanish +Crown, with high ideals of order and justice, of religious and political +unity, extending to its ultramarine possessions its faith, its language, +its laws and its administration; providing for the welfare of the +aborigines with paternal solicitude; endeavouring to restrain and temper +the passions of the conquerors; building churches and founding schools +and monasteries; in a word, trying to make its colonies an integral part +of the Spanish monarchy, "une société vieille dans une contrée neuve." +Some Spanish writers, it is true, have exaggerated the virtues of their +old colonial system; yet that system had excellences which we cannot +afford to despise. If the Spanish kings had not choked their government +with procrastination and routine; if they had only taken their task a +bit less seriously and had not tried to apply too strictly to an empty +continent the paternal administration of an older country; we might have +been privileged to witness the development and operation of as complete +and benign a system of colonial government as has been devised in modern +times. The public initiative of the Spanish government, and the care +with which it selected its colonists, compare very favourably with the +opportunism of the English and the French, who colonized by chance +private activity and sent the worst elements of their population, +criminals and vagabonds, to people their new settlements across the sea. +However much we may deprecate the treatment of the Indians by the +_conquistadores_, we must not forget that the greater part of the +population of Spanish America to-day is still Indian, and that no other +colonizing people have succeeded like the Spaniards in assimilating and +civilizing the natives. The code of laws which the Spaniards gradually +evolved for the rule of their transmarine provinces, was, in spite of +defects which are visible only to the larger experience of the present +day, one of the wisest, most humane and best co-ordinated of any to this +day published for any colony. Although the Spaniards had to deal with a +large population of barbarous natives, the word "conquest" was +suppressed in legislation as ill-sounding, "because the peace is to be +sealed," they said, "not with the sound of arms, but with charity and +good-will."[3] + +The actual results, however, of the social policy of the Spanish kings +fell far below the ideals they had set for themselves. The monarchic +spirit of the crown was so strong that it crushed every healthy, +expansive tendency in the new countries. It burdened the colonies with a +numerous, privileged nobility, who congregated mostly in the larger +towns and set to the rest of the colonists a pernicious example of +idleness and luxury. In its zeal for the propagation of the Faith, the +Crown constituted a powerfully endowed Church, which, while it did +splendid service in converting and civilizing the natives, engrossed +much of the land in the form of mainmort, and filled the new world with +thousands of idle, unproductive, and often licentious friars. With an +innate distrust and fear of individual initiative, it gave virtual +omnipotence to royal officials and excluded all creoles from public +employment. In this fashion was transferred to America the crushing +political and ecclesiastical absolutism of the mother country. +Self-reliance and independence of thought or action on the part of the +creoles was discouraged, divisions and factions among them were +encouraged and educational opportunities restricted, and the +American-born Spaniards gradually sank into idleness and lethargy, +indifferent to all but childish honours and distinctions and petty local +jealousies. To make matters worse, many of the Spaniards who crossed the +seas to the American colonies came not to colonize, not to trade or +cultivate the soil, so much as to extract from the natives a tribute of +gold and silver. The Indians, instead of being protected and civilized, +were only too often reduced to serfdom and confined to a laborious +routine for which they had neither the aptitude nor the strength; while +the government at home was too distant to interfere effectively in their +behalf. Driven by cruel taskmasters they died by thousands from +exhaustion and despair, and in some places entirely disappeared. + +The Crown of Castile, moreover, in the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries sought to extend Spanish commerce and monopolize all the +treasure of the Indies by means of a rigid and complicated commercial +system. Yet in the end it saw the trade of the New World pass into the +hands of its rivals, its own marine reduced to a shadow of its former +strength, its crews and its vessels supplied by merchants from foreign +lands, and its riches diverted at their very source. + +This Spanish commercial system was based upon two distinct principles. +One was the principle of colonial exclusivism, according to which all +the trade of the colonies was to be reserved to the mother country. +Spain on her side undertook to furnish the colonies with all they +required, shipped upon Spanish vessels; the colonies in return were to +produce nothing but raw materials and articles which did not compete +with the home products with which they were to be exchanged. The second +principle was the mercantile doctrine which, considering as wealth +itself the precious metals which are but its symbol, laid down that +money ought, by every means possible, to be imported and hoarded, never +exported.[4] This latter theory, the fallacy of which has long been +established, resulted in the endeavour of the Spanish Hapsburgs to +conserve the wealth of the country, not by the encouragement of +industry, but by the increase and complexity of imposts. The former +doctrine, adopted by a non-producing country which was in no position to +fulfil its part in the colonial compact, led to the most disastrous +consequences. + +While the Spanish Crown was aiming to concentrate and monopolize its +colonial commerce, the prosperity of Spain itself was slowly sapped by +reason of these mistaken economic theories. Owing to the lack of +workmen, the increase of imposts, and the prejudice against the mechanic +arts, industry was being ruined; while the increased depopulation of the +realm, the mainmort of ecclesiastical lands, the majorats of the +nobility and the privileges of the Mesta, brought agriculture rapidly +into decay. The Spaniards, consequently, could not export the products +of their manufacture to the colonies, when they did not have enough to +supply their own needs. To make up for this deficiency their merchants +were driven to have recourse to foreigners, to whom they lent their +names in order to elude a law which forbade commerce between the +colonies and traders of other nations. In return for the manufactured +articles of the English, Dutch and French, and of the great commercial +cities like Genoa and Hamburg, they were obliged to give their own raw +materials and the products of the Indies--wool, silks, wines and dried +fruits, cochineal, dye-woods, indigo and leather, and finally, indeed, +ingots of gold and silver. The trade in Spain thus in time became a mere +passive machine. Already in 1545 it had been found impossible to furnish +in less than six years the goods demanded by the merchants of Spanish +America. At the end of the seventeenth century, foreigners were +supplying five-sixths of the manufactures consumed in Spain itself, and +engrossed nine-tenths of that American trade which the Spaniards had +sought so carefully to monopolize.[5] + +In the colonies the most striking feature of Spanish economic policy was +its wastefulness. After the conquest of the New World, it was to the +interest of the Spaniards to gradually wean the native Indians from +barbarism by teaching them the arts and sciences of Europe, to encourage +such industries as were favoured by the soil, and to furnish the growing +colonies with those articles which they could not produce themselves, +and of which they stood in need. Only thus could they justify their +monopoly of the markets of Spanish America. The same test, indeed, may +be applied to every other nation which adopted the exclusivist system. +Queen Isabella wished to carry out this policy, introduced into the +newly-discovered islands wheat, the olive and the vine, and acclimatized +many of the European domestic animals.[6] Her efforts, unfortunately, +were not seconded by her successors, nor by the Spaniards who went to +the Indies. In time the government itself, as well as the colonist, came +to be concerned, not so much with the agricultural products of the +Indies, but with the return of the precious metals. Natives were made to +work the mines, while many regions adapted to agriculture, Guiana, +Caracas and Buenos Ayres, were neglected, and the peopling of the +colonies by Europeans was slow. The emperor, Charles V., did little to +stem this tendency, but drifted along with the tide. Immigration was +restricted to keep the colonies free from the contamination of heresy +and of foreigners. The Spanish population was concentrated in cities, +and the country divided into great estates granted by the crown to the +families of the _conquistadores_ or to favourites at court. The immense +areas of Peru, Buenos Ayres and Mexico were submitted to the most unjust +and arbitrary regulations, with no object but to stifle growing industry +and put them in absolute dependence upon the metropolis. It was +forbidden to exercise the trades of dyer, fuller, weaver, shoemaker or +hatter, and the natives were compelled to buy of the Spaniards even the +stuffs they wore on their backs. Another ordinance prohibited the +cultivation of the vine and the olive except in Peru and Chili, and even +these provinces might not send their oil and wine to Panama, Gautemala +or any other place which could be supplied from Spain.[7] To maintain +the commercial monopoly, legitimate ports of entry in Spanish America +were made few and far apart--for Mexico, Vera Cruz, for New Granada, the +town of Cartagena. The islands and most of the other provinces were +supplied by uncertain "vaisseaux de registre," while Peru and Chili, +finding all direct commerce by the Pacific or South Sea interdicted, +were obliged to resort to the fever-ridden town of Porto Bello, where +the mortality was enormous and the prices increased tenfold. + +In Spain, likewise, the colonial commerce was restricted to one +port--Seville. For in the estimation of the crown it was much more +important to avoid being defrauded of its dues on import and export, +than to permit the natural development of trade by those towns best +fitted to acquire it. Another reason, prior in point of time perhaps, +why Seville was chosen as the port for American trade, was that the +Indies were regarded as the exclusive appanage of the crown of Castile, +and of that realm Seville was then the chief mercantile city. It was not +a suitable port, however, to be distinguished by so high a privilege. +Only ships of less than 200 tons were able to cross the bar of San +Lucar, and goods therefore had to be transhipped--a disability which was +soon felt when traffic and vessels became heavier.[8] The fact, +nevertheless, that the official organization called the _Casa dé +Contratacion_ was seated in Seville, together with the influence of the +vested interests of the merchants whose prosperity depended upon the +retention of that city as the one port for Indian commerce, were +sufficient to bear down all opposition. The maritime towns of Galicia +and Asturia, inhabited by better seamen and stronger races, often +protested, and sometimes succeeded in obtaining a small share of the +lucrative trade.[9] But Seville retained its primacy until 1717, in +which year the _Contratacion_ was transferred to Cadiz. + +The administration of the complex rules governing the commerce between +Spain and her colonies was entrusted to two institutions located at +Seville,--the _Casa de Contratacion_, mentioned above, and the +_Consulado_. The _Casa de Contratacion_, founded by royal decree as +early as 1503, was both a judicial tribunal and a house of commerce. +Nothing might be sent to the Indies without its consent; nothing might +be brought back and landed, either on the account of merchants or of the +King himself, without its authorization. It received all the revenues +accruing from the Indies, not only the imposts on commerce, but also all +the taxes remitted by colonial officers. As a consultative body it had +the right to propose directly to the King anything which it deemed +necessary to the development and organization of American commerce; and +as a tribunal it possessed an absolute competence over all crimes under +the common law, and over all infractions of the ordinances governing the +trade of the Indies, to the exclusion of every ordinary court. Its +jurisdiction began at the moment the passengers and crews embarked and +the goods were put on board, and ended only when the return voyage and +disembarkation had been completed.[10] The civil jurisdiction of the +_Casa_ was much more restricted and disputes purely commercial in +character between the merchants were reserved to the _Consulado_, which +was a tribunal of commerce chosen entirely by the merchants themselves. +Appeals in certain cases might be carried to the Council of the +Indies.[11] + +The first means adopted by the northern maritime nations to appropriate +to themselves a share of the riches of the New World was open, +semi-piratical attack upon the Spanish argosies returning from those +distant El Dorados. The success of the Norman and Breton corsairs, for +it was the French, not the English, who started the game, gradually +forced upon the Spaniards, as a means of protection, the establishment +of great merchant fleets sailing periodically at long intervals and +accompanied by powerful convoys. During the first half of the sixteenth +century any ship which had fulfilled the conditions required for +engaging in American commerce was allowed to depart alone and at any +time of the year. From about 1526, however, merchant vessels were +ordered to sail together, and by a _cedula_ of July 1561, the system of +fleets was made permanent and obligatory. This decree prohibited any +ship from sailing alone to America from Cadiz or San Lucar on pain of +forfeiture of ship and cargo.[12] Two fleets were organized each year, +one for Terra Firma going to Cartagena and Porto Bello, the other +designed for the port of San Juan d'Ulloa (Vera Cruz) in New Spain. The +latter, called the Flota, was commanded by an "almirante," and sailed +for Mexico in the early summer so as to avoid the hurricane season and +the "northers" of the Mexican Gulf. The former was usually called the +galeones (_anglice_ "galleons"), was commanded by a "general," and +sailed from Spain earlier in the year, between January and March. If it +departed in March, it usually wintered at Havana and returned with the +Flota in the following spring. Sometimes the two fleets sailed together +and separated at Guadaloupe, Deseada or another of the Leeward +Islands.[13] + +The galleons generally consisted of from five to eight war-vessels +carrying from forty to fifty guns, together with several smaller, faster +boats called "pataches," and a fleet of merchantmen varying in number in +different years. In the time of Philip II. often as many as forty ships +supplied Cartagena and Porto Bello, but in succeeding reigns, although +the population of the Indies was rapidly increasing, American commerce +fell off so sadly that eight or ten were sufficient for all the trade of +South and Central America. The general of the galleons, on his +departure, received from the Council of the Indies three sealed packets. +The first, opened at the Canaries, contained the name of the island in +the West Indies at which the fleet was first to call. The second was +unsealed after the galleons arrived at Cartagena, and contained +instructions for the fleet to return in the same year or to winter in +America. In the third, left unopened until the fleet had emerged from +the Bahama Channel on the homeward voyage, were orders for the route to +the Azores and the islands they should touch in passing, usually Corvo +and Flores or Santa Maria.[14] + +The course of the galleons from San Lucar was south-west to Teneriffe on +the African coast, and thence to the Grand Canary to call for +provisions--considered in all a run of eight days. From the Canaries one +of the pataches sailed on alone to Cartagena and Porto Bello, carrying +letters and packets from the Court and announcing the coming of the +fleet. If the two fleets sailed together, they steered south-west from +the Canaries to about the latitude of Deseada, 15' 30", and then +catching the Trade winds continued due west, rarely changing a sail +until Deseada or one of the other West Indian islands was sighted. From +Deseada the galleons steered an easy course to Cape de la Vela, and +thence to Cartagena. When the galleons sailed from Spain alone, however, +they entered the Caribbean Sea by the channel between Tobago and +Trinidad, afterwards named the Galleons' Passage. Opposite Margarita a +second patache left the fleet to visit the island and collect the royal +revenues, although after the exhaustion of the pearl fisheries the +island lost most of its importance. As the fleet advanced into regions +where more security was felt, merchant ships too, which were intended to +unload and trade on the coasts they were passing, detached themselves +during the night and made for Caracas, Santa Marta or Maracaibo to get +silver, cochineal, leather and cocoa. The Margarita patache, meanwhile, +had sailed on to Cumana and Caracas to receive there the king's +treasure, mostly paid in cocoa, the real currency of the country, and +thence proceeded to Cartagena to rejoin the galleons.[15] + +The fleet reached Cartagena ordinarily about two months after its +departure from Cadiz. On its arrival, the general forwarded the news to +Porto Bello, together with the packets destined for the viceroy at Lima. +From Porto Bello a courier hastened across the isthmus to the President +of Panama, who spread the advice amongst the merchants in his +jurisdiction, and, at the same time, sent a dispatch boat to Payta, in +Peru. The general of the galleons, meanwhile, was also sending a courier +overland to Lima, and another to Santa Fe, the capital of the interior +province of New Granada, whence runners carried to Popagan, Antioquia, +Mariguita, and adjacent provinces, the news of his arrival.[16] The +galleons were instructed to remain at Cartagena only a month, but bribes +from the merchants generally made it their interest to linger for fifty +or sixty days. To Cartagena came the gold and emeralds of New Granada, +the pearls of Margarita and Rancherias, and the indigo, tobacco, cocoa +and other products of the Venezuelan coast. The merchants of Gautemala, +likewise, shipped their commodities to Cartagena by way of Lake +Nicaragua and the San Juan river, for they feared to send goods across +the Gulf of Honduras to Havana, because of the French and English +buccaneers hanging about Cape San Antonio.[17] + +Meanwhile the viceroy at Lima, on receipt of his letters, ordered the +Armada of the South Sea to prepare to sail, and sent word south to Chili +and throughout the province of Peru from Las Charcas to Quito, to +forward the King's revenues for shipment to Panama. Within less than a +fortnight all was in readiness. The Armada, carrying a considerable +treasure, sailed from Callao and, touching at Payta, was joined by the +Navio del Oro (golden ship), which carried the gold from the province of +Quito and adjacent districts. While the galleons were approaching Porto +Bello the South Sea fleet arrived before Panama, and the merchants of +Chili and Peru began to transfer their merchandise on mules across the +high back of the isthmus.[18] + +Then began the famous fair of Porto Bello.[19] The town, whose permanent +population was very small and composed mostly of negroes and mulattos, +was suddenly called upon to accommodate an enormous crowd of merchants, +soldiers and seamen. Food and shelter were to be had only at +extraordinary prices. When Thomas Gage was in Porto Bello in 1637 he was +compelled to pay 120 crowns for a very small, meanly-furnished room for +a fortnight. Merchants gave as much as 1000 crowns for a moderate-sized +shop in which to sell their commodities. Owing to overcrowding, bad +sanitation, and an extremely unhealthy climate, the place became an open +grave, ready to swallow all who resorted there. In 1637, during the +fifteen days that the galleons remained at Porto Bello, 500 men died of +sickness. Meanwhile, day by day, the mule-trains from Panama were +winding their way into the town. Gage in one day counted 200 mules laden +with wedges of silver, which were unloaded in the market-place and +permitted to lie about like heaps of stones in the streets, without +causing any fear or suspicion of being lost.[20] While the treasure of +the King of Spain was being transferred to the galleons in the harbour, +the merchants were making their trade. There was little liberty, +however, in commercial transactions, for the prices were fixed and +published beforehand, and when negotiations began exchange was purely +mechanical. The fair, which was supposed to be open for forty days, was, +in later times, generally completed in ten or twelve. At the beginning +of the eighteenth century the volume of business transacted was +estimated to amount to thirty or forty million pounds sterling.[21] + +In view of the prevailing east wind in these regions, and the maze of +reefs, cays and shoals extending far out to sea from the Mosquito Coast, +the galleons, in making their course from Porto Bello to Havana, first +sailed back to Cartagena upon the eastward coast eddy, so as to get well +to windward of Nicaragua before attempting the passage through the +Yucatan Channel.[22] The fleet anchored at Cartagena a second time for +ten or twelve days, where it was rejoined by the patache of +Margarita[23] and by the merchant ships which had been sent to trade in +Terra-Firma. From Cartagena, too, the general sent dispatches to Spain +and to Havana, giving the condition of the vessels, the state of trade, +the day when he expected to sail, and the probable time of arrival.[24] +For when the galleons were in the Indies all ports were closed by the +Spaniards, for fear that precious information of the whereabouts of the +fleet and of the value of its cargo might inconveniently leak out to +their rivals. From Cartagena the course was north-west past Jamaica and +the Caymans to the Isle of Pines, and thence round Capes Corrientes and +San Antonio to Havana. The fleet generally required about eight days for +the journey, and arrived at Havana late in the summer. Here the galleons +refitted and revictualled, received tobacco, sugar, and other Cuban +exports, and if not ordered to return with the Flota, sailed for Spain +no later than the middle of September. The course for Spain was from +Cuba through the Bahama Channel, north-east between the Virginian Capes +and the Bermudas to about 38°, in order to recover the strong northerly +winds, and then east to the Azores. In winter the galleons sometimes ran +south of the Bermudas, and then slowly worked up to the higher latitude; +but in this case they often either lost some ships on the Bermuda +shoals, or to avoid these slipped too far south, were forced back into +the West Indies and missed their voyage altogether.[25] At the Azores +the general, falling in with his first intelligence from Spain, learned +where on the coast of Europe or Africa he was to sight land; and +finally, in the latter part of October or the beginning of November, he +dropped anchor at San Lucar or in Cadiz harbour. + +The Flota or Mexican fleet, consisting in the seventeenth century of two +galleons of 800 or 900 tons and from fifteen to twenty merchantmen, +usually left Cadiz between June and July and wintered in America; but if +it was to return with the galleons from Havana in September it sailed +for the Indies as early as April. The course from Spain to the Indies +was the same as for the fleet of Terra-Firma. From Deseada or +Guadeloupe, however, the Flota steered north-west, passing Santa Cruz +and Porto Rico on the north, and sighting the little isles of Mona and +Saona, as far as the Bay of Neyba in Hispaniola, where the ships took on +fresh wood and water.[26] Putting to sea again, and circling round Beata +and Alta Vela, the fleet sighted in turn Cape Tiburon, Cape de Cruz, the +Isle of Pines, and Capes Corrientes and San Antonio at the west end of +Cuba. Meanwhile merchant ships had dropped away one by one, sailing to +San Juan de Porto Rico, San Domingo, St. Jago de Cuba and even to +Truxillo and Cavallos in Honduras, to carry orders from Spain to the +governors, receive cargoes of leather, cocoa, etc., and rejoin the Flota +at Havana. From Cape San Antonio to Vera Cruz there was an outside or +winter route and an inside or summer route. The former lay north-west +between the Alacranes and the Negrillos to the Mexican coast about +sixteen leagues north of Vera Cruz, and then down before the wind into +the desired haven. The summer track was much closer to the shore of +Campeache, the fleet threading its way among the cays and shoals, and +approaching Vera Cruz by a channel on the south-east. + +If the Flota sailed from Spain in July it generally arrived at Vera Cruz +in the first fifteen days of September, and the ships were at once laid +up until March, when the crews reassembled to careen and refit them. If +the fleet was to return in the same year, however, the exports of New +Spain and adjacent provinces, the goods from China and the Philippines +carried across Mexico from the Pacific port of Acapulco, and the ten or +twelve millions of treasure for the king, were at once put on board and +the ships departed to join the galleons at Havana. Otherwise the fleet +sailed from Vera Cruz in April, and as it lay dead to the leeward of +Cuba, used the northerly winds to about 25°, then steered south-east and +reached Havana in eighteen or twenty days. By the beginning of June it +was ready to sail for Spain, where it arrived at the end of July, by the +same course as that followed by the galleons.[27] + +We are accustomed to think of Spanish commerce with the Indies as being +made solely by great fleets which sailed yearly from Seville or Cadiz to +Mexico and the Isthmus of Darien. There were, however, always exceptions +to this rule. When, as sometimes happened, the Flota did not sail, two +ships of 600 or 700 tons were sent by the King of Spain to Vera Cruz to +carry the quicksilver necessary for the mines. The metal was divided +between New Spain and Peru by the viceroy at Mexico, who sent _via_ +Gautemala the portion intended for the south. These ships, called +"azogues," carried from 2000 to 2500 quintals[28] of silver, and +sometimes convoyed six or seven merchant vessels. From time to time an +isolated ship was also allowed to sail from Spain to Caracas with +licence from the Council of the Indies and the _Contratacion_, paying +the king a duty of five ducats on the ton. It was called the "register +of Caracas," took the same route as the galleons, and returned with one +of the fleets from Havana. Similar vessels traded at Maracaibo, in Porto +Rico and at San Domingo, at Havana and Matanzas in Cuba and at Truxillo +and Campeache.[29] There was always, moreover, a special traffic with +Buenos Ayres. This port was opened to a limited trade in negroes in +1595. In 1602 permission was given to the inhabitants of La Plata to +export for six years the products of their lands to other Spanish +possessions, in exchange for goods of which they had need; and when in +1616 the colonists demanded an indefinite renewal of this privilege, the +sop thrown to them was the bare right of trade to the amount of 100 tons +every three years. Later in the century the Council of the Indies +extended the period to five years, so as not to prejudice the trade of +the galleons.[30] + +It was this commerce, which we have noticed at such length, that the +buccaneers of the West Indies in the seventeenth century came to regard +as their legitimate prey. These "corsarios Luteranos," as the Spaniards +sometimes called them, scouring the coast of the Main from Venezuela to +Cartagena, hovering about the broad channel between Cuba and Yucatan, or +prowling in the Florida Straits, became the nightmare of Spanish seamen. +Like a pack of terriers they hung upon the skirts of the great unwieldy +fleets, ready to snap up any unfortunate vessel which a tempest or other +accident had separated from its fellows. When Thomas Gage was sailing in +the galleons from Porto Bello to Cartagena in 1637, four buccaneers +hovering near them carried away two merchant-ships under cover of +darkness. As the same fleet was departing from Havana, just outside the +harbour two strange vessels appeared in their midst, and getting to the +windward of them singled out a Spanish ship which had strayed a short +distance from the rest, suddenly gave her a broadside and made her +yield. The vessel was laden with sugar and other goods to the value of +80,000 crowns. The Spanish vice-admiral and two other galleons gave +chase, but without success, for the wind was against them. The whole +action lasted only half an hour.[31] + +The Spanish ships of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were +notoriously clumsy and unseaworthy. With short keel and towering poop +and forecastle they were an easy prey for the long, low, close-sailing +sloops and barques of the buccaneers. But this was not their only +weakness. Although the king expressly prohibited the loading of +merchandise on the galleons except on the king's account, this rule was +often broken for the private profit of the captain, the sailors, and +even of the general. The men-of-war, indeed, were sometimes so +embarrassed with goods and passengers that it was scarcely possible to +defend them when attacked. The galleon which bore the general's flag had +often as many as 700 souls, crew, marines and passengers, on board, and +the same number were crowded upon those carrying the vice-admiral and +the pilot. Ship-masters frequently hired guns, anchors, cables, and +stores to make up the required equipment, and men to fill up the +muster-rolls, against the time when the "visitadors" came on board to +make their official inspection, getting rid of the stores and men +immediately afterward. Merchant ships were armed with such feeble crews, +owing to the excessive crowding, that it was all they could do to +withstand the least spell of bad weather, let alone outman[oe]uvre a +swift-sailing buccaneer.[32] + +By Spanish law strangers were forbidden to resort to, or reside in, the +Indies without express permission of the king. By law, moreover, they +might not trade with the Indies from Spain, either on their own account +or through the intermediary of a Spaniard, and they were forbidden even +to associate with those engaged in such a trade. Colonists were +stringently enjoined from having anything to do with them. In 1569 an +order was issued for the seizure of all goods sent to the colonies on +the account of foreigners, and a royal _cedula_ of 1614 decreed the +penalty of death and confiscation upon any who connived at the +participation of foreigners in Spanish colonial commerce.[33] It was +impossible, however, to maintain so complete an exclusion when the +products of Spain fell far short of supplying the needs of the +colonists. Foreign merchants were bound to have a hand in this traffic, +and the Spanish government tried to recompense itself by imposing on the +out-going cargoes tyrannical exactions called "indults." The results +were fatal. Foreigners often eluded these impositions by interloping in +the West Indies and in the South Sea.[34] And as the _Contratacion_, by +fixing each year the nature and quantity of the goods to be shipped to +the colonies, raised the price of merchandise at will and reaped +enormous profits, the colonists welcomed this contraband trade as an +opportunity of enriching themselves and adding to the comforts and +luxuries of living. + +From the beginning of the seventeenth century as many as 200 ships +sailed each year from Portugal with rich cargoes of silks, cloths and +woollens intended for Spanish America.[35] The Portuguese bought these +articles of the Flemish, English, and French, loaded them at Lisbon and +Oporto, ran their vessels to Brazil and up the La Plata as far as +navigation permitted, and then transported the goods overland through +Paraguay and Tucuman to Potosi and even to Lima. The Spanish merchants +of Peru kept factors in Brazil as well as in Spain, and as Portuguese +imposts were not so excessive as those levied at Cadiz and Seville, the +Portuguese could undersell their Spanish rivals. The frequent possession +of Assientos by the Portuguese and Dutch in the first half of the +seventeenth century also facilitated this contraband, for when carrying +negroes from Africa to Hispaniola, Cuba and the towns on the Main, they +profited by their opportunities to sell merchandise also, and generally +without the least obstacle. + +Other nations in the seventeenth century were not slow to follow the +same course; and two circumstances contributed to make that course easy. +One was the great length of coast line on both the Atlantic and Pacific +slopes over which a surveillance had to be exercised, making it +difficult to catch the interlopers. The other was the venal connivance +of the governors of the ports, who often tolerated and even encouraged +the traffic on the plea that the colonists demanded it.[36] The +subterfuges adopted by the interlopers were very simple. When a vessel +wished to enter a Spanish port to trade, the captain, pretending that +provisions had run low, or that the ship suffered from a leak or a +broken mast, sent a polite note to the governor accompanied by a +considerable gift. He generally obtained permission to enter, unload, +and put the ship into a seaworthy condition. All the formalities were +minutely observed. The unloaded goods were shut up in a storehouse, and +the doors sealed. But there was always found another door unsealed, and +by this they abstracted the goods during the night, and substituted coin +or bars of gold and silver. When the vessel was repaired to the +captain's satisfaction, it was reloaded and sailed away. + +There was also, especially on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, a less +elaborate commerce called "sloop-trade," for it was usually managed by +sloops which hovered near some secluded spot on the coast, often at the +mouth of a river, and informed the inhabitants of their presence in the +neighbourhood by firing a shot from a cannon. Sometimes a large ship +filled with merchandise was stationed in a bay close at hand, and by +means of these smaller craft made its trade with the colonists. The +latter, generally in disguise, came off in canoes by night. The +interlopers, however, were always on guard against such dangerous +visitors, and never admitted more than a few at a time; for when the +Spaniards found themselves stronger than the crew, and a favourable +opportunity presented itself, they rarely failed to attempt the vessel. + +Thus the Spaniards of the seventeenth century, by persisting, both at +home and in their colonies, in an economic policy which was fatally +inconsistent with their powers and resources, saw their commerce +gradually extinguished by the ships of the foreign interloper, and their +tropical possessions fall a prey to marauding bands of half-piratical +buccaneers. Although struggling under tremendous initial disabilities in +Europe, they had attempted, upon the slender pleas of prior discovery +and papal investiture, to reserve half the world to themselves. Without +a marine, without maritime traditions, they sought to hold a colonial +empire greater than any the world had yet seen, and comparable only with +the empire of Great Britain three centuries later. By discouraging +industry in Spain, and yet enforcing in the colonies an absolute +commercial dependence on the home-country, by combining in their rule of +distant America a solicitous paternalism with a restriction of +initiative altogether disastrous in its consequences, the Spaniards +succeeded in reducing their colonies to political impotence. And when, +to make their grip the more firm, they evolved, as a method of +outwitting the foreigner of his spoils, the system of great fleets and +single ports of call, they found the very means they had contrived for +their own safety to be the instrument of commercial disaster. + + +II.--THE FREEBOOTERS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + +It was the French chronologist, Scaliger, who in the sixteenth century +asserted, "nulli melius piraticam exercent quam Angli"; and although he +had no need to cross the Channel to find men proficient in this +primitive calling, the remark applies to the England of his time with a +force which we to-day scarcely realise. Certainly the inveterate +hostility with which the Englishman learned to regard the Spaniard in +the latter half of the sixteenth and throughout the seventeenth +centuries found its most remarkable expression in the exploits of the +Elizabethan "sea-dogs" and of the buccaneers of a later period. The +religious differences and political jealousies which grew out of the +turmoil of the Reformation, and the moral anarchy incident to the +dissolution of ancient religious institutions, were the motive causes +for an outburst of piratical activity comparable only with the +professional piracy of the Barbary States. + +Even as far back as the thirteenth century, indeed, lawless sea-rovers, +mostly Bretons and Flemings, had infested the English Channel and the +seas about Great Britain. In the sixteenth this mode of livelihood +became the refuge for numerous young Englishmen, Catholic and +Protestant, who, fleeing from the persecutions of Edward VI. and of +Mary, sought refuge in French ports or in the recesses of the Irish +coast, and became the leaders of wild roving bands living chiefly upon +plunder. Among them during these persecutions were found many men +belonging to the best families in England, and although with the +accession of Elizabeth most of the leaders returned to the service of +the State, the pirate crews remained at their old trade. The contagion +spread, especially in the western counties, and great numbers of +fishermen who found their old employment profitless were recruited into +this new calling.[37] At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign we find +these Anglo-Irish pirates venturing farther south, plundering treasure +galleons off the coast of Spain, and cutting vessels out of the very +ports of the Spanish king. Such outrages of course provoked reprisals, +and the pirates, if caught, were sent to the galleys, rotted in the +dungeons of the Inquisition, or, least of all, were burnt in the plaza +at Valladolid. These cruelties only added fuel to a deadly hatred which +was kindling between the two nations, a hatred which it took one hundred +and fifty years to quench. + +The most venturesome of these sea-rovers, however, were soon attracted +to a larger and more distant sphere of activity. Spain, as we have seen, +was then endeavouring to reserve to herself in the western hemisphere an +entire new world; and this at a time when the great northern maritime +powers, France, England and Holland, were in the full tide of economic +development, restless with new thoughts, hopes and ambitions, and keenly +jealous of new commercial and industrial outlets. The famous Bull of +Alexander VI. had provoked Francis I. to express a desire "to see the +clause in Adam's will which entitled his brothers of Castile and +Portugal to divide the New World between them," and very early the +French corsairs had been encouraged to test the pretensions of the +Spaniards by the time-honoured proofs of fire and steel. The English +nation, however, in the first half of the sixteenth century, had not +disputed with Spain her exclusive trade and dominion in those regions. +The hardy mariners of the north were still indifferent to the wonders of +a new continent awaiting their exploitation, and it was left to the +Spaniards to unfold before the eyes of Europe the vast riches of +America, and to found empires on the plateaus of Mexico and beyond the +Andes. During the reign of Philip II. all this was changed. English +privateers began to extend their operations westward, and to sap the +very sources of Spanish wealth and power, while the wars which absorbed +the attention of the Spaniards in Europe, from the revolt of the Low +Countries to the Treaty of Westphalia, left the field clear for these +ubiquitous sea-rovers. The maritime powers, although obliged by the +theory of colonial exclusion to pretend to acquiesce in the Spaniard's +claim to tropical America, secretly protected and supported their +mariners who coursed those western seas. France and England were now +jealous and fearful of Spanish predominance in Europe, and kept eyes +obstinately fixed on the inexhaustible streams of gold and silver by +means of which Spain was enabled to pay her armies and man her fleets. +Queen Elizabeth, while she publicly excused or disavowed to Philip II. +the outrages committed by Hawkins and Drake, blaming the turbulence of +the times and promising to do her utmost to suppress the disorders, was +secretly one of the principal shareholders in their enterprises. + +The policy of the marauders was simple. The treasure which oiled the +machinery of Spanish policy came from the Indies where it was +accumulated; hence there were only two means of obtaining possession of +it:--bold raids on the ill-protected American continent, and the capture +of vessels _en route_.[38] The counter policy of the Spaniards was also +two-fold:--on the one hand, the establishment of commerce by means of +annual fleets protected by a powerful convoy; on the other, the removal +of the centres of population from the coasts to the interior of the +country far from danger of attack.[39] The Spaniards in America, +however, proved to be no match for the bold, intrepid mariners who +disputed their supremacy. The descendants of the _Conquistadores_ had +deteriorated sadly from the type of their forbears. Softened by tropical +heats and a crude, uncultured luxury, they seem to have lost initiative +and power of resistance. The disastrous commercial system of monopoly +and centralization forced them to vegetate; while the policy of +confining political office to native-born Spaniards denied any outlet to +creole talent and energy. Moreover, the productive power and +administrative abilities of the native-born Spaniards themselves were +gradually being paralyzed and reduced to impotence under the crushing +obligation of preserving and defending so unwieldy an empire and of +managing such disproportionate riches, a task for which they had neither +the aptitude nor the means.[40] Privateering in the West Indies may +indeed be regarded as a challenge to the Spaniards of America, sunk in +lethargy and living upon the credit of past glory and achievement, a +challenge to prove their right to retain their dominion and extend their +civilization and culture over half the world.[41] + +There were other motives which lay behind these piratical aggressions of +the French and English in Spanish America. The Spaniards, ever since the +days of the Dominican monk and bishop, Las Casas, had been reprobated as +the heartless oppressors and murderers of the native Indians. The +original owners of the soil had been dispossessed and reduced to +slavery. In the West Indies, the great islands, Cuba and Hispaniola, +were rendered desolate for want of inhabitants. Two great empires, +Mexico and Peru, had been subdued by treachery, their kings murdered, +and their people made to suffer a living death in the mines of Potosi +and New Spain. Such was the Protestant Englishman's conception, in the +sixteenth century, of the results of Spanish colonial policy. To avenge +the blood of these innocent victims, and teach the true religion to the +survivors, was to glorify the Church militant and strike a blow at +Antichrist. Spain, moreover, in the eyes of the Puritans, was the +lieutenant of Rome, the Scarlet Woman of the Apocalypse, who harried and +burnt their Protestant brethren whenever she could lay hands upon them. +That she was eager to repeat her ill-starred attempt of 1588 and +introduce into the British Isles the accursed Inquisition was patent to +everyone. Protestant England, therefore, filled with the enthusiasm and +intolerance of a new faith, made no bones of despoiling the Spaniards, +especially as the service of God was likely to be repaid with plunder. + +A pamphlet written by Dalby Thomas in 1690 expresses with tolerable +accuracy the attitude of the average Englishman toward Spain during the +previous century. He says:--"We will make a short reflection on the +unaccountable negligence, or rather stupidity, of this nation, during +the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI. and Queen Mary, who +could contentedly sit still and see the Spanish rifle, plunder and bring +home undisturbed, all the wealth of that golden world; and to suffer +them with forts and castles to shut up the doors and entrances unto all +the rich provinces of America, having not the least title or pretence of +right beyond any other nation; except that of being by accident the +first discoverer of some parts of it; where the unprecedented cruelties, +exorbitances and barbarities, their own histories witness, they +practised on a poor, naked and innocent people, which inhabited the +islands, as well as upon those truly civilized and mighty empires of +Peru and Mexico, called to all mankind for succour and relief against +their outrageous avarice and horrid massacres.... (We) slept on until +the ambitious Spaniard, by that inexhaustible spring of treasure, had +corrupted most of the courts and senates of Europe, and had set on fire, +by civil broils and discords, all our neighbour nations, or had subdued +them to his yoke; contriving too to make us wear his chains and bear a +share in the triumph of universal monarchy, not only projected but near +accomplished, when Queen Elizabeth came to the crown ... and to the +divided interests of Philip II. and Queen Elizabeth, in personal more +than National concerns, we do owe that start of hers in letting loose +upon him, and encouraging those daring adventurers, Drake, Hawkins, +Rawleigh, the Lord Clifford and many other braves that age produced, +who, by their privateering and bold undertaking (like those the +buccaneers practise) now opened the way to our discoveries, and +succeeding settlements in America."[42] + +On the 19th of November 1527, some Spaniards in a caravel loading +cassava at the Isle of Mona, between Hispaniola and Porto Rico, sighted +a strange vessel of about 250 tons well-armed with cannon, and believing +it to be a ship from Spain sent a boat to make inquiries. The new-comers +at the same time were seen to launch a pinnace carrying some twenty-five +men, all armed with corselets and bows. As the two boats approached the +Spaniards inquired the nationality of the strangers and were told that +they were English. The story given by the English master was that his +ship and another had been fitted out by the King of England and had +sailed from London to discover the land of the Great Khan; that they had +been separated in a great storm; that this ship afterwards ran into a +sea of ice, and unable to get through, turned south, touched at +Bacallaos (Newfoundland), where the pilot was killed by Indians, and +sailing 400 leagues along the coast of "terra nueva" had found her way +to this island of Porto Rico. The Englishmen offered to show their +commission written in Latin and Romance, which the Spanish captain could +not read; and after sojourning at the island for two days, they inquired +for the route to Hispaniola and sailed away. On the evening of 25th +November this same vessel appeared before the port of San Domingo, the +capital of Hispaniola, where the master with ten or twelve sailors went +ashore in a boat to ask leave to enter and trade. This they obtained, +for the _alguazil mayor_ and two pilots were sent back with them to +bring the ship into port. But early next morning, when they approached +the shore, the Spanish _alcaide_, Francisco de Tapia, commanded a gun to +be fired at the ship from the castle; whereupon the English, seeing the +reception accorded them, sailed back to Porto Rico, there obtained some +provisions in exchange for pewter and cloth, and departed for Europe, +"where it is believed that they never arrived, for nothing is known of +them." The _alcaide_, says Herrera, was imprisoned by the _oidores_, +because he did not, instead of driving the ship away, allow her to enter +the port, whence she could not have departed without the permission of +the city and the fort.[43] + +This is the earliest record we possess of the appearance of an English +ship in the waters of Spanish America. Others, however, soon followed. +In 1530 William Hawkins, father of the famous John Hawkins, ventured in +"a tall and goodly ship ... called the 'Polo of Plymouth,'" down to the +coast of Guinea, trafficked with the natives for gold-dust and ivory, +and then crossed the ocean to Brazil, "where he behaved himself so +wisely with those savage people" that one of the kings of the country +took ship with him to England and was presented to Henry VIII. at +Whitehall.[44] The real occasion, however, for the appearance of foreign +ships in Spanish-American waters was the new occupation of carrying +negroes from the African coast to the Spanish colonies to be sold as +slaves. The rapid depopulation of the Indies, and the really serious +concern of the Spanish crown for the preservation of the indigenes, had +compelled the Spanish government to permit the introduction of negro +slaves from an early period. At first restricted to Christian slaves +carried from Spain, after 1510 licences to take over a certain number, +subject of course to governmental imposts, were given to private +individuals; and in August 1518, owing to the incessant clamour of the +colonists for more negroes, Laurent de Gouvenot, Governor of Bresa and +one of the foreign favourites of Charles V., obtained the first regular +contract to carry 4000 slaves directly from Africa to the West +Indies.[45] With slight modifications the contract system became +permanent, and with it, as a natural consequence, came contraband trade. +Cargoes of negroes were frequently "run" from Africa by Spaniards and +Portuguese, and as early as 1506 an order was issued to expel all +contraband slaves from Hispaniola.[46] The supply never equalled the +demand, however, and this explains why John Hawkins found it so +profitable to carry ship-loads of blacks across from the Guinea coast, +and why Spanish colonists could not resist the temptation to buy them, +notwithstanding the stringent laws against trading with foreigners. + +The first voyage of John Hawkins was made in 1562-63. In conjunction +with Thomas Hampton he fitted out three vessels and sailed for Sierra +Leone. There he collected, "partly by the sword and partly by other +means," some 300 negroes, and with this valuable human freight crossed +the Atlantic to San Domingo in Hispaniola. Uncertain as to his +reception, Hawkins on his arrival pretended that he had been driven in +by foul weather, and was in need of provisions, but without ready money +to pay for them. He therefore requested permission to sell "certain +slaves he had with him." The opportunity was eagerly welcomed by the +planters, and the governor, not thinking it necessary to construe his +orders from home too stringently, allowed two-thirds of the cargo to be +sold. As neither Hawkins nor the Spanish colonists anticipated any +serious displeasure on the part of Philip II., the remaining 100 slaves +were left as a deposit with the Council of the island. Hawkins invested +the proceeds in a return cargo of hides, half of which he sent in +Spanish vessels to Spain under the care of his partner, while he +returned with the rest to England. The Spanish Government, however, was +not going to sanction for a moment the intrusion of the English into the +Indies. On Hampton's arrival at Cadiz his cargo was confiscated and he +himself narrowly escaped the Inquisition. The slaves left in San Domingo +were forfeited, and Hawkins, although he "cursed, threatened and +implored," could not obtain a farthing for his lost hides and negroes. +The only result of his demands was the dispatch of a peremptory order to +the West Indies that no English vessel should be allowed under any +pretext to trade there.[47] + +The second of the great Elizabethan sea-captains to beard the Spanish +lion was Hawkins' friend and pupil, Francis Drake. In 1567 he +accompanied Hawkins on his third expedition. With six ships, one of +which was lent by the Queen herself, they sailed from Plymouth in +October, picked up about 450 slaves on the Guinea coast, sighted +Dominica in the West Indies in March, and coasted along the mainland of +South America past Margarita and Cape de la Vela, carrying on a +"tolerable good trade." Rio de la Hacha they stormed with 200 men, +losing only two in the encounter; but they were scattered by a tempest +near Cartagena and driven into the Gulf of Mexico, where, on 16th +September, they entered the narrow port of S. Juan d'Ulloa or Vera Cruz. +The next day the fleet of New Spain, consisting of thirteen large ships, +appeared outside, and after an exchange of pledges of peace and amity +with the English intruders, entered on the 20th. On the morning of the +24th, however, a fierce encounter was begun, and Hawkins and Drake, +stubbornly defending themselves against tremendous odds, were glad to +escape with two shattered vessels and the loss of £100,000 treasure. +After a voyage of terrible suffering, Drake, in the "Judith," succeeded +in reaching England on 20th January 1569, and Hawkins followed five days +later.[48] Within a few years, however, Drake was away again, this time +alone and with the sole, unblushing purpose of robbing the Dons. With +only two ships and seventy-three men he prowled about the waters of the +West Indies for almost a year, capturing and rifling Spanish vessels, +plundering towns on the Main and intercepting convoys of treasure across +the Isthmus of Darien. In 1577 he sailed on the voyage which carried him +round the world, a feat for which he was knighted, promoted to the rank +of admiral, and visited by the Queen on board his ship, the "Golden +Hind." While Drake was being feted in London as the hero of the hour, +Philip of Spain from his cell in the Escorial must have execrated these +English sea-rovers whose visits brought ruin to his colonies and menaced +the safety of his treasure galleons. + +In the autumn of 1585 Drake was again in command of a formidable +armament intended against the West Indies. Supported by 2000 troops +under General Carleill, and by Martin Frobisher and Francis Knollys in +the fleet, he took and plundered San Domingo, and after occupying +Cartagena for six weeks ransomed the city for 110,000 ducats. This +fearless old Elizabethan sailed from Plymouth on his last voyage in +August 1595. Though under the joint command of Drake and Hawkins, the +expedition seemed doomed to disaster throughout its course. One vessel, +the "Francis," fell into the hands of the Spaniards. While the fleet was +passing through the Virgin Isles, Hawkins fell ill and died. A desperate +attack was made on S. Juan de Porto Rico, but the English, after losing +forty or fifty men, were compelled to retire. Drake then proceeded to +the Main, where in turn he captured and plundered Rancherias, Rio de la +Hacha, Santa Marta and Nombre de Dios. With 750 soldiers he made a bold +attempt to cross the isthmus to the city of Panama, but turned back +after the loss of eighty or ninety of his followers. A few days later, +on 15th January 1596, he too fell ill, died on the 28th, and was buried +in a leaden coffin off the coast of Darien.[49] + +Hawkins and Drake, however, were by no means the only English privateers +of that century in American waters. Names like Oxenham, Grenville, +Raleigh and Clifford, and others of lesser fame, such as Winter, Knollys +and Barker, helped to swell the roll of these Elizabethan sea-rovers. To +many a gallant sailor the Caribbean Sea was a happy hunting-ground where +he might indulge at his pleasure any propensities to lawless adventure. +If in 1588 he had helped to scatter the Invincible Armada, he now +pillaged treasure ships on the coasts of the Spanish Main; if he had +been with Drake to flout his Catholic Majesty at Cadiz, he now closed +with the Spaniards within their distant cities beyond the seas. Thus he +lined his own pockets with Spanish doubloons, and incidentally curbed +Philip's power of invading England. Nor must we think these mariners the +same as the lawless buccaneers of a later period. The men of this +generation were of a sterner and more fanatical mould, men who for their +wildest acts often claimed the sanction of religious convictions. +Whether they carried off the heathen from Africa, or plundered the +fleets of Romish Spain, they were but entering upon "the heritage of the +saints." Judged by the standards of our own century they were pirates +and freebooters, but in the eyes of their fellow-countrymen their +attacks upon the Spaniards seemed fair and honourable. + +The last of the great privateering voyages for which Drake had set the +example was the armament which Lord George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, +sent against Porto Rico in 1598. The ill-starred expeditions of Raleigh +to Guiana in 1595 and again in 1617 belong rather to the history of +exploration and colonization. Clifford, "courtier, gambler and +buccaneer," having run through a great part of his very considerable +fortune, had seized the opportunity offered him by the plunder of the +Spanish colonies to re-coup himself; and during a period of twelve +years, from 1586 to 1598, almost every year fitted out, and often +himself commanded, an expedition against the Spaniards. In his last and +most ambitious effort, in 1598, he equipped twenty vessels entirely at +his own cost, sailed from Plymouth in March, and on 6th June laid siege +to the city of San Juan, which he proposed to clear of Spaniards and +establish as an English stronghold. Although the place was captured, the +expedition proved a fiasco. A violent sickness broke out among the +troops, and as Clifford had already sailed away with some of the ships +to Flores to lie in wait for the treasure fleet, Sir Thomas Berkeley, +who was left in command in Porto Rico, abandoned the island and returned +to rejoin the Earl.[50] + +The English in the sixteenth century, however, had no monopoly of this +piratical game. The French did something in their own way, and the Dutch +were not far behind. Indeed, the French may claim to have set the +example for the Elizabethan freebooters, for in the first half of the +sixteenth century privateers flocked to the Spanish Indies from Dieppe, +Brest and the towns of the Basque coast. The gleam of the golden lingots +of Peru, and the pale lights of the emeralds from the mountains of New +Granada, exercised a hypnotic influence not only on ordinary seamen but +on merchants and on seigneurs with depleted fortunes. Names like Jean +Terrier, Jacques Sore and François le Clerc, the latter popularly called +"Pie de Palo," or "wooden-leg," by the Spaniards, were as detestable in +Spanish ears as those of the great English captains. Even before 1500 +French corsairs hovered about Cape St Vincent and among the Azores and +the Canaries; and their prowess and audacity were so feared that +Columbus, on returning from his third voyage in 1498, declared that he +had sailed for the island of Madeira by a new route to avoid meeting a +French fleet which was awaiting him near St Vincent.[51] With the +establishment of the system of armed convoys, however, and the presence +of Spanish fleets on the coast of Europe, the corsairs suffered some +painful reverses which impelled them to transfer their operations to +American waters. Thereafter Spanish records are full of references to +attacks by Frenchmen on Havana, St. Jago de Cuba, San Domingo and towns +on the mainland of South and Central America; full of appeals, too, from +the colonies to the neglectful authorities in Spain, urging them to send +artillery, cruisers and munitions of war for their defence.[52] + +A letter dated 8th April 1537, written by Gonzalo de Guzman to the +Empress, furnishes us with some interesting details of the exploits of +an anonymous French corsair in that year. In November 1536 this +Frenchman had seized in the port of Chagre, on the Isthmus of Darien, a +Spanish vessel laden with horses from San Domingo, had cast the cargo +into the sea, put the crew on shore and sailed away with his prize. A +month or two later he appeared off the coast of Havana and dropped +anchor in a small bay a few leagues from the city. As there were then +five Spanish ships lying in the harbour, the inhabitants compelled the +captains to attempt the seizure of the pirate, promising to pay for the +ships if they were lost. Three vessels of 200 tons each sailed out to +the attack, and for several days they fired at the French corsair, +which, being a patache of light draught, had run up the bay beyond their +reach. Finally one morning the Frenchmen were seen pressing with both +sail and oar to escape from the port. A Spanish vessel cut her cables to +follow in pursuit, but encountering a heavy sea and contrary winds was +abandoned by her crew, who made for shore in boats. The other two +Spanish ships were deserted in similar fashion, whereupon the French, +observing this new turn of affairs, re-entered the bay and easily +recovered the three drifting vessels. Two of the prizes they burnt, and +arming the third sailed away to cruise in the Florida straits, in the +route of ships returning from the West Indies to Spain.[53] + +The corsairs, however, were not always so uniformly successful. A band +of eighty, who attempted to plunder the town of St. Jago de Cuba, were +repulsed with some loss by a certain Diego Perez of Seville, captain of +an armed merchant ship then in the harbour, who later petitioned for the +grant of a coat-of-arms in recognition of his services.[54] In October +1544 six French vessels attacked the town of Santa Maria de los +Remedios, near Cape de la Vela, but failed to take it in face of the +stubborn resistance of the inhabitants. Yet the latter a few months +earlier had been unable to preserve their homes from pillage, and had +been obliged to flee to La Granjeria de las Perlas on the Rio de la +Hacha.[55] There is small wonder, indeed, that the defenders were so +rarely victorious. The Spanish towns were ill-provided with forts and +guns, and often entirely without ammunition or any regular soldiers. The +distance between the settlements as a rule was great, and the +inhabitants, as soon as informed of the presence of the enemy, knowing +that they had no means of resistance and little hope of succour, left +their homes to the mercy of the freebooters and fled to the hills and +woods with their families and most precious belongings. Thus when, in +October 1554, another band of three hundred French privateers swooped +down upon the unfortunate town of St. Jago de Cuba, they were able to +hold it for thirty days, and plundered it to the value of 80,000 pieces +of eight.[56] The following year, however, witnessed an even more +remarkable action. In July 1555 the celebrated captain, Jacques Sore, +landed two hundred men from a caravel a half-league from the city of +Havana, and before daybreak marched on the town and forced the surrender +of the castle. The Spanish governor had time to retire to the country, +where he gathered a small force of Spaniards and negroes, and returned +to surprise the French by night. Fifteen or sixteen of the latter were +killed, and Sore, who himself was wounded, in a rage gave orders for the +massacre of all the prisoners. He burned the cathedral and the hospital, +pillaged the houses and razed most of the city to the ground. After +transferring all the artillery to his vessel, he made several forays +into the country, burned a few plantations, and finally sailed away in +the beginning of August. No record remains of the amount of the booty, +but it must have been enormous. To fill the cup of bitterness for the +poor inhabitants, on 4th October there appeared on the coast another +French ship, which had learned of Sore's visit and of the helpless state +of the Spaniards. Several hundred men disembarked, sacked a few +plantations neglected by their predecessors, tore down or burned the +houses which the Spaniards had begun to rebuild, and seized a caravel +loaded with leather which had recently entered the harbour.[57] It is +true that during these years there was almost constant war in Europe +between the Emperor and France; yet this does not entirely explain the +activity of the French privateers in Spanish America, for we find them +busy there in the years when peace reigned at home. Once unleash the +sea-dogs and it was extremely difficult to bring them again under +restraint. + +With the seventeenth century began a new era in the history of the West +Indies. If in the sixteenth the English, French and Dutch came to +tropical America as piratical intruders into seas and countries which +belonged to others, in the following century they came as permanent +colonisers and settlers. The Spaniards, who had explored the whole ring +of the West Indian islands before 1500, from the beginning neglected the +lesser for the larger Antilles--Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico and +Jamaica--and for those islands like Trinidad, which lie close to the +mainland. And when in 1519 Cortez sailed from Cuba for the conquest of +Mexico, and twelve years later Pizarro entered Peru, the emigrants who +left Spain to seek their fortunes in the New World flocked to the vast +territories which the _Conquistadores_ and their lieutenants had subdued +on the Continent. It was consequently to the smaller islands which +compose the Leeward and Windward groups that the English, French and +Dutch first resorted as colonists. Small, and therefore "easy to settle, +easy to depopulate and to re-people, attractive not only on account of +their own wealth, but also as a starting-point for the vast and rich +continent off which they lie," these islands became the pawns in a game +of diplomacy and colonization which continued for 150 years. + +In the seventeenth century, moreover, the Spanish monarchy was declining +rapidly both in power and prestige, and its empire, though still +formidable, no longer overshadowed the other nations of Europe as in the +days of Charles V. and Philip II. France, with the Bourbons on the +throne, was entering upon an era of rapid expansion at home and abroad, +while the Dutch, by the truce of 1609, virtually obtained the freedom +for which they had struggled so long. In England Queen Elizabeth had +died in 1603, and her Stuart successor exchanged her policy of +dalliance, of balance between France and Spain, for one of peace and +conciliation. The aristocratic free-booters who had enriched themselves +by harassing the Spanish Indies were succeeded by a less romantic but +more business-like generation, which devoted itself to trade and +planting. Abortive attempts at colonization had been made in the +sixteenth century. The Dutch, who were trading in the West Indies as +early as 1542, by 1580 seem to have gained some foothold in Guiana;[58] +and the French Huguenots, under the patronage of the Admiral de Coligny, +made three unsuccessful efforts to form settlements on the American +continent, one in Brazil in 1555, another near Port Royal in South +Carolina in 1562, and two years later a third on the St. John's River in +Florida. The only English effort in the sixteenth century was the vain +attempt of Sir Walter Raleigh between 1585 and 1590 to plant a colony on +Roanoke Island, on the coast of what is now North Carolina. It was not +till 1607 that the first permanent English settlement in America was +made at Jamestown in Virginia. Between 1609 and 1619 numerous stations +were established by English, Dutch and French in Guiana between the +mouth of the Orinoco and that of the Amazon. In 1621 the Dutch West +India Company was incorporated, and a few years later proposals for a +similar company were broached in England. Among the West Indian Islands, +St. Kitts received its first English settlers in 1623; and two years +later the island was formally divided with the French, thus becoming the +earliest nucleus of English and French colonization in those regions. +Barbadoes was colonized in 1624-25. In 1628 English settlers from St. +Kitts spread to Nevis and Barbuda, and within another four years to +Antigua and Montserrat; while as early as 1625 English and Dutch took +joint possession of Santa Cruz. The founders of the French settlement on +St. Kitts induced Richelieu to incorporate a French West India Company +with the title, "The Company of the Isles of America," and under its +auspices Guadeloupe, Martinique and other islands of the Windward group +were colonized in 1635 and succeeding years. Meanwhile between 1632 and +1634 the Dutch had established trading stations on St. Eustatius in the +north, and on Tobago and Curaçao in the south near the Spanish mainland. + +While these centres of trade and population were being formed in the +very heart of the Spanish seas, the privateers were not altogether idle. +To the treaty of Vervins between France and Spain in 1598 had been added +a secret restrictive article whereby it was agreed that the peace should +not hold good south of the Tropic of Cancer and west of the meridian of +the Azores. Beyond these two lines (called "les lignes de l'enclos des +Amitiés") French and Spanish ships might attack each other and take fair +prize as in open war. The ministers of Henry IV. communicated this +restriction verbally to the merchants of the ports, and soon private +men-of-war from Dieppe, Havre and St. Malo flocked to the western +seas.[59] Ships loaded with contraband goods no longer sailed for the +Indies unless armed ready to engage all comers, and many ship-captains +renounced trade altogether for the more profitable and exciting +occupation of privateering. In the early years of the seventeenth +century, moreover, Dutch fleets harassed the coasts of Chile and +Peru,[60] while in Brazil[61] and the West Indies a second "Pie de +Palo," this time the Dutch admiral, Piet Heyn, was proving a scourge to +the Spaniards. Heyn was employed by the Dutch West India Company, which +from the year 1623 onwards, carried the Spanish war into the transmarine +possessions of Spain and Portugal. With a fleet composed of twenty-six +ships and 3300 men, of which he was vice-admiral, he greatly +distinguished himself at the capture of Bahia, the seat of Portuguese +power in Brazil. Similar expeditions were sent out annually, and brought +back the rich spoils of the South American colonies. Within two years +the extraordinary number of eighty ships, with 1500 cannon and over 9000 +sailors and soldiers, were despatched to American seas, and although +Bahia was soon retaken, the Dutch for a time occupied Pernambuco, as +well as San Juan de Porto Rico in the West Indies.[62] In 1628 Piet Heyn +was in command of a squadron designed to intercept the plate fleet which +sailed every year from Vera Cruz to Spain. With thirty-one ships, 700 +cannon and nearly 3000 men he cruised along the northern coast of Cuba, +and on 8th September fell in with his quarry near Cape San Antonio. The +Spaniards made a running fight along the coast until they reached the +Matanzas River near Havana, into which they turned with the object of +running the great-bellied galleons aground and escaping with what +treasure they could. The Dutch followed, however, and most of the rich +cargo was diverted into the coffers of the Dutch West India Company. The +gold, silver, indigo, sugar and logwood were sold in the Netherlands for +fifteen million guilders, and the company was enabled to distribute to +its shareholders the unprecedented dividend of 50 per cent. It was an +exploit which two generations of English mariners had attempted in vain, +and the unfortunate Spanish general, Don Juan de Benavides, on his +return to Spain was imprisoned for his defeat and later beheaded.[63] + +In 1639 we find the Spanish Council of War for the Indies conferring +with the King on measures to be taken against English piratical ships in +the Caribbean;[64] and in 1642 Captain William Jackson, provided with an +ample commission from the Earl of Warwick[65] and duplicates under the +Great Seal, made a raid in which he emulated the exploits of Sir Francis +Drake and his contemporaries. Starting out with three ships and about +1100 men, mostly picked up in St. Kitts and Barbadoes, he cruised along +the Main from Caracas to Honduras and plundered the towns of Maracaibo +and Truxillo. On 25th March 1643 he dropped anchor in what is now +Kingston Harbour in Jamaica, landed about 500 men, and after some sharp +fighting and the loss of forty of his followers, entered the town of St. +Jago de la Vega, which he ransomed for 200 beeves, 10,000 lbs. of +cassava bread and 7000 pieces of eight. Many of the English were so +captivated by the beauty and fertility of the island that twenty-three +deserted in one night to the Spaniards.[66] + +The first two Stuart Kings, like the great Queen who preceded them, and +in spite of the presence of a powerful Spanish faction at the English +Court, looked upon the Indies with envious eyes, as a source of +perennial wealth to whichever nation could secure them. James I., to be +sure, was a man of peace, and soon after his accession patched up a +treaty with the Spaniards; but he had no intention of giving up any +English claims, however shadowy they might be, to America. Cornwallis, +the new ambassador at Madrid, from a vantage ground where he could +easily see the financial and administrative confusion into which Spain, +in spite of her colonial wealth, had fallen, was most dissatisfied with +the treaty. In a letter to Cranborne, dated 2nd July 1605, he suggested +that England never lost so great an opportunity of winning honour and +wealth as by relinquishing the war with Spain, and that Philip and his +kingdom "were reduced to such a state as they could not in all +likelihood have endured for the space of two years more."[67] This +opinion we find repeated in his letters in the following years, with +covert hints that an attack upon the Indies might after all be the most +profitable and politic thing to do. When, in October 1607, Zuniga, the +Spanish ambassador in London, complained to James of the establishment +of the new colony in Virginia, James replied that Virginia was land +discovered by the English and therefore not within the jurisdiction of +Philip; and a week later Salisbury, while confiding to Zuniga that he +thought the English might not justly go to Virginia, still refused to +prohibit their going or command their return, for it would be an +acknowledgment, he said, that the King of Spain was lord of all the +Indies.[68] In 1609, in the truce concluded between Spain and the +Netherlands, one of the stipulations provided that for nine years the +Dutch were to be free to trade in all places in the East and West Indies +except those in actual possession of the Spaniards on the date of +cessation of hostilities; and thereafter the English and French +governments endeavoured with all the more persistence to obtain a +similar privilege. Attorney-General Heath, in 1625, presented a memorial +to the Crown on the advantages derived by the Spaniards and Dutch in the +West Indies, maintaining that it was neither safe nor profitable for +them to be absolute lords of those regions; and he suggested that his +Majesty openly interpose or permit it to be done underhand.[69] In +September 1637 proposals were renewed in England for a West India +Company as the only method of obtaining a share in the wealth of +America. It was suggested that some convenient port be seized as a safe +retreat from which to plunder Spanish trade on land and sea, and that +the officers of the company be empowered to conquer and occupy any part +of the West Indies, build ships, levy soldiers and munitions of war, and +make reprisals.[70] The temper of Englishmen at this time was again +illustrated in 1640 when the Spanish ambassador, Alonzo de Cardenas, +protested to Charles I. against certain ships which the Earls of Warwick +and Marlborough were sending to the West Indies with the intention, +Cardenas declared, of committing hostilities against the Spaniards. The +Earl of Warwick, it seems, pretended to have received great injuries +from the latter and threatened to recoup his losses at their expense. He +procured from the king a broad commission which gave him the right to +trade in the West Indies, and to "offend" such as opposed him. Under +shelter of this commission the Earl of Marlborough was now going to sea +with three or four armed ships, and Cardenas prayed the king to restrain +him until he gave security not to commit any acts of violence against +the Spanish nation. The petition was referred to a committee of the +Lords, who concluded that as the peace had never been strictly observed +by either nation in the Indies they would not demand any security of the +Earl. "Whether the Spaniards will think this reasonable or not," +concludes Secretary Windebank in his letter to Sir Arthur Hopton, "is no +great matter."[71] + +During this century and a half between 1500 and 1650, the Spaniards were +by no means passive or indifferent to the attacks made upon their +authority and prestige in the New World. The hostility of the mariners +from the north they repaid with interest, and woe to the foreign +interloper or privateer who fell into their clutches. When Henry II. of +France in 1557 issued an order that Spanish prisoners be condemned to +the galleys, the Spanish government retaliated by commanding its +sea-captains to mete out the same treatment to their French captives, +except that captains, masters and officers taken in the navigation of +the Indies were to be hung or cast into the sea.[72] In December 1600 +the governor of Cumana had suggested to the King, as a means of keeping +Dutch and English ships from the salt mines of Araya, the ingenious +scheme of poisoning the salt. This advice, it seems, was not followed, +but a few years later, in 1605, a Spanish fleet of fourteen galleons +sent from Lisbon surprised and burnt nineteen Dutch vessels found +loading salt at Araya, and murdered most of the prisoners.[73] In +December 1604 the Venetian ambassador in London wrote of "news that the +Spanish in the West Indies captured two English vessels, cut off the +hands, feet, noses and ears of the crews and smeared them with honey and +tied them to trees to be tortured by flies and other insects. The +Spanish here plead," he continued, "that they were pirates, not +merchants, and that they did not know of the peace. But the barbarity +makes people here cry out."[74] On 22nd June 1606, Edmondes, the English +Ambassador at Brussels, in a letter to Cornwallis, speaks of a London +ship which was sent to trade in Virginia, and putting into a river in +Florida to obtain water, was surprised there by Spanish vessels from +Havana, the men ill-treated and the cargo confiscated.[75] And it was +but shortly after that Captain Chaloner's ship on its way to Virginia +was seized by the Spaniards in the West Indies, and the crew sent to +languish in the dungeons of Seville or condemned to the galleys. + +By attacks upon some of the English settlements, too, the Spaniards gave +their threats a more effective form. Frequent raids were made upon the +English and Dutch plantations in Guiana;[76] and on 8th-18th September +1629 a Spanish fleet of over thirty sail, commanded by Don Federico de +Toledo, nearly annihilated the joint French and English colony on St. +Kitts. Nine English ships were captured and the settlements burnt. The +French inhabitants temporarily evacuated the island and sailed for +Antigua; but of the English some 550 were carried to Cartagena and +Havana, whence they were shipped to England, and all the rest fled to +the mountains and woods.[77] Within three months' time, however, after +the departure of the Spaniards, the scattered settlers had returned and +re-established the colony. Providence Island and its neighbour, +Henrietta, being situated near the Mosquito Coast, were peculiarly +exposed to Spanish attack;[78] while near the north shore of Hispaniola +the island of Tortuga, which was colonized by the same English company, +suffered repeatedly from the assaults of its hostile neighbours. In July +1635 a Spanish fleet from the Main assailed the island of Providence, +but unable to land among the rocks, was after five days beaten off +"considerably torn" by the shot from the fort.[79] On the strength of +these injuries received and of others anticipated, the Providence +Company obtained from the king the liberty "to right themselves" by +making reprisals, and during the next six years kept numerous vessels +preying upon Spanish commerce in those waters. King Philip was therefore +all the more intent upon destroying the plantation.[80] He bided his +time, however, until the early summer of 1641, when the general of the +galleons, Don Francisco Diaz Pimienta, with twelve sail and 2000 men, +fell upon the colony, razed the forts and carried off all the English, +about 770 in number, together with forty cannon and half a million of +plunder.[81] It was just ten years later that a force of 800 men from +Porto Rico invaded Santa Cruz, whence the Dutch had been expelled by the +English in 1646, killed the English governor and more than 100 settlers, +seized two ships in the harbour and burnt and pillaged most of the +plantations. The rest of the inhabitants escaped to the woods, and after +the departure of the Spaniards deserted the colony for St. Kitts and +other islands.[82] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: Herrera: Decades II. 1, p. 4, cited in Scelle: la Traite +Négrière, I. p. 6. Note 2.] + +[Footnote 2: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. pp. 6-9.] + +[Footnote 3: "Por cuanto los pacificaciones no se han de hacer con ruido +de armas, sino con caridad y buen modo."--Recop. de leyes ... de las +Indias, lib. vii. tit. 1.] + +[Footnote 4: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 35.] + +[Footnote 5: Weiss: L'Espagne depuis Philippe II. jusqu'aux Bourbons., +II. pp. 204 and 215. Not till 1722 was legislative sanction given to +this practice. + +M. Lemonnet wrote to Colbert in 1670 concerning this commerce:--"Quelque +perquisition qu'on ait faite dans ce dernier temps aux Indes pour +découvrir les biens des François, ils ont plustost souffert la prison +que de rien déclarer ... toute les merchandises qu'on leur donne à +porter aux Indes sont chargées sous le nom d'Espagnols, que bien souvent +n'en ont pas connaissance, ne jugeant pas à propos de leur en parler, +afin de tenir les affaires plus secrètes et qu'il n'y ait que le +commissionaire à le savoir, lequel en rend compte à son retour des +Indes, directement à celui qui en a donne la cargaison en confiance sans +avoir nul egard pour ceux au nom desquels le chargement à été fait, et +lorsque ces commissionaires reviennent des Indes soit sur le flottes +galions ou navires particuliers, ils apportent leur argent dans leurs +coffres, la pluspart entre pont et sans connoissement." (Margry: +Relations et mémoires inédits pour servir à l'histoire de la France dans +les pays d'outremer, p. 185.) + +The importance to the maritime powers of preserving and protecting this +clandestine trade is evident, especially as the Spanish government +frequently found it a convenient instrument for retaliating upon those +nations against which it harboured some grudge. All that was necessary +was to sequester the vessels and goods of merchants belonging to the +nation at which it wished to strike. This happened frequently in the +course of the seventeenth century. Thus Lerma in 1601 arrested the +French merchants in Spain to revenge himself on Henry IV. In 1624 +Olivares seized 160 Dutch vessels. The goods of Genoese merchants were +sequestered by Philip IV. in 1644; and in 1684 French merchandize was +again seized, and Mexican traders whose storehouses contained such goods +were fined 500,000 ecus, although the same storehouses contained English +and Dutch goods which were left unnoticed. The fine was later restored +upon Admiral d'Estrées' threat to bombard Cadiz. The solicitude of the +French government for this trade is expressed in a letter of Colbert to +the Marquis de Villars, ambassador at Madrid, dated 5th February +1672:--"Il est tellement necessaire d'avoir soin d'assister les +particuliers qui font leur trafic en Espagne, pour maintenir le plus +important commerce que nous ayons, que je suis persuadé que vous ferez +toutes les instances qui pourront dépendre de vous ... en sorte que +cette protection produira des avantages considérables au commerce des +sujets de Sa Majesté" (_ibid._, p. 188). + +_Cf._ also the instructions of Louis XIV. to the Comte d'Estrées, 1st +April 1680. The French admiral was to visit all the ports of the +Spaniards in the West Indies, especially Cartagena and San Domingo; and +to be always informed of the situation and advantages of these ports, +and of the facilities and difficulties to be met with in case of an +attack upon them; so that the Spaniards might realise that if they +failed to do justice to the French merchants on the return of the +galleons, his Majesty was always ready to force them to do so, either by +attacking these galleons, or by capturing one of their West Indian ports +(_ibid._).] + +[Footnote 6: Weiss, _op. cit._, II. p. 205.] + +[Footnote 7: Ibid., II. p. 206.] + +[Footnote 8: Oppenheim: The Naval Tracts of Sir Wm. Monson. Vol. II. +Appendix B., p. 316.] + +[Footnote 9: In 1509, owing to the difficulties experienced by merchants +in ascending the Guadalquivir, ships were given permission to load and +register at Cadiz under the supervision of an inspector or "visitador," +and thereafter commerce and navigation tended more and more to gravitate +to that port. After 1529, in order to facilitate emigration to America, +vessels were allowed to sail from certain other ports, notably San +Sebastian, Bilboa, Coruna, Cartagena and Malaga. The ships might +register in these ports, but were obliged always to make their return +voyage to Seville. But either the _cedula_ was revoked, or was never +made use of, for, according to Scelle, there are no known instances of +vessels sailing to America from those towns. The only other exceptions +were in favour of the Company of Guipuzcoa in 1728, to send ships from +San Sebastian to Caracas, and of the Company of Galicia in 1734, to send +two vessels annually to Campeache and Vera Cruz. (Scelle, _op. cit._, i. +pp. 48-49 and notes.)] + +[Footnote 10: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 36 _ff._] + +[Footnote 11: In Nov. 1530 Charles V., against the opposition of the +_Contratacion_, ordered the Council of the Indies to appoint a resident +judge at Cadiz to replace the officers of the _Casa_ there. This +institution, called the "Juzgado de Indias," was, until the removal of +the _Casa_ to Cadiz in 1717, the source of constant disputes and +irritation.] + +[Footnote 12: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 52 and note; Duro: Armada +Espanola, I. p. 204.] + +[Footnote 13: The distinction between the Flota or fleet for New Spain +and the galleons intended for Terra Firma only began with the opening of +the great silver mines of Potosi, the rich yields of which after 1557 +made advisable an especial fleet for Cartagena and Nombre de Dios. +(Oppenheim, II. Appendix B., p. 322.)] + +[Footnote 14: Memoir of MM. Duhalde and de Rochefort to the French king, +1680 (Margry, _op. cit._, p. 192 _ff._).] + +[Footnote 15: Memoir of MM. Duhalde and de Rochefort to the French king, +1680 (Margry, _op. cit._, p. 192 _ff._)] + +[Footnote 16: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 64; Dampier: Voyages, _ed._ +1906, i. p. 200.] + +[Footnote 17: Gage: A New Survey of the West Indies, _ed._ 1655, pp. +185-6. When Gage was at Granada, in February 1637, strict orders were +received from Gautemala that the ships were not to sail that year, +because the President and Audiencia were informed of some Dutch and +English ships lying in wait at the mouth of the river.] + +[Footnote 18: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. pp. 64-5; Duhalde and de Rochefort. +There were two ways of sending goods from Panama to Porto Bello. One was +an overland route of 18 leagues, and was used only during the summer. +The other was by land as far as Venta Cruz, 7 leagues from Panama, and +thence by water on the river Chagre to its mouth, a distance of 26 +leagues. When the river was high the transit might be accomplished in +two or three days, but at other times from six to twelve days were +required. To transfer goods from Chagre to Porto Bello was a matter of +only eight or nine hours. This route was used in winter when the roads +were rendered impassable by the great rains and floods. The overland +journey, though shorter, was also more difficult and expensive. The +goods were carried on long mule-trains, and the "roads, so-called, were +merely bridle paths ... running through swamps and jungles, over hills +and rocks, broken by unbridged rivers, and situated in one of the +deadliest climates in the world." The project of a canal to be cut +through the isthmus was often proposed to the Councils in Spain, but was +never acted upon. (Descript. ... of Cartagena; Oppenheim, i. p. 333.)] + +[Footnote 19: Nombre de Dios, a few leagues to the east of Porto Bello, +had formerly been the port where the galleons received the treasure +brought from Panama, but in 1584 the King of Spain ordered the +settlement to be abandoned on account of its unhealthiness, and because +the harbour, being open to the sea, afforded little shelter to shipping. +Gage says that in his time Nombre de Dios was almost forsaken because of +its climate. Dampier, writing thirty years later, describes the site as +a waste. "Nombre de Dios," he says, "is now nothing but a name. For I +have lain ashore in the place where that City stood, but it is all +overgrown with Wood, so as to have no sign that any Town hath been +there." (Voyages, _ed._ 1906, i. p. 81.)] + +[Footnote 20: Gage, _ed._ 1655, pp. 196-8.] + +[Footnote 21: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 65.] + +[Footnote 22: Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.] + +[Footnote 23: When the Margarita patache failed to meet the galleons at +Cartagena, it was given its clearance and allowed to sail alone to +Havana--a tempting prey to buccaneers hovering in those seas.] + +[Footnote 24: Duhalde and de Rochefort.] + +[Footnote 25: Rawl. MSS., A. 175, 313 b; Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.] + +[Footnote 26: Here I am following the MSS. quoted by Oppenheim (ii. pp. +335 _ff._). Instead of watering in Hispaniola, the fleet sometimes +stopped at Dominica, or at Aguada in Porto Rico.] + +[Footnote 27: Duhalde and de Rochefort.] + +[Footnote 28: Quintal=about 100 pounds.] + +[Footnote 29: These "vaisseaux de registre" were supposed not to exceed +300 tons, but through fraud were often double that burden.] + +[Footnote 30: Duhalde and de Rochefort; Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 54.] + +[Footnote 31: Gage, _ed._ 1655, pp. 199-200.] + +[Footnote 32: Duhalde and de Rochefort; Oppenheim, ii. p. 318.] + +[Footnote 33: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 45; Recop., t. i. lib. iii. tit. +viii.] + +[Footnote 34: There seems to have been a contraband trade carried on at +Cadiz itself. Foreign merchants embarked their goods upon the galleons +directly from their own vessels in the harbour, without registering them +with the _Contratacion_; and on the return of the fleets received the +price of their goods in ingots of gold and silver by the same fraud. It +is scarcely possible that this was done without the tacit authorization +of the Council of the Indies at Madrid, for if the Council had insisted +upon a rigid execution of the laws regarding registration, detection +would have been inevitable.] + +[Footnote 35: Weiss, _op. cit._, ii. p. 226.] + +[Footnote 36: Most of the offices in the Spanish Indies were venal. No +one obtained a post without paying dearly for it, except the viceroys of +Mexico and Peru, who were grandees, and received their places through +favour at court. The governors of the ports, and the presidents of the +Audiencias established at Panama, San Domingo, and Gautemala, bought +their posts in Spain. The offices in the interior were in the gift of +the viceroys and sold to the highest bidder. Although each port had +three corregidors who audited the finances, as they also paid for their +places, they connived with the governors. The consequence was +inevitable. Each official during his tenure of office expected to +recover his initial outlay, and amass a small fortune besides. So not +only were the bribes of interlopers acceptable, but the officials often +themselves bought and sold the contraband articles.] + +[Footnote 37: Froude: History of England, viii. p. 436 _ff._] + +[Footnote 38: 1585, August 12th. Ralph Lane to Sir Philip Sidney. Port +Ferdinando, Virginia.--He has discovered the infinite riches of St. John +(Porto Rico?) and Hispaniola by dwelling on the islands five weeks. He +thinks that if the Queen finds herself burdened with the King of Spain, +to attempt them would be most honourable, feasible and profitable. He +exhorts him not to refuse this good opportunity of rendering so great a +service to the Church of Christ. The strength of the Spaniards doth +altogether grow from the mines of her treasure. Extract, C.S.P. Colon., +1574-1660.] + +[Footnote 39: Scelle, _op. cit._, ii. p. xiii.] + +[Footnote 40: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. ix.] + +[Footnote 41: 1611, February 28. Sir Thos. Roe to Salisbury. Port +d'Espaigne, Trinidad.--He has seen more of the coast from the River +Amazon to the Orinoco than any other Englishman alive. The Spaniards +here are proud and insolent, yet needy and weak, their force is +reputation, their safety is opinion. The Spaniards treat the English +worse than Moors. The government is lazy and has more skill in planting +and selling tobacco than in erecting colonies and marching armies. +Extract, C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660. (Roe was sent by Prince Henry upon a +voyage of discovery to the Indies.)] + +[Footnote 42: "An historical account of the rise and growth of the West +India Colonies." By Dalby Thomas, Lond., 1690. (Harl. Miscell., 1808, +ii. 357.)] + +[Footnote 43: Oviedo: Historia general de las Indias, lib. xix. cap. +xiii.; Coleccion de documentos ... de ultramar, tom. iv. p. 57 +(deposition of the Spanish captain at the Isle of Mona); Pacheco, etc.: +Coleccion de documentos ... de las posesiones espanoles en America y +Oceania, tom. xl. p. 305 (cross-examination of witnesses by officers of +the Royal Audiencia in San Domingo just after the visit of the English +ship to that place); English Historical Review, XX. p. 115. + +The ship is identified with the "Samson" dispatched by Henry VIII. in +1527 "with divers cunning men to seek strange regions," which sailed +from the Thames on 20th May in company with the "Mary of Guildford," was +lost by her consort in a storm on the night of 1st July, and was +believed to have foundered with all on board. (Ibid.)] + +[Footnote 44: Hakluyt, _ed._ 1600, iii. p. 700; Froude, _op. cit._, +viii. p. 427.] + +[Footnote 45: Scelle., _op. cit._, i. pp. 123-25, 139-61.] + +[Footnote 46: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar. tom. vi. p. 15.] + +[Footnote 47: Froude, _op. cit._, viii. pp. 470-72.] + +[Footnote 48: Corbett: Drake and the Tudor Navy, i. ch. 3.] + +[Footnote 49: Corbett: Drake and the Tudor Navy, ii. chs. 1, 2, 11.] + +[Footnote 50: Corbett: The Successors of Drake, ch. x.] + +[Footnote 51: Marcel: Les corsaires français au XVIe siècle, p. 7. As +early as 1501 a royal ordinance in Spain prescribed the construction of +carracks to pursue the privateers, and in 1513 royal _cedulas_ were sent +to the officials of the _Casa de Contratacion_ ordering them to send two +caravels to guard the coasts of Cuba and protect Spanish navigation from +the assaults of French corsairs. (Ibid., p. 8).] + +[Footnote 52: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tomos i., iv., vi.; +Ducéré: Les corsaires sous l'ancien régime. Append. II.; Duro., _op. +cit._, i. Append. XIV.] + +[Footnote 53: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 22.] + +[Footnote 54: Ibid., p. 23.] + +[Footnote 55: Marcel, _op. cit._, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 56: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 360.] + +[Footnote 57: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 360.] + +[Footnote 58: Lucas: A Historical Geography of the British Colonies, +vol. ii. pp. 37, 50.] + +[Footnote 59: Weiss, _op. cit._, ii. p. 292.] + +[Footnote 60: Duro, _op. cit._, iii. ch. xvi.; iv. chs. iii., viii.] + +[Footnote 61: Portugal between 1581 and 1640 was subject to the Crown of +Spain, and Brazil, a Portuguese colony, was consequently within the pale +of Spanish influence and administration.] + +[Footnote 62: Blok: History of the People of the Netherlands, iv. p. +36.] + +[Footnote 63: Blok: History of the People of the Netherlands, iv. p. 37; +Duro, _op. cit._, iv. p. 99; Gage, _ed._ 1655, p. 80.] + +[Footnote 64: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,325, No. 10.] + +[Footnote 65: Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, was created admiral of the +fleet by order of Parliament in March 1642, and although removed by +Charles I. was reinstated by Parliament on 1st July.] + +[Footnote 66: Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 793 or 894; Add. MSS., 36,327, +No. 9.] + +[Footnote 67: Winwood Papers, ii. pp. 75-77.] + +[Footnote 68: Brown: Genesis of the United States, i. pp. 120-25, 172.] + +[Footnote 69: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660.] + +[Footnote 70: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660.] + +[Footnote 71: Clarendon State Papers, ii. p. 87; Rymer: F[oe]dera, xx. +p. 416.] + +[Footnote 72: Duro, _op. cit._, ii. p. 462.] + +[Footnote 73: Duro, _op. cit._, iii. pp. 236-37.] + +[Footnote 74: C.S.P. Venet., 1603-07, p. 199.] + +[Footnote 75: Winwood Papers, ii. p. 233.] + +[Footnote 76: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,319, No. 7; 36,320, No. 8; +36,321, No. 24; 36,322, No. 23.] + +[Footnote 77: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660:--1629, 5th and 30th Nov.; 1630, +29th July.] + +[Footnote 78: Gage saw at Cartagena about a dozen English prisoners +captured by the Spaniards at sea, and belonging to the settlement on +Providence Island.] + +[Footnote 79: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660:--1635, 19th March; 1636, 26th +March.] + +[Footnote 80: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,323, No. 10.] + +[Footnote 81: Duro, Tomo., iv. p. 339; _cf._ also in Bodleian +Library:--"A letter written upon occasion in the Low Countries, etc. +Whereunto is added avisos from several places, of the taking of the +Island of Providence, by the Spaniards from the English. London. Printed +for Nath. Butter, Mar. 22, 1641. + +"I have letter by an aviso from Cartagena, dated the 14th of September, +wherein they advise that the galleons were ready laden with the silver, +and would depart thence the 6th of October. The general of the galleons, +named Francisco Dias Pimienta, had beene formerly in the moneth of July +with above 3000 men, and the least of his ships, in the island of S. +Catalina, where he had taken and carried away with all the English, and +razed the forts, wherein they found 600 negroes, much gold and indigo, +so that the prize is esteemed worth above halfe a million."] + +[Footnote 82: Rawl. MSS., A. 32,297; 31, 121.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BEGINNINGS OF THE BUCCANEERS + + +In the second half of the sixteenth and the early part of the +seventeenth centuries, strangers who visited the great Spanish islands +of Hispaniola, Jamaica or Porto Rico, usually remarked the extraordinary +number of wild cattle and boars found roaming upon them. These herds +were in every case sprung from domestic animals originally brought from +Spain. For as the aborigines in the Greater Antilles decreased in +numbers under the heavy yoke of their conquerors, and as the Spaniards +themselves turned their backs upon the Antilles for the richer +allurements of the continent, less and less land was left under +cultivation; and cattle, hogs, horses and even dogs ran wild, increased +at a rapid rate, and soon filled the broad savannas and deep woods which +covered the greater part of these islands. The northern shore of +Hispaniola the Spaniards had never settled, and thither, probably from +an early period, interloping ships were accustomed to resort when in +want of victuals. With a long range of uninhabited coast, good anchorage +and abundance of provisions, this northern shore could not fail to +induce some to remain. In time we find there scattered groups of +hunters, mostly French and English, who gained a rude livelihood by +killing wild cattle for their skins, and curing the flesh to supply the +needs of passing vessels. The origin of these men we do not know. They +may have been deserters from ships, crews of wrecked vessels, or even +chance marooners. In any case the charm of their half-savage, +independent mode of life must soon have attracted others, and a fairly +regular traffic sprang up between them and the ubiquitous Dutch traders, +whom they supplied with hides, tallow and cured meat in return for the +few crude necessities and luxuries they required. Their numbers were +recruited in 1629 by colonists from St. Kitts who had fled before Don +Federico de Toledo. Making common lot with the hunters, the refugees +found sustenance so easy and the natural bounty of the island so rich +and varied, that many remained and settled. + +To the north-west of Hispaniola lies a small, rocky island about eight +leagues in length and two in breadth, separated by a narrow channel from +its larger neighbour. From the shore of Hispaniola the island appears in +form like a monster sea-turtle floating upon the waves, and hence was +named by the Spaniards "Tortuga." So mountainous and inaccessible on the +northern side as to be called the Côte-de-Fer, and with only one harbour +upon the south, it offered a convenient refuge to the French and English +hunters should the Spaniards become troublesome. These hunters probably +ventured across to Tortuga before 1630, for there are indications that a +Spanish expedition was sent against the island from Hispaniola in 1630 +or 1631, and a division of the spoil made in the city of San Domingo +after its return.[83] It was then, apparently, that the Spaniards left +upon Tortuga an officer and twenty-eight men, the small garrison which, +says Charlevoix, was found there when the hunters returned. The Spanish +soldiers were already tired of their exile upon this lonely, +inhospitable rock, and evacuated with the same satisfaction with which +the French and English resumed their occupancy. From the testimony of +some documents in the English colonial archives we may gather that the +English from the first were in predominance in the new colony, and +exercised almost sole authority. In the minutes of the Providence +Company, under date of 19th May 1631, we find that a committee was +"appointed to treat with the agents for a colony of about 150 persons, +settled upon Tortuga";[84] and a few weeks later that "the planters upon +the island of Tortuga desired the company to take them under their +protection, and to be at the charge of their fortification, in +consideration of a twentieth part of the commodities raised there +yearly."[85] At the same time the Earl of Holland, governor of the +company, and his associates petitioned the king for an enlargement of +their grant "only of 3 or 4 degrees of northerly latitude, to avoid all +doubts as to whether one of the islands (Tortuga) was contained in their +former grant."[86] Although there were several islands named Tortuga in +the region of the West Indies, all the evidence points to the identity +of the island concerned in this petition with the Tortuga near the north +coast of Hispaniola.[87] + +The Providence Company accepted the offer of the settlers upon Tortuga, +and sent a ship to reinforce the little colony with six pieces of +ordnance, a supply of ammunition and provisions, and a number of +apprentices or _engagés_. A Captain Hilton was appointed governor, with +Captain Christopher Wormeley to succeed him in case of the governor's +death or absence, and the name of the island was changed from Tortuga to +Association.[88] Although consisting for the most part of high land +covered with tall cedar woods, the island contained in the south and +west broad savannas which soon attracted planters as well as +cattle-hunters. Some of the inhabitants of St. Kitts, wearied of the +dissensions between the French and English there, and allured by reports +of quiet and plenty in Tortuga, deserted St. Kitts for the new colony. +The settlement, however, was probably always very poor and struggling, +for in January 1634 the Providence Company received advice that Captain +Hilton intended to desert the island and draw most of the inhabitants +after him; and a declaration was sent out from England to the planters, +assuring them special privileges of trade and domicile, and dissuading +them from "changing certain ways of profit already discovered for +uncertain hopes suggested by fancy or persuasion."[89] The question of +remaining or departing, indeed, was soon decided for the colonists +without their volition, for in December 1634 a Spanish force from +Hispaniola invaded the island and drove out all the English and French +they found there. It seems that an Irishman named "Don Juan Morf" (John +Murphy?),[90] who had been "sargento-mayor" in Tortuga, became +discontented with the _régime_ there and fled to Cartagena. The Spanish +governor of Cartagena sent him to Don Gabriel de Gaves, President of the +Audiencia in San Domingo, thinking that with the information the +renegade was able to supply the Spaniards of Hispaniola might drive out +the foreigners. The President of San Domingo, however, died three months +later without bestirring himself, and it was left to his successor to +carry out the project. With the information given by Murphy, added to +that obtained from prisoners, he sent a force of 250 foot under command +of Rui Fernandez de Fuemayor to take the island.[91] At this time, +according to the Spaniards' account, there were in Tortuga 600 men +bearing arms, besides slaves, women and children. The harbour was +commanded by a platform of six cannon. The Spaniards approached the +island just before dawn, but through the ignorance of the pilot the +whole armadilla was cast upon some reefs near the shore. Rui Fernandez +with about thirty of his men succeeded in reaching land in canoes, +seized the fort without any difficulty, and although his followers were +so few managed to disperse a body of the enemy who were approaching, +with the English governor at their head, to recover it. In the mêlée the +governor was one of the first to be killed--stabbed, say the Spaniards, +by the Irishman, who took active part in the expedition and fought by +the side of Rui Fernandez. Meanwhile some of the inhabitants, thinking +that they could not hold the island, had regained the fort, spiked the +guns and transferred the stores to several ships in the harbour, which +sailed away leaving only two dismantled boats and a patache to fall into +the hands of the Spaniards. Rui Fernandez, reinforced by some 200 of his +men who had succeeded in escaping from the stranded armadilla, now +turned his attention to the settlement. He found his way barred by +another body of several hundred English, but dispersed them too, and +took seventy prisoners. The houses were then sacked and the tobacco +plantations burned by the soldiers, and the Spaniards returned to San +Domingo with four captured banners, the six pieces of artillery and 180 +muskets.[92] + +The Spanish occupation apparently did not last very long, for in the +following April the Providence Company appointed Captain Nicholas +Riskinner to be governor of Tortuga in place of Wormeley, and in +February 1636 it learned that Riskinner was in possession of the +island.[93] Two planters just returned from the colony, moreover, +informed the company that there were then some 80 English in the +settlement, besides 150 negroes. It is evident that the colonists were +mostly cattle-hunters, for they assured the company that they could +supply Tortuga with 200 beasts a month from Hispaniola, and would +deliver calves there at twenty shillings apiece.[94] Yet at a later +meeting of the Adventurers on 20th January 1637, a project for sending +more men and ammunition to the island was suddenly dropped "upon +intelligence that the inhabitants had quitted it and removed to +Hispaniola."[95] For three years thereafter the Providence records are +silent concerning Tortuga. A few Frenchmen must have remained on the +island, however, for Charlevoix informs us that in 1638 the general of +the galleons swooped down upon the colony, put to the sword all who +failed to escape to the hills and woods, and again destroyed all the +habitations.[96] Persuaded that the hunters would not expose themselves +to a repetition of such treatment, the Spaniards neglected to leave a +garrison, and a few scattered Frenchmen gradually filtered back to their +ruined homes. It was about this time, it seems, that the President of +San Domingo formed a body of 500 armed lancers in an effort to drive the +intruders from the larger island of Hispaniola. These lancers, half of +whom were always kept in the field, were divided into companies of fifty +each, whence they were called by the French, "cinquantaines." Ranging +the woods and savannas this Spanish constabulary attacked isolated +hunters wherever they found them, and they formed an important element +in the constant warfare between the French and Spanish colonists +throughout the rest of the century.[97] + +Meanwhile an English adventurer, some time after the Spanish descent of +1638, gathered a body of 300 of his compatriots in the island of Nevis +near St. Kitts, and sailing for Tortuga dispossessed the few Frenchmen +living there of the island. According to French accounts he was received +amicably by the inhabitants and lived with them for four months, when he +turned upon his hosts, disarmed them and marooned them upon the opposite +shore of Hispaniola. A few made their way to St. Kitts and complained to +M. de Poincy, the governor-general of the French islands, who seized the +opportunity to establish a French governor in Tortuga. Living at that +time in St. Kitts was a Huguenot gentleman named Levasseur, who had been +a companion-in-arms of d'Esnambuc when the latter settled St. Kitts in +1625, and after a short visit to France had returned and made his +fortune in trade. He was a man of courage and command as well as a +skilful engineer, and soon rose high in the councils of de Poincy. Being +a Calvinist, however, he had drawn upon the governor the reproaches of +the authorities at home; and de Poincy proposed to get rid of his +presence, now become inconvenient, by sending him to subdue Tortuga. +Levasseur received his commission from de Poincy in May 1640, assembled +forty or fifty followers, all Calvinists, and sailed in a barque to +Hispaniola. He established himself at Port Margot, about five leagues +from Tortuga, and entered into friendly relations with his English +neighbours. He was but biding his time, however, and on the last day of +August 1640, on the plea that the English had ill-used some of his +followers and had seized a vessel sent by de Poincy to obtain +provisions, he made a sudden descent upon the island with only 49 men +and captured the governor. The inhabitants retired to Hispaniola, but a +few days later returned and besieged Levasseur for ten days. Finding +that they could not dislodge him, they sailed away with all their people +to the island of Providence.[98] + +Levasseur, fearing perhaps another descent of the Spaniards, lost no +time in putting the settlement in a state of defence. Although the port +of Tortuga was little more than a roadstead, it offered a good anchorage +on a bottom of fine sand, the approaches to which were easily defended +by a hill or promontory overlooking the harbour. The top of this hill, +situated 500 or 600 paces from the shore, was a level platform, and upon +it rose a steep rock some 30 feet high. Nine or ten paces from the base +of the rock gushed forth a perennial fountain of fresh water. The new +governor quickly made the most of these natural advantages. The platform +he shaped into terraces, with means for accommodating several hundred +men. On the top of the rock he built a house for himself, as well as a +magazine, and mounted a battery of two guns. The only access to the rock +was by a narrow approach, up half of which steps were cut in the stone, +the rest of the ascent being by means of an iron ladder which could +easily be raised and lowered.[99] This little fortress, in which the +governor could repose with a feeling of entire security, he +euphuistically called his "dove-cote." The dove-cote was not finished +any too soon, for the Spaniards of San Domingo in 1643 determined to +destroy this rising power in their neighbourhood, and sent against +Levasseur a force of 500 or 600 men. When they tried to land within a +half gunshot of the shore, however, they were greeted with a discharge +of artillery from the fort, which sank one of the vessels and forced the +rest to retire. The Spaniards withdrew to a place two leagues to +leeward, where they succeeded in disembarking, but fell into an ambush +laid by Levasseur, lost, according to the French accounts, between 100 +and 200 men, and fled to their ships and back to Hispaniola. With this +victory the reputation of Levasseur spread far and wide throughout the +islands, and for ten years the Spaniards made no further attempt to +dislodge the French settlement.[100] + +Planters, hunters and corsairs now came in greater numbers to Tortuga. +The hunters, using the smaller island merely as a headquarters for +supplies and a retreat in time of danger, penetrated more boldly than +ever into the interior of Hispaniola, plundering the Spanish plantations +in their path, and establishing settlements on the north shore at Port +Margot and Port de Paix. Corsairs, after cruising and robbing along the +Spanish coasts, retired to Tortuga to refit and find a market for their +spoils. Plantations of tobacco and sugar were cultivated, and although +the soil never yielded such rich returns as upon the other islands, +Dutch and French trading ships frequently resorted there for these +commodities, and especially for the skins prepared by the hunters, +bringing in exchange brandy, guns, powder and cloth. Indeed, under the +active, positive administration of Levasseur, Tortuga enjoyed a degree +of prosperity which almost rivalled that of the French settlements in +the Leeward Islands. + +The term "buccaneer," though usually applied to the corsairs who in the +seventeenth century ravaged the Spanish possessions in the West Indies +and the South Seas, should really be restricted to these cattle-hunters +of west and north-west Hispaniola. The flesh of the wild-cattle was +cured by the hunters after a fashion learnt from the Caribbee Indians. +The meat was cut into long strips, laid upon a grate or hurdle +constructed of green sticks, and dried over a slow wood fire fed with +bones and the trimmings of the hide of the animal. By this means an +excellent flavour was imparted to the meat and a fine red colour. The +place where the flesh was smoked was called by the Indians a "boucan," +and the same term, from the poverty of an undeveloped language, was +applied to the frame or grating on which the flesh was dried. In course +of time the dried meat became known as "viande boucannée," and the +hunters themselves as "boucaniers" or "buccaneers." When later +circumstances led the hunters to combine their trade in flesh and hides +with that of piracy, the name gradually lost its original significance +and acquired, in the English language at least, its modern and +better-known meaning of corsair or freebooter. The French adventurers, +however, seem always to have restricted the word "boucanier" to its +proper signification, that of a hunter and curer of meat; and when they +developed into corsairs, by a curious contrast they adopted an English +name and called themselves "filibustiers," which is merely the French +sailor's way of pronouncing the English word "freebooter."[101] + +The buccaneers or West Indian corsairs owed their origin as well as +their name to the cattle and hog-hunters of Hispaniola and Tortuga. +Doubtless many of the wilder, more restless spirits in the smaller +islands of the Windward and Leeward groups found their way into the +ranks of this piratical fraternity, or were willing at least to lend a +hand in an occasional foray against their Spanish neighbours. We know +that Jackson, in 1642, had no difficulty in gathering 700 or 800 men +from Barbadoes and St. Kitts for his ill-starred dash upon the Spanish +Main. And when the French in later years made their periodical descents +upon the Dutch stations on Tobago, Curaçao and St. Eustatius, they +always found in their island colonies of Martinique and Guadeloupe +buccaneers enough and more, eager to fill their ships. It seems to be +generally agreed, however, among the Jesuit historians of the West +Indies--and upon these writers we are almost entirely dependent for our +knowledge of the origins of buccaneering--that the corsairs had their +source and nucleus in the hunters who infested the coasts of Hispaniola. +Between the hunter and the pirate at first no impassable line was drawn. +The same person combined in himself the occupations of cow-killing and +cruising, varying the monotony of the one by occasionally trying his +hand at the other. In either case he lived at constant enmity with the +Spaniards. With the passing of time the sea attracted more and more away +from their former pursuits. Even the planters who were beginning to +filter into the new settlements found the attractions of coursing +against the Spaniards to be irresistible. Great extremes of fortune, +such as those to which the buccaneers were subject, have always +exercised an attraction over minds of an adventurous stamp. It was the +same allurement which drew the "forty-niners" to California, and in 1897 +the gold-seekers to the Canadian Klondyke. If the suffering endured was +often great, the prize to be gained was worth it. Fortune, if fickle one +day, might the next bring incredible bounty, and the buccaneers who +sweltered in a tropical sea, with starvation staring them in the face, +dreamed of rolling in the oriental wealth of a Spanish argosy. +Especially to the cattle-hunter must this temptation have been great, +for his mode of life was the very rudest. He roamed the woods by day +with his dog and apprentices, and at night slept in the open air or in a +rude shed hastily constructed of leaves and skins, which served as a +house, and which he called after the Indian name, "ajoupa" or +"barbacoa." His dress was of the simplest--coarse cloth trousers, and a +shirt which hung loosely over them, both pieces so black and saturated +with the blood and grease of slain animals that they looked as if they +had been tarred ("de toile gaudronnée").[102] A belt of undressed bull's +hide bound the shirt, and supported on one side three or four large +knives, on the other a pouch for powder and shot. A cap with a short +pointed brim extending over the eyes, rude shoes of cowhide or pigskin +made all of one piece bound over the foot, and a short, large-bore +musket, completed the hunter's grotesque outfit. Often he carried wound +about his waist a sack of netting into which he crawled at night to keep +off the pestiferous mosquitoes. With creditable regularity he and his +apprentices arose early in the morning and started on foot for the hunt, +eating no food until they had killed and skinned as many wild cattle or +swine as there were persons in the company. After having skinned the +last animal, the master-hunter broke its softest bones and made a meal +for himself and his followers on the marrow. Then each took up a hide +and returned to the boucan, where they dined on the flesh they had +killed.[103] In this fashion the hunter lived for the space of six +months or a year. Then he made a division of the skins and dried meat, +and repaired to Tortuga or one of the French settlements on the coast of +Hispaniola to recoup his stock of ammunition and spend the rest of his +gains in a wild carouse of drunkenness and debauchery. His money gone, +he returned again to the hunt. The cow-killers, as they had neither wife +nor children, commonly associated in pairs with the right of inheriting +from each other, a custom which was called "matelotage." These private +associations, however, did not prevent the property of all from being in +a measure common. Their mode of settling quarrels was the most +primitive--the duel. In other things they governed themselves by a +certain "coutumier," a medley of bizarre laws which they had originated +among themselves. At any attempt to bring them under civilised rules, +the reply always was, "telle étoit la coutume de la côte"; and that +definitely closed the matter. They based their rights thus to live upon +the fact, they said, of having passed the Tropic, where, borrowing from +the sailor's well-known superstition, they pretended to have drowned all +their former obligations.[104] Even their family names they discarded, +and the saying was in those days that one knew a man in the Isles only +when he was married. From a life of this sort, cruising against Spanish +ships, if not an unmixed good, was at least always a desirable +recreation. Every Spanish prize brought into Tortuga, moreover, was an +incitement to fresh adventure against the common foe. The "gens de la +côte," as they called themselves, ordinarily associated a score or more +together, and having taken or built themselves a canoe, put to sea with +intent to seize a Spanish barque or some other coasting vessel. With +silent paddles, under cover of darkness, they approached the +unsuspecting prey, killed the frightened sailors or drove them +overboard, and carried the prize to Tortuga. There the raiders either +dispersed to their former occupations, or gathered a larger crew of +congenial spirits and sailed away for bigger game. + +All the Jesuit historians of the West Indies, Dutertre, Labat and +Charlevoix, have left us accounts of the manners and customs of the +buccaneers. The Dutch physician, Exquemelin, who lived with the +buccaneers for several years, from 1668 to 1674, and wrote a picturesque +narrative from materials at his disposal, has also been a source for the +ideas of most later writers on the subject. It may not be out of place +to quote his description of the men whose deeds he recorded. + +"Before the Pirates go out to sea," he writes, "they give notice to +every one who goes upon the voyage of the day on which they ought +precisely to embark, intimating also to them their obligation of +bringing each man in particular so many pounds of powder and bullets as +they think necessary for that expedition. Being all come on board, they +join together in council, concerning what place they ought first to go +wherein to get provisions--especially of flesh, seeing they scarce eat +anything else. And of this the most common sort among them is pork. The +next food is tortoises, which they are accustomed to salt a little. +Sometimes they resolve to rob such or such hog-yards, wherein the +Spaniards often have a thousand heads of swine together. They come to +these places in the dark of night, and having beset the keeper's lodge, +they force him to rise, and give them as many heads as they desire, +threatening withal to kill him in case he disobeys their command or +makes any noise. Yea, these menaces are oftentimes put in execution, +without giving any quarter to the miserable swine-keepers, or any other +person that endeavours to hinder their robberies. + +"Having got provisions of flesh sufficient for their voyage, they return +to their ship. Here their allowance, twice a day to every one, is as +much as he can eat, without either weight or measure. Neither does the +steward of the vessel give any greater proportion of flesh or anything +else to the captain than to the meanest mariner. The ship being well +victualled, they call another council, to deliberate towards what place +they shall go, to seek their desperate fortunes. In this council, +likewise, they agree upon certain Articles, which are put in writing, by +way of bond or obligation, which everyone is bound to observe, and all +of them, or the chief, set their hands to it. Herein they specify, and +set down very distinctly, what sums of money each particular person +ought to have for that voyage, the fund of all the payments being the +common stock of what is gotten by the whole expedition; for otherwise it +is the same law, among these people, as with other Pirates, 'No prey, no +pay.' In the first place, therefore, they mention how much the Captain +ought to have for his ship. Next the salary of the carpenter, or +shipwright, who careened, mended and rigged the vessel. This commonly +amounts to 100 or 150 pieces of eight, being, according to the +agreement, more or less. Afterwards for provisions and victualling they +draw out of the same common stock about 200 pieces of eight. Also a +competent salary for the surgeon and his chest of medicaments, which is +usually rated at 200 or 250 pieces of eight. Lastly they stipulate in +writing what recompense or reward each one ought to have, that is either +wounded or maimed in his body, suffering the loss of any limb, by that +voyage. Thus they order for the loss of a right arm 600 pieces of eight, +or six slaves; for the loss of a left arm 500 pieces of eight, or five +slaves; for a right leg 500 pieces of eight, or five slaves; for the +left leg 400 pieces of eight, or four slaves; for an eye 100 pieces of +eight or one slave; for a finger of the hand the same reward as for the +eye. All which sums of money, as I have said before, are taken out of +the capital sum or common stock of what is got by their piracy. For a +very exact and equal dividend is made of the remainder among them all. +Yet herein they have also regard to qualities and places. Thus the +Captain, or chief Commander, is allotted five or six portions to what +the ordinary seamen have; the Master's Mate only two; and other Officers +proportionate to their employment. After whom they draw equal parts from +the highest even to the lowest mariner, the boys not being omitted. For +even these draw half a share, by reason that, when they happen to take a +better vessel than their own, it is the duty of the boys to set fire to +the ship or boat wherein they are, and then retire to the prize which +they have taken. + +"They observe among themselves very good orders. For in the prizes they +take it is severely prohibited to everyone to usurp anything in +particular to themselves. Hence all they take is equally divided, +according to what has been said before. Yea, they make a solemn oath to +each other not to abscond or conceal the least thing they find amongst +the prey. If afterwards anyone is found unfaithful, who has contravened +the said oath, immediately he is separated and turned out of the +society. Among themselves they are very civil and charitable to each +other. Insomuch that if any wants what another has, with great +liberality they give it one to another. As soon as these pirates have +taken any prize of ship or boat, the first thing they endeavour is to +set on shore the prisoners, detaining only some few for their own help +and service, to whom also they give their liberty after the space of two +or three years. They put in very frequently for refreshment at one +island or another; but more especially into those which lie on the +southern side of the Isle of Cuba. Here they careen their vessels, and +in the meanwhile some of them go to hunt, others to cruise upon the seas +in canoes, seeking their fortune. Many times they take the poor +fishermen of tortoises, and carrying them to their habitations they make +them work so long as the pirates are pleased." + +The articles which fixed the conditions under which the buccaneers +sailed were commonly called the "chasse-partie."[105] In the earlier +days of buccaneering, before the period of great leaders like Mansfield, +Morgan and Grammont, the captain was usually chosen from among their own +number. Although faithfully obeyed he was removable at will, and had +scarcely more prerogative than the ordinary sailor. After 1655 the +buccaneers generally sailed under commissions from the governors of +Jamaica or Tortuga, and then they always set aside one tenth of the +profits for the governor. But when their prizes were unauthorised they +often withdrew to some secluded coast to make a partition of the booty, +and on their return to port eased the governor's conscience with politic +gifts; and as the governor generally had little control over these +difficult people he found himself all the more obliged to dissimulate. +Although the buccaneers were called by the Spaniards "ladrones" and +"demonios," names which they richly deserved, they often gave part of +their spoil to churches in the ports which they frequented, especially +if among the booty they found any ecclesiastical ornaments or the stuffs +for making them--articles which not infrequently formed an important +part of the cargo of Spanish treasure ships. In March 1694 the Jesuit +writer, Labat, took part in a Mass at Martinique which was performed for +some French buccaneers in pursuance of a vow made when they were taking +two English vessels near Barbadoes. The French vessel and its two prizes +were anchored near the church, and fired salutes of all their cannon at +the beginning of the Mass, at the Elevation of the Host, at the +Benediction, and again at the end of the Te Deum sung after the +Mass.[106] Labat, who, although a priest, is particularly lenient +towards the crimes of the buccaneers, and who we suspect must have been +the recipient of numerous "favours" from them out of their store of +booty, relates a curious tale of the buccaneer, Captain Daniel, a tale +which has often been used by other writers, but which may bear +repetition. Daniel, in need of provisions, anchored one night off one of +the "Saintes," small islands near Dominica, and landing without +opposition, took possession of the house of the curé and of some other +inhabitants of the neighbourhood. He carried the curé and his people on +board his ship without offering them the least violence, and told them +that he merely wished to buy some wine, brandy and fowls. While these +were being gathered, Daniel requested the curé to celebrate Mass, which +the poor priest dared not refuse. So the necessary sacred vessels were +sent for and an altar improvised on the deck for the service, which they +chanted to the best of their ability. As at Martinique, the Mass was +begun by a discharge of artillery, and after the Exaudiat and prayer for +the King was closed by a loud "Vive le Roi!" from the throats of the +buccaneers. A single incident, however, somewhat disturbed the +devotions. One of the buccaneers, remaining in an indecent attitude +during the Elevation, was rebuked by the captain, and instead of heeding +the correction, replied with an impertinence and a fearful oath. Quick +as a flash Daniel whipped out his pistol and shot the buccaneer through +the head, adjuring God that he would do as much to the first who failed +in his respect to the Holy Sacrifice. The shot was fired close by the +priest, who, as we can readily imagine, was considerably agitated. "Do +not be troubled, my father," said Daniel; "he is a rascal lacking in his +duty and I have punished him to teach him better." A very efficacious +means, remarks Labat, of preventing his falling into another like +mistake. After the Mass the body of the dead man was thrown into the +sea, and the curé was recompensed for his pains by some goods out of +their stock and the present of a negro slave.[107] + +The buccaneers preferred to sail in barques, vessels of one mast and +rigged with triangular sails. This type of boat, they found, could be +more easily man[oe]uvred, was faster and sailed closer to the wind. The +boats were built of cedar, and the best were reputed to come from +Bermuda. They carried very few guns, generally from six to twelve or +fourteen, the corsairs believing that four muskets did more execution +than one cannon.[108] The buccaneers sometimes used brigantines, vessels +with two masts, the fore or mizzenmast being square-rigged with two +sails and the mainmast rigged like that of a barque. The corsair at +Martinique of whom Labat speaks was captain of a corvette, a boat like a +brigantine, except that all the sails were square-rigged. At the +beginning of a voyage the freebooters were generally so crowded in their +small vessels that they suffered much from lack of room. Moreover, they +had little protection from sun and rain, and with but a small stock of +provisions often faced starvation. It was this as much as anything which +frequently inspired them to attack without reflection any possible +prize, great or small, and to make themselves masters of it or perish in +the attempt. Their first object was to come to close quarters; and +although a single broadside would have sunk their small craft, they +man[oe]uvred so skilfully as to keep their bow always presented to the +enemy, while their musketeers cleared the enemy's decks until the time +when the captain judged it proper to board. The buccaneers rarely +attacked Spanish ships on the outward voyage from Europe to America, for +such ships were loaded with wines, cloths, grains and other commodities +for which they had little use, and which they could less readily turn +into available wealth. Outgoing vessels also carried large crews and a +considerable number of passengers. It was the homeward-bound ships, +rather, which attracted their avarice, for in such vessels the crews +were smaller and the cargo consisted of precious metals, dye-woods and +jewels, articles which the freebooters could easily dispose of to the +merchants and tavern-keepers of the ports they frequented. + +The Gulf of Honduras and the Mosquito Coast, dotted with numerous small +islands and protecting reefs, was a favourite retreat for the +buccaneers. As the clumsy Spanish war-vessels of the period found it +ticklish work threading these tortuous channels, where a sudden adverse +wind usually meant disaster, the buccaneers there felt secure from +interference; and in the creeks, lagoons and river-mouths densely +shrouded by tropical foliage, they were able to careen and refit their +vessels, divide their booty, and enjoy a respite from their sea-forays. +Thence, too, they preyed upon the Spanish ships which sailed from the +coast of Cartagena to Porto Bello, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the larger +Antilles, and were a constant menace to the great treasure galleons of +the Terra-Firma fleet. The English settlement on the island of +Providence, lying as it did off the Nicaragua coast and in the very +track of Spanish commerce in those regions, was, until captured in 1641, +a source of great fear to Spanish mariners; and when in 1642 some +English occupied the island of Roatan, near Truxillo, the governor of +Cuba and the Presidents of the Audiencias at Gautemala and San Domingo +jointly equipped an expedition of four vessels under D. Francisco de +Villalba y Toledo, which drove out the intruders.[109] Closer to the +buccaneering headquarters in Tortuga (and later in Jamaica) were the +straits separating the great West Indian islands:--the Yucatan Channel +at the western end of Cuba, the passage between Cuba and Hispaniola in +the east, and the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Porto Rico. In +these regions the corsairs waited to pick up stray Spanish merchantmen, +and watched for the coming of the galleons or the Flota.[110] When the +buccaneers returned from their cruises they generally squandered in a +few days, in the taverns of the towns which they frequented, the wealth +which had cost them such peril and labour. Some of these outlaws, says +Exquemelin, would spend 2000 or 3000 pieces of eight[111] in one night, +not leaving themselves a good shirt to wear on their backs in the +morning. "My own master," he continues, "would buy, on like occasions, a +whole pipe of wine, and placing it in the street would force every one +that passed by to drink with him; threatening also to pistol them in +case they would not do it. At other times he would do the same with +barrels of ale or beer. And, very often, with both in his hands, he +would throw these liquors about the streets, and wet the clothes of such +as walked by, without regarding whether he spoiled their apparel or not, +were they men or women." The taverns and ale-houses always welcomed the +arrival of these dissolute corsairs; and although they extended long +credits, they also at times sold as indentured servants those who had +run too deeply into debt, as happened in Jamaica to this same patron or +master of whom Exquemelin wrote. + +Until 1640 buccaneering in the West Indies was more or less accidental, +occasional, in character. In the second half of the century, however, +the numbers of the freebooters greatly increased, and men entirely +deserted their former occupations for the excitement and big profits of +the "course." There were several reasons for this increase in the +popularity of buccaneering. The English adventurers in Hispaniola had +lost their profession of hunting very early, for with the coming of +Levasseur the French had gradually elbowed them out of the island, and +compelled them either to retire to the Lesser Antilles or to prey upon +their Spanish neighbours. But the French themselves were within the next +twenty years driven to the same expedient. The Spanish colonists on +Hispaniola, unable to keep the French from the island, at last foolishly +resolved, according to Charlevoix's account, to remove the principal +attraction by destroying all the wild cattle. If the trade with French +vessels and the barter of hides for brandy could be arrested, the +hunters would be driven from the woods by starvation. This policy, +together with the wasteful methods pursued by the hunters, caused a +rapid decrease in the number of cattle. The Spaniards, however, did not +dream of the consequences of their action. Many of the French, forced to +seek another occupation, naturally fell into the way of buccaneering. +The hunters of cattle became hunters of Spaniards, and the sea became +the savanna on which they sought their game. Exquemelin tells us that +when he arrived at the island there were scarcely three hundred engaged +in hunting, and even these found their livelihood precarious. It was +from this time forward to the end of the century that the buccaneers +played so important a _rôle_ on the stage of West Indian history. + +Another source of recruits for the freebooters were the indentured +servants or _engagés_. We hear a great deal of the barbarity with which +West Indian planters and hunters in the seventeenth century treated +their servants, and we may well believe that many of the latter, finding +their situation unendurable, ran away from their plantations or ajoupas +to join the crew of a chance corsair hovering in the neighbourhood. The +hunters' life, as we have seen, was not one of revelry and ease. On the +one side were all the insidious dangers lurking in a wild, tropical +forest; on the other, the relentless hostility of the Spaniards. The +environment of the hunters made them rough and cruel, and for many an +_engagé_ his three years of servitude must have been a veritable +purgatory. The servants of the planters were in no better position. +Decoyed from Norman and Breton towns and villages by the loud-sounding +promises of sea-captains and West Indian agents, they came to seek an El +Dorado, and often found only despair and death. The want of sufficient +negroes led men to resort to any artifice in order to obtain assistance +in cultivating the sugar-cane and tobacco. The apprentices sent from +Europe were generally bound out in the French Antilles for eighteen +months or three years, among the English for seven years. They were +often resold in the interim, and sometimes served ten or twelve years +before they regained their freedom. They were veritable convicts, often +more ill-treated than the slaves with whom they worked side by side, for +their lives, after the expiration of their term of service, were of no +consequence to their masters. Many of these apprentices, of good birth +and tender education, were unable to endure the debilitating climate and +hard labour, let alone the cruelty of their employers. Exquemelin, +himself originally an _engagé_, gives a most piteous description of +their sufferings. He was sold to the Lieutenant-Governor of Tortuga, who +treated him with great severity and refused to take less than 300 pieces +of eight for his freedom. Falling ill through vexation and despair, he +passed into the hands of a surgeon, who proved kind to him and finally +gave him his liberty for 100 pieces of eight, to be paid after his first +buccaneering voyage.[112] + +We left Levasseur governor in Tortuga after the abortive Spanish attack +of 1643. Finding his personal ascendancy so complete over the rude +natures about him, Levasseur, like many a greater man in similar +circumstances, lost his sense of the rights of others. His character +changed, he became suspicious and intolerant, and the settlers +complained bitterly of his cruelty and overbearing temper. Having come +as the leader of a band of Huguenots, he forbade the Roman Catholics to +hold services on the island, burnt their chapel and turned out their +priest. He placed heavy imposts on trade, and soon amassed a +considerable fortune.[113] In his eyrie upon the rock fortress, he is +said to have kept for his enemies a cage of iron, in which the prisoner +could neither stand nor lie down, and which Levasseur, with grim humour, +called his "little hell." A dungeon in his castle he termed in like +fashion his "purgatory." All these stories, however, are reported by the +Jesuits, his natural foes, and must be taken with a grain of salt. De +Poincy, who himself ruled with despotic authority and was guilty of +similar cruelties, would have turned a deaf ear to the denunciations +against his lieutenant, had not his jealousy been aroused by the +suspicion that Levasseur intended to declare himself an independent +prince.[114] So the governor-general, already in bad odour at court for +having given Levasseur means of establishing a little Geneva in Tortuga, +began to disavow him to the authorities at home. He also sent his +nephew, M. de Lonvilliers, to Tortuga, on the pretext of complimenting +Levasseur on his victory over the Spaniards, but really to endeavour to +entice him back to St. Kitts. Levasseur, subtle and penetrating, +skilfully avoided the trap, and Lonvilliers returned to St. Kitts alone. + +Charlevoix relates an amusing instance of the governor's stubborn +resistance to de Poincy's authority. A silver statue of the Virgin, +captured by some buccaneer from a Spanish ship, had been appropriated by +Levasseur, and de Poincy, desiring to decorate his chapel with it, wrote +to him demanding the statue, and observing that a Protestant had no use +for such an object. Levasseur, however, replied that the Protestants had +a great adoration for silver virgins, and that Catholics being "trop +spirituels pour tenir à la matière," he was sending him, instead, a +madonna of painted wood. + +After a tenure of power for twelve years, Levasseur came to the end of +his tether. While de Poincy was resolving upon an expedition to oust him +from authority, two adventurers named Martin and Thibault, whom +Levasseur had adopted as his heirs, and with whom, it is said, he had +quarrelled over a mistress, shot him as he was descending from the fort +to the shore, and completed the murder by a poniard's thrust. They then +seized the government without any opposition from the inhabitants.[115] +Meanwhile there had arrived at St. Kitts the Chevalier de Fontenay, a +soldier of fortune who had distinguished himself against the Turks and +was attracted by the gleam of Spanish gold. He it was whom de Poincy +chose as the man to succeed Levasseur. The opportunity for action was +eagerly accepted by de Fontenay, but the project was kept secret, for if +Levasseur had got wind of it all the forces in St. Kitts could not have +dislodged him. Volunteers were raised on the pretext of a privateering +expedition to the coasts of Cartagena, and to complete the deception de +Fontenay actually sailed for the Main and captured several prizes. The +rendezvous was on the coast of Hispaniola, where de Fontenay was +eventually joined by de Poincy's nephew, M. de Treval, with another +frigate and materials for a siege. Learning of the murder of Levasseur, +the invaders at once sailed for Tortuga and landed several hundred men +at the spot where the Spaniards had formerly been repulsed. The two +assassins, finding the inhabitants indisposed to support them, +capitulated to de Fontenay on receiving pardon for their crime and the +peaceful possession of their property. Catholicism was restored, +commerce was patronized and buccaneers encouraged to use the port. Two +stone bastions were raised on the platform and more guns were +mounted.[116] De Fontenay himself was the first to bear the official +title of "Governor for the King of Tortuga and the Coast of S. Domingo." + +The new governor was not fated to enjoy his success for any length of +time. The President of S. Domingo, Don Juan Francisco de Montemayor, +with orders from the King of Spain, was preparing for another effort to +get rid of his troublesome neighbour, and in November 1653 sent an +expedition of five vessels and 400 infantry against the French, under +command of Don Gabriel Roxas de Valle-Figueroa. The ships were separated +by a storm, two ran aground and a third was lost, so that only the +"Capitana" and "Almirante" reached Tortuga on 10th January. Being +greeted with a rough fire from the platform and fort as they approached +the harbour, they dropped anchor a league to leeward and landed with +little opposition. After nine days of fighting and siege of the fort, de +Fontenay capitulated with the honours of war.[117] According to the +French account, the Spaniards, lashing their cannon to rough frames of +wood, dragged a battery of eight or ten guns to the top of some hills +commanding the fort, and began a furious bombardment. Several sorties of +the besieged to capture the battery were unsuccessful. The inhabitants +began to tire of fighting, and de Fontenay, discovering some secret +negotiations with the enemy, was compelled to sue for terms. With +incredible exertions, two half-scuttled ships in the harbour were fitted +up and provisioned within three days, and upon them the French sailed +for Port Margot.[118] The Spaniards claimed that the booty would have +been considerable but for some Dutch trading-ships in the harbour which +conveyed all the valuables from the island. They burned the settlements, +however, carried away with them some guns, munitions of war and slaves, +and this time taking the precaution to leave behind a garrison of 150 +men, sailed for Hispaniola. Fearing that the French might join forces +with the buccaneers and attack their small squadron on the way back, +they retained de Fontenay's brother as a hostage until they reached the +city of San Domingo. De Fontenay, indeed, after his brother's release, +did determine to try and recover the island. Only 130 of his men stood +by him, the rest deserting to join the buccaneers in western Hispaniola. +While he was careening his ship at Port Margot, however, a Dutch trader +arrived with commodities for Tortuga, and learning of the disaster, +offered him aid with men and supplies. A descent was made upon the +smaller island, and the Spaniards were besieged for twenty days, but +after several encounters they compelled the French to withdraw. De +Fontenay, with only thirty companions, sailed for Europe, was wrecked +among the Azores, and eventually reached France, only to die a short +time afterwards. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 83: Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9334, f. 48.] + +[Footnote 84: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, p. 130. This company had been +organised under the name of "The Governor and Company of Adventurers for +the Plantations of the Islands of Providence, Henrietta and the adjacent +islands, between 10 and 20 degrees of north latitude and 290 and 310 +degrees of longitude." The patent of incorporation is dated 4th December +1630 (_ibid._, p. 123).] + +[Footnote 85: Ibid., p. 131.] + +[Footnote 86: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 87: This identity was first pointed out by Pierre de Vaissière +in his recent book: "Saint Domingue (1629-1789). La societé et la vie +créoles sous l'ancien régime," Paris, 1909, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 88: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, pp. 131-33.] + +[Footnote 89: Ibid., pp. 174, 175.] + +[Footnote 90: This was probably the same man as the "Don Juan de Morfa +Geraldino" who was admiral of the fleet which attacked Tortuga in 1654. +_Cf._ Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 35.] + +[Footnote 91: In 1642 Rui Fernandez de Fuemayor was governor and +captain-general of the province of Venezuela. _Cf._ Doro, _op. cit._, +iv. p. 341; note 2.] + +[Footnote 92: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,977, f. 505. According to the +minutes of the Providence Company, a certain Mr. Perry, newly arrived +from Association, gave information on 19th March 1635 that the island +had been surprised by the Spaniards (C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, p. 200). +This news was confirmed by a Mrs. Filby at another meeting of the +company on 10th April, when Capt. Wormeley, "by reason of his cowardice +and negligence in losing the island," was formally deprived of his +office as governor and banished from the colony (_ibid._, p. 201).] + +[Footnote 93: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,977, pp. 222-23.] + +[Footnote 94: Ibid., pp. 226-27, 235.] + +[Footnote 95: Ibid., pp. 226, 233, 235-37, 244.] + +[Footnote 96: Charlevoix: Histoire de. ... Saint Domingue, liv. vii. pp. +9-10. The story is repeated by Duro (_op. cit._, v. p. 34), who says +that the Spaniards were led by "el general D. Carlos Ibarra."] + +[Footnote 97: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. p. 10; Bibl. Nat. Nouv. +Acq., 9334, p. 48 _ff._] + +[Footnote 98: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 10-12; Vaissière., +_op. cit._, Appendix I ("Mémoire envoyé aux seigneurs de la Compagnie +des Isles de l'Amérique par M. de Poincy, le 15 Novembre 1640"). + +According to the records of the Providence Company, Tortuga in 1640 had +300 inhabitants. A Captain Fload, who had been governor, was then in +London to clear himself of charges preferred against him by the +planters, while a Captain James was exercising authority as "President" +in the island. (C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660. pp. 313, 314.) Fload was +probably the "English captain" referred to in de Poincy's memoir. His +oppressive rule seems to have been felt as well by the English as by the +French.] + +[Footnote 99: Dutertre: Histoire générale des Antilles, tom. i. p. 171.] + +[Footnote 100: Charlevoix: _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 12-13.] + +[Footnote 101: In this monograph, by "buccaneers" are always meant the +corsairs and filibusters, and not the cattle and hog killers of +Hispaniola and Tortuga.] + +[Footnote 102: Labat: Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amerique, _ed._ +1742, tom. vii. p. 233.] + +[Footnote 103: Le Pers, printed in Margry, _op. cit._] + +[Footnote 104: Le Pers, printed in Margry, _op. cit._] + +[Footnote 105: Dampier writes that "Privateers are not obliged to any +ship, but free to go ashore where they please, or to go into any other +ship that will entertain them, only paying for their provision." +(Edition 1906, i. p. 61).] + +[Footnote 106: Labat, _op. cit._, tom. i. ch. 9.] + +[Footnote 107: Labat, _op. cit._, tom. vii. ch. 17.] + +[Footnote 108: Ibid., tom. ii. ch. 17.] + +[Footnote 109: Gibbs: British Honduras, p. 25.] + +[Footnote 110: A Spaniard, writing from S. Domingo in 1635, complains of +an English buccaneer settlement at Samana (on the north coast of +Hispaniola, near the Mona Passage), where they grew tobacco, and preyed +on the ships sailing from Cartagena and S. Domingo for Spain. (Add. +MSS., 13,977, f. 508.)] + +[Footnote 111: A piece of eight was worth in Jamaica from 4s. 6d. to +5s.] + +[Footnote 112: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part I. pp. 21-22.] + +[Footnote 113: Dutertre, _op. cit._, tom. i. ch. vi.] + +[Footnote 114: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. p. 16.] + +[Footnote 115: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 17-18.] + +[Footnote 116: According to a Spanish MS., there were in Tortuga in 1653 +700 French inhabitants, more than 200 negroes, and 250 Indians with +their wives and children. The negroes and Indians were all slaves; the +former seized on the coasts of Havana and Cartagena, the latter brought +over from Yucatan. In the harbour the platform had fourteen cannon, and +in the fort above were forty-six cannon, many of them of bronze (Add. +MSS., 13,992, f. 499 _ff._). The report of the amount of ordnance is +doubtless an exaggeration.] + +[Footnote 117: Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.] + +[Footnote 118: According to Dutertre, one vessel was commanded by the +assassins, Martin and Thibault, and contained the women and children. +The latter, when provisions ran low, were marooned on one of the +Caymans, north-west of Jamaica, where they would have perished had not a +Dutch ship found and rescued them. Martin and Thibault were never heard +of again.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CONQUEST OF JAMAICA + + +The capture of Jamaica by the expedition sent out by Cromwell in 1655 +was the blundering beginning of a new era in West Indian history. It was +the first permanent annexation by another European power of an integral +part of Spanish America. Before 1655 the island had already been twice +visited by English forces. The first occasion was in January 1597, when +Sir Anthony Shirley, with little opposition, took and plundered St. Jago +de la Vega. The second was in 1643, when William Jackson repeated the +same exploit with 500 men from the Windward Islands. Cromwell's +expedition, consisting of 2500 men and a considerable fleet, set sail +from England in December 1654, with the secret object of "gaining an +interest" in that part of the West Indies in possession of the +Spaniards. Admiral Penn commanded the fleet, and General Venables the +land forces.[119] The expedition reached Barbadoes at the end of +January, where some 4000 additional troops were raised, besides about +1200 from Nevis, St. Kitts, and neighbouring islands. The commanders +having resolved to direct their first attempt against Hispaniola, on +13th April a landing was effected at a point to the west of San Domingo, +and the army, suffering terribly from a tropical sun and lack of water, +marched thirty miles through woods and savannahs to attack the city. The +English received two shameful defeats from a handful of Spaniards on +17th and 25th April, and General Venables, complaining loudly of the +cowardice of his men and of Admiral Penn's failure to co-operate with +him, finally gave up the attempt and sailed for Jamaica. On 11th May, in +the splendid harbour on which Kingston now stands, the English fleet +dropped anchor. Three small forts on the western side were battered by +the guns from the ships, and as soon as the troops began to land the +garrisons evacuated their posts. St. Jago, six miles inland, was +occupied next day. The terms offered by Venables to the Spaniards (the +same as those exacted from the English settlers on Providence Island in +1641--emigration within ten days on pain of death, and forfeiture of all +their property) were accepted on the 17th; but the Spaniards were soon +discovered to have entered into negotiations merely to gain time and +retire with their families and goods to the woods and mountains, whence +they continued their resistance. Meanwhile the army, wretchedly equipped +with provisions and other necessities, was decimated by sickness. On the +19th two long-expected store-ships arrived, but the supplies brought by +them were limited, and an appeal for assistance was sent to New England. +Admiral Penn, disgusted with the fiasco in Hispaniola and on bad terms +with Venables, sailed for England with part of his fleet on 25th June; +and Venables, so ill that his life was despaired of, and also anxious to +clear himself of the responsibility for the initial failure of the +expedition, followed in the "Marston Moor" nine days later. On 20th +September both commanders appeared before the Council of State to answer +the charge of having deserted their posts, and together they shared the +disgrace of a month in the Tower.[120] + +The army of General Venables was composed of very inferior and +undisciplined troops, mostly the rejected of English regiments or the +offscourings of the West Indian colonies; yet the chief reasons for the +miscarriage before San Domingo were the failure of Venables to command +the confidence of his officers and men, his inexcusable errors in the +management of the attack, and the lack of cordial co-operation between +him and the Admiral. The difficulties with which he had to struggle +were, of course, very great. On the other hand, he seems to have been +deficient both in strength of character and in military capacity; and +his ill-health made still more difficult a task for which he was +fundamentally incompetent. The comparative failure of this, Cromwell's +pet enterprise, was a bitter blow to the Protector. For a whole day he +shut himself up in his room, brooding over the disaster for which he, +more than any other, was responsible. He had aimed not merely to plant +one more colony in America, but to make himself master of such parts of +the West Indian islands and Spanish Main as would enable him to dominate +the route of the Spanish-American treasure fleets. To this end Jamaica +contributed few advantages beyond those possessed by Barbadoes and St. +Kitts, and it was too early for him to realize that island for island +Jamaica was much more suitable than Hispaniola as the seat of an English +colony.[121] + +Religious and economic motives form the key to Cromwell's foreign +policy, and it is difficult to discover which, the religious or the +economic, was uppermost in his mind when he planned this expedition. He +inherited from the Puritans of Elizabeth's time the traditional +religious hatred of Spain as the bulwark of Rome, and in his mind as in +theirs the overthrow of the Spaniards in the West Indies was a blow at +antichrist and an extension of the true religion. The religious ends of +the expedition were fully impressed upon Venables and his successors in +Jamaica.[122] Second only, however, to Oliver's desire to protect "the +people of God," was his ambition to extend England's empire beyond the +seas. He desired the unquestioned supremacy of England over the other +nations of Europe, and that supremacy, as he probably foresaw, was to be +commercial and colonial. Since the discovery of America the world's +commerce had enormously increased, and its control brought with it +national power. America had become the treasure-house of Europe. If +England was to be set at the head of the world's commerce and +navigation, she must break through Spain's monopoly of the Indies and +gain a control in Spanish America. San Domingo was to be but a +preliminary step, after which the rest of the Spanish dominions in the +New World would be gradually absorbed.[123] + +The immediate excuse for the attack on Hispaniola and Jamaica was the +Spaniards' practice of seizing English ships and ill-treating English +crews merely because they were found in some part of the Caribbean Sea, +and even though bound for a plantation actually in possession of English +colonists. It was the old question of effective occupation _versus_ +papal donation, and both Cromwell and Venables convinced themselves that +Spanish assaults in the past on English ships and colonies supplied a +sufficient _casus belli_.[124] There was no justification, however, for +a secret attack upon Spain. She had been the first to recognize the +young republic, and was willing and even anxious to league herself with +England. There had been actual negotiations for an alliance, and +Cromwell's offers, though rejected, had never been really withdrawn. +Without a declaration of war or formal notice of any sort, a fleet was +fitted out and sent in utmost secrecy to fall unawares upon the colonies +of a friendly nation. The whole aspect of the exploit was Elizabethan. +It was inspired by Drake and Raleigh, a reversion to the Elizabethan +gold-hunt. It was the first of the great buccaneering expeditions.[125] + +Cromwell was doubtless influenced, too, by the representations of Thomas +Gage. Gage was an Englishman who had joined the Dominicans and had been +sent by his Order out to Spanish America. In 1641 he returned to +England, announced his conversion to Protestantism, took the side of +Parliament and became a minister. His experiences in the West Indies and +Mexico he published in 1648 under the name of "The English-American, or +a New Survey of the West Indies," a most entertaining book, which aimed +to arouse Englishmen against Romish "idolatries," to show how valuable +the Spanish-American provinces might be to England in trade and bullion +and how easily they might be seized. In the summer of 1654, moreover, +Gage had laid before the Protector a memorial in which he recapitulated +the conclusions of his book, assuring Cromwell that the Spanish colonies +were sparsely peopled and that the few whites were unwarlike and +scantily provided with arms and ammunition. He asserted that the +conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba would be a matter of no difficulty, and +that even Central America was too weak to oppose a long resistance.[126] +All this was true, and had Cromwell but sent a respectable force under +an efficient leader the result would have been different. The exploits +of the buccaneers a few years later proved it. + +It was fortunate, considering the distracted state of affairs in Jamaica +in 1655-56, that the Spaniards were in no condition to attempt to regain +the island. Cuba, the nearest Spanish territory to Jamaica, was being +ravaged by the most terrible pestilence known there in years, and the +inhabitants, alarmed for their own safety, instead of trying to +dispossess the English, were busy providing for the defence of their own +coasts.[127] In 1657, however, some troops under command of the old +Spanish governor of Jamaica, D. Christopher Sasi Arnoldo, crossed from +St. Jago de Cuba and entrenched themselves on the northern shore as the +advance post of a greater force expected from the mainland. Papers of +instructions relating to the enterprise were intercepted by Colonel +Doyley, then acting-governor of Jamaica; and he with 500 picked men +embarked for the north side, attacked the Spaniards in their +entrenchments and utterly routed them.[128] The next year about 1000 +men, the long-expected corps of regular Spanish infantry, landed and +erected a fort at Rio Nuevo. Doyley, displaying the same energy, set out +again on 11th June with 750 men, landed under fire on the 22nd, and next +day captured the fort in a brilliant attack in which about 300 Spaniards +were killed and 100 more, with many officers and flags, captured. The +English lost about sixty in killed and wounded.[129] After the failure +of a similar, though weaker, attempt in 1660, the Spaniards despaired of +regaining Jamaica, and most of those still upon the island embraced the +first opportunity to retire to Cuba and other Spanish settlements. + +As colonists the troops in Jamaica proved to be very discouraging +material, and the army was soon in a wretched state. The officers and +soldiers plundered and mutinied instead of working and planting. Their +wastefulness led to scarcity of food, and scarcity of food brought +disease and death.[139] They wished to force the Protector to recall +them, or to employ them in assaulting the opulent Spanish towns on the +Main, an occupation far more lucrative than that of planting corn and +provisions for sustenance. Cromwell, however, set himself to develop and +strengthen his new colony. He issued a proclamation encouraging trade +and settlement in the island by exempting the inhabitants from taxes, +and the Council voted that 1000 young men and an equal number of girls +be shipped over from Ireland. The Scotch government was instructed to +apprehend and transport idlers and vagabonds, and commissioners were +sent into New England and to the Windward and Leeward Islands to try and +attract settlers.[131] Bermudians, Jews, Quakers from Barbadoes and +criminals from Newgate, helped to swell the population of the new +colony, and in 1658 the island is said to have contained 4500 whites, +besides 1500 or more negro slaves.[132] + +To dominate the Spanish trade routes was one of the principal objects of +English policy in the West Indies. This purpose is reflected in all of +Cromwell's instructions to the leaders of the Jamaican design, and it +appears again in his instructions of 10th October 1655 to Major-General +Fortescue and Vice-Admiral Goodson. Fortescue was given power and +authority to land men upon territory claimed by the Spaniards, to take +their forts, castles and places of strength, and to pursue, kill and +destroy all who opposed him. The Vice-Admiral was to assist him with his +sea-forces, and to use his best endeavours to seize all ships belonging +to the King of Spain or his subjects in America.[133] The soldiers, as +has been said, were more eager to fight the Spaniards than to plant, and +opportunities were soon given them to try their hand. Admiral Penn had +left twelve ships under Goodson's charge, and of these, six were at sea +picking up a few scattered Spanish prizes which helped to pay for the +victuals supplied out of New England.[134] Goodson, however, was after +larger prey, no less than the galleons or a Spanish town upon the +mainland. He did not know where the galleons were, but at the end of +July he seems to have been lying with eight vessels before Cartagena and +Porto Bello, and on 22nd November he sent Captain Blake with nine ships +to the same coast to intercept all vessels going thither from Spain or +elsewhere. The fleet was broken up by foul weather, however, and part +returned on 14th December to refit, leaving a few small frigates to lie +in wait for some merchantmen reported to be in that region.[135] The +first town on the Main to feel the presence of this new power in the +Indies was Santa Marta, close to Cartagena on the shores of what is now +the U.S. of Columbia. In the latter part of October, just a month before +the departure of Blake, Goodson sailed with a fleet of eight vessels to +ravage the Spanish coasts. According to one account his original design +had been against Rio de la Hacha near the pearl fisheries, "but having +missed his aim" he sailed for Santa Marta. He landed 400 sailors and +soldiers under the protection of his guns, took and demolished the two +forts which barred his way, and entered the town. Finding that the +inhabitants had already fled with as much of their belongings as they +could carry, he pursued them some twelve miles up into the country; and +on his return plundered and burnt their houses, embarked with thirty +pieces of cannon and other booty, and sailed for Jamaica.[136] It was a +gallant performance with a handful of men, but the profits were much +less than had been expected. It had been agreed that the seamen and +soldiers should receive half the spoil, but on counting the proceeds it +was found that their share amounted to no more than £400, to balance +which the State took the thirty pieces of ordnance and some powder, +shot, hides, salt and Indian corn.[137] Sedgwick wrote to Thurloe that +"reckoning all got there on the State's share, it did not pay for the +powder and shot spent in that service."[138] Sedgwick was one of the +civil commissioners appointed for the government of Jamaica. A brave, +pious soldier with a long experience and honourable military record in +the Massachusetts colony, he did not approve of this type of warfare +against the Spaniards. "This kind of marooning cruising West India trade +of plundering and burning towns," he writes, "though it hath been long +practised in these parts, yet is not honourable for a princely navy, +neither was it, I think, the work designed, though perhaps it may be +tolerated at present." If Cromwell was to accomplish his original +purpose of blocking up the Spanish treasure route, he wrote again, +permanent foothold must be gained in some important Spanish fortress, +either Cartagena or Havana, places strongly garrisoned, however, and +requiring for their reduction a considerable army and fleet, such as +Jamaica did not then possess. But to waste and burn towns of inferior +rank without retaining them merely dragged on the war indefinitely and +effected little advantage or profit to anybody.[139] Captain Nuberry +visited Santa Marta several weeks after Goodson's descent, and, going on +shore, found that about a hundred people had made bold to return and +rebuild their devastated homes. Upon sight of the English the poor +people again fled incontinently to the woods, and Nuberry and his men +destroyed their houses a second time.[140] + +On 5th April 1656 Goodson, with ten of his best ships, set sail again +and steered eastward along the coast of Hispaniola as far as Alta Vela, +hoping to meet with some Spanish ships reported in that region. +Encountering none, he stood for the Main, and landed on 4th May with +about 450 men at Rio de la Hacha. The story of the exploit is merely a +repetition of what happened at Santa Marta. The people had sight of the +English fleet six hours before it could drop anchor, and fled from the +town to the hills and surrounding woods. Only twelve men were left +behind to hold the fort, which the English stormed and took within half +an hour. Four large brass cannon were carried to the ships and the fort +partly demolished. The Spaniards pretended to parley for the ransom of +their town, but when after a day's delay they gave no sign of complying +with the admiral's demands, he burned the place on 8th May and sailed +away.[141] Goodson called again at Santa Marta on the 11th to get water, +and on the 14th stood before Cartagena to view the harbour. Leaving +three vessels to ply there, he returned to Jamaica, bringing back with +him only two small prizes, one laden with wine, the other with cocoa. + +The seamen of the fleet, however, were restless and eager for further +enterprises of this nature, and Goodson by the middle of June had +fourteen of his vessels lying off the Cuban coast near Cape S. Antonio +in wait for the galleons or the Flota, both of which fleets were then +expected at Havana. His ambition to repeat the achievement of Piet Heyn +was fated never to be realised. The fleet of Terra-Firma, he soon +learned, had sailed into Havana on 15th May, and on 13th June, three +days before his arrival on that coast, had departed for Spain.[142] +Meanwhile, one of his own vessels, the "Arms of Holland," was blown up, +with the loss of all on board but three men and the captain, and two +other ships were disabled. Five of the fleet returned to England on 23rd +August, and with the rest Goodson remained on the Cuban coast until the +end of the month, watching in vain for the fleet from Vera Cruz which +never sailed.[143] + +Colonel Edward Doyley, the officer who so promptly defeated the attempts +of the Spaniards in 1657-58 to re-conquer Jamaica, was now governor of +the island. He had sailed with the expedition to the West Indies as +lieutenant-colonel in the regiment of General Venables, and on the death +of Major-General Fortescue in November 1655 had been chosen by +Cromwell's commissioners in Jamaica as commander-in-chief of the land +forces. In May 1656 he was superseded by Robert Sedgwick, but the latter +died within a few days, and Doyley petitioned the Protector to appoint +him to the post. William Brayne, however, arrived from England in +December 1656 to take chief command; and when he, like his two +predecessors, was stricken down by disease nine months later, the place +devolved permanently upon Doyley. Doyley was a very efficient governor, +and although he has been accused of showing little regard or respect for +planting and trade, the charge appears to be unjust.[144] He firmly +maintained order among men disheartened and averse to settlement, and at +the end of his service delivered up the colony a comparatively +well-ordered and thriving community. He was confirmed in his post by +Charles II. at the Restoration, but superseded by Lord Windsor in August +1661. Doyley's claim to distinction rests mainly upon his vigorous +policy against the Spaniards, not only in defending Jamaica, but by +encouraging privateers and carrying the war into the enemies' quarters. +In July 1658, on learning from some prisoners that the galleons were in +Porto Bello awaiting the plate from Panama, Doyley embarked 300 men on a +fleet of five vessels and sent it to lie in an obscure bay between that +port and Cartagena to intercept the Spanish ships. On 20th October the +galleons were espied, twenty-nine vessels in all, fifteen galleons and +fourteen stout merchantmen. Unfortunately, all the English vessels +except the "Hector" and the "Marston Moor" were at that moment absent to +obtain fresh water. Those two alone could do nothing, but passing +helplessly through the Spaniards, hung on their rear and tried without +success to scatter them. The English fleet later attacked and burnt the +town of Tolu on the Main, capturing two Spanish ships in the road; and +afterwards paid another visit to the unfortunate Santa Marta, where they +remained three days, marching several miles into the country and burning +and destroying everything in their path.[145] + +On 23rd April 1659, however, there returned to Port Royal another +expedition whose success realised the wildest dreams of avarice. Three +frigates under command of Captain Christopher Myngs,[146] with 300 +soldiers on board, had been sent by Doyley to harry the South American +coast. They first entered and destroyed Cumana, and then ranging along +the coast westward, landed again at Puerto Cabello and at Coro. At the +latter town they followed the inhabitants into the woods, where besides +other plunder they came upon twenty-two chests of royal treasure +intended for the King of Spain, each chest containing 400 pounds of +silver.[147] Embarking this money and other spoil in the shape of plate, +jewels and cocoa, they returned to Port Royal with the richest prize +that ever entered Jamaica. The whole pillage was estimated at between +£200,000 and £300,000.[148] The abundance of new wealth introduced into +Jamaica did much to raise the spirits of the colonists, and set the +island well upon the road to more prosperous times. The sequel to this +brilliant exploit, however, was in some ways unfortunate. Disputes were +engendered between the officers of the expedition and the governor and +other authorities on shore over the disposal of the booty, and in the +early part of June 1659 Captain Myngs was sent home in the "Marston +Moor," suspended for disobeying orders and plundering the hold of one of +the prizes to the value of 12,000 pieces of eight. Myngs was an active, +intrepid commander, but apparently avaricious and impatient of control. +He seems to have endeavoured to divert most of the prize money into the +pockets of his officers and men, by disposing of the booty on his own +initiative before giving a strict account of it to the governor or +steward-general of the island. Doyley writes that there was a constant +market aboard the "Marston Moor," and that Myngs and his officers, +alleging it to be customary to break and plunder the holds, permitted +the twenty-two chests of the King of Spain's silver to be divided among +the men without any provision whatever for the claims of the State.[149] +There was also some friction over the disposal of six Dutch prizes which +Doyley had picked up for illegal trading at Barbadoes on his way out +from England. These, too, had been plundered before they reached +Jamaica, and when Myngs found that there was no power in the colony to +try and condemn ships taken by virtue of the Navigation Laws, it only +added fuel to his dissatisfaction. When Myngs reached England he lodged +counter-complaints against Governor Doyley, Burough, the +steward-general, and Vice-Admiral Goodson, alleging that they received +more than their share of the prize money; and a war of mutual +recrimination followed.[150] Amid the distractions of the Restoration, +however, little seems ever to have been made of the matter in England. +The insubordination of officers in 1659-60 was a constant source of +difficulty and impediment to the governor in his efforts to establish +peace and order in the colony. In England nobody was sure where the +powers of government actually resided. As Burough wrote from Jamaica on +19th January 1660, "We are here just like you at home; when we heard of +the Lord-Protector's death we proclaimed his son, and when we heard of +his being turned out we proclaimed a Parliament and now own a Committee +of safety."[151] The effect of this uncertainty was bound to be +prejudicial in Jamaica, a new colony filled with adventurers, for it +loosened the reins of authority and encouraged lawless spirits to set +the governor at defiance. + +On 8th May 1660 Charles II. was proclaimed King of England, and entered +London on 29th May. The war which Cromwell had begun with Spain was +essentially a war of the Commonwealth. The Spanish court was therefore +on friendly terms with the exiled prince, and when he returned into +possession of his kingdom a cessation of hostilities with Spain +naturally followed. Charles wrote a note to Don Luis de Haro on 2nd June +1660, proposing an armistice in Europe and America which was to lead to +a permanent peace and a re-establishment of commercial relations between +the two kingdoms.[152] At the same time Sir Henry Bennett, the English +resident in Madrid, made similar proposals to the Spanish king. A +favourable answer was received in July, and the cessation of arms, +including a revival of the treaty of 1630 was proclaimed on 10th-20th +September 1660. Preliminary negotiations for a new treaty were entered +upon at Madrid, but the marriage of Charles to Catherine of Braganza in +1662, and the consequent alliance with Portugal, with whom Spain was +then at war, put a damper upon all such designs. The armistice with +Spain was not published in Jamaica until 5th February of the following +year. On 4th February Colonel Doyley received from the governor of St. +Jago de Cuba a letter enclosing an order from Sir Henry Bennett for the +cessation of arms, and this order Doyley immediately made public.[153] +About thirty English prisoners were also returned by the Spaniards with +the letter. Doyley was confirmed in his command of Jamaica by Charles +II., but his commission was not issued till 8th February 1661.[154] He +was very desirous, however, of returning to England to look after his +private affairs, and on 2nd August another commission was issued to Lord +Windsor, appointing him as Doyley's successor.[155] Just a year later, +in August 1662, Windsor arrived at Port Royal, fortified with +instructions "to endeavour to obtain and preserve a good correspondence +and free commerce with the plantations belonging to the King of Spain," +even resorting to force if necessary.[156] + +The question of English trade with the Spanish colonies in the Indies +had first come to the surface in the negotiations for the treaty of +1604, after the long wars between Elizabeth and Philip II. The endeavour +of the Spaniards to obtain an explicit prohibition of commerce was met +by the English demand for entire freedom. The Spaniards protested that +it had never been granted in former treaties or to other nations, or +even without restriction to Spanish subjects, and clamoured for at least +a private article on the subject; but the English commissioners +steadfastly refused, and offered to forbid trade only with ports +actually under Spanish authority. Finally a compromise was reached in +the words "in quibus ante bellum fuit commercium, juxta et secundum usum +et observantiam."[157] This article was renewed in Cottington's Treaty +of 1630. The Spaniards themselves, indeed, in 1630, were willing to +concede a free navigation in the American seas, and even offered to +recognise the English colony of Virginia if Charles I. would admit +articles prohibiting trade and navigation in certain harbours and bays. +Cottington, however, was too far-sighted, and wrote to Lord Dorchester: +"For my own part, I shall ever be far from advising His Majesty to think +of such restrictions, for certainly a little more time will open the +navigation to those parts so long as there are no negative capitulations +or articles to hinder it."[158] The monopolistic pretensions of the +Spanish government were evidently relaxing, for in 1634 the Conde de +Humanes confided to the English agent, Taylor, that there had been talk +in the Council of the Indies of admitting the English to a share in the +freight of ships sent to the West Indies, and even of granting them a +limited permission to go to those regions on their own account. And in +1637 the Conde de Linhares, recently appointed governor of Brazil, told +the English ambassador, Lord Aston, that he was very anxious that +English ships should do the carrying between Lisbon and Brazilian ports. + +The settlement of the Windward and Leeward Islands and the conquest of +Jamaica had given a new impetus to contraband trade. The commercial +nations were setting up shop, as it were, at the very doors of the +Spanish Indies. The French and English Antilles, condemned by the +Navigation Laws to confine themselves to agriculture and a passive trade +with the home country, had no recourse but to traffic with their Spanish +neighbours. Factors of the Assiento established at Cartagena, Porto +Bello and Vera Cruz every year supplied European merchants with detailed +news of the nature and quantity of the goods which might be imported +with advantage; while the buccaneers, by dominating the whole Caribbean +Sea, hindered frequent communication between Spain and her colonies. It +is not surprising, therefore, that the commerce of Seville, which had +hitherto held its own, decreased with surprising rapidity, that the +sailings of the galleons and the Flota were separated by several years, +and that the fairs of Porto Bello and Vera Cruz were almost deserted. To +put an effective restraint, moreover, upon this contraband trade was +impossible on either side. The West Indian dependencies were situated +far from the centre of authority, while the home governments generally +had their hands too full of other matters to adequately control their +subjects in America. The Spanish viceroys, meanwhile, and the governors +in the West Indian Islands, connived at a practice which lined their own +pockets with the gold of bribery, and at the same time contributed to +the public interest and prosperity of their respective colonies. It was +this illicit commerce with Spanish America which Charles II., by +negotiation at Madrid and by instructions to his governors in the West +Indies, tried to get within his own control. At the Spanish court, +Fanshaw, Sandwich and Godolphin in turn were instructed to sue for a +free trade with the Colonies. The Assiento of negroes was at this time +held by two Genoese named Grillo and Lomelin, and with them the English +ambassadors several times entered into negotiation for the privilege of +supplying blacks from the English islands. By the treaty of 1670 the +English colonies in America were for the first time formally recognised +by the Spanish Crown. Freedom of commerce, however, was as far as ever +from realisation, and after this date Charles seems to have given up +hope of ever obtaining it through diplomatic channels. + +The peace of 1660 between England and Spain was supposed to extend to +both sides of the "Line." The Council in Jamaica, however, were of the +opinion that it applied only to Europe,[159] and from the tenor of Lord +Windsor's instructions it may be inferred that the English Court at that +time meant to interpret it with the same limitations. Windsor, indeed, +was not only instructed to force the Spanish colonies to a free trade, +but was empowered to call upon the governor of Barbadoes for aid "in +case of any considerable attempt by the Spaniards against Jamaica."[160] +The efforts of the Governor, however, to come to a good correspondence +with the Spanish colonies were fruitless. In the minutes of the Council +of Jamaica of 20th August 1662, we read: "Resolved that the letters from +the Governors of Porto Rico and San Domingo are an absolute denial of +trade, and that according to His Majesty's instructions to Lord Windsor +a trade by force or otherwise be endeavoured;"[161] and under 12th +September we find another resolution "that men be enlisted for a design +by sea with the 'Centurion' and other vessels."[162] This "design" was +an expedition to capture and destroy St. Jago de Cuba, the Spanish port +nearest to Jamaican shores. An attack upon St. Jago had been projected +by Goodson as far back as 1655. "The Admiral," wrote Major Sedgwick to +Thurloe just after his arrival in Jamaica, "was intended before our +coming in to have taken some few soldiers and gone over to St. Jago de +Cuba, a town upon Cuba, but our coming hindered him without whom we +could not well tell how to do anything."[163] In January 1656 the plan +was definitely abandoned, because the colony could not spare a +sufficient number of soldiers for the enterprise.[164] It was to St. +Jago that the Spaniards, driven from Jamaica, mostly betook themselves, +and from St. Jago as a starting-point had come the expedition of 1658 to +reconquer the island. The instructions of Lord Windsor afforded a +convenient opportunity to avenge past attacks and secure Jamaica from +molestation in that quarter for the future. The command of the +expedition was entrusted to Myngs, who in 1662 was again in the Indies +on the frigate "Centurion." Myngs sailed from Port Royal on 21st +September with eleven ships and 1300 men,[165] but, kept back by +unfavourable winds, did not sight the castle of St. Jago until 5th +October. Although he had intended to force the entrance of the harbour, +he was prevented by the prevailing land breeze; so he disembarked his +men to windward, on a rocky coast, where the path up the bluffs was so +narrow that but one man could march at a time. Night had fallen before +all were landed, and "the way (was) soe difficult and the night soe dark +that they were forced to make stands and fires, and their guides with +brands in their hands, to beat the path."[166] At daybreak they reached +a plantation by a river's side, some six miles from the place of landing +and three from St. Jago. There they refreshed themselves, and advancing +upon the town surprised the enemy, who knew of the late landing and the +badness of the way and did not expect them so soon. They found 200 +Spaniards at the entrance to the town, drawn up under their governor, +Don Pedro de Moralis, and supported by Don Christopher de Sasi Arnoldo, +the former Spanish governor of Jamaica, with a reserve of 500 more. The +Spaniards fled before the first charge of the Jamaicans, and the place +was easily mastered. + +The next day parties were despatched into the country to pursue the +enemy, and orders sent to the fleet to attack the forts at the mouth of +the harbour. This was successfully done, the Spaniards deserting the +great castle after firing but two muskets. Between scouring the country +for hidden riches, most of which had been carried far inland beyond +their reach, and dismantling and demolishing the forts, the English +forces occupied their time until October 19th. Thirty-four guns were +found in the fortifications and 1000 barrels of powder. Some of the guns +were carried to the ships and the rest flung over the precipice into the +sea; while the powder was used to blow up the castle and the +neighbouring country houses.[167] The expedition returned to Jamaica on +22nd October.[168] Only six men had been killed by the Spaniards, twenty +more being lost by other "accidents." Of these twenty some must have +been captured by the enemy, for when Sir Richard Fanshaw was appointed +ambassador to Spain in January 1664, he was instructed among other +things to negotiate for an exchange of prisoners taken in the Indies. In +July we find him treating for the release of Captain Myngs' men from the +prisons of Seville and Cadiz,[169] and on 7th November an order to this +effect was obtained from the King of Spain.[170] + +The instructions of Lord Windsor gave him leave, as soon as he had +settled the government in Jamaica, to appoint a deputy and return to +England to confer with the King on colonial affairs. Windsor sailed for +England on 28th October, and on the same day Sir Charles Lyttleton's +commission as deputy-governor was read in the Jamaican Council.[171] +During his short sojourn of three months the Governor had made +considerable progress toward establishing an ordered constitution in the +island. He disbanded the old army, and reorganised the military under a +stricter discipline and better officers. He systematised legal procedure +and the rules for the conveyance of property. He erected an Admiralty +Court at Port Royal, and above all, probably in pursuance of the +recommendation of Colonel Doyley,[172] had called in all the +privateering commissions issued by previous governors, and tried to +submit the captains to orderly rules by giving them new commissions, +with instructions to bring their Spanish prizes to Jamaica for +judicature.[173] + +The departure of Windsor did not put a stop to the efforts of the +Jamaicans to "force a trade" with the Spanish plantations, and we find +the Council, on 11th December 1662, passing a motion that to this end an +attempt should be made to leeward on the coasts of Cuba, Honduras and +the Gulf of Campeache. On 9th and 10th January between 1500 and 1600 +soldiers, many of them doubtless buccaneers, were embarked on a fleet of +twelve ships and sailed two days later under command of the redoubtable +Myngs. About ninety leagues this side of Campeache the fleet ran into a +great storm, in which one of the vessels foundered and three others were +separated from their fellows. The English reached the coast of +Campeache, however, in the early morning of Friday, 9th February, and +landing a league and a half from the town, marched without being seen +along an Indian path with "such speed and good fortune" that by ten +o'clock in the morning they were already masters of the city and of all +the forts save one, the Castle of Santa Cruz. At the second fort Myngs +was wounded by a gun in three places. The town itself, Myngs reported, +might have been defended like a fortress, for the houses were contiguous +and strongly built of stone with flat roofs.[174] The forts were partly +demolished, a portion of the town was destroyed by fire, and the +fourteen sail lying in the harbour were seized by the invaders. +Altogether the booty must have been considerable. The Spanish +licentiate, Maldonado de Aldana, placed it at 150,000 pieces of +eight,[175] and the general damage to the city in the destruction of +houses and munitions by the enemy, and in the expenditure of treasure +for purposes of defence, at half a million more. Myngs and his fleet +sailed away on 23rd February, but the "Centurion" did not reach Port +Royal until 13th April, and the rest of the fleet followed a few days +later. The number of casualties on each side was surprisingly small. The +invaders lost only thirty men killed, and the Spaniards between fifty +and sixty, but among the latter were the two alcaldes and many other +officers and prominent citizens of the town.[176] + +To satisfactorily explain at Madrid these two presumptuous assaults upon +Spanish territory in America was an embarrassing problem for the English +Government, especially as Myngs' men imprisoned at Seville and Cadiz +were said to have produced commissions to justify their actions.[177] +The Spanish king instructed his resident in London to demand whether +Charles accepted responsibility for the attack upon St. Jago, and the +proceedings of English cases in the Spanish courts arising from the +depredations of Galician corsairs were indefinitely suspended.[178] +When, however, there followed upon this, in May 1663, the news of the +sack and burning of Campeache, it stirred up the greatest excitement in +Madrid.[179] Orders and, what was rarer in Spain, money were immediately +sent to Cadiz to the Duke of Albuquerque to hasten the work on the royal +Armada for despatch to the Indies; and efforts were made to resuscitate +the defunct Armada de Barlovento, a small fleet which had formerly been +used to catch interlopers and protect the coasts of Terra-Firma. In one +way the capture of Campeache had touched Spain in her most vulnerable +spot. The Mexican Flota, which was scheduled to sail from Havana in June +1663, refused to stir from its retreat at Vera Cruz until the galleons +from Porto Bello came to convoy it. The arrival of the American treasure +in Spain was thus delayed for two months, and the bankrupt government +put to sore straits for money. + +The activity of the Spaniards, however, was merely a blind to hide their +own impotence, and their clamours were eventually satisfied by the King +of England's writing to Deputy-Governor Lyttleton a letter forbidding +all such undertakings for the future. The text of the letter is as +follows: "Understanding with what jealousy and offence the Spaniards +look upon our island of Jamaica, and how disposed they are to make some +attempt upon it, and knowing how disabled it will remain in its own +defence if encouragement be given to such undertakings as have lately +been set on foot, and are yet pursued, and which divert the inhabitants +from that industry which alone can render the island considerable, the +king signifies his dislike of all such undertakings, and commands that +no such be pursued for the future, but that they unitedly apply +themselves to the improvement of the plantation and keeping the force in +proper condition."[180] The original draft of the letter was much milder +in tone, and betrays the real attitude of Charles II. toward these +half-piratical enterprises: "His Majesty has heard of the success of the +undertaking upon Cuba, in which he cannot choose but please himself in +the vigour and resolution wherein it was performed ... but because His +Majesty cannot foresee any utility likely to arise thereby ... he has +thought fit hereby to command him to give no encouragement to such +undertakings unless they may be performed by the frigates or men-of-war +attending that place without any addition from the soldiers or +inhabitants."[181] Other letters were subsequently sent to Jamaica, +which made it clear that the war of the privateers was not intended to +be called off by the king's instructions; and Sir Charles Lyttleton, +therefore, did not recall their commissions. Nevertheless, in the early +part of 1664, the assembly in Jamaica passed an act prohibiting public +levies of men upon foreign designs, and forbidding any person to leave +the island on any such design without first obtaining leave from the +governor, council and assembly.[182] + +When the instructions of the authorities at home were so ambiguous, and +the incentives to corsairing so alluring, it was natural that this game +of baiting the Spaniards should suffer little interruption. English +freebooters who had formerly made Hispaniola and Tortuga their +headquarters now resorted to Jamaica, where they found a cordial welcome +and a better market for their plunder. Thus in June 1663 a certain +Captain Barnard sailed from Port Royal to the Orinoco, took and +plundered the town of Santo Tomas and returned in the following +March.[183] On 19th October another privateer named Captain Cooper +brought into Port Royal two Spanish prizes, the larger of which, the +"Maria" of Seville, was a royal azogue and carried 1000 quintals of +quicksilver for the King of Spain's mines in Mexico, besides oil, wine +and olives.[184] Cooper in his fight with the smaller vessel so disabled +his own ship that he was forced to abandon it and enter the prize; and +it was while cruising off Hispaniola in this prize that he fell in with +the "Maria," and captured her after a four hours' combat. There were +seventy prisoners, among them a number of friars going to Campeache and +Vera Cruz. Some of the prize goods were carried to England, and Don +Patricio Moledi, the Spanish resident in London, importuned the English +government for its restoration.[185] Sir Charles Lyttleton had sailed +for England on 2nd May 1664, leaving the government of Jamaica in the +hands of the Council with Colonel Thomas Lynch as president;[186] and on +his arrival in England he made formal answer to the complaints of +Moledi. His excuse was that Captain Cooper's commission had been derived +not from the deputy-governor himself but from Lord Windsor; and that the +deputy-governor had never received any order from the king for recalling +commissions, or for the cessation of hostilities against the +Spaniards.[187] Lyttleton and the English government were evidently +attempting the rather difficult circus feat of riding two mounts at the +same time. The instructions from England, as Lyttleton himself +acknowledged in his letter of 15th October 1663, distinctly forbade +further hostilities against the Spanish plantations; on the other hand, +there were no specific orders that privateers should be recalled. +Lyttleton was from first to last in sympathy with the freebooters, and +probably believed with many others of his time that "the Spaniard is +most pliable when best beaten." In August 1664 he presented to the Lord +Chancellor his reasons for advocating a continuance of the privateers in +Jamaica. They are sufficiently interesting to merit a _résumé_ of the +principal points advanced. 1st. Privateering maintained a great number +of seamen by whom the island was protected without the immediate +necessity of a naval force. 2nd. If privateering were forbidden, the +king would lose many men who, in case of a war in the West Indies, would +be of incalculable service, being acquainted, as they were, with the +coasts, shoals, currents, winds, etc., of the Spanish dominions. 3rd. +Without the privateers, the Jamaicans would have no intelligence of +Spanish designs against them, or of the size or neighbourhood of their +fleets, or of the strength of their resources. 4th. If prize-goods were +no longer brought into Port Royal, few merchants would resort to Jamaica +and prices would become excessively high. 5th. To reduce the privateers +would require a large number of frigates at considerable trouble and +expense; English seamen, moreover, generally had the privateering spirit +and would be more ready to join with them than oppose them, as previous +experience had shown. Finally, the privateers, if denied the freedom of +Jamaican ports, would not take to planting, but would resort to the +islands of other nations, and perhaps prey upon English commerce.[188] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 119: Venables was not bound by his instructions to any +definite plan. It had been proposed, he was told, to seize Hispaniola or +Porto Rico or both, after which either Cartagena or Havana might be +taken, and the Spanish revenue-fleets obstructed. An alternative scheme +was to make the first attempt on the mainland at some point between the +mouth of the Orinoco and Porto Bello, with the ultimate object of +securing Cartagena. It was left to Venables, however, to consult with +Admiral Penn and three commissioners, Edward Winslow (former governor of +Plymouth colony in New England), Daniel Searle (governor of Barbadoes), +and Gregory Butler, as to which, if any, of these schemes should be +carried out. Not until some time after the arrival of the fleet at +Barbadoes was it resolved to attack Hispaniola. (Narrative of Gen. +Venables, edition 1900, pp. x, 112-3.)] + +[Footnote 120: Gardiner: Hist. of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, +vol. iii. ch. xlv.; Narrative of Gen. Venables.] + +[Footnote 121: Gardiner: _op. cit._, iii. p. 368.] + +[Footnote 122: _Cf._ the "Commission of the Commissioners for the West +Indian Expedition." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p. 109.)] + +[Footnote 123: _Cf._ American Hist. Review, vol. iv. p. 228; +"Instructions unto Gen. Robt. Venables." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p. +111.)] + +[Footnote 124: _Cf._ Narrative of Gen. Venables, pp. 3, 90; +"Instructions unto Generall Penn," etc., _ibid._, p. 107. + +After the outbreak of the Spanish war, Cromwell was anxious to clear his +government of the charges of treachery and violation of international +duties. The task was entrusted to the Latin Secretary, John Milton, who +on 26th October 1655 published a manifesto defending the actions of the +Commonwealth. He gave two principal reasons for the attempt upon the +West Indies:--(1) the cruelties of the Spaniards toward the English in +America and their depredations on English colonies and trade; (2) the +outrageous treatment and extermination of the Indians. He denied the +Spanish claims to all of America, either as a papal gift, or by right of +discovery alone, or even by right of settlement, and insisted upon both +the natural and treaty rights of Englishmen to trade in Spanish seas.] + +[Footnote 125: The memory of the exploits of Drake and his +contemporaries was not allowed to die in the first half of the +seventeenth century. Books like "Sir Francis Drake Revived," and "The +World encompassed by Sir Francis Drake," were printed time and time +again. The former was published in 1626 and again two years later; "The +World Encompassed" first appeared in 1628 and was reprinted in 1635 and +1653. A quotation from the title-page of the latter may serve to +illustrate the temper of the times:-- + + Drake, Sir Francis. The world encompassed. Being his + next voyage to that to Nombre de Dios, formerly + imprinted ... offered ... especially for the stirring up + of heroick spirits, to benefit their country and + eternize their names by like bold attempts. Lon. 1628. + +_Cf._ also Gardiner, _op. cit._, iii. pp. 343-44.] + +[Footnote 126: Gardiner, _op. cit._, iii. p. 346; _cf._ also "Present +State of Jamaica, 1683."] + +[Footnote 127: Long: "History of Jamaica," i. p. 260; C.S.P. Colon., +1675-76. Addenda, No. 274.] + +[Footnote 128: Long, _op. cit._, i. p. 272 _ff._] + +[Footnote 129: Ibid.; Thurloe Papers, VI. p. 540; vii. p. 260; "Present +State of Jamaica, 1683"; C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 303-308.] + +[Footnote 130: Long, _op. cit._, i. p. 245; C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. +Addenda, Nos. 236, 261, 276, etc. + +The conditions in Jamaica directly after its capture are in remarkable +contrast to what might have been expected after reading the enthusiastic +descriptions of the island, its climate, soil and products, left us by +Englishmen who visited it. Jackson in 1643 compared it with the Arcadian +plains and Thessalien Tempe, and many of his men wanted to remain and +live with the Spaniards. See also the description of Jamaica contained +in the Rawlinson MSS. and written just after the arrival of the English +army:--"As for the country ... more than this." (Narrative of Gen. +Venables, pp. 138-9.)] + +[Footnote 131: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 229, 232; Lucas: +Historical Geography of the British Colonies, ii. p. 101, and note.] + +[Footnote 132: Lucas, _op. cit._, ii. p. 109.] + +[Footnote 133: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 230, 231. Fortescue +was Gen. Venables' successor in Jamaica.] + +[Footnote 134: Ibid., No. 218; Long, _op. cit._, i. p. 262.] + +[Footnote 135: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 218, 252; Thurloe +Papers, IV. pp. 451, 457.] + +[Footnote 136: Thurloe Papers, IV. pp. 152, 493.] + +[Footnote 137: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, No. 236.] + +[Footnote 138: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 604.] + +[Footnote 139: Ibid., pp. 454-5, 604.] + +[Footnote 140: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 452.] + +[Footnote 141: Ibid., v. pp. 96, 151.] + +[Footnote 142: This was the treasure fleet which Captain Stayner's ship +and two other frigates captured off Cadiz on 9th September. Six galleons +were captured, sunk or burnt, with no less than £600,000 of gold and +silver. The galleons which Blake burnt in the harbour of Santa Cruz, on +20th April 1657, were doubtless the Mexican fleet for which Admiral +Goodson vainly waited before Havana in the previous summer.] + +[Footnote 143: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 260, 263, 266, 270, +275; Thurloe Papers, V. p. 340.] + +[Footnote 144: _Cf._ Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 12,430: Journal of Col. +Beeston. Col. Beeston seems to have harboured a peculiar spite against +Doyley. For the contrary view of Doyley, _cf._ Long, _op. cit._, i. p. +284.] + +[Footnote 145: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda., Nos. 309, 310. In these +letters the towns are called "Tralo" and "St. Mark." _Cf._ also Thurloe +Papers, VII. p. 340.] + +[Footnote 146: Captain Christopher Myngs had been appointed to the +"Marston Moor," a frigate of fifty-four guns, in October 1654, and had +seen two years' service in the West Indies under Goodson in 1656 and +1657. In May 1656 he took part in the sack of Rio de la Hacha. In July +1657 the "Marston Moor" returned to England and was ordered to be +refitted, but by 20th February 1658 Myngs and his frigate were again at +Port Royal (C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 295, 297). After +Admiral Goodson's return to England (Ibid., No. 1202) Myngs seems to +have been the chief naval officer in the West Indies, and greatly +distinguished himself in his naval actions against the Spaniards.] + +[Footnote 147: Tanner MSS., LI. 82.] + +[Footnote 148: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 315, 316. Some +figures put it as high as £500,000.] + +[Footnote 149: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 315, 318. Captain +Wm. Dalyson wrote home, on 23rd January 1659/60, that he verily believed +if the General (Doyley) were at home to answer for himself, Captain +Myngs would be found no better than he is, a proud-speaking vain fool, +and a knave in cheating the State and robbing merchants. Ibid., No. +328.] + +[Footnote 150: Ibid., Nos. 327, 331.] + +[Footnote 151: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, No. 326.] + +[Footnote 152: S.P. Spain, vol. 44, f. 318.] + +[Footnote 153: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 17, 61.] + +[Footnote 154: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 20.] + +[Footnote 155: Ibid., No. 145.] + +[Footnote 156: Ibid., Nos. 259, 278. In Lord Windsor's original +instructions of 21st March 1662 he was empowered to search ships +suspected of trading with the Spaniards and to adjudicate the same in +the Admiralty Court. A fortnight later, however, the King and Council +seem to have completely changed their point of view, and this too in +spite of the Navigation Laws which prohibited the colonies from trading +with any but the mother-country.] + +[Footnote 157: Art. ix. of the treaty. _Cf._ Dumont: Corps diplomatique, +T.V., pt. ii. p. 625. _Cf._ also C.S.P. Venetian, 1604, p. 189:--"I +wished to hear from His Majesty's own lips" (wrote the Venetian +ambassador in November 1604), "how he read the clause about the India +navigation, and I said, 'Sire, your subjects may trade with Spain and +Flanders but not with the Indies.' 'Why not?' said the King. 'Because,' +I replied, 'the clause is read in that sense.' 'They are making a great +error, whoever they are that hold this view,' said His Majesty; 'the +meaning is quite clear.'"] + +[Footnote 158: S.P. Spain, vol. 35.] + +[Footnote 159: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 61.] + +[Footnote 160: Ibid., No. 259.] + +[Footnote 161: Ibid., No. 355.] + +[Footnote 162: Ibid., No. 364.] + +[Footnote 163: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 154.] + +[Footnote 164: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 457.] + +[Footnote 165: Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 166: Calendar of the Heathcote MSS. (pr. by Hist. MSS. +Commiss.), p. 34.] + +[Footnote 167: Calendar of the Heathcote MSS., p. 34. _Cf._ also C.S.P. +Colon., 1661-68, No. 384:--"An act for the sale of five copper guns +taken at St. Jago de Cuba."] + +[Footnote 168: Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 169: S.P. Spain, vol. 46.] + +[Footnote 170: Ibid., vol. 47.] + +[Footnote 171: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 294, 375.] + +[Footnote 172: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 11,410, f. 16.] + +[Footnote 173: Ibid., f. 6.] + +[Footnote 174: Dampier also says of Campeache that "it makes a fine +show, being built all with good stone ... the roofs flattish after the +Spanish fashion, and covered with pantile."--_Ed._ 1906, ii. p. 147.] + +[Footnote 175: However, the writer of the "Present State of Jamaica" +says (p. 39) that Myngs got no great plunder, neither at Campeache nor +at St. Jago.] + +[Footnote 176: Beeston's Journal; Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,964, f. +16:--"Original letter from the Licentiate Maldonado de Aldana to Don +Francisco Calderon y Romero, giving him an account of the taking of +Campeache in 1663"; dated Campeache, March 1663. + +According to the Spanish relation there were fourteen vessels in the +English fleet, one large ship of forty-four guns (the "Centurion"?) and +thirteen smaller ones. The discrepancy in the numbers of the fleet may +be explained by the probability that other Jamaican privateering vessels +joined it after its departure from Port Royal. Beeston writes in his +Journal that the privateer "Blessing," Captain Mitchell, commander, +brought news on 28th February that the Spaniards in Campeache had notice +from St. Jago of the English design and made elaborate preparations for +the defence of the town. This is contradicted by the Spanish report, in +which it appears that the authorities in Campeache had been culpably +negligent in not maintaining the defences with men, powder or +provisions.] + +[Footnote 177: S.P. Spain, vol. 46. Fanshaw to Sec. Bennet, 13th-23rd +July 1664.] + +[Footnote 178: Ibid., vol. 45. Letter of Consul Rumbold, 31st March +1663.] + +[Footnote 179: Ibid., 4th May 1663.] + +[Footnote 180: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 443. Dated 28th April 1663.] + +[Footnote 181: Ibid., Nos. 441, 442.] + +[Footnote 182: Rawlinson MSS., A. 347, f. 62.] + +[Footnote 183: Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 184: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 571; Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 185: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, ff. 94, 96, 108, 121, 123, 127, 309 +(April-August 1664).] + +[Footnote 186: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 697, 744, 812.] + +[Footnote 187: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 280.] + +[Footnote 188: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 311.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TORTUGA--1655-1664 + + +When the Chevalier de Fontenay was driven from Tortuga in January 1654, +the Spaniards left a small garrison to occupy the fort and prevent +further settlements of French and English buccaneers. These troops +possessed the island for about eighteen months, but on the approach of +the expedition under Penn and Venables were ordered by the Conde de +Penalva, President of S. Domingo, to demolish the fort, bury the +artillery and other arms, and retire to his aid in Hispaniola.[189] Some +six months later an Englishman, Elias Watts,[190] with his family and +ten or twelve others, came from Jamaica in a shallop, re-settled the +island, and raised a battery of four guns upon the ruins of the larger +fort previously erected by the French. Watts received a commission for +the island from General Brayne, who was then governor of Jamaica, and in +a short time gathered about him a colony of about 150, both English and +French. Among these new-comers was a "poor distressed gentleman" by the +name of James Arundell, formerly a colonel in the Royalist army and now +banished from England, who eventually married Watts' daughter and became +the head of the colony. + +It was while Watts was governor of Tortuga, if we are to believe the +Jesuit, Dutertre, that the buccaneers determined to avenge the treachery +of the Spaniards to a French vessel in that neighbourhood by plundering +the city of St. Jago in Hispaniola. According to this historian, who +from the style of the narrative seems to be reporting the words of an +eye-witness, the buccaneers, including doubtless both hunters and +corsairs, formed a party of 400 men under the leadership of four +captains and obtained a commission for the enterprise from the English +governor, who was very likely looking forward to a share of the booty. +Compelling the captain of a frigate which had just arrived from Nantes +to lend his ship, they embarked in it and in two or three other boats +found on the coast for Puerta de Plata, where they landed on Palm Sunday +of 1659.[191] St. Jago, which lay in a pleasant, fertile plain some +fifteen or twenty leagues in the interior of Hispaniola, they approached +through the woods on the night of Holy Wednesday, entered before +daybreak, and surprised the governor in his bed. The buccaneers told him +to prepare to die, whereupon he fell on his knees and prayed to such +effect that they finally offered him his life for a ransom of 60,000 +pieces of eight. They pillaged for twenty-four hours, taking even the +bells, ornaments and sacred vessels of the churches, and after +refreshing themselves with food and drink, retreated with their plunder +and prisoners, including the governor and chief inhabitants. Meanwhile +the alarm had been given for ten or twelve leagues round about. Men came +in from all directions, and rallying with the inhabitants of the town +till they amounted to about 1000 men, marched through the woods by a +by-route, got ahead of the buccaneers and attacked them from ambush. The +English and French stood their ground in spite of inferior numbers, for +they were all good marksmen and every shot told. As the Spaniards +persisted, however, they finally threatened to stab the governor and all +the other prisoners, whereupon the Spaniards took counsel and retired to +their homes. The invaders lost only ten killed and five or six wounded. +They tarried on the coast several days waiting for the rest of the +promised ransom, but as it failed to arrive they liberated the prisoners +and returned to Tortuga, each adventurer receiving 300 crowns as his +share of the pillage.[192] + +In the latter part of 1659 a French gentleman, Jérémie Deschamps, +seigneur du Rausset, who had been one of the first inhabitants of +Tortuga under Levasseur and de Fontenay, repaired to England and had +sufficient influence there to obtain an order from the Council of State +to Colonel Doyley to give him a commission as governor of Tortuga, with +such instructions as Doyley might think requisite.[193] This same du +Rausset, it seems, had received a French commission from Louis XIV. as +early as November 1656.[194] At any rate, he came to Jamaica in 1660 and +obtained his commission from Doyley on condition that he held Tortuga in +the English interest.[195] Watts, it seems, had meanwhile learnt that he +was to be superseded by a Frenchman, whereupon he embarked with his +family and all his goods and sought refuge in New England. About two +months later, according to one story, Doyley heard that Deschamps had +given a commission to a privateer and committed insolences for which +Doyley feared to be called to account. He sent to remonstrate with him, +but Deschamps answered that he possessed a French commission and that he +had better interest with the powers in England than had the governor of +Jamaica. As there were more French than English on the island, Deschamps +then proclaimed the King of France and set up the French colours.[196] +Doyley as yet had received no authority from the newly-restored king, +Charles II., and hesitated to use any force; but he did give permission +to Arundell, Watts' son-in-law, to surprise Deschamps and carry him to +Jamaica for trial. Deschamps was absent at the time at Santa Cruz, but +Arundell, relying upon the friendship and esteem which the inhabitants +had felt for his father-in-law, surprised the governor's nephew and +deputy, the Sieur de la Place, and possessed himself of the island. By +some mischance or neglect, however, he was disarmed by the French and +sent back to Jamaica.[197] This was not the end of his misfortunes. On +the way to Jamaica he and his company were surprised by Spaniards in the +bay of Matanzas in Cuba, and carried to Puerto Principe. There, after a +month's imprisonment, Arundell and Barth. Cock, his shipmaster, were +taken out by negroes into the bush and murdered, and their heads brought +into the town.[198] Deschamps later returned to France because of +ill-health, leaving la Place to govern the island in his stead, and when +the property of the French Antilles was vested in the new French West +India Company in 1664 he was arrested and sent to the Bastille. The +cause of his arrest is obscure, but it seems that he had been in +correspondence with the English government, to whom he had offered to +restore Tortuga on condition of being reimbursed with £6000 sterling. A +few days in the Bastille made him think better of his resolution. He +ceded his rights to the company for 15,000 livres, and was released from +confinement in November.[199] + +The fiasco of Arundell's attempt was not the only effort of the English +to recover the island. In answer to a memorial presented by Lord Windsor +before his departure for Jamaica, an Order in Council was delivered to +him in February 1662, empowering him to use his utmost endeavours to +reduce Tortuga and its governor to obedience.[200] The matter was taken +up by the Jamaican Council in September, shortly after Windsor's +arrival;[201] and on 16th December an order was issued by +deputy-governor Lyttleton to Captain Robert Munden of the "Charles" +frigate for the transportation of Colonel Samuel Barry and Captain +Langford to Tortuga, where Munden was to receive orders for reducing the +island.[202] The design miscarried again, however, probably because of +ill-blood between Barry and Munden. Clement de Plenneville, who +accompanied Barry, writes that "the expedition failed through +treachery";[203] and Beeston says in his Journal that Barry, approaching +Tortuga on 30th January, found the French armed and ready to oppose him, +whereupon he ordered Captain Munden to fire. Munden however refused, +sailed away to Corydon in Hispaniola, where he put Barry and his men on +shore, and then "went away about his merchandize."[204] Barry made his +way in a sloop to Jamaica where he arrived on 1st March. Langford, +however, was sent to Petit-Goave, an island about the size of Tortuga in +the _cul-de-sac_ at the western end of Hispaniola, where he was chosen +governor by the inhabitants and raised the first English standard. +Petit-Goave had been frequented by buccaneers since 1659, and after +d'Ogeron succeeded du Rausset as governor for the French in those +regions, it became with Tortuga one of their chief resorts. In the +latter part of 1664 we find Langford in England petitioning the king for +a commission as governor of Tortuga and the coast of Hispaniola, and for +two ships to go and seize the smaller island.[205] Such a design, +however, with the direct sanction and aid of the English government, +might have endangered a rupture with France. Charles preferred to leave +such irregular warfare to his governor in Jamaica, whom he could support +or disown as best suited the exigencies of the moment. Langford, +moreover, seems not to have made a brilliant success of his short stay +at Petit-Goave, and was probably distrusted by the authorities both in +England and in the West Indies. When Modyford came as governor to +Jamaica, the possibility of recovering Tortuga was still discussed, but +no effort to effect it was ever made again. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 189: Dutertre, t. iii. p. 126; Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499. + +On 26th February 1656 there arrived at Jamaica a small vessel the master +of which, touching at Tortuga, had found upon the deserted island two +papers, one in Spanish, the other in "sorrie English" (Thurloe Papers, +IV. p. 601). These papers were copies of a proclamation forbidding +settlement on the island, and the English paper (Rawl. MSS., A. 29, f. +500) is printed in Firth's "Venables" as follows:-- + +"The Captane and Sarginge Mager Don Baltearsor Calderon and Spenoso, +Nopte to the President that is now in the sity of Santo-domingo, and +Captane of the gones of the sitye, and Governor and Lord Mare of this +Island, and stranch of this Lland of Tortogo, and Chefe Comander of all +for the Khinge of Spaine. + +"Yoo moust understand that all pepell what soever that shall com to this +Iland of the Khinge of Spaine Catholok wich is name is Don Pilep the +Ostere the forth of this name, that with his harmes he hath put of +Feleminge and French men and Englesh with lefee heare from the yeare of +1630 tell the yeare of thurty fouer and tell the yeare of fifte fouer in +wich the Kinge of Spane uesenge all curtyse and given good quartell to +all that was upon this Iland, after that came and with oute Recepet upon +this Iland knowinge that the Kinge of Spane had planted upon it and +fortified in the name of the Kinge came the forth time the 15th of +Augost the last yeare French and Fleminges to govern this Iland the same +Governeore that was heare befor his name was Themeleon hot man De +founttana gentleman of the ourder of Guresalem for to take this Iland +put if fources by se and land and forsed us to beate him oute of this +place with a greate dale of shame, and be caues yoo shall take notes +that wee have puelld doune the Casill and carid all the gonenes and have +puelld doune all the houes and have lefte no thinge, the same Captane +and Sargint-mager in the name of the Kinge wich God blesh hath given yoo +notis that what souer nason souer that shall com to live upon this Iland +that thare shall not a man mother or children cape of the sorde, thare +fore I give notiss to all pepell that they shall have a care with out +anye more notis for this is the order of the Kinge and with out fall you +will not want yooer Pamente and this is the furst and second and thorde +time, and this whe leave heare for them that comes hear to take notis, +that when wee com upon you, you shall not pleate that you dod not know +is riten the 25 of August 1656." + + Baltesar Calderon y Espinosa + Por Mandado de Senor Gou^{or}. + Pedro Fran^{co} de riva deney xasuss. + +] + +[Footnote 190: In Dutertre's account the name is Eliazouard (Elias +Ward).] + +[Footnote 191: According to a Spanish account of the expedition the date +was 1661. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.] + +[Footnote 192: Dutertre, tom. iii. pp. 130-34.] + +[Footnote 193: Rawl. MSS., A. 347, ff. 31 and 36; S.P. Spain, vol. +47:--Deposition of Sir Charles Lyttleton; Margry, _op. cit._, p. 281.] + +[Footnote 194: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. p. 36; Vaissière, _op. +cit._, p. 10.] + +[Footnote 195: According to Dutertre, Deschamps' commission extended +only to the French inhabitants upon Tortuga, the French and English +living thereafter under separate governments as at St. Kitts. Dutertre, +t. iii. p. 135.] + +[Footnote 196: Rawl. MSS., A. 347, f. 36. + +According to Dutertre's version, Watts had scarcely forsaken the island +when Deschamps arrived in the Road, and found that the French +inhabitants had already made themselves masters of the colony and had +substituted the French for the English standard. Dutertre, t. iii. p. +136.] + +[Footnote 197: Rawl. MSS., A. 347, f. 36.] + +[Footnote 198: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 648.] + +[Footnote 199: Dutertre, t. iii. p. 138; Vaissière, _op. cit._, p. 11, +note 2.] + +[Footnote 200: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 233.] + +[Footnote 201: Ibid., No. 364.] + +[Footnote 202: Ibid., No. 390; _cf._ also No. 474 (1).] + +[Footnote 203: Ibid., No. 475.] + +[Footnote 204: Beeston's Journal, 1st March 1663. + +According to Dutertre, some inhabitants of Tortuga ran away to Jamaica +and persuaded the governor that they could no longer endure French +domination, and that if an armed force was sent, it would find no +obstacle in restoring the English king's authority. Accordingly Col. +Barry was despatched to receive their allegiance, with orders to use no +violence but only to accept their voluntary submission. When Barry +landed on Tortuga, however, with no other support than a proclamation +and a harangue, the French inhabitants laughed in his face, and he +returned to Jamaica in shame and confusion. Dutertre, t. iii. pp. +137-38.] + +[Footnote 205: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 817-21.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +PORTO BELLO AND PANAMA + + +On 4th January 1664, the king wrote to Sir Thomas Modyford in Barbadoes +that he had chosen him governor of Jamaica.[206] Modyford, who had lived +as a planter in Barbadoes since 1650, had taken a prominent share in the +struggles between Parliamentarians and Royalists in the little island. +He was a member of the Council, and had been governor for a short time +in 1660. His commission and instructions for Jamaica[207] were carried +to the West Indies by Colonel Edward Morgan, who went as Modyford's +deputy-governor and landed in Barbadoes on 21st April.[208] Modyford was +instructed, among other things, to prohibit the granting of letters of +marque, and particularly to encourage trade and maintain friendly +relations with the Spanish dominions. Sir Richard Fanshaw had just been +appointed to go to Spain and negotiate a treaty for wider commercial +privileges in the Indies, and Charles saw that the daily complaints of +violence and depredation done by Jamaican ships on the King of Spain's +subjects were scarcely calculated to increase the good-will and +compliance of the Spanish Court. Nor had the attempt in the Indies to +force a trade upon the Spaniards been brilliantly successful. It was +soon evident that another course of action was demanded. Sir Thomas +Modyford seems at first to have been sincerely anxious to suppress +privateering and conciliate his Spanish neighbours. On receiving his +commission and instructions he immediately prepared letters to the +President of San Domingo, expressing his fair intentions and requesting +the co-operation of the Spaniards.[209] Modyford himself arrived in +Jamaica on 1st June,[210] proclaimed an entire cessation of +hostilities,[211] and on the 16th sent the "Swallow" ketch to Cartagena +to acquaint the governor with what he had done. On almost the same day +letters were forwarded from England and from Ambassador Fanshaw in +Madrid, strictly forbidding all violences in the future against the +Spanish nation, and ordering Modyford to inflict condign punishment on +every offender, and make entire restitution and satisfaction to the +sufferers.[212] + +The letters for San Domingo, which had been forwarded to Jamaica with +Colonel Morgan and thence dispatched to Hispaniola before Modyford's +arrival, received a favourable answer, but that was about as far as the +matter ever got. The buccaneers, moreover, the principal grievance of +the Spaniards, still remained at large. As Thomas Lynch wrote on 25th +May, "It is not in the power of the governor to have or suffer a +commerce, nor will any necessity or advantage bring private Spaniards to +Jamaica, for we and they have used too many mutual barbarisms to have a +sudden correspondence. When the king was restored, the Spaniards thought +the manners of the English nation changed too, and adventured twenty or +thirty vessels to Jamaica for blacks, but the surprises and irruptions +by C. Myngs, for whom the governor of San Domingo has upbraided the +commissioners, made the Spaniards redouble their malice, and nothing but +an order from Spain can give us admittance or trade."[213] For a short +time, however, a serious effort was made to recall the privateers. +Several prizes which were brought into Port Royal were seized and +returned to their owners, while the captors had their commissions taken +from them. Such was the experience of one Captain Searles, who in August +brought in two Spanish vessels, both of which were restored to the +Spaniards, and Searles deprived of his rudder and sails as security +against his making further depredations upon the Dons.[214] In November +Captain Morris Williams sent a note to Governor Modyford, offering to +come in with a rich prize of logwood, indigo and silver, if security +were given that it should be condemned to him for the payment of his +debts in Jamaica; and although the governor refused to give any promises +the prize was brought in eight days later. The goods were seized and +sold in the interest of the Spanish owner.[215] Nevertheless, the +effects of the proclamation were not at all encouraging. In the first +month only three privateers came in with their commissions, and Modyford +wrote to Secretary Bennet on 30th June that he feared the only effect of +the proclamation would be to drive them to the French in Tortuga. He +therefore thought it prudent, he continued, to dispense somewhat with +the strictness of his instructions, "doing by degrees and moderation +what he had at first resolved to execute suddenly and severely."[216] + +Tortuga was really the crux of the whole difficulty. Back in 1662 +Colonel Doyley, in his report to the Lord Chancellor after his return to +England, had suggested the reduction of Tortuga to English obedience as +the only effective way of dealing with the buccaneers;[217] and Modyford +in 1664 also realized the necessity of this preliminary step.[218] The +conquest of Tortuga, however, was no longer the simple task it might +have been four or five years earlier. The inhabitants of the island were +now almost entirely French, and with their companions on the coast of +Hispaniola had no intention of submitting to English dictation. The +buccaneers, who had become numerous and independent and made Tortuga one +of their principal retreats, would throw all their strength in the +balance against an expedition the avowed object of whose coming was to +make their profession impossible. The colony, moreover, received an +incalculable accession of strength in the arrival of Bertrand d'Ogeron, +the governor sent out in 1665 by the new French West India Company. +D'Ogeron was one of the most remarkable figures in the West Indies in +the second half of the seventeenth century. Of broad imagination and +singular kindness of heart, with an indomitable will and a mind full of +resource, he seems to have been an ideal man for the task, not only of +reducing to some semblance of law and order a people who had never given +obedience to any authority, but also of making palatable the _régime_ +and exclusive privileges of a private trading company. D'Ogeron first +established himself at Port Margot on the coast of Hispaniola opposite +Tortuga in the early part of 1665; and here the adventurers at once gave +him to understand that they would never submit to any mere company, much +less suffer an interruption of their trade with the Dutch, who had +supplied them with necessities at a time when it was not even known in +France that there were Frenchmen in that region. D'Ogeron pretended to +subscribe to these conditions, passed over to Tortuga where he received +the submission of la Place, and then to Petit-Goave and Leogane, in the +_cul-de-sac_ of Hispaniola. There he made his headquarters, adopted +every means to attract planters and _engagés_, and firmly established +his authority. He made advances from his own purse without interest to +adventurers who wished to settle down to planting, bought two ships to +facilitate trade between the colony and France, and even contrived to +have several lots of fifty women each brought over from France to be +sold and distributed as wives amongst the colonists. The settlements +soon put on a new air of prosperity, and really owed their existence as +a permanent French colony to the efforts of this new governor.[219] It +was under the administration of d'Ogeron that l'Olonnais,[220] Michel le +Basque, and most of the French buccaneers flourished, whose exploits are +celebrated in Exquemelin's history. + +The conquest of Tortuga was not the only measure necessary for the +effectual suppression of the buccaneers. Five or six swift cruisers were +also required to pursue and bring to bay those corsairs who refused to +come in with their commissions.[221] Since the Restoration the West +Indies had been entirely denuded of English men-of-war; while the +buccaneers, with the tacit consent or encouragement of Doyley, had at +the same time increased both in numbers and boldness. Letters written +from Jamaica in 1664 placed the number scattered abroad in privateering +at from 1500 to 2000, sailing in fourteen or fifteen ships.[222] They +were desperate men, accustomed to living at sea, with no trade but +burning and plundering, and unlikely to take orders from any but +stronger and faster frigates. Nor was this condition of affairs +surprising when we consider that, in the seventeenth century, there +flowed from Europe to the West Indies adventurers from every class of +society; men doubtless often endowed with strong personalities, +enterprising and intrepid; but often, too, of mediocre intelligence or +little education, and usually without either money or scruples. They +included many who had revolted from the narrow social laws of European +countries, and were disinclined to live peaceably within the bounds of +any organized society. Many, too, had belonged to rebellious political +factions at home, men of the better classes who were banished or who +emigrated in order to keep their heads upon their shoulders. In France +the total exhaustion of public and private fortune at the end of the +religious wars disposed many to seek to recoup themselves out of the +immense colonial riches of the Spaniards; while the disorders of the +Rebellion and the Commonwealth in England caused successive emigrations +of Puritans and Loyalists to the newer England beyond the seas. At the +close of the Thirty Years' War, too, a host of French and English +adventurers, who had fattened upon Germany and her misfortunes, were +left without a livelihood, and doubtless many resorted to emigration as +the sole means of continuing their life of freedom and even of licence. +Coming to the West Indies these men, so various in origin and character, +hoped soon to acquire there the riches which they lost or coveted at +home; and their expectations deceived, they often broke in a formal and +absolute manner the bonds which attached them to their fellow humanity. +Jamaica especially suffered in this respect, for it had been colonized +in the first instance by a discontented, refractory soldiery, and it was +being recruited largely by transported criminals and vagabonds. In +contrast with the policy of Spain, who placed the most careful +restrictions upon the class of emigrants sent to her American +possessions, England from the very beginning used her colonies, and +especially the West Indian islands, as a dumping-ground for her refuse +population. Within a short time a regular trade sprang up for furnishing +the colonies with servile labour from the prisons of the mother country. +Scots captured at the battles of Dunbar and Worcester,[223] English, +French, Irish and Dutch pirates lying in the gaols of Dorchester and +Plymouth,[224] if "not thought fit to be tried for their lives," were +shipped to Barbadoes, Jamaica, and the other Antilles. In August 1656 +the Council of State issued an order for the apprehension of all lewd +and dangerous persons, rogues, vagrants and other idlers who had no way +of livelihood and refused to work, to be transported by contractors to +the English plantations in America;[225] and in June 1661 the Council +for Foreign Plantations appointed a committee to consider the same +matter.[226] Complaints were often made that children and apprentices +were "seduced or spirited away" from their parents and masters and +concealed upon ships sailing for the colonies; and an office of registry +was established to prevent this abuse.[227] In 1664 Charles granted a +licence for five years to Sir James Modyford, brother of Sir Thomas, to +take all felons convicted in the circuits and at the Old Bailey who were +afterwards reprieved for transportation to foreign plantations, and to +transmit them to the governor of Jamaica;[228] and this practice was +continued throughout the whole of the buccaneering period. + +Privateering opened a channel by which these disorderly spirits, +impatient of the sober and laborious life of the planter, found an +employment agreeable to their tastes. An example had been set by the +plundering expeditions sent out by Fortescue, Brayne and Doyley, and +when these naval excursions ceased, the sailors and others who had taken +part in them fell to robbing on their private account. Sir Charles +Lyttleton, we have seen, zealously defended and encouraged the +freebooters; and Long, the historian of Jamaica, justified their +existence on the ground that many traders were attracted to the island +by the plunder with which Port Royal was so abundantly stocked, and that +the prosperity of the colony was founded upon the great demand for +provisions for the outfit of the privateers. These effects, however, +were but temporary and superficial, and did not counterbalance the +manifest evils of the practice, especially the discouragement to +planting, and the element of turbulence and unrest ever present in the +island. Under such conditions Governor Modyford found it necessary to +temporise with the marauders, and perhaps he did so the more readily +because he felt that they were still needed for the security of the +colony. A war between England and the States-General then seemed +imminent, and the governor considered that unless he allowed the +buccaneers to dispose of their booty when they came in to Port Royal, +they might, in event of hostilities breaking out, go to the Dutch at +Curaçao and other islands, and prey upon Jamaican commerce. On the other +hand, if, by adopting a conciliatory attitude, he retained their +allegiance, they would offer the handiest and most effective instrument +for driving the Dutch themselves out of the Indies.[229] He privately +told one captain, who brought in a Spanish prize, that he only stopped +the Admiralty proceedings to "give a good relish to the Spaniard"; and +that although the captor should have satisfaction, the governor could +not guarantee him his ship. So Sir Thomas persuaded some merchants to +buy the prize-goods and contributed one quarter of the money himself, +with the understanding that he should receive nothing if the Spaniards +came to claim their property.[230] A letter from Secretary Bennet, on +12th November 1664, confirmed the governor in this course;[231] and on +2nd February 1665, three weeks before the declaration of war against +Holland, a warrant was issued to the Duke of York, High Admiral of +England, to grant, through the colonial governors and vice-admirals, +commissions of reprisal upon the ships and goods of the Dutch.[232] +Modyford at once took advantage of this liberty. Some fourteen pirates, +who in the beginning of February had been tried and condemned to death, +were pardoned; and public declaration was made that commissions would be +granted against the Hollanders. Before nightfall two commissions had +been taken out, and all the rovers were making applications and planning +how to seize Curaçao.[233] Modyford drew up an elaborate design[234] for +rooting out at one and the same time the Dutch settlements and the +French buccaneers, and on 20th April he wrote that Lieutenant-Colonel +Morgan had sailed with ten ships and some 500 men, chiefly "reformed +prisoners," resolute fellows, and well armed with fusees and +pistols.[235] Their plan was to fall upon the Dutch fleet trading at St. +Kitts, capture St. Eustatius, Saba, and perhaps Curaçao, and on the +homeward voyage visit the French settlements on Hispaniola and Tortuga. +"All this is prepared," he wrote, "by the honest privateer, at the old +rate of no purchase no pay, and it will cost the king nothing +considerable, some powder and mortar-pieces." On the same day, 20th +April, Admiral de Ruyter, who had arrived in the Indies with a fleet of +fourteen sail, attacked the forts and shipping at Barbadoes, but +suffered considerable damage and retired after a few hours. At +Montserrat and Nevis, however, he was more successful and captured +sixteen merchant ships, after which he sailed for Virginia and New +York.[236] + +The buccaneers enrolled in Colonel Morgan's expedition proved to be +troublesome allies. Before their departure from Jamaica most of them +mutinied, and refused to sail until promised by Morgan that the plunder +should be equally divided.[237] On 17th July, however, the expedition +made its rendezvous at Montserrat, and on the 23rd arrived before St. +Eustatius. Two vessels had been lost sight of, a third, with the +ironical name of the "Olive Branch," had sailed for Virginia, and many +stragglers had been left behind at Montserrat, so that Morgan could +muster only 326 men for the assault. There was only one landing-place on +the island, with a narrow path accommodating but two men at a time +leading to an eminence which was crowned with a fort and 450 Dutchmen. +Morgan landed his division first, and Colonel Carey followed. The enemy, +it seems, gave them but one small volley and then retreated to the fort. +The governor sent forward three men to parley, and on receiving a +summons to surrender, delivered up the fort with eleven large guns and +considerable ammunition. "It is supposed they were drunk or mad," was +the comment made upon the rather disgraceful defence.[238] During the +action Colonel Morgan, who was an old man and very corpulent, was +overcome by the hard marching and extraordinary heat, and died. Colonel +Carey, who succeeded him in command, was anxious to proceed at once to +the capture of the Dutch forts on Saba, St. Martins and Tortola; but the +buccaneers refused to stir until the booty got at St. Eustatius was +divided--nor were the officers and men able to agree on the manner of +sharing. The plunder, besides guns and ammunition, included about 900 +slaves, negro and Indian, with a large quantity of live stock and +cotton. Meanwhile a party of seventy had crossed over to the island of +Saba, only four leagues distant, and secured its surrender on the same +terms as St. Eustatius. As the men had now become very mutinous, and on +a muster numbered scarcely 250, the officers decided that they could not +reasonably proceed any further and sailed for Jamaica, leaving a small +garrison on each of the islands. Most of the Dutch, about 250 in number, +were sent to St. Martins, but a few others, with some threescore +English, Irish and Scotch, took the oath of allegiance and +remained.[239] + +Encouraged by a letter from the king,[240] Governor Modyford continued +his exertions against the Dutch. In January (?) 1666 two buccaneer +captains, Searles and Stedman, with two small ships and only eighty men +took the island of Tobago, near Trinidad, and destroyed everything they +could not carry away. Lord Willoughby, governor of Barbadoes, had also +fitted out an expedition to take the island, but the Jamaicans were +three or four days before him. The latter were busy with their work of +pillage, when Willoughby arrived and demanded the island in the name of +the king; and the buccaneers condescended to leave the fort and the +governor's house standing only on condition that Willoughby gave them +liberty to sell their plunder in Barbadoes.[241] Modyford, meanwhile, +greatly disappointed by the miscarriage of the design against Curaçao, +called in the aid of the "old privateer," Captain Edward Mansfield, and +in the autumn of 1665, with the hope of sending another armament against +the island, appointed a rendezvous for the buccaneers in Bluefields +Bay.[242] + +In January 1666 war against England was openly declared by France in +support of her Dutch allies, and in the following month Charles II. sent +letters to his governors in the West Indies and the North American +colonies, apprising them of the war and urging them to attack their +French neighbours.[243] The news of the outbreak of hostilities did not +reach Jamaica until 2nd July, but already in December of the previous +year warning had been sent out to the West Indies of the coming +rupture.[244] Governor Modyford, therefore, seeing the French very much +increased in Hispaniola, concluded that it was high time to entice the +buccaneers from French service and bind them to himself by issuing +commissions against the Spaniards. The French still permitted the +freebooters to dispose of Spanish prizes in their ports, but the better +market afforded by Jamaica was always a sufficient consideration to +attract not only the English buccaneers, but the Dutch and French as +well. Moreover, the difficulties of the situation, which Modyford had +repeatedly enlarged upon in his letters, seem to have been appreciated +by the authorities in England, for in the spring of 1665, following upon +Secretary Bennet's letter of 12th November and shortly after the +outbreak of the Dutch war, the Duke of Albemarle had written to Modyford +in the name of the king, giving him permission to use his own discretion +in granting commissions against the Dons.[245] Modyford was convinced +that all the circumstances were favourable to such a course of action, +and on 22nd February assembled the Council. A resolution was passed that +it was to the interest of the island to grant letters of marque against +the Spaniards,[246] and a proclamation to this effect was published by +the governor at Port Royal and Tortuga. In the following August Modyford +sent home to Bennet, now become Lord Arlington, an elaborate defence of +his actions. "Your Lordship very well knows," wrote Modyford, "how great +an aversion I had for the privateers while at Barbadoes, but after I had +put His Majesty's orders for restitution in strict execution, I found my +error in the decay of the forts and wealth of this place, and also the +affections of this people to His Majesty's service; yet I continued +discountenancing and punishing those kind of people till your Lordship's +of the 12th November 1664 arrived, commanding a gentle usage of them; +still we went to decay, which I represented to the Lord General +faithfully the 6th of March following, who upon serious consideration +with His Majesty and the Lord Chancellor, by letter of 1st June 1665, +gave me latitude to grant or not commissions against the Spaniard, as I +found it for the advantage of His Majesty's service and the good of this +island. I was glad of this power, yet resolved not to use it unless +necessity drove me to it; and that too when I saw how poor the fleets +returning from Statia were, so that vessels were broken up and the men +disposed of for the coast of Cuba to get a livelihood and so be wholly +alienated from us. Many stayed at the Windward Isles, having not enough +to pay their engagements, and at Tortuga and among the French +buccaneers; still I forebore to make use of my power, hoping their +hardships and great hazards would in time reclaim them from that course +of life. But about the beginning of March last I found that the guards +of Port Royal, which under Colonel Morgan were 600, had fallen to 138, +so I assembled the Council to advise how to strengthen that most +important place with some of the inland forces; but they all agreed that +the only way to fill Port Royal with men was to grant commissions +against the Spaniards, which they were very pressing in ... and looking +on our weak condition, the chief merchants gone from Port Royal, no +credit given to privateers for victualling, etc., and rumours of war +with the French often repeated, I issued a declaration of my intentions +to grant commissions against the Spaniards. Your Lordship cannot imagine +what an universal change there was on the faces of men and things, ships +repairing, great resort of workmen and labourers to Port Royal, many +returning, many debtors released out of prison, and the ships from the +Curaçao voyage, not daring to come in for fear of creditors, brought in +and fitted out again, so that the regimental forces at Port Royal are +near 400. Had it not been for that seasonable action, I could not have +kept my place against the French buccaneers, who would have ruined all +the seaside plantations at least, whereas I now draw from them mainly, +and lately David Marteen, the best man of Tortuga, that has two frigates +at sea, has promised to bring in both."[247] + +In so far as the buccaneers affected the mutual relations of England and +Spain, it after all could make little difference whether commissions +were issued in Jamaica or not, for the plundering and burning continued, +and the harassed Spanish-Americans, only too prone to call the rogues +English of whatever origin they might really be, continued to curse and +hate the English nation and make cruel reprisals whenever possible. +Moreover, every expedition into Spanish territory, finding the Spaniards +very weak and very rich, gave new incentive to such endeavour. While +Modyford had been standing now on one foot, now on the other, uncertain +whether to repulse the buccaneers or not, secretly anxious to welcome +them, but fearing the authorities at home, the corsairs themselves had +entirely ignored him. The privateers whom Modyford had invited to +rendezvous in Bluefield's Bay in November 1665 had chosen Captain +Mansfield as their admiral, and in the middle of January sailed from the +south cays of Cuba for Curaçao. In the meantime, however, because they +had been refused provisions which, according to Modyford's account, they +sought to buy from the Spaniards in Cuba, they had marched forty-two +miles into the island, and on the strength of Portuguese commissions +which they held against the Spaniards, had plundered and burnt the town +of Sancti Spiritus, routed a body of 200 horse, carried some prisoners +to the coast, and for their ransom extorted 300 head of cattle.[248] The +rich and easy profits to be got by plundering the Spaniards were almost +too much for the loyalty of the men, and Modyford, hearing of many +defections from their ranks, had despatched Captain Beeston on 10th +November to divert them, if possible, from Sancti Spiritus, and confirm +them in their designs against Curaçao.[249] The officers of the +expedition, indeed, sent to the governor a letter expressing their zeal +for the enterprise; but the men still held off, and the fleet, in +consequence, eventually broke up. Two vessels departed for Tortuga, and +four others, joined by two French rovers, sailed under Mansfield to +attempt the recapture of Providence Island, which, since 1641, had been +garrisoned by the Spaniards and used as a penal settlement.[250] Being +resolved, as Mansfield afterwards told the governor of Jamaica, never to +see Modyford's face until he had done some service to the king, he +sailed for Providence with about 200 men,[251] and approaching the +island in the night by an unusual passage among the reefs, landed early +in the morning, and surprised and captured the Spanish commander. The +garrison of about 200 yielded up the fort on the promise that they would +be carried to the mainland. Twenty-seven pieces of ordnance were taken, +many of which, it is said, bore the arms of Queen Elizabeth engraved +upon them. Mansfield left thirty-five men under command of a Captain +Hattsell to hold the island, and sailed with his prisoners for Central +America. After cruising along the shores of the mainland, he ascended +the San Juan River and entered and sacked Granada, the capital of +Nicaragua. From Granada the buccaneers turned south into Costa Rica, +burning plantations, breaking the images in the churches, ham-stringing +cows and mules, cutting down the fruit trees, and in general destroying +everything they found. The Spanish governor had only thirty-six soldiers +at his disposal and scarcely any firearms; but he gathered the +inhabitants and some Indians, blocked the roads, laid ambuscades, and +did all that his pitiful means permitted to hinder the progress of the +invaders. The freebooters had designed to visit Cartago, the chief city +of the province, and plunder it as they had plundered Granada. They +penetrated only as far as Turrialva, however, whence weary and footsore +from their struggle through the Cordillera, and harassed by the +Spaniards, they retired through the province of Veragua in military +order to their ships.[252] On 12th June the buccaneers, laden with +booty, sailed into Port Royal. There was at that moment no declared war +between England and Spain. Yet the governor, probably because he +believed Mansfield to be justified, _ex post facto_, by the issue of +commissions against the Spaniards in the previous February, did no more +than mildly reprove him for acting without his orders; and "considering +its good situation for favouring any design on the rich main," he +accepted the tender of the island in behalf of the king. He despatched +Major Samuel Smith, who had been one of Mansfield's party, with a few +soldiers to reinforce the English garrison;[253] and on 10th November +the Council in England set the stamp of their approval upon his actions +by issuing a commission to his brother, Sir James Modyford, to be +lieutenant-governor of the new acquisition.[254] + +In August 1665, only two months before the departure of Mansfield from +Jamaica, there had returned to Port Royal from a raid in the same region +three privateer captains named Morris, Jackman and Morgan.[255] These +men, with their followers, doubtless helped to swell the ranks of +Mansfield's buccaneers, and it was probably their report of the wealth +of Central America which induced Mansfield to emulate their performance. +In the previous January these three captains, still pretending to sail +under commissions from Lord Windsor, had ascended the river Tabasco, in +the province of Campeache, with 107 men, and guided by Indians made a +detour of 300 miles, according to their account, to Villa de Mosa,[256] +which they took and plundered. When they returned to the mouth of the +river, they found that their ships had been seized by Spaniards, who, on +their approach, attacked them 300 strong. The Spaniards, softened by the +heat and indolent life of the tropics, were no match for one-third their +number of desperadoes, and the buccaneers beat them off without the loss +of a man. The freebooters then fitted up two barques and four canoes, +sailed to Rio Garta and stormed the place with only thirty men; crossed +the Gulf of Honduras to the Island of Roatan to rest and obtain fresh +water, and then captured and plundered the port of Truxillo. Down the +Mosquito Coast they passed like a devouring flame, consuming all in +their path. Anchoring in Monkey Bay, they ascended the San Juan River in +canoes for a distance of 100 miles to Lake Nicaragua. The basin into +which they entered they described as a veritable paradise, the air cool +and wholesome, the shores of the lake full of green pastures and broad +savannahs dotted with horses and cattle, and round about all a coronal +of azure mountains. Hiding by day among the numerous islands and rowing +all night, on the fifth night they landed near the city of Granada, just +a year before Mansfield's visit to the place. The buccaneers marched +unobserved to the central square of the city, overturned eighteen cannon +mounted there, seized the magazine, and took and imprisoned in the +cathedral 300 of the citizens. They plundered for sixteen hours, then +released their prisoners, and taking the precaution to scuttle all the +boats, made their way back to the sea coast. The town was large and +pleasant, containing seven churches besides several colleges and +monasteries, and most of the buildings were constructed of stone. About +1000 Indians, driven to rebellion by the cruelty and oppression of the +Spaniards, accompanied the marauders and would have massacred the +prisoners, especially the religious, had they not been told that the +English had no intentions of retaining their conquest. The news of the +exploit produced a lively impression in Jamaica, and the governor +suggested Central America as the "properest place" for an attack from +England on the Spanish Indies.[257] + +Providence Island was now in the hands of an English garrison, and the +Spaniards were not slow to realise that the possession of this outpost +by the buccaneers might be but the first step to larger conquests on the +mainland. The President of Panama, Don Juan Perez de Guzman, immediately +took steps to recover the island. He transferred himself to Porto Bello, +embargoed an English ship of thirty guns, the "Concord," lying at anchor +there with licence to trade in negroes, manned it with 350 Spaniards +under command of José Sánchez Jiménez, and sent it to Cartagena. The +governor of Cartagena contributed several small vessels and a hundred or +more men to the enterprise, and on 10th August 1666 the united Spanish +fleet appeared off the shores of Providence. On the refusal of Major +Smith to surrender, the Spaniards landed, and on 15th August, after a +three days' siege, forced the handful of buccaneers, only sixty or +seventy in number, to capitulate. Some of the English defenders later +deposed before Governor Modyford that the Spaniards had agreed to let +them depart in a barque for Jamaica. However this may be, when the +English came to lay down their arms they were made prisoners by the +Spaniards, carried to Porto Bello, and all except Sir Thomas Whetstone, +Major Smith and Captain Stanley, the three English captains, submitted +to the most inhuman cruelties. Thirty-three were chained to the ground +in a dungeon 12 feet by 10. They were forced to work in the water from +five in the morning till seven at night, and at such a rate that the +Spaniards themselves confessed they made one of them do more work than +any three negroes; yet when weak for want of victuals and sleep, they +were knocked down and beaten with cudgels so that four or five died. +"Having no clothes, their backs were blistered with the sun, their heads +scorched, their necks, shoulders and hands raw with carrying stones and +mortar, their feet chopped and their legs bruised and battered with the +irons, and their corpses were noisome to one another." The three English +captains were carried to Panama, and there cast into a dungeon and bound +in irons for seventeen months.[258] + +On 8th January 1664 Sir Richard Fanshaw, formerly ambassador to +Portugal, had arrived in Madrid from England to negotiate a treaty of +commerce with Spain, and if possible to patch up a peace between the +Spanish and Portuguese crowns. He had renewed the old demand for a free +commerce in the Indies; and the negotiations had dragged through the +years of 1664 and 1665, hampered and crossed by the factions in the +Spanish court, the hostile machinations of the Dutch resident in Madrid, +and the constant rumours of cruelties and desolations by the freebooters +in America.[259] The Spanish Government insisted that by sole virtue of +the articles of 1630 there was peace on both sides of the "Line," and +that the violences of the buccaneers in the West Indies, and even the +presence of English colonists there, was a breach of the articles. In +this fashion they endeavoured to reduce Fanshaw to the position of a +suppliant for favours which they might only out of their grace and +generosity concede. It was a favourite trick of Spanish diplomacy, which +had been worked many times before. The English ambassador was, in +consequence, compelled strenuously to deny the existence of any peace in +America, although he realised how ambiguous his position had been +rendered by the original orders of Charles II. to Modyford in 1664.[260] +After the death of Philip IV. in 1665, negotiations were renewed with +the encouragement of the Queen Regent, and on 17th December provisional +articles were signed by Fanshaw and the Duke de Medina de los Torres and +sent to England for ratification.[261] Fanshaw died shortly after, and +Lord Sandwich, his successor, finally succeeded in concluding a treaty +on 23rd May 1667.[262] The provisions of the treaty extended to places +"where hitherto trade and commerce hath been accustomed," and the only +privileges obtained in America were those which had been granted to the +Low Countries by the Treaty of Munster. On 21st July of the same year a +general peace was concluded at Breda between England, Holland and +France. + +It was in the very midst of Lord Sandwich's negotiations that Modyford +had, as Beeston expresses it in his Journal, declared war against the +Spaniards by the re-issue of privateering commissions. He had done it +all in his own name, however, so that the king might disavow him should +the exigencies of diplomacy demand it.[263] Moreover, at this same time, +in the middle of 1666, Albemarle was writing to Modyford that +notwithstanding the negotiations, in which, as he said, the West Indies +were not at all concerned, the governor might still employ the +privateers as formerly, if it be for the benefit of English interests in +the Indies.[264] The news of the general peace reached Jamaica late in +1667; yet Modyford did not change his policy. It is true that in +February Secretary Lord Arlington had sent directions to restrain the +buccaneers from further acts of violence against the Spaniards;[265] but +Modyford drew his own conclusions from the contradictory orders received +from England, and was conscious, perhaps, that he was only reflecting +the general policy of the home government when he wrote to +Arlington:--"Truly it must be very imprudent to run the hazard of this +place, for obtaining a correspondence which could not but by orders from +Madrid be had.... The Spaniards look on us as intruders and trespassers, +wheresoever they find us in the Indies, and use us accordingly; and were +it in their power, as it is fixed in their wills, would soon turn us out +of all our plantations; and is it reasonable that we should quietly let +them grow upon us until they are able to do it? It must be force alone +that can cut in sunder that unneighbourly maxim of their government to +deny all access to strangers."[266] + +These words were very soon translated into action, for in June 1668 +Henry Morgan, with a fleet of nine or ten ships and between 400 and 500 +men, took and sacked Porto Bello, one of the strongest cities of Spanish +America, and the emporium for most of the European trade of the South +American continent. Henry Morgan was a nephew of the Colonel Edward +Morgan who died in the assault of St. Eustatius. He is said to have been +kidnapped at Bristol while he was a mere lad and sold as a servant in +Barbadoes, whence, on the expiration of his time, he found his way to +Jamaica. There he joined the buccaneers and soon rose to be captain of a +ship. It was probably he who took part in the expedition with Morris and +Jackman to Campeache and Central America. He afterwards joined the +Curaçao armament of Mansfield and was with the latter when he seized the +island of Providence. After Mansfield's disappearance Morgan seems to +have taken his place as the foremost buccaneer leader in Jamaica, and +during the next twenty years he was one of the most considerable men in +the colony. He was but thirty-three years old when he led the expedition +against Porto Bello.[267] + +In the beginning of 1668 Sir Thomas Modyford, having had "frequent and +strong advice" that the Spaniards were planning an invasion of Jamaica, +had commissioned Henry Morgan to draw together the English privateers +and take some Spanish prisoners in order to find out if these rumours +were true. The buccaneers, according to Morgan's own report to the +governor, were driven to the south cays of Cuba, where being in want of +victuals and "like to starve," and meeting some Frenchmen in a similar +plight, they put their men ashore to forage. They found all the cattle +driven up into the country, however, and the inhabitants fled. So the +freebooters marched twenty leagues to Puerto Principe on the north side +of the island, and after a short encounter, in which the Spanish +governor was killed, possessed themselves of the place. Nothing of value +escaped the rapacity of the invaders, who resorted to the extremes of +torture to draw from their prisoners confessions of hidden wealth. On +the entreaty of the Spaniards they forebore to fire the town, and for a +ransom of 1000 head of cattle released all the prisoners; but they +compelled the Spaniards to salt the beef and carry it to the ships.[268] +Morgan reported, with what degree of truth we have no means of judging, +that seventy men had been impressed in Puerto Principe to go against +Jamaica, and that a similar levy had been made throughout the island. +Considerable forces, moreover, were expected from the mainland to +rendezvous at Havana and St. Jago, with the final object of invading the +English colony. + +On returning to the ships from the sack of Puerto Principe, Morgan +unfolded to his men his scheme of striking at the very heart of Spanish +power in the Indies by capturing Porto Bello. The Frenchmen among his +followers, it seems, wholly refused to join him in this larger design, +full of danger as it was; so Morgan sailed away with only the English +freebooters, some 400 in number, for the coasts of Darien. Exquemelin +has left us a narrative of this exploit which is more circumstantial +than any other we possess, and agrees so closely with what we know from +other sources that we must accept the author's statement that he was an +eye-witness. He relates the whole story, moreover, in so entertaining +and picturesque a manner that he deserves quotation. + +"Captain Morgan," he says, "who knew very well all the avenues of this +city, as also all the neighbouring coasts, arrived in the dusk of the +evening at the place called Puerto de Naos, distant ten leagues towards +the west of Porto Bello.[269] Being come unto this place, they mounted +the river in their ships, as far as another harbour called Puerto +Pontin, where they came to anchor. Here they put themselves immediately +into boats and canoes, leaving in the ships only a few men to keep them +and conduct them the next day unto the port. About midnight they came to +a certain place called Estera longa Lemos, where they all went on shore, +and marched by land to the first posts of the city. They had in their +company a certain Englishman, who had been formerly a prisoner in those +parts, and who now served them for a guide. Unto him, and three or four +more, they gave commission to take the sentry, if possible, or to kill +him upon the place. But they laid hands on him and apprehended him with +such cunning as he had no time to give warning with his musket, or make +any other noise. Thus they brought him, with his hands bound, unto +Captain Morgan, who asked him: 'How things went in the city, and what +forces they had'; with many other circumstances, which he was desirous +to know. After every question they made him a thousand menaces to kill +him, in case he declared not the truth. Thus they began to advance +towards the city, carrying always the said sentry bound before them. +Having marched about one quarter of a league, they came to the castle +that is nigh unto the city, which presently they closely surrounded, so +that no person could get either in or out of the said fortress. + +"Being thus posted under the walls of the castle, Captain Morgan +commanded the sentry, whom they had taken prisoner, to speak to those +that were within, charging them to surrender, and deliver themselves up +to his discretion; otherwise they should be all cut in pieces, without +giving quarter to any one. But they would hearken to none of these +threats, beginning instantly to fire; which gave notice unto the city, +and this was suddenly alarmed. Yet, notwithstanding, although the +Governor and soldiers of the said castle made as great resistance as +could be performed, they were constrained to surrender unto the Pirates. +These no sooner had taken the castle, than they resolved to be as good +as their words, in putting the Spaniards to the sword, thereby to strike +a terror into the rest of the city. Hereupon, having shut up all the +soldiers and officers as prisoners into one room, they instantly set +fire to the powder (whereof they found great quantity), and blew up the +whole castle into the air, with all the Spaniards that were within. This +being done, they pursued the course of their victory, falling upon the +city, which as yet was not in order to receive them. Many of the +inhabitants cast their precious jewels and moneys into wells and +cisterns or hid them in other places underground, to excuse, as much as +were possible, their being totally robbed. One party of the Pirates +being assigned to this purpose, ran immediately to the cloisters, and +took as many religious men and women as they could find. The Governor of +the city not being able to rally the citizens, through the huge +confusion of the town, retired unto one of the castles remaining, and +from thence began to fire incessantly at the Pirates. But these were not +in the least negligent either to assault him or defend themselves with +all the courage imaginable. Thus it was observed that, amidst the horror +of the assault, they made very few shot in vain. For aiming with great +dexterity at the mouths of the guns, the Spaniards were certain to lose +one or two men every time they charged each gun anew. + +"The assault of this castle where the Governor was continued very +furious on both sides, from break of day until noon. Yea, about this +time of the day the case was very dubious which party should conquer or +be conquered. At last the Pirates, perceiving they had lost many men and +as yet advanced but little towards the gaining either this or the other +castles remaining, thought to make use of fireballs, which they threw +with their hands, designing, if possible, to burn the doors of the +castle. But going about to put this in execution, the Spaniards from the +walls let fall great quantity of stones and earthen pots full of powder +and other combustible matter, which forced them to desist from that +attempt. Captain Morgan, seeing this generous defence made by the +Spaniards, began to despair of the whole success of the enterprise. +Hereupon many faint and calm meditations came into his mind; neither +could he determine which way to turn himself in that straitness of +affairs. Being involved in these thoughts, he was suddenly animated to +continue the assault, by seeing the English colours put forth at one of +the lesser castles, then entered by his men, of whom he presently after +spied a troop that came to meet him proclaiming victory with loud shouts +of joy. This instantly put him upon new resolutions of making new +efforts to take the rest of the castles that stood out against him; +especially seeing the chief citizens were fled unto them, and had +conveyed thither great part of their riches, with all the plate +belonging to the churches, and other things dedicated to divine service. + +"To this effect, therefore, he ordered ten or twelve ladders to be made, +in all possible haste, so broad that three or four men at once might +ascend by them. These being finished, he commanded all the religious men +and women whom he had taken prisoners to fix them against the walls of +the castle. Thus much he had beforehand threatened the Governor to +perform, in case he delivered not the castle. But his answer was: 'He +would never surrender himself alive.' Captain Morgan was much persuaded +that the Governor would not employ his utmost forces, seeing religious +women and ecclesiastical persons exposed in the front of the soldiers to +the greatest dangers. Thus the ladders, as I have said, were put into +the hands of religious persons of both sexes; and these were forced, at +the head of the companies, to raise and apply them to the walls. But +Captain Morgan was deceived in his judgment of this design. For the +Governor, who acted like a brave and courageous soldier, refused not, in +performance of his duty, to use his utmost endeavours to destroy +whosoever came near the walls. The religious men and women ceased not to +cry unto him and beg of him by all the Saints of Heaven he would deliver +the castle, and hereby spare both his and their own lives. But nothing +could prevail with the obstinacy and fierceness that had possessed the +Governor's mind. Thus many of the religious men and nuns were killed +before they could fix the ladders. Which at last being done, though with +great loss of the said religious people, the Pirates mounted them in +great numbers, and with no less valour; having fireballs in their hands, +and earthen pots full of powder. All which things, being now at the top +of the walls, they kindled and cast in among the Spaniards. + +"This effort of the Pirates was very great, insomuch as the Spaniards +could no longer resist nor defend the castle, which was now entered. +Hereupon they all threw down their arms, and craved quarter for their +lives. Only the Governor of the city would admit or crave no mercy; but +rather killed many of the Pirates with his own hands, and not a few of +his own soldiers, because they did not stand to their arms. And although +the Pirates asked him if he would have quarter, yet he constantly +answered: 'By no means; I had rather die as a valiant soldier, than be +hanged as a coward.' They endeavoured as much as they could to take him +prisoner. But he defended himself so obstinately that they were forced +to kill him; notwithstanding all the cries and tears of his own wife and +daughter, who begged of him upon their knees he would demand quarter and +save his life. When the Pirates had possessed themselves of the castle, +which was about night, they enclosed therein all the prisoners they had +taken, placing the women and men by themselves, with some guards upon +them. All the wounded were put into a certain apartment by itself, to +the intent their own complaints might be the cure of their diseases; for +no other was afforded them. + +"This being done, they fell to eating and drinking after their usual +manner; that is to say, committing in both these things all manner of +debauchery and excess.... After such manner they delivered themselves up +unto all sort of debauchery, that if there had been found only fifty +courageous men, they might easily have re-taken the city, and killed all +the Pirates. The next day, having plundered all they could find, they +began to examine some of the prisoners (who had been persuaded by their +companions to say they were the richest of the town), charging them +severely to discover where they had hidden their riches and goods. But +not being able to extort anything out of them, as they were not the +right persons that possessed any wealth, they at last resolved to +torture them. This they performed with such cruelty that many of them +died upon the rack, or presently after. Soon after, the President of +Panama had news brought him of the pillage and ruin of Porto Bello. This +intelligence caused him to employ all his care and industry to raise +forces, with design to pursue and cast out the Pirates from thence. But +these cared little for what extraordinary means the President used, as +having their ships nigh at hand, and being determined to set fire unto +the city and retreat. They had now been at Porto Bello fifteen days, in +which space of time they had lost many of their men, both by the +unhealthiness of the country and the extravagant debaucheries they had +committed.[270] + +"Hereupon they prepared for a departure, carrying on board their ships +all the pillage they had gotten. But, before all, they provided the +fleet with sufficient victuals for the voyage. While these things were +getting ready, Captain Morgan sent an injunction unto the prisoners, +that they should pay him a ransom for the city, or else he would by fire +consume it to ashes, and blow up all the castles into the air. Withal, +he commanded them to send speedily two persons to seek and procure the +sum he demanded, which amounted to one hundred thousand pieces of eight. +Unto this effect, two men were sent to the President of Panama, who gave +him an account of all these tragedies. The President, having now a body +of men in readiness, set forth immediately towards Porto Bello, to +encounter the Pirates before their retreat. But these people, hearing of +his coming, instead of flying away, went out to meet him at a narrow +passage through which of necessity he ought to pass. Here they placed an +hundred men very well armed; the which, at the first encounter, put to +flight a good party of those of Panama. This accident obliged the +President to retire for that time, as not being yet in a posture of +strength to proceed any farther. Presently after this rencounter he sent +a message unto Captain Morgan to tell him: 'That in case he departed not +suddenly with all his forces from Porto Bello, he ought to expect no +quarter for himself nor his companions, when he should take them, as he +hoped soon to do.' Captain Morgan, who feared not his threats knowing he +had a secure retreat in his ships which were nigh at hand, made him +answer: 'He would not deliver the castles, before he had received the +contribution money he had demanded. Which in case it were not paid down, +he would certainly burn the whole city, and then leave it, demolishing +beforehand the castles and killing the prisoners.' + +"The Governor of Panama perceived by this answer that no means would +serve to mollify the hearts of the Pirates, nor reduce them to reason. +Hereupon he determined to leave them; as also those of the city, whom he +came to relieve, involved in the difficulties of making the best +agreement they could with their enemies.[271] Thus, in a few days more, +the miserable citizens gathered the contribution wherein they were +fined, and brought the entire sum of one hundred thousand pieces of +eight unto the Pirates, for a ransom of the cruel captivity they were +fallen into. But the President of Panama, by these transactions, was +brought into an extreme admiration, considering that four hundred men +had been able to take such a great city, with so many strong castles; +especially seeing they had no pieces of cannon, nor other great guns, +wherewith to raise batteries against them. And what was more, knowing +that the citizens of Porto Bello had always great repute of being good +soldiers themselves, and who had never wanted courage in their own +defence. This astonishment was so great, that it occasioned him, for to +be satisfied therein, to send a messenger unto Captain Morgan, desiring +him to send him some small pattern of those arms wherewith he had taken +with such violence so great a city. Captain Morgan received this +messenger very kindly, and treated him with great civility. Which being +done, he gave him a pistol and a few small bullets of lead, to carry +back unto the President, his Master, telling him withal: 'He desired him +to accept that slender pattern of the arms wherewith he had taken Porto +Bello and keep them for a twelvemonth; after which time he promised to +come to Panama and fetch them away.' The governor of Panama returned the +present very soon unto Captain Morgan, giving him thanks for the favour +of lending him such weapons as he needed not, and withal sent him a ring +of gold, with this message: 'That he desired him not to give himself the +labour of coming to Panama, as he had done to Porto Bello; for he did +certify unto him, he should not speed so well here as he had done +there.' + +"After these transactions, Captain Morgan (having provided his fleet +with all necessaries, and taken with him the best guns of the castles, +nailing the rest which he could not carry away) set sail from Porto +Bello with all his ships. With these he arrived in a few days unto the +Island of Cuba, where he sought out a place wherein with all quiet and +repose he might make the dividend of the spoil they had gotten. They +found in ready money two hundred and fifty thousand pieces of eight, +besides all other merchandises, as cloth, linen, silks and other goods. +With this rich purchase they sailed again from thence unto their common +place of rendezvous, Jamaica. Being arrived, they passed here some time +in all sorts of vices and debauchery, according to their common manner +of doing, spending with huge prodigality what others had gained with no +small labour and toil."[272] + +Morgan and his officers, on their return to Jamaica in the middle of +August, made an official report which places their conduct in a +peculiarly mild and charitable light,[273] and forms a sharp contrast to +the account left us by Exquemelin. According to Morgan the town and +castles were restored "in as good condition as they found them," and the +people were so well treated that "several ladies of great quality and +other prisoners" who were offered "their liberty to go to the +President's camp, refused, saying they were now prisoners to a person of +quality, who was more tender of their honours than they doubted to find +in the president's camp, and so voluntarily continued with them till the +surrender of the town and castles." This scarcely tallies with what we +know of the manners of the freebooters, and Exquemelin's evidence is +probably nearer the truth. When Morgan returned to Jamaica Modyford at +first received him somewhat doubtfully, for Morgan's commission, as the +Governor told him, was only against ships, and the Governor was not at +all sure how the exploit would be taken in England. Morgan, however, had +reported that at Porto Bello, as well as in Cuba, levies were being made +for an attack upon Jamaica, and Modyford laid great stress upon this +point when he forwarded the buccaneer's narrative to the Duke of +Albemarle. + +The sack of Porto Bello was nothing less than an act of open war against +Spain, and Modyford, now that he had taken the decisive step, was not +satisfied with half measures. Before the end of October 1668 the whole +fleet of privateers, ten sail and 800 men, had gone out again under +Morgan to cruise on the coasts of Caracas, while Captain Dempster with +several other vessels and 300 followers lay before Havana and along the +shores of Campeache.[274] Modyford had written home repeatedly that if +the king wished him to exercise any adequate control over the +buccaneers, he must send from England two or three nimble fifth-rate +frigates to command their obedience and protect the island from hostile +attacks. Charles in reply to these letters sent out the "Oxford," a +frigate of thirty-four guns, which arrived at Port Royal on 14th +October. According to Beeston's Journal, it brought instructions +countenancing the war, and empowering the governor to commission +whatever persons he thought good to be partners with His Majesty in the +plunder, "they finding victuals, wear and tear."[275] The frigate was +immediately provisioned for a several months' cruise, and sent under +command of Captain Edward Collier to join Morgan's fleet as a private +ship-of-war. Morgan had appointed the Isle la Vache, or Cow Island, on +the south side of Hispaniola, as the rendezvous for the privateers; and +thither flocked great numbers, both English and French, for the name of +Morgan was, by his exploit at Porto Bello, rendered famous in all the +neighbouring islands. Here, too, arrived the "Oxford" in December. Among +the French privateers were two men-of-war, one of which, the "Cour +Volant" of La Rochelle, commanded by M. la Vivon, was seized by Captain +Collier for having robbed an English vessel of provisions. A few days +later, on 2nd January, a council of war was held aboard the "Oxford," +where it was decided that the privateers, now numbering about 900 men, +should attack Cartagena. While the captains were at dinner on the +quarter-deck, however, the frigate blew up, and about 200 men, including +five captains, were lost.[276] "I was eating my dinner with the rest," +writes the surgeon, Richard Browne, "when the mainmasts blew out, and +fell upon Captains Aylett, Bigford, and others, and knocked them on the +head; I saved myself by getting astride the mizzenmast." It seems that +out of the whole ship only Morgan and those who sat on his side of the +table were saved. The accident was probably caused by the carelessness +of a gunner. Captain Collier sailed in la Vivon's ship for Jamaica, +where the French captain was convicted of piracy in the Admiralty Court, +and reprieved by Governor Modyford, but his ship confiscated.[277] + +Morgan, from the rendezvous at the Isle la Vache, had coasted along the +southern shores of Hispaniola and made several inroads upon the island +for the purpose of securing beef and other provisions. Some of his +ships, meanwhile, had been separated from the body of the fleet, and at +last he found himself with but eight vessels and 400 or 500 men, +scarcely more than half his original company. With these small numbers +he changed his resolution to attempt Cartagena, and set sail for +Maracaibo, a town situated on the great lagoon of that name in +Venezuela. This town had been pillaged in 1667, just before the peace of +Aix-la-Chapelle, by 650 buccaneers led by two French captains, +L'Olonnais and Michel le Basque, and had suffered all the horrors +attendant upon such a visit. In March 1669 Morgan appeared at the +entrance to the lake, forced the passage after a day's hot bombardment, +dismantled the fort which commanded it, and entered Maracaibo, from +which the inhabitants had fled before him. The buccaneers sacked the +town, and scoured the woods in search of the Spaniards and their +valuables. Men, women and children were brought in and cruelly tortured +to make them confess where their treasures were hid. Morgan, at the end +of three weeks, "having now got by degrees into his hands about 100 of +the chief families," resolved to go to Gibraltar, near the head of the +lake, as L'Olonnais had done before him. Here the scenes of inhuman +cruelty, "the tortures, murders, robberies and such like insolences," +were repeated for five weeks; after which the buccaneers, gathering up +their rich booty, returned to Maracaibo, carrying with them four +hostages for the ransom of the town and prisoners, which the inhabitants +promised to send after them. At Maracaibo Morgan learnt that three large +Spanish men-of-war were lying off the entrance of the lake, and that the +fort, in the meantime, had been armed and manned and put into a posture +of defence. In order to gain time he entered into negotiations with the +Spanish admiral, Don Alonso del Campo y Espinosa, while the privateers +carefully made ready a fireship disguised as a man-of-war. At dawn on +1st May 1669, according to Exquemelin, they approached the Spanish ships +riding at anchor within the entry of the lake, and sending the fireship +ahead of the rest, steered directly for them. The fireship fell foul of +the "Almirante," a vessel of forty guns, grappled with her and set her +in flames. The second Spanish ship, when the plight of the Admiral was +discovered, was run aground and burnt by her own men. The third was +captured by the buccaneers. As no quarter was given or taken, the loss +of the Spaniards must have been considerable, although some of those on +the Admiral, including Don Alonso, succeeded in reaching shore. From a +pilot picked up by the buccaneers, Morgan learned that in the flagship +was a great quantity of plate to the value of 40,000 pieces of eight. Of +this he succeeded in recovering about half, much of it melted by the +force of the heat. Morgan then returned to Maracaibo to refit his prize, +and opening negotiations again with Don Alonso, he actually succeeded in +obtaining 20,000 pieces of eight and 500 head of cattle as a ransom for +the city. Permission to pass the fort, however, the Spaniard refused. +So, having first made a division of the spoil,[278] Morgan resorted to +an ingenious stratagem to effect his egress from the lake. He led the +Spaniards to believe that he was landing his men for an attack on the +fort from the land side; and while the Spaniards were moving their guns +in that direction, Morgan in the night, by the light of the moon, let +his ships drop gently down with the tide till they were abreast of the +fort, and then suddenly spreading sail made good his escape. On 17th May +the buccaneers returned to Port Royal. + +These events in the West Indies filled the Spanish Court with impotent +rage, and the Conde de Molina, ambassador in England, made repeated +demands for the punishment of Modyford, and for the restitution of the +plate and other captured goods which were beginning to flow into England +from Jamaica. The English Council replied that the treaty of 1667 was +not understood to include the Indies, and Charles II. sent him a long +list of complaints of ill-usage to English ships at the hands of the +Spaniards in America.[279] Orders seem to have been sent to Modyford, +however, to stop hostilities, for in May 1669 Modyford again called in +all commissions,[280] and Beeston writes in his Journal, under 14th +June, that peace was publicly proclaimed with the Spaniards. In +November, moreover, the governor told Albemarle that most of the +buccaneers were turning to trade, hunting or planting, and that he hoped +soon to reduce all to peaceful pursuits.[281] The Spanish Council of +State, in the meantime, had determined upon a course of active reprisal. +A commission from the queen-regent, dated 20th April 1669, commanded her +governors in the Indies to make open war against the English;[282] and a +fleet of six vessels, carrying from eighteen to forty-eight guns, was +sent from Spain to cruise against the buccaneers. To this fleet belonged +the three ships which tried to bottle up Morgan in Lake Maracaibo. Port +Royal was filled with report and rumour of English ships captured and +plundered, of cruelties to English prisoners in the dungeons of +Cartagena, of commissions of war issued at Porto Bello and St. Jago de +Cuba, and of intended reprisals upon the settlements in Jamaica. The +privateers became restless and spoke darkly of revenge, while Modyford, +his old supporter the Duke of Albemarle having just died, wrote home +begging for orders which would give him liberty to retaliate.[283] The +last straw fell in June 1670, when two Spanish men-of-war from St. Jago +de Cuba, commanded by a Portuguese, Manuel Rivero Pardal, landed men on +the north side of the island, burnt some houses and carried off a number +of the inhabitants as prisoners.[284] On 2nd July the governor and +council issued a commission to Henry Morgan, as commander-in-chief of +all ships of war belonging to Jamaica, to get together the privateers +for the defence of the island, to attack, seize and destroy all the +enemy's vessels he could discover, and in case he found it feasible, "to +land and attack St. Jago or any other place where ... are stores for +this war or a rendezvous for their forces." In the accompanying +instructions he was bidden "to advise his fleet and soldiers that they +were upon the old pleasing account of no purchase, no pay, and therefore +that all which is got, shall be divided amongst them, according to the +accustomed rules."[285] + +Morgan sailed from Jamaica on 14th August 1670 with eleven vessels and +600 men for the Isle la Vache, the usual rendezvous, whence during the +next three months squadrons were detailed to the coast of Cuba and the +mainland of South America to collect provisions and intelligence. Sir +William Godolphin was at that moment in Madrid concluding articles for +the establishment of peace and friendship in America; and on 12th June +Secretary Arlington wrote to Modyford that in view of these negotiations +his Majesty commanded the privateers to forbear all hostilities on land +against the Spaniards.[286] These orders reached Jamaica on 13th August, +whereupon the governor recalled Morgan, who had sailed from the harbour +the day before, and communicated them to him, "strictly charging him to +observe the same and behave with all moderation possible in carrying on +the war." The admiral replied that necessity would compel him to land in +the Spaniards' country for wood, water and provisions, but unless he was +assured that the enemy in their towns were making hostile preparations +against the Jamaicans, he would not touch any of them.[287] On 6th +September, however, Vice-Admiral Collier with six sail and 400 men was +dispatched by Morgan to the Spanish Main. There on 4th November he +seized, in the harbour of Santa Marta, two frigates laden with +provisions for Maracaibo. Then coasting eastward to Rio de la Hacha, he +attacked and captured the fort with its commander and all its garrison, +sacked the city, held it to ransom for salt, maize, meat and other +provisions, and after occupying it for almost a month returned on 28th +October to the Isle la Vache.[288] One of the frigates captured at Santa +Marta, "La Gallardina," had been with Pardal when he burnt the coast of +Jamaica. Pardal's own ship of fourteen guns had been captured but a +short time before by Captain John Morris at the east end of Cuba, and +Pardal himself shot through the neck and killed.[289] He was called by +the Jamaicans "the vapouring admiral of St. Jago," for in June he had +nailed a piece of canvas to a tree on the Jamaican coast, with a curious +challenge written both in English and Spanish:-- + +"I, Captain Manuel Rivero Pardal, to the chief of the squadron of +privateers in Jamaica. I am he who this year have done that which +follows. I went on shore at Caimanos, and burnt 20 houses, and fought +with Captain Ary, and took from him a catch laden with provisions and a +canoe. And I am he who took Captain Baines and did carry the prize to +Cartagena, and now am arrived to this coast, and have burnt it. And I +come to seek General Morgan, with 2 ships of 20 guns, and having seen +this, I crave he would come out upon the coast and seek me, that he +might see the valour of the Spaniards. And because I had no time I did +not come to the mouth of Port Royal to speak by word of mouth in the +name of my king, whom God preserve. Dated the 5th of July 1670."[290] + +Meanwhile, in the middle of October, there sailed into Port Royal three +privateers, Captains Prince, Harrison and Ludbury, who six weeks before +had ascended the river San Juan in Nicaragua with 170 men and again +plundered the unfortunate city of Granada. The town had rapidly decayed, +however, under the repeated assaults of the buccaneers, and the +plunderers secured only £20 or £30 per man. Modyford reproved the +captains for acting without commissions, but "not deeming it prudent to +press the matter too far in this juncture," commanded them to join +Morgan at the Isle la Vache.[291] There Morgan was slowly mustering his +strength. He negotiated with the French of Tortuga and Hispaniola who +were then in revolt against the _régime_ of the French Company; and he +added to his forces seven ships and 400 men sent him by the +indefatigable Governor of Jamaica. On 7th October, indeed, the venture +was almost ruined by a violent storm which cast the whole fleet, except +the Admiral's vessel, upon the shore. All of the ships but three, +however, were eventually got off and repaired, and on 6th December +Morgan was able to write to Modyford that he had 1800 buccaneers, +including several hundred French, and thirty-six ships under his +command.[292] Upon consideration of the reports brought from the Main by +his own men, and the testimony of prisoners they had taken, Morgan +decided that it was impossible to attempt what seems to have been his +original design, a descent upon St. Jago de Cuba, without great loss of +men and ships. On 2nd December, therefore, it was unanimously agreed by +a general council of all the captains, thirty-seven in number, "that it +stands most for the good of Jamaica and safety of us all to take Panama, +the President thereof having granted several commissions against the +English."[293] Six days later the fleet put to sea from Cape Tiburon, +and on the morning of the 14th sighted Providence Island. The Spanish +governor capitulated next day, on condition of being transported with +his garrison to the mainland, and four of his soldiers who had formerly +been banditti in the province of Darien agreed to become guides for the +English.[294] After a delay of five days more, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph +Bradley, with between 400 and 500 men in three ships, was sent ahead by +Morgan to the isthmus to seize the Castle of San Lorenzo, situated at +the mouth of the Chagre river. + +The President of Panama, meanwhile, on 15th December, had received a +messenger from the governor of Cartagena with news of the coming of the +English.[295] The president immediately dispatched reinforcements to the +Castle of Chagre, which arrived fifteen days before the buccaneers and +raised its strength to over 350 men. Two hundred men were sent to Porto +Bello, and 500 more were stationed at Venta Cruz and in ambuscades along +the Chagre river to oppose the advance of the English. The president +himself rose from a bed of sickness to head a reserve of 800, but most +of his men were raw recruits without a professional soldier amongst +them. This militia in a few days became so panic-stricken that one-third +deserted in a night, and the president was compelled to retire to +Panama. There the Spaniards managed to load some of the treasure upon +two or three ships lying in the roadstead; and the nuns and most of the +citizens of importance also embarked with their wives, children and +personal property.[296] + +The fort or castle of San Lorenzo, which stood on a hill commanding the +river Chagre, seems to have been built of double rows of wooden +palisades, the space between being filled with earth; and it was +protected by a ditch 12 feet deep and by several smaller batteries +nearer the water's edge. Lieutenant-Colonel Bradley, who, according to +Exquemelin, had been on these coasts before with Captain Mansfield, +landed near the fort on the 27th of December. He and his men fought in +the trenches from early afternoon till eight o'clock next morning, when +they stormed and carried the place. The buccaneers suffered severely, +losing about 150 in killed and wounded, including Bradley himself who +died ten days later. Exquemelin gives a very vivid account of the +action. The buccaneers, he writes, "came to anchor in a small port, at +the distance of a league more or less from the castle. The next morning +very early they went on shore, and marched through the woods, to attack +the castle on that side. This march continued until two o'clock, +afternoon, by reason of the difficulties of the way, and its mire and +dirt. And although their guides served them exactly, notwithstanding +they came so nigh the castle at first that they lost many of their men +with the shot from the guns, they being in an open place where nothing +could cover nor defend them. This much perplexed the Pirates ..." (but) +"at last after many doubts and disputes among themselves they resolved +to hazard the assault and their lives after a most desperate manner. +Thus they advanced towards the castle, with their swords in one hand and +fireballs in the other. The Spaniards defended themselves very briskly, +ceasing not to fire at them with their great guns and muskets +continually crying withal: 'Come on, ye English dogs, enemies to God and +our King; let your other companions that are behind come on too, ye +shall not go to Panama this bout.' After the Pirates had made some trial +to climb up the walls, they were forced to retreat, which they +accordingly did, resting themselves until night. This being done, they +returned to the assault, to try if by the help of their fireballs they +could overcome and pull down the pales before the wall. This they +attempted to do, and while they were about it there happened a very +remarkable accident, which gave them the opportunity of the victory. One +of the Pirates was wounded with an arrow in his back, which pierced his +body to the other side. This he instantly pulled out with great valour +at the side of his breast; then taking a little cotton that he had about +him, he wound it about the said arrow, and putting it into his musket, +he shot it back into the castle. But the cotton being kindled by the +powder, occasioned two or three houses that were within the castle, +being thatched with palm-leaves, to take fire, which the Spaniards +perceived not so soon as was necessary. For this fire meeting with a +parcel of powder, blew it up and thereby caused great ruin, and no less +consternation to the Spaniards, who were not able to account for this +accident, not having seen the beginning thereof. + +"Thus the Pirates perceiving the good effect of the arrow and the +beginning of the misfortune of the Spaniards, were infinitely gladdened +thereat. And while they were busied in extinguishing the fire, which +caused great confusion in the whole castle, having not sufficient water +wherewithal to do it, the Pirates made use of this opportunity, setting +fire likewise to the palisades. Thus the fire was seen at the same time +in several parts about the castle, which gave them huge advantage +against the Spaniards. For many breaches were made at once by the fire +among the pales, great heaps of earth falling down into the ditch. Upon +these the Pirates climbed up, and got over into the castle, +notwithstanding that some Spaniards, who were not busied about the fire, +cast down upon them many flaming pots, full of combustible matter and +odious smells, which occasioned the loss of many of the English. + +"The Spaniards, notwithstanding the great resistance they made, could +not hinder the palisades from being entirely burnt before midnight. +Meanwhile the Pirates ceased not to persist in their intention of taking +the castle. Unto which effect, although the fire was great, they would +creep upon the ground, as nigh unto it as they could, and shoot amidst +the flames, against the Spaniards they could perceive on the other side, +and thus cause many to fall dead from the walls. When day was come, they +observed all the moveable earth that lay between the pales to be fallen +into the ditch in huge quantity. So that now those within the castle did +in a manner lie equally exposed to them without, as had been on the +contrary before. Whereupon the Pirates continued shooting very furiously +against them, and killed great numbers of Spaniards. For the Governor +had given them orders not to retire from those posts which corresponded +to the heaps of earth fallen into the ditch, and caused the artillery to +be transported unto the breaches. + +"Notwithstanding, the fire within the castle still continued, and now +the Pirates from abroad used what means they could to hinder its +progress, by shooting incessantly against it. One party of the Pirates +was employed only to this purpose, and another commanded to watch all +the motions of the Spaniards, and take all opportunities against them. +About noon the English happened to gain a breach, which the Governor +himself defended with twenty-five soldiers. Here was performed a very +courageous and warlike resistance by the Spaniards, both with muskets, +pikes, stones and swords. Yet notwithstanding, through all these arms +the Pirates forced and fought their way, till at last they gained the +castle. The Spaniards who remained alive cast themselves down from the +castle into the sea, choosing rather to die precipitated by their own +selves (few or none surviving the fall) than to ask any quarter for +their lives. The Governor himself retreated unto the corps du garde, +before which were placed two pieces of cannon. Here he intended still to +defend himself, neither would he demand any quarter. But at last he was +killed with a musket shot, which pierced his skull into the brain. + +"The Governor being dead, and the corps du garde surrendered, they found +still remaining in it alive to the number of thirty men, whereof scarce +ten were not wounded. These informed the Pirates that eight or nine of +their soldiers had deserted their colours, and were gone to Panama to +carry news of their arrival and invasion. These thirty men alone were +remaining of three hundred and fourteen, wherewith the castle was +garrisoned, among which number not one officer was found alive. These +were all made prisoners, and compelled to tell whatsoever they knew of +their designs and enterprises."[297] + +Five days after the taking of the castle, Morgan arrived from Providence +Island with the rest of the armament; but at the entrance to the Chagre +river, in passing over the bar, his flagship and five or six smaller +boats were wrecked, and ten men were drowned. After repairing and +provisioning the castle, and leaving 300 men to guard it and the ships, +Morgan, on 9th January 1671, at the head of 1400 men, began the ascent +of the river in seven small vessels and thirty-six canoes.[298] The +story of this brilliant march we will again leave to Exquemelin, who +took part in it, to relate. The first day "they sailed only six leagues, +and came to a place called De los Bracos. Here a party of his men went +on shore, only to sleep some few hours and stretch their limbs, they +being almost crippled with lying too much crowded in the boats. After +they had rested awhile, they went abroad, to see if any victuals could +be found in the neighbouring plantations. But they could find none, the +Spaniards being fled and carrying with them all the provisions they had. +This day, being the first of their journey, there was amongst them such +scarcity of victuals that the greatest part were forced to pass with +only a pipe of tobacco, without any other refreshment. + +"The next day, very early in the morning, they continued their journey, +and came about evening to a place called Cruz de Juan Gallego. Here they +were compelled to leave their boats and canoes, by reason the river was +very dry for want of rain, and the many obstacles of trees that were +fallen into it. The guides told them that about two leagues farther on +the country would be very good to continue the journey by land. Hereupon +they left some companies, being in all one hundred and sixty men,[299] +on board the boats to defend them, with intent they might serve for a +place of refuge in case of necessity. + +"The next morning, being the third day of their journey, they all went +ashore, excepting those above-mentioned who were to keep the boats. Unto +these Captain Morgan gave very strict orders, under great penalties, +that no man, upon any pretext whatsoever, should dare to leave the boats +and go ashore. This he did, fearing lest they should be surprised and +cut off by an ambuscade of Spaniards, that might chance to lie +thereabouts in the neighbouring woods, which appeared so thick as to +seem almost impenetrable. Having this morning begun their march, they +found the ways so dirty and irksome, that Captain Morgan thought it more +convenient to transport some of the men in canoes (though it could not +be done without great labour) to a place farther up the river, called +Cedro Bueno. Thus they re-embarked, and the canoes returned for the rest +that were left behind. So that about night they found themselves all +together at the said place. The Pirates were extremely desirous to meet +any Spaniards, or Indians, hoping to fill their bellies with what +provisions they should take from them. For now they were reduced almost +to the very extremity of hunger. + +"On the fourth day, the greatest part of the Pirates marched by land, +being led by one of the guides. The rest went by water, farther up with +the canoes, being conducted by another guide, who always went before +them with two of the said canoes, to discover on both sides the river +the ambuscades of the Spaniards. These had also spies, who were very +dextrous, and could at any time give notice of all accidents or of the +arrival of the Pirates, six hours at least before they came to any +place. This day about noon they found themselves nigh unto a post, +called Torna Cavallos. Here the guide of the canoes began to cry aloud +he perceived an ambuscade. His voice caused infinite joy unto all the +Pirates, as persuading themselves they should find some provisions +wherewith to satiate their hunger, which was very great. Being come unto +the place, they found nobody in it, the Spaniards who were there not +long before being every one fled, and leaving nothing behind unless it +were a small number of leather bags, all empty, and a few crumbs of +bread scattered upon the ground where they had eaten.[300] Being angry +at this misfortune, they pulled down a few little huts which the +Spaniards had made, and afterwards fell to eating the leathern bags, as +being desirous to afford something to the ferment of their stomachs, +which now was grown so sharp that it did gnaw their very bowels, having +nothing else to prey upon. Thus they made a huge banquet upon those bags +of leather, which doubtless had been more grateful unto them, if divers +quarrels had not risen concerning who should have the greatest share. By +the circumference of the place they conjectured five hundred Spaniards, +more or less, had been there. And these, finding no victuals, they were +now infinitely desirous to meet, intending to devour some of them rather +than perish. Whom they would certainly in that occasion have roasted or +boiled, to satisfy their famine, had they been able to take them. + +"After they had feasted themselves with those pieces of leather, they +quitted the place, and marched farther on, till they came about night to +another post called Torna Munni. Here they found another ambuscade, but +as barren and desert as the former. They searched the neighbouring +woods, but could not find the least thing to eat. The Spaniards having +been so provident as not to leave behind them anywhere the least crumb +of sustenance, whereby the Pirates were now brought to the extremity +aforementioned. Here again he was happy, that had reserved since noon +any small piece of leather whereof to make his supper, drinking after it +a good draught of water for his greatest comfort. Some persons who never +were out of their mothers' kitchens may ask how these Pirates could eat, +swallow and digest those pieces of leather, so hard and dry. Unto whom I +only answer: That could they once experiment what hunger, or rather +famine, is, they would certainly find the manner, by their own +necessity, as the Pirates did. For these first took the leather, and +sliced it in pieces. Then did they beat it between two stones and rub +it, often dipping it in the water of the river, to render it by these +means supple and tender. Lastly they scraped off the hair, and roasted +or broiled it upon the fire. And being thus cooked they cut it into +small morsels, and eat it, helping it down with frequent gulps of water, +which by good fortune they had nigh at hand. + +"They continued their march the fifth day, and about noon came unto a +place called Barbacoa. Here likewise they found traces of another +ambuscade, but the place totally as unprovided as the two precedent +were. At a small distance were to be seen several plantations, which +they searched very narrowly, but could not find any person, animal or +other thing that was capable of relieving their extreme and ravenous +hunger. Finally, having ranged up and down and searched a long time, +they found a certain grotto which seemed to be but lately hewn out of a +rock, in which they found two sacks of meal, wheat and like things, with +two great jars of wine, and certain fruits called Platanos. Captain +Morgan, knowing that some of his men were now, through hunger, reduced +almost to the extremity of their lives, and fearing lest the major part +should be brought into the same condition, caused all that was found to +be distributed amongst them who were in greatest necessity. Having +refreshed themselves with these victuals, they began to march anew with +greater courage than ever. Such as could not well go for weakness were +put into the canoes, and those commanded to land that were in them +before. Thus they prosecuted their journey till late at night, at which +time they came unto a plantation where they took up their rest. But +without eating anything at all; for the Spaniards, as before, had swept +away all manner of provisions, leaving not behind them the least signs +of victuals. + +"On the sixth day they continued their march, part of them by land +through the woods, and part by water in the canoes. Howbeit they were +constrained to rest themselves very frequently by the way, both for the +ruggedness thereof and the extreme weakness they were under. Unto this +they endeavoured to occur, by eating some leaves of trees and green +herbs, or grass, such as they could pick, for such was the miserable +condition they were in. This day, at noon, they arrived at a plantation, +where they found a barn full of maize. Immediately they beat down the +doors, and fell to eating of it dry, as much as they could devour. +Afterwards they distributed great quantity, giving to every man a good +allowance thereof. Being thus provided they prosecuted their journey, +which having continued for the space of an hour or thereabouts, they met +with an ambuscade of Indians. This they no sooner had discovered, but +they threw away their maize, with the sudden hopes they conceived of +finding all things in abundance. But after all this haste, they found +themselves much deceived, they meeting neither Indians nor victuals, nor +anything else of what they had imagined. They saw notwithstanding on the +other side of the river a troop of a hundred Indians more or less, who +all escaped away through the agility of their feet. Some few Pirates +there were who leapt into the river, the sooner to reach the shore to +see if they could take any of the said Indians prisoners. But all was in +vain; for being much more nimble on their feet than the Pirates they +easily baffled their endeavours. Neither did they only baffle them, but +killed also two or three of the Pirates with their arrows, shooting at +them at a distance, and crying: 'Ha! perros, a la savana, a la savana. +Ha! ye dogs, go to the plain, go to the plain.' + +"This day they could advance no further, by reason they were +necessitated to pass the river hereabouts to continue their march on the +other side. Hereupon they took up their repose for that night. Howbeit +their sleep was not heavy nor profound, for great murmurings were heard +that night in the camp, many complaining of Captain Morgan and his +conduct in that enterprise, and being desirous to return home. On the +contrary, others would rather die there than go back one step from what +they had undertaken. But others who had greater courage than any of +these two parties did laugh and joke at all their discourses. In the +meanwhile they had a guide who much comforted them, saying: 'It would +not now be long before they met with people, from whom they should reap +some considerable advantage.' + +"The seventh day in the morning they all made clean their arms, and +every one discharged his pistol or musket without bullet, to examine the +security of their firelocks. This being done, they passed to the other +side of the river in the canoes, leaving the post where they had rested +the night before, called Santa Cruz. Thus they proceeded on their +journey till noon, at which time they arrived at a village called +Cruz.[301] Being at a great distance as yet from the place, they +perceived much smoke to arise out of the chimneys. The sight hereof +afforded them great joy and hopes of finding people in the town, and +afterwards what they most desired, which was plenty of good cheer. Thus +they went on with as much haste as they could, making several arguments +to one another upon those external signs, though all like castles built +in the air. 'For,' said they, 'there is smoke coming out of every house, +and therefore they are making good fires to roast and boil what we are +to eat.' With other things to this purpose. + +"At length they arrived there in great haste, all sweating and panting, +but found no person in the town, nor anything that was eatable wherewith +to refresh themselves, unless it were good fires to warm themselves, +which they wanted not. For the Spaniards before their departure, had +every one set fire to his own house, excepting only the storehouses and +stables belonging to the King. + +"They had not left behind them any beast whatsoever, either alive or +dead. This occasioned much confusion in their minds, they not finding +the least thing to lay hold on, unless it were some few cats and dogs, +which they immediately killed and devoured with great appetite. At last +in the King's stables they found by good fortune fifteen or sixteen jars +of Peru wine, and a leather sack full of bread. But no sooner had they +begun to drink of the said wine when they fell sick, almost every man. +This sudden disaster made them think that the wine was poisoned, which +caused a new consternation in the whole camp, as judging themselves now +to be irrecoverably lost. But the true reason was, their huge want of +sustenance in that whole voyage, and the manifold sorts of trash which +they had eaten upon that occasion. Their sickness was so great that day +as caused them to remain there till the next morning, without being able +to prosecute their journey as they used to do, in the afternoon. This +village is seated in the latitude in 9 degrees and 2 minutes, northern +latitude, being distant from the river of Chagre twenty-six Spanish +leagues, and eight from Panama. Moreover, this is the last place unto +which boats or canoes can come; for which reason they built here +store-houses, wherein to keep all sorts of merchandise, which from hence +to and from Panama are transported upon the backs of mules. + +"Here therefore Captain Morgan was constrained to leave his canoes and +land all his men, though never so weak in their bodies. But lest the +canoes should be surprised, or take up too many men for their defence, +he resolved to send them all back to the place where the boats were, +excepting one, which he caused to be hidden, to the intent it might +serve to carry intelligence according to the exigency of affairs. Many +of the Spaniards and Indians belonging to this village were fled to the +plantations thereabouts. Hereupon Captain Morgan gave express orders +that none should dare to go out of the village, except in whole +companies of a hundred together. The occasion hereof was his fear lest +the enemy should take an advantage upon his men, by any sudden assault. +Notwithstanding, one party of English soldiers stickled not to +contravene these commands, being thereunto tempted with the desire of +finding victuals. But these were soon glad to fly into the town again, +being assaulted with great fury by some Spaniards and Indians, who +snatched up one of the Pirates, and carried him away prisoner. Thus the +vigilance and care of Captain Morgan was not sufficient to prevent every +accident that might happen. + +"On the eighth day, in the morning, Captain Morgan sent two hundred men +before the body of his army, to discover the way to Panama, and see if +they had laid any ambuscades therein. Especially considering that the +places by which they were to pass were very fit for that purpose, the +paths being so narrow that only ten or twelve persons could march in a +file, and oftentimes not so many. Having marched about the space of ten +hours, they came unto a place called Quebrada Obscura. Here, all on a +sudden, three or four thousand arrows were shot at them, without being +able to perceive from whence they came, or who shot them. The place, +from whence it was presumed they were shot was a high rocky mountain, +excavated from one side to the other, wherein was a grotto that went +through it, only capable of admitting one horse, or other beast laden. +This multitude of arrows caused a huge alarm among the Pirates, +especially because they could not discover the place from whence they +were discharged. At last, seeing no more arrows to appear, they marched +a little farther, and entered into a wood. Here they perceived some +Indians to fly as fast as they could possible before them, to take the +advantage of another post, and thence observe the march of the Pirates. +There remained, notwithstanding one troop of Indians upon the place, +with full design to fight and defend themselves. This combat they +performed with huge courage, till such time as their captain fell to the +ground wounded, who although he was now in despair of life, yet his +valour being greater than his strength, would demand no quarter, but, +endeavouring to raise himself, with undaunted mind laid hold of his +azagaya, or javelin, and struck at one of the Pirates. But before he +could second the blow, he was shot to death with a pistol. This was also +the fate of many of his companions, who like good and courageous +soldiers lost their lives with their captain, for the defence of their +country. + +"The Pirates endeavoured, as much as was possible, to lay hold on some +of the Indians and take them prisoners. But they being infinitely +swifter than the Pirates, every one escaped, leaving eight Pirates dead +upon the place and ten wounded.[302] Yea, had the Indians been more +dextrous in military affairs, they might have defended that passage, and +not let one sole man to pass. Within a little while after they came to a +large campaign field open and full of variegated meadows. From here they +could perceive at a distance before them a parcel of Indians who stood +on the top of a mountain, very nigh unto the way by which the Pirates +were to pass. They sent a troop of fifty men, the nimblest they could +pick out, to see if they could catch any of them, and afterwards force +them to declare whereabouts their companions had their mansions. But all +their industry was in vain, for they escaped through their nimbleness, +and presently after showed themselves in another place, hallooing unto +the English, and crying: 'A la savana, a la savana, cornudos, perros +Ingleses;' that is, 'To the plain, to the plain, ye cockolds, ye English +dogs!' While these things passed, the ten Pirates that were wounded a +little before were dressed and plastered up. + +"At this place there was a wood and on each side thereof a mountain. The +Indians had possessed themselves of the one, and the Pirates took +possession of the other that was opposite unto it. Captain Morgan was +persuaded that in the wood the Spaniards had placed an ambuscade, as +lying so conveniently for that purpose. Hereupon he sent before two +hundred men to search it. The Spaniards and Indians, perceiving the +Pirates to descend the mountain, did so too, as if they designed to +attack them. But being got into the wood, out of sight of the Pirates, +they disappeared, and were seen no more, leaving the passage open unto +them. + +"About night there fell a great rain, which caused the Pirates to march +the faster and seek everywhere for houses wherein to preserve their arms +from being wet. But the Indians had set fire to every one thereabouts, +and transported all their cattle unto remote places, to the end that the +Pirates, finding neither houses nor victuals, might be constrained to +return homewards. Notwithstanding, after diligent search, they found a +few little huts belonging to shepherds, but in them nothing to eat. +These not being capable of holding many men, they placed in them out of +every company a small number, who kept the arms of the rest of the army. +Those who remained in the open field endured much hardship that night, +the rain not ceasing to fall until the morning. + +"The next morning, about break of day, being the ninth of this tedious +journey, Captain Morgan continued his march while the fresh air of the +morning lasted. For the clouds then hanging as yet over their heads were +much more favourable unto them than the scorching rays of the sun, by +reason the way was now more difficult and laborious than all the +precedent. After two hours' march, they discovered a troop of about +twenty Spaniards. who observed the motions of the Pirates. They +endeavoured to catch some of them, but could lay hold on none, they +suddenly disappearing, and absconding themselves in caves among the +rocks, totally unknown to the Pirates. At last they came to a high +mountain, which, when they ascended, they discovered from the top +thereof the South Sea. This happy sight, as if it were the end of their +labours, caused infinite joy among the Pirates. From hence they could +descry also one ship and six boats, which were set forth from Panama, +and sailed towards the islands of Tavoga and Tavogilla. Having descended +this mountain, they came unto a vale, in which they found great quantity +of cattle, whereof they killed good store. Here while some were employed +in killing and flaying of cows, horses, bulls and chiefly asses, of +which there was greatest number, others busied themselves in kindling of +fires and getting wood wherewith to roast them. Thus cutting the flesh +of these animals into convenient pieces, or gobbets, they threw them +into the fire and, half carbonadoed or roasted, they devoured them with +incredible haste and appetite. For such was their hunger that they more +resembled cannibals than Europeans at this banquet, the blood many times +running down from their beards to the middle of their bodies. + +"Having satisfied their hunger with these delicious meats, Captain +Morgan ordered them to continue the march. Here again he sent before the +main body fifty men, with intent to take some prisoners, if possibly +they could. For he seemed now to be much concerned that in nine days' +time he could not meet one person who might inform him of the condition +and forces of the Spaniards. About evening they discovered a troop of +two hundred Spaniards, more or less, who hallooed unto the Pirates, but +these could not understand what they said. A little while after they +came the first time within sight of the highest steeple of Panama. This +steeple they no sooner had discovered but they began to show signs of +extreme joy, casting up their hats into the air, leaping for mirth, and +shouting, even just as if they had already obtained the victory and +entire accomplishment of their designs. All their trumpets were sounded +and every drum beaten, in token of this universal acclamation and huge +alacrity of their minds. Thus they pitched their camp for that night +with general content of the whole army, waiting with impatience for the +morning, at which time they intended to attack the city. This evening +there appeared fifty horse who came out of the city, hearing the noise +of the drums and trumpets of the Pirates, to observe, as it was thought, +their motions. They came almost within musket-shot of the army, being +preceded by a trumpet that sounded marvellously well. Those on horseback +hallooed aloud unto the Pirates, and threatened them, saying, 'Perros! +nos veremos,' that is, 'Ye dogs! we shall meet ye.' Having made this +menace they returned to the city, excepting only seven or eight horsemen +who remained hovering thereabouts, to watch what motions the Pirates +made. Immediately after, the city began to fire and ceased not to play +with their biggest guns all night long against the camp, but with little +or no harm unto the Pirates, whom they could not conveniently reach. +About this time also the two hundred Spaniards whom the Pirates had seen +in the afternoon appeared again within sight, making resemblance as if +they would block up the passages, to the intent no Pirates might escape +the hands of their forces. But the Pirates, who were now in a manner +besieged, instead of conceiving any fear of their blockades, as soon as +they had placed sentries about their camp, began every one to open their +satchels, and without any preparation of napkins or plates, fell to +eating very heartily the remaining pieces of bulls' and horses' flesh +which they had reserved since noon. This being done, they laid +themselves down to sleep upon the grass with great repose and huge +satisfaction, expecting only with impatience for the dawnings of the +next day. + +"On the tenth day, betimes in the morning, they put all their men in +convenient order, and with drums and trumpets sounding, continued their +march directly towards the city. But one of the guides desired Captain +Morgan not to take the common highway that led thither, fearing lest +they should find in it much resistance and many ambuscades. He presently +took his advice, and chose another way that went through the wood, +although very irksome and difficult. Thus the Spaniards, perceiving the +Pirates had taken another way, which they scarce had thought on or +believed, were compelled to leave their stops and batteries, and come +out to meet them. The Governor of Panama put his forces in order, +consisting of two squadrons, four regiments of foot, and a huge number +of wild bulls, which were driven by a great number of Indians, with some +negroes and others to help them. + +"The Pirates being now upon their march, came unto the top of a little +hill, from whence they had a large prospect of the city and campaign +country underneath. Here they discovered the forces of the people of +Panama, extended in battle array, which, when they perceived to be so +numerous, they were suddenly surprised with great fear, much doubting +the fortune of the day. Yea, few or none there were but wished +themselves at home, or at least free from the obligation of that +engagement, wherein they perceived their lives must be so narrowly +concerned. Having been some time at a stand, in a wavering condition of +mind, they at last reflected upon the straits they had brought +themselves into, and that now they ought of necessity either to fight +resolutely or die, for no quarter could be expected from an enemy +against whom they had committed so many cruelties on all occasions. +Hereupon they encouraged one another, and resolved either to conquer, or +spend the very last drop of blood in their bodies. Afterwards they +divided themselves into three battalions, or troops, sending before them +one of two hundred buccaneers, which sort of people are infinitely +dextrous at shooting with guns.[303] Thus the Pirates left the hill and +descended, marching directly towards the Spaniards, who were posted in a +spacious field, waiting for their coming. As soon as they drew nigh unto +them, the Spaniards began to shout and cry, 'Viva el Rey! God save the +King!' and immediately their horse began to move against the Pirates. +But the field being full of quags and very soft under foot, they could +not ply to and fro and wheel about, as they desired. The two hundred +buccaneers who went before, every one putting one knee to the ground, +gave them a full volley of shot, wherewith the battle was instantly +kindled very hot. The Spaniards defended themselves very courageously, +acting all they could possibly perform, to disorder the Pirates. Their +foot, in like manner, endeavoured to second the horse, but were +constrained by the Pirates to separate from them. Thus finding +themselves frustrated of their designs, they attempted to drive the +bulls against them at their backs, and by this means to put them into +disorder. But the greatest part of that wild cattle ran away, being +frightened with the noise of the battle. And some few that broke through +the English companies did no other harm than to tear the colours in +pieces; whereas the buccaneers, shooting them dead, left not one to +trouble them thereabouts. + +"The battle having now continued for the space of two hours, at the end +thereof the greatest part of the Spanish horse was ruined and almost all +killed. The rest fled away. Which being perceived by the foot, and that +they could not possibly prevail, they discharged the shot they had in +their muskets, and throwing them on the ground, betook themselves to +flight, every one which way he could run. The Pirates could not possibly +follow them, as being too much harassed and wearied with the long +journey they had lately made. Many of them not being able to fly whither +they desired, hid themselves for that present among the shrubs of the +seaside. But very unfortunately; for most of them being found out by the +Pirates, were instantly killed, without giving quarter to any.[304] Some +religious men were brought prisoners before Captain Morgan; but he being +deaf to their cries and lamentations, commanded them all to be +immediately pistoled, which was accordingly done. Soon after they +brought a captain to his presence, whom he examined very strictly about +several things, particularly wherein consisted the forces of those of +Panama. Unto which he answered: Their whole strength did consist in four +hundred horse, twenty-four companies of foot, each being of one hundred +men complete, sixty Indians and some negroes, who were to drive two +thousand wild bulls and cause them to run over the English camp, and +thus by breaking their files put them into a total disorder and +confusion.[305] He discovered more, that in the city they had made +trenches and raised batteries in several places, in all which they had +placed many guns. And that at the entry of the highway which led to the +city they had built a fort, which was mounted with eight great guns of +brass and defended by fifty men. + +"Captain Morgan, having heard this information, gave orders instantly +they should march another way. But before setting forth, he made a +review of all his men, whereof he found both killed and wounded a +considerable number, and much greater than he had believed. Of the +Spaniards were found six hundred dead upon the place, besides the +wounded and prisoners.[306] The Pirates were nothing discouraged, seeing +their number so much diminished, but rather filled with greater pride +than before, perceiving what huge advantage they had obtained against +their enemies. Thus having rested themselves some while, they prepared +to march courageously towards the city, plighting their oaths to one +another in general they would fight till never a man was left alive. +With this courage they recommenced their march, either to conquer or be +conquered, carrying with them all the prisoners. + +"They found much difficulty in their approach unto the city. For within +the town the Spaniards had placed many great guns, at several quarters +thereof, some of which were charged with small pieces of iron, and +others with musket bullets. With all these they saluted the Pirates, at +their drawing nigh unto the place, and gave them full and frequent +broadsides, firing at them incessantly. Whence it came to pass that +unavoidably they lost, at every step they advanced, great numbers of +men. But neither these manifest dangers of their lives, nor the sight of +so many of their own as dropped down continually at their sides, could +deter them from advancing farther, and gaining ground every moment upon +the enemy. Thus, although the Spaniards never ceased to fire and act the +best they could for their defence, yet notwithstanding they were forced +to deliver the city after the space of three hours' combat.[307] And the +Pirates, having now possessed themselves thereof, both killed and +destroyed as many as attempted to make the least opposition against +them. The inhabitants had caused the best of their goods to be +transported to more remote and occult places. Howbeit they found within +the city as yet several warehouses, very well stocked with all sorts of +merchandise, as well silks and cloths as linen, and other things of +considerable value. As soon as the first fury of their entrance into the +city was over, Captain Morgan assembled all his men at a certain place +which he assigned, and there commanded them under very great penalties +that none of them should dare to drink or taste any wine. The reason he +gave for this injunction was, because he had received private +intelligence that it had been all poisoned by the Spaniards. Howbeit it +was the opinion of many he gave these prudent orders to prevent the +debauchery of his people, which he foresaw would be very great at the +beginning, after so much hunger sustained by the way. Fearing withal +lest the Spaniards, seeing them in wine, should rally their forces and +fall upon the city, and use them as inhumanly as they had used the +inhabitants before." + +Exquemelin accuses Morgan of setting fire to the city and endeavouring +to make the world believe that it was done by the Spaniards. Wm. Frogge, +however, who was also present, says distinctly that the Spaniards fired +the town, and Sir William Godolphin, in a letter from Madrid to +Secretary Arlington on 2nd June 1671, giving news of the exploit which +must have come from a Spanish source, says that the President of Panama +left orders that the city if taken should be burnt.[308] Moreover the +President of Panama himself, in a letter to Spain describing the event +which was intercepted by the English, admits that not the buccaneers but +the slaves and the owners of the houses set fire to the city.[309] The +buccaneers tried in vain to extinguish the flames, and the whole town, +which was built mostly of wood, was consumed by twelve o'clock midnight. +The only edifices which escaped were the government buildings, a few +churches, and about 300 houses in the suburbs. The freebooters remained +at Panama twenty-eight days seeking plunder and indulging in every +variety of excess. Excursions were made daily into the country for +twenty leagues round about to search for booty, and 3000 prisoners were +brought in. Exquemelin's story of the sack is probably in the main true. +In describing the city he writes: "There belonged to this city (which is +also the head of a bishopric) eight monasteries, whereof seven were for +men and one for women, two stately churches and one hospital. The +churches and monasteries were all richly adorned with altar-pieces and +paintings, huge quantity of gold and silver, with other precious things; +all which the ecclesiastics had hidden and concealed. Besides which +ornaments, here were to be seen two thousand houses of magnificent and +prodigious building, being all or the greatest part inhabited by +merchants of that country, who are vastly rich. For the rest of the +inhabitants of lesser quality and tradesmen, this city contained five +thousand houses more. Here were also great numbers of stables, which +served for the horses and mules, that carry all the plate, belonging as +well unto the King of Spain as to private men, towards the coast of the +North Sea. The neighbouring fields belonging to this city are all +cultivated with fertile plantations and pleasant gardens, which afford +delicious prospects unto the inhabitants the whole year long."[310] The +day after the capture, continues Exquemelin, "Captain Morgan dispatched +away two troops of Pirates of one hundred and fifty men each, being all +very stout soldiers and well armed with orders to seek for the +inhabitants of Panama who were escaped from the hands of their enemies. +These men, having made several excursions up and down the campaign +fields, woods and mountains, adjoining to Panama, returned after two +days' time bringing with them above 200 prisoners, between men, women +and slaves. The same day returned also the boat ... which Captain Morgan +had sent into the South Sea, bringing with her three other boats, which +they had taken in a little while. But all these prizes they could +willingly have given, yea, although they had employed greater labour +into the bargain, for one certain galleon, which miraculously escaped +their industry, being very richly laden with all the King's plate and +great quantity of riches of gold, pearl, jewels and other most precious +goods, of all of the best and richest merchants of Panama. On board of +this galleon were also the religious women, belonging to the nunnery of +the said city, who had embarked with them all the ornaments of their +church, consisting in great quantity of gold, plate, and other things of +great value.... + +"Notwithstanding the Pirates found in the ports of the islands of Tavoga +and Tavogilla several boats that were laden with many sorts of very good +merchandise; all which they took and brought unto Panama; where being +arrived, they made an exact relation of all that had passed while they +were abroad to Captain Morgan. The prisoners confirmed what the Pirates +had said, adding thereto, that they undoubtedly knew whereabouts the +said galleon might be at that present, but that it was very probable +they had been relieved before now from other places. These relations +stirred up Captain Morgan anew to send forth all the boats that were in +the port of Panama, with design to seek and pursue the said galleon till +they could find her. The boats aforesaid being in all four, set sail +from Panama, and having spent eight days in cruising to and fro, and +searching several ports and creeks, they lost all their hopes of finding +what they so earnestly sought for. Hereupon they resolved to return unto +the isles of Tavoga and Tavogilla. Here they found a reasonable good +ship, that was newly come from Payta, being laden with cloth, soap, +sugar and biscuit, with twenty thousand pieces of eight in ready money. +This vessel they instantly seized, not finding the least resistance from +any person within her. Nigh unto the said ship was also a boat whereof +in like manner they possessed themselves. Upon the boat they laded great +part of the merchandises they had found in the ship, together with some +slaves they had taken in the said islands. With this purchase they +returned to Panama, something better satisfied of their voyage, yet +withal much discontented they could not meet with the galleon.... + +"Captain Morgan used to send forth daily parties of two hundred men, to +make inroads into all the fields and country thereabouts, and when one +party came back, another consisting of two hundred more was ready to go +forth. By this means they gathered in a short time huge quantity of +riches, and no lesser number of prisoners. These being brought into the +city, were presently put unto the most exquisite tortures imaginable, to +make them confess both other people's goods and their own. Here it +happened, that one poor and miserable wretch was found in the house of a +gentleman of great quality, who had put on, amidst that confusion of +things, a pair of taffety breeches belonging to his master with a little +silver key hanging at the strings thereof. This being perceived by the +Pirates they immediately asked him where was the cabinet of the said +key? His answer was: he knew not what was become of it, but only that +finding those breeches in his master's house, he had made bold to wear +them. Not being able to extort any other confession out of him, they +first put him upon the rack, wherewith they inhumanly disjointed his +arms. After this they twisted a cord about his forehead, which they +wrung so hard, that his eyes appeared as big as eggs, and were ready to +fall out of his skull. But neither with these torments could they obtain +any positive answer to their demands. Whereupon they soon after hung him +up, giving him infinite blows and stripes, while he was under that +intolerable pain and posture of body. Afterwards they cut off his nose +and ears, and singed his face with burning straw, till he could speak +nor lament his misery no longer. Then losing all hopes of hearing any +confession from his mouth, they commanded a negro to run him through +with a lance, which put an end to his life and a period to their cruel +and inhuman tortures. After this execrable manner did many others of +those miserable prisoners finish their days, the common sport and +recreation of these Pirates being these and other tragedies not inferior +to these. + +"They spared in these their cruelties no sex nor condition whatsoever. +For as to religious persons and priests, they granted them less quarter +than unto others, unless they could produce a considerable sum of money, +capable of being a sufficient ransom. Women themselves were no better +used ... and Captain Morgan, their leader and commander, gave them no +good example in this point....[311] + +"Captain Morgan having now been at Panama the full space of three weeks, +commanded all things to be put in order for his departure. Unto this +effect he gave orders to every company of his men, to seek out for so +many beasts of carriage as might suffice to convey the whole spoil of +the city unto the river where his canoes lay. About this time a great +rumour was spread in the city, of a considerable number of Pirates who +intended to leave Captain Morgan; and that, by taking a ship which was +in the port, they determined to go and rob upon the South Sea till they +had got as much as they thought fit, and then return homewards by the +way of the East Indies into Europe. For which purpose they had already +gathered great quantity of provisions which they had hidden in private +places, with sufficient store of powder, bullets and all other sorts of +ammunition; likewise some great guns belonging to the town, muskets and +other things, wherewith they designed not only to equip the said vessel +but also to fortify themselves and raise batteries in some island or +other, which might serve them for a place of refuge. + +"This design had certainly taken effect as they intended, had not +Captain Morgan had timely advice thereof given him by one of their +comrades. Hereupon he instantly commanded the mainmast of the said ship +should be cut down and burnt, together with all the other boats that +were in the port. Hereby the intentions of all or most of his companions +were totally frustrated. After this Captain Morgan sent forth many of +the Spaniards into the adjoining fields and country, to seek for money +wherewith to ransom not only themselves but also all the rest of the +prisoners, as likewise the ecclesiastics, both secular and regular. +Moreover, he commanded all the artillery of the town to be spoiled, that +is to say, nailed and stopped up. At the same time he sent out a strong +company of men to seek for the Governor of Panama, of whom intelligence +was brought that he had laid several ambuscades in the way, by which he +ought to pass at his return. But those who were sent upon this design +returned soon after, saying they had not found any sign or appearance of +any such ambuscades. For a confirmation whereof they brought with them +some prisoners they had taken, who declared how that the said Governor +had had an intention of making some opposition by the way, but that the +men whom he had designed to effect it were unwilling to undertake any +such enterprise; so that for want of means he could not put his design +into execution.[312] + +"On the 24th of February of the year 1671,[313] Captain Morgan departed +from the city of Panama, or rather from the place where the said city of +Panama did stand. Of the spoils whereof he carried with him one hundred +and seventy-five beasts of carriage, laden with silver, gold and other +precious things, besides 600 prisoners, more or less, between men, +women, children and slaves. That day they came unto a river that passeth +through a delicious campaign field, at the distance of a league from +Panama. Here Captain Morgan put all his forces into good order of +martial array in such manner that the prisoners were in the middle of +the camp, surrounded on all sides with Pirates. At which present +conjuncture nothing else was to be heard but lamentations, cries, +shrieks and doleful sighs, of so many women and children, who were +persuaded Captain Morgan designed to transport them all, and carry them +into his own country for slaves. Besides that, among all those miserable +prisoners, there was extreme hunger and thirst endured at that time. +Which hardship and misery Captain Morgan designedly caused them to +sustain, with intent to excite them more earnestly to seek for money +wherewith to ransom themselves, according to the tax he had set upon +every one. Many of the women begged of Captain Morgan upon their knees, +with infinite sighs and tears, he would permit them to return unto +Panama, there to live in company of their dear husbands and children, in +little huts of straw which they would erect, seeing they had no houses +until the rebuilding of the city. But his answer was: he came not +thither to hear lamentations and cries, but rather to seek money. +Therefore, they ought to seek out for that in the first place, wherever +it were to be had, and bring it to him, otherwise he would assuredly +transport them all to such places whither they cared not to go.... + +"As soon as Captain Morgan arrived, upon his march, at the town called +Cruz, seated on the banks of the river Chagre, as was mentioned before, +he commanded an order to be published among the prisoners, that within +the space of three days every one of them should bring in their ransom, +under the penalty aforementioned, of being transported unto Jamaica. In +the meanwhile he gave orders for so much rice and maize to be collected +thereabouts as was necessary for the victualling all his ships. At this +place some of the prisoners were ransomed, but many others could not +bring in their moneys in so short a time. Hereupon he continued his +voyage ... carrying with him all the spoil that ever he could transport. +From this village he likewise led away some new prisoners, who were +inhabitants of the said place. So that these prisoners were added to +those of Panama who had not as yet paid their ransoms, and all +transported.... About the middle of the way unto the Castle of Chagre, +Captain Morgan commanded them to be placed in due order, according to +their custom, and caused every one to be sworn, that they had reserved +nor concealed nothing privately to themselves, even not so much as the +value of sixpence. This being done, Captain Morgan having had some +experience that those lewd fellows would not much stickle to swear +falsely in points of interest, he commanded them every one to be +searched very strictly, both in their clothes and satchels and +everywhere it might be presumed they had reserved anything. Yea, to the +intent this order might not be ill taken by his companions, he permitted +himself to be searched, even to the very soles of his shoes. To this +effect by common consent, there was assigned one out of every company to +be the searchers of all the rest. The French Pirates that went on this +expedition with Captain Morgan were not well satisfied with this new +custom of searching. Yet their number being less than that of the +English, they were forced to submit unto it, as well as the others had +done before them. The search being over, they re-embarked in their +canoes and boats, which attended them on the river, and arrived at the +Castle of Chagre.[314] ... Here they found all things in good order, +excepting the wounded men, whom they had left there at the time of their +departure. For of these the greatest number were dead, through the +wounds they had received. + +"From Chagre, Captain Morgan sent presently after his arrival, a great +boat unto Porto Bello, wherein were all the prisoners he had taken at +the Isle of St. Catherine, demanding by them a considerable ransom for +the Castle of Chagre, where he then was, threatening otherwise to ruin +and demolish it even to the ground. To this message those of Porto Bello +made answer: they would not give one farthing towards the ransom of the +said castle, and that the English might do with it as they pleased. This +answer being come, the dividend was made of all the spoil they had +purchased in that voyage. Thus every company and every particular person +therein included received their portion of what was gotten; or rather +what part thereof Captain Morgan was pleased to give them. For so it +was, that the rest of his companions, even of his own nation, complained +of his proceedings in this particular, and feared not to tell him openly +to his face, that he had reserved the best jewels to himself. For they +judged it impossible that no greater share should belong unto them than +two hundred pieces of eight per capita, of so many valuable purchases +and robberies as they had obtained. Which small sum they thought too +little reward for so much labour and such huge and manifest dangers as +they had so often exposed their lives unto. But Captain Morgan was deaf +to all these and many other complaints of this kind, having designed in +his mind to cheat them of as much as he could."[315] + +On 6th March 1671, Morgan, after demolishing the fort and other edifices +at Chagre and spiking all the guns, got secretly on board his own ship, +if we are to believe Exquemelin, and followed by only three or four +vessels of the fleet, returned to Port Royal. The rest of the fleet +scattered, most of the ships having "much ado to find sufficient +victuals and provisions for their voyage to Jamaica." At the end of +August not more than ten vessels of the original thirty-six had made +their way back to the English colony. Morgan, with very inadequate +means, accomplished a feat which had been the dream of Drake and other +English sailors for a century or more, and which Admiral Vernon in 1741 +with a much greater armament feared even to attempt. For display of +remarkable leadership and reckless bravery the expedition against Panama +has never been surpassed. Its brilliance was only clouded by the cruelty +and rapacity of the victors--a force levied without pay and little +discipline, and unrestrained, if not encouraged, in brutality by Morgan +himself. Exquemelin's accusation against Morgan, of avarice and +dishonesty in the division of the spoil amongst his followers, is, +unfortunately for the admiral's reputation, too well substantiated. +Richard Browne, the surgeon-general of the fleet, estimated the plunder +at over £70,000 "besides other rich goods," of which the soldiers were +miserably cheated, each man receiving but £10 as his share. At Chagre, +he writes, the leaders gave what they pleased "for which ... we must be +content or else be clapped in irons." The wronged seamen were loud in +their complaints against Morgan, Collier and the other captains for +starving, cheating and deserting them; but so long as Modyford was +governor they could obtain no redress. The commanders "dared but seldom +appear," writes Browne, "the widows, orphans and injured inhabitants who +had so freely advanced upon the hopes of a glorious design, being now +ruined through fitting out the privateers."[316] The Spaniards reckoned +their whole loss at 6,000,000 crowns.[317] + +On 31st May 1671, the Council of Jamaica extended a vote of thanks to +Morgan for the execution of his late commission, and formally expressed +their approval of the manner in which he had conducted himself.[318] +There can be no question but that the governor had full knowledge of +Morgan's intentions before the fleet sailed from Cape Tiburon. After the +decision of the council of officers on 2nd December to attack Panama, a +boat was dispatched to Jamaica to inform Modyford, and in a letter +written to Morgan ten days after the arrival of the vessel the governor +gave no countermand to the decision.[319] Doubtless the defence made, +that the governor and council were trying to forestall an impending +invasion of Jamaica by the Spaniards, was sincere. But it is also very +probable that they were in part deceived into this belief by Morgan and +his followers, who made it their first object to get prisoners, and +obtain from them by force a confession that at Cartagena, Porto Bello or +some other Spanish maritime port the Spaniards were mustering men and +fitting a fleet to invade the island. + +By a strange irony of fate, on 8th-18th July 1670 a treaty was concluded +at Madrid by Sir William Godolphin for "composing differences, +restraining depredations and establishing peace" in America. No trading +privileges in the West Indies were granted by either crown, but the King +of Spain acknowledged the sovereignty of the King of England over all +islands, colonies, etc., in America then in possession of the English, +and the ships of either nation, in case of distress, were to have +entertainment and aid in the ports of the other. The treaty was to be +published in the West Indies simultaneously by English and Spanish +governors within eight months after its ratification.[320] In May of the +following year, a messenger from San Domingo arrived in Port Royal with +a copy of the articles of peace, to propose that a day be fixed for +their publication, and to offer an exchange of prisoners,[321] Modyford +had as yet received no official notice from England of the treaty, and +might with justice complain to the authorities at home of their +neglect.[322] Shortly after, however, a new governor came to relieve him +of further responsibility. Charles II. had probably placated the Spanish +ambassador in 1670 by promising the removal of Modyford and the dispatch +of another governor well-disposed to the Spaniards.[323] At any rate, a +commission was issued in September 1670, appointing Colonel Thomas Lynch +Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, to command there in the "want, absence +or disability" of the governor;[324] and on 4th January following, in +spite of a petition of the officers, freeholders and inhabitants of +Jamaica in favour of Modyford,[325] the commission of the governor was +revoked.[326] Lynch arrived in Jamaica on 25th June with instructions, +as soon as he had possession of the government and forts, to arrest Sir +Thomas Modyford and send him home under guard to answer charges laid +against him.[327] Fearing to exasperate the friends of the old governor, +Lynch hesitated to carry out his instructions until 12th August, when he +invited Modyford on board the frigate "Assistance," with several members +of the council, and produced the royal orders for his arrest. Lynch +assured him, however, that his life and fortune were not in danger, the +proceeding being merely a sop to the indignant Spaniards.[328] Modyford +arrived in England in November, and on the 17th of the month was +committed to the Tower.[329] + +The indignation of the Spaniards, when the news of the sack of Panama +reached Spain, rose to a white heat. "It is impossible for me to paint +to your Lordship," wrote Godolphin to Lord Arlington, "the face of +Madrid upon the news of this action ... nor to what degree of +indignation the queen and ministers of State, the particular councils +and all sorts of people here, have taken it to heart."[330] It seems +that the ambassador or the Spanish consul in London had written to +Madrid that this last expedition was made by private intimation, if not +orders, from London, and that Godolphin had been commanded to provide in +the treaty for a long term before publication, so as to give time for +the execution of the design. Against these falsehoods the English +ambassador found it difficult to make headway, although he assured the +queen of the immediate punishment of the perpetrators, and the arrest +and recall of the Governor of Jamaica. Only by the greatest tact and +prudence was he able to stave off, until an official disavowal of the +expedition came from England, an immediate embargo on all the goods of +English merchants in Spain. The Spanish government decided to send a +fleet of 10,000 men with all speed to the Indies; and the Dukes of +Albuquerque and Medina Coeli vied with each other in offering to raise +the men at their own charge from among their own vassals. After +Godolphin had presented his official assurance to the queen, however, +nothing more was heard of this armament. "God grant," wrote the English +ambassador, "that Sir Thomas Modyford's way of defending Jamaica (as he +used to call it) by sending out the forces thereof to pillage, prove an +infallible one; for my own part, I do not think it hath been our +interest to awaken the Spaniards so much as this last action hath +done."[331] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 206: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 635.] + +[Footnote 207: Ibid., Nos. 656 and 664. Dated 15th and 18th February +respectively.] + +[Footnote 208: Ibid., No. 739.] + +[Footnote 209: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 739 and 744.] + +[Footnote 210: Ibid., Nos. 762 and 767.] + +[Footnote 211: Ibid., No. 746; Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 212: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 192; C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. +753.] + +[Footnote 212: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 744; _cf._ also No. 811, and +Lyttleton's Report, No. 812.] + +[Footnote 214: Ibid., No. 789.] + +[Footnote 215: Ibid., Nos. 859, 964; Beeston's Journal. For disputes +over the cargo of the Spanish prize captured by Williams, _cf._ C.S.P. +Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1140, 1150, 1177, 1264, 1266.] + +[Footnote 216: Ibid., No. 767.] + +[Footnote 217: Add. MSS., 11,410, pp. 16-25.] + +[Footnote 218: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 786; _cf._ also Add. MSS., +11,410, f. 303:--"Mr. Worseley's discourse of the Privateers of +Jamaica."] + +[Footnote 219: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 57-65.] + +[Footnote 220: For the biography of Jean-David Nau, surnamed l'Olonnais, +_cf._ Nouvelle Biographie Générale, t. xxxviii. p. 654.] + +[Footnote 221: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 744, 812.] + +[Footnote 222: Ibid., Nos. 744, 765, 786, 812.] + +[Footnote 223: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, pp. 363, 421, 433.] + +[Footnote 224: Ibid., pp. 419, 427, 428.] + +[Footnote 225: Ibid., p. 447; Egerton MSS., 2395, f. 167.] + +[Footnote 226: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 101; _cf._ also Nos. 24, 32, +122. From orders contained in the MSS. of the Marquis of Ormonde issued +on petitions of convicted prisoners, we find that reprieves were often +granted on condition of their making arrangements for their own +transportation for life to the West Indies, without expense to the +government. The condemned were permitted to leave the gaols in which +they were confined and embark immediately, on showing that they had +agreed with a sea-captain to act as his servant, both during the voyage +and after their arrival. The captains were obliged to give bond for the +safe transportation of the criminals, and the latter were also to find +security that they would not return to the British Isles without +license, on pain of receiving the punishment from which they had been +originally reprieved. (Hist. MSS. Comm. Rept. X., pt. 5, pp. 34, 42, 85, +94). _Cf._ also C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1268.] + +[Footnote 227: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 331, 769-772, 790, 791, 798, +847, 1720.] + +[Footnote 228: Ibid., No. 866.] + +[Footnote 229: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 839, 843.] + +[Footnote 230: Ibid., No. 786.] + +[Footnote 231: Ibid., No. 943.] + +[Footnote 232: Ibid., Nos. 910, 919, 926.] + +[Footnote 233: Ibid., Nos. 942, 976.] + +[Footnote 234: Ibid., No. 944.] + +[Footnote 235: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 979. There were really nine +ships and 650 men. Cf. _ibid._, No. 1088.] + +[Footnote 236: Ibid., Nos. 980, 983, 992.] + +[Footnote 237: Ibid., No. 1088.] + +[Footnote 238: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1073, 1088.] + +[Footnote 239: Ibid., No. 1042, I. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Morgan (not +to be confused with Colonel Edward Morgan), who was left in command of +St. Eustatius and Saba, went in April 1666 with a company of buccaneers +to the assistance of Governor Watts of St. Kitts against the French. In +the rather shameful defence of the English part of the island Morgan's +buccaneers were the only English who displayed any courage or +discipline, and most of them were killed or wounded, Colonel Morgan +himself being shot in both legs. (Ibid., Nos. 1204, 1205, 1212, 1220, +1257.) St. Eustatius was reconquered by a French force from St. Kitts in +the early part of 1667. (Ibid., No. 1401.)] + +[Footnote 240: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1082.] + +[Footnote 241: Ibid., No. 1125. Stedman was later in the year, after the +outbreak of war with France, captured by a French frigate off +Guadeloupe. With a small vessel and only 100 men he found himself +becalmed and unable to escape, so he boldly boarded the Frenchman in +buccaneer fashion and fought for two hours, but was finally overcome. +(Ibid., No. 1212.)] + +[Footnote 242: Ibid., No. 1085; Beeston's Journal. Mansfield was the +buccaneer whom Exquemelin disguises under the name of "Mansvelt."] + +[Footnote 243: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1130, 1132-37.] + +[Footnote 244: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1129, 1263.] + +[Footnote 245: Ibid., Nos. 1144, 1264.] + +[Footnote 246: Ibid., Nos. 1138, 1144.] + +[Footnote 247: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1264, slightly condensed from +the original.] + +[Footnote 248: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1142, 1147. The Governor of +Havana wrote concerning this same exploit, that on Christmas Eve of 1665 +the English entered and sacked the town of Cayo in the jurisdiction of +Havana, and meeting with a vessel having on board twenty-two Spaniards +who were inhabitants of the town, put them all to the sword, cutting +them to pieces with hangers. Afterwards they sailed to the town of +Bayamo with thirteen vessels and 700 men, but altering their plans, went +to Sancti Spiritus, landed 300, plundered the town, cruelly treated both +men and women, burnt the best houses, and wrecked and desecrated the +church in which they had made their quarters. (S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. +50.) + +Col. Beeston says that Mansfield conducted the raid; but according to +the Spanish account to which Duro had access, the leader was Pierre +Legrand. (Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 164).] + +[Footnote 249: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1147; Beeston's Journal. +Beeston reports that after a six weeks' search for Mansfield and his men +he failed to find them and returned to Jamaica.] + +[Footnote 250: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1213.] + +[Footnote 251: Exquemelin, however, says that he had 500 men. If he +attacked Providence Island with only 200 he must have received +reinforcements later.] + +[Footnote 252: Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 167; S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. 50. +The accounts that have come down to us of this expedition are obscure +and contradictory. Modyford writes of the exploit merely that "they +landed 600 men at Cape Blanco, in the kingdom of Veragua, and marched 90 +miles into that country to surprise its chief city, Cartago; but +understanding that the inhabitants had carried away their wealth, +returned to their ships without being challenged." (C.S.P. Colon., +1661-68, No. 1213.) According to Exquemelin the original goal of the +buccaneers was the town of Nata, north of Panama. The Spanish accounts +make the numbers of the invaders much greater, from 800 to 1200.] + +[Footnote 253: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1263.] + +[Footnote 254: Ibid., Nos. 1309, 1349. The capture of Providence Island +was Mansfield's last exploit. According to a deposition found among the +Colonial papers, he and his ship were later captured by the Spaniards +and carried to Havana where the old buccaneer was put in irons and soon +after executed. (Ibid., No. 1827.) Exquemelin says that Mansfield, +having been refused sufficient aid by Modyford for the defence of +Providence, went to seek assistance at Tortuga, when "death suddenly +surprised him and put a period to his wicked life."] + +[Footnote 255: Exquemelin refers to a voyage of Henry Morgan to +Campeache at about this time, and says that he afterwards accompanied +Mansfield as his "vice-admiral." There were at least three Morgans then +in the West Indies, but Colonel Edward and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas +were at this time doubtless busy preparing the armament against +Curaçao.] + +[Footnote 256: "Villa de Mosa is a small Town standing on the Starboard +side of the River ... inhabited chiefly by Indians, with some +Spaniards.... Thus far Ships come to bring Goods, especially European +Commodities.... They arrive here in November or December, and stay till +June or July, selling their Commodities, and then load chiefly with +Cacao and some Sylvester. All the Merchants and petty Traders of the +country Towns come thither about Christmas to Traffick, which makes this +Town the chiefest in all these Parts, Campeache excepted."--Dampier, +_ed._ 1906, ii. p. 206. The town was twelve leagues from the river's +mouth.] + +[Footnote 257: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1142; Beeston's Journal, 20th +August 1665. The viceroy of New Spain, in a letter of 28th March 1665, +reports the coming, in February, of 150 English in three ships to +Tabasco, but gives the name of the plundered town as Santa Marta de la +Vitoria. According to his story, the buccaneers seized royal treasure +amounting to 50,000 pieces of eight, besides ammunition and slaves. +(S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. 122.)] + +[Footnote 258: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1826, 1827, 1851; +Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part II. pp. 65-74.] + +[Footnote 259: S.P. Spain, vols. 46-49. Correspondence of Sir Richard +Fanshaw.] + +[Footnote 260: Ibid., vol. 46, f. 192.] + +[Footnote 261: Ibid., vol. 49, f. 212.] + +[Footnote 262: Ibid., vol. 52, f. 138; Record Office, Treaties, etc., +466.] + +[Footnote 263: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1276.] + +[Footnote 264: Ibid., No. 1264.] + +[Footnote 265: Ibid., No. 1537.] + +[Footnote 266: Ibid., No. 1264. + +There was probably some disagreement in the Council in England over the +policy to be pursued toward the buccaneers. On 21st August 1666 Modyford +wrote to Albemarle: "Sir James Modyford will present his Grace with a +copy of some orders made at Oxford, in behalf of some Spaniards, with +Lord Arlington's letter thereon; in which are such strong inculcations +of continuing friendship with the Spaniards here, that he doubts he +shall be highly discanted on by some persons for granting commissions +against them; must beg his Grace to bring him off, or at least that the +necessity of this proceeding may be taken into serious debate and then +doubts not but true English judges will confirm what he has done." On +the other hand he writes to Arlington on 30th July 1667: "Had my +abilities suited so well with my wishes as the latter did with your +Lordship's, the privateers' attempts had been only practised on the +Dutch and French, and the Spaniards free of them, but I had no money to +pay them nor frigates to force them; the former they could not get from +our declared enemies, nothing could they expect but blows from them, and +(as they have often repeated to me) will that pay for new sails and +rigging?... (but) will, suitable to your Lordship's directions, as far +as I am able, restrain them from further acts of violence towards the +Spaniards, unless provoked by new insolences." Yet in the following +December the governor tells Albemarle that he has not altered his +posture, nor does he intend until further orders. It seems clear that +Arlington and Albemarle represented two opposite sets of opinion in the +Council.] + +[Footnote 267: On 21st December 1671, Morgan in a deposition before the +Council of Jamaica gave his age as thirty-six years. (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 705.)] + +[Footnote 268: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838; Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, +Part II., pp. 79-88. According to Exquemelin the first design of the +freebooters had been to cross the island of Cuba in its narrowest part +and fall upon Havana. But on receiving advice that the governor had +taken measures to defend and provision the city, they changed their +minds and marched to Puerto Principe.] + +[Footnote 269: The city of Porto Bello with its large commodious harbour +afforded a good anchorage and shelter for the annual treasure galleons. +The narrow entrance was secured by the two forts mentioned in the +narrative, the St. Jago on the left entering the harbour, and the San +Felipe on the right; and within the port was a third called the San +Miguel. The town lay at the bottom of the harbour bending round the +shore like a half-moon. It was built on low swampy ground and had no +walls or defences on the land side. (_Cf._ the descriptions of Wafer and +Gage.) The garrison at this time probably did not exceed 300 men.] + +[Footnote 270: This statement is confirmed by one of the captains +serving under Morgan, who in his account of the expedition says: "After +remaining some days ... sickness broke out among the troops, of which we +lost half by sickness and fighting." (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1.) +And in "The Present State of Jamaica, 1683," we read that Morgan brought +to the island the plague "that killed my Lady Modyford and others."] + +[Footnote 271: Morgan reported, however, that the ransom was offered and +paid by the President of Panama. (C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838.)] + +[Footnote 272: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part II. pp. 89-103. + +The cruelties of the buccaneers at Porto Bello are confirmed by a letter +from John Style to the Secretary of State, complaining of the disorder +and injustice reigning in Jamaica. He writes: "It is a common thing +among the privateers, besides burning with matches and such like slight +torments, to cut a man in pieces, first some flesh, then a hand, an arm, +a leg, sometimes tying a cord about his head and with a stick twisting +it till the eyes shot out, which is called 'woolding.' Before taking +Puerto Bello, thus some were used, because they refused to discover a +way into the town which was not, and many in the town because they would +not discover wealth they knew not of. A woman there was by some set bare +upon a baking stone and roasted because she did not confess of money +which she had only in their conceit; this he heard some declare with +boasting, and one that was sick confess with sorrow." (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 138.) + +Modyford writes concerning the booty got at Porto Bello, that the +business cleared each privateer £60, and "to himself they gave only £20 +for their commission, which never exceeded £300." (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 103.) But it is very probable that the buccaneers did not +return a full account of the booty to the governor, for it was a common +complaint that they plundered their prizes and hid the spoil in holes +and creeks along the coast so as to cheat the government of its tenths +and fifteenths levied on all condemned prize-goods.] + +[Footnote 273: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838.] + +[Footnote 274: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1863, 1867, 1892.] + +[Footnote 275: Ibid., No. 1867; Beeston's Journal, 15th October 1668.] + +[Footnote 276: Ibid., C.S.P. Colon., 1674-76, Addenda, No. 1207.] + +[Footnote 277: Exquemelin gives a French version of the episode, +according to which the commander of the "Cour Volant" had given bills of +exchange upon Jamaica and Tortuga for the provisions he had taken out of +the English ship; but Morgan, because he could not prevail on the French +captain to join his proposed expedition, used this merely as a pretext +to seize the ship for piracy. The "Cour Volant," turned into a privateer +and called the "Satisfaction," was used by Morgan as his flagship in the +expedition against Panama.] + +[Footnote 278: According to Exquemelin the booty amounted to 250,000 +crowns in money and jewels, besides merchandise and slaves. Modyford, +however, wrote that the buccaneers received only £30 per man.] + +[Footnote 279: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1; S.P. Spain, vol. 54, f. +118; vol. 55, f. 177.] + +[Footnote 280: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 227, 578.] + +[Footnote 281: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 129.] + +[Footnote 282: Ibid., No. 149. + +In 1666 the Consejo de Almirantazgo of Flanders had offered the +government to send its frigates to the Indies to pursue and punish the +buccaneers, and protect the coasts of Spanish America; and in 1669 +similar proposals were made by the "armadores" or owners of corsairing +vessels in the seaport towns of Biscay. Both offers were refused, +however, because the government feared that such privileges would lead +to commercial abuses infringing on the monopoly of the Seville +merchants. Duro, _op. cit._, V. p. 169.] + +[Footnote 283: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 113, 161, 162, 172, 182, +264, 280.] + +[Footnote 284: Ibid., Nos. 207, 211, 227, 240.] + +[Footnote 285: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 207, 209-212, 226.] + +[Footnote 286: Ibid., No. 194.] + +[Footnote 287: Ibid., No. 237.] + +[Footnote 288: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74; Nos. 310, 359, 504; Exquemelin, +_ed._ 1684, Pt. III. pp. 3-7; Add. MSS., 13,964, f. 24.] + +[Footnote 289: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 293, 310.] + +[Footnote 290: S.P. Spain, vol. 57, ff. 48, 53.] + +[Footnote 291: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 293, 310; Add. MSS., 13,964, +f. 26. The Spaniards estimated their loss at 100,000 pieces of eight. +(Add. MSS. 11,268, f. 51.)] + +[Footnote 292: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 310, 359, 504. In a report +sent by Governor Modyford to England (_ibid._, No. 704, I.) we find a +list of the vessels under command of Henry Morgan, with the name, +captain, tonnage, guns and crew of each ship. There were twenty-eight +English vessels of from 10 to 140 tons and from zero to 20 guns, +carrying from 16 to 140 men; the French vessels were eight in number, of +from 25 to 100 tons, with from 2 to 14 guns, and carrying from 30 to 110 +men.] + +[Footnote 293: Ibid., No. 504. According to Exquemelin, before the fleet +sailed all the officers signed articles regulating the disposal of the +booty. It was stipulated that Admiral Morgan should have the hundredth +part of all the plunder, "that every captain should draw the shares of +eight men, for the expenses of his ship, besides his own; that the +surgeon besides his ordinary pay should have two hundred pieces of +eight, for his chest of medicaments; and every carpenter above his +ordinary salary, should draw one hundred pieces of eight. As to +recompenses and rewards they were regulated in this voyage much higher +than was expressed in the first part of this book. For the loss of both +legs they assigned one thousand five hundred pieces of eight or fifteen +slaves, the choice being left to the election of the party; for the loss +of both hands, one thousand eight hundred pieces of eight or eighteen +slaves; for one leg, whether the right or left, six hundred pieces of +eight or six slaves; for a hand as much as for a leg, and for the loss +of an eye, one hundred pieces of eight or one slave. Lastly, unto him +that in any battle should signalize himself, either by entering the +first any castle, or taking down the Spanish colours and setting up the +English, they constituted fifty pieces of eight for a reward. In the +head of these articles it was stipulated that all these extraordinary +salaries, recompenses and rewards should be paid out of the first spoil +or purchase they should take, according as every one should then occur +to be either rewarded or paid."] + +[Footnote 294: Sir James Modyford, who, after the capture of Providence +by Mansfield in 1666, had been commissioned by the king as +lieutenant-governor of the island, now bestirred himself, and in May +1671 appointed Colonel Blodre Morgan (who commanded the rear-guard at +the battle of Panama) to go as deputy-governor and take possession. +Modyford himself intended to follow with some settlers shortly after, +but the attempt at colonization seems to have failed. (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, Nos. 494, 534, 613.)] + +[Footnote 295: Add. MSS., 11,268, f. 51 _ff._; _ibid._, 13,964, f. +24-25.] + +[Footnote 296: Ibid., 11,268, f. 51 _ff._; S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + +[Footnote 297: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part III. pp. 23-27.] + +[Footnote 298: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504. Exquemelin says that +there were 1200 men, five boats with artillery and thirty-two canoes.] + +[Footnote 299: Morgan's report makes it 200 men. (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 504.)] + +[Footnote 300: Morgan says: "The enemy had basely quitted the first +entrenchment and set all on fire, as they did all the rest, without +striking a stroke." The President of Panama also writes that the +garrisons up the river, on receiving news of the fall of Chagre, were in +a panic, the commanders forsaking their posts and retiring in all haste +to Venta Cruz. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 547.)] + +[Footnote 301: Exquemelin makes the buccaneers arrive at Venta Cruz on +the seventh day. According to Morgan they reached the village on the +sixth day, and according to Frogge on the fifth. Morgan reports that two +miles from Venta Cruz there was "a very narrow and dangerous passage +where the enemy thought to put a stop to our further proceeding but were +presently routed by the Forlorn commanded by Capt. Thomas Rogers."] + +[Footnote 302: Frogge says that after leaving Venta Cruz they came upon +an ambuscade of 1000 Indians, but put them to flight with the loss of +only one killed and two wounded, the Indians losing their chief and +about thirty men. (S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 118.) Morgan reports three +killed and six or seven wounded.] + +[Footnote 303: "Next morning drew up his men in the form of a tertia, +the vanguard led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence Prince and Major John +Morris, in number 300, the main body 600, the right wing led by himself, +the left by Colonel Edw. Collyer, the rearguard of 300 commanded by +Colonel Bledry Morgan."--Morgan's Report. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. +504.)] + +[Footnote 304: The close agreement between the accounts of the battle +given by Morgan and Exquemelin is remarkable, and leads us to give much +greater credence to those details in Exquemelin's narrative of the +expedition which were omitted from the official report. Morgan says of +the battle that as the Spaniards had the advantage of position and +refused to move, the buccaneers made a flanking movement to the left and +secured a hill protected on one side by a bog. Thereupon "One Francesco +de Harro charged with the horse upon the vanguard so furiously that he +could not be stopped till he lost his life; upon which the horse wheeled +off, and the foot advanced, but met with such a warm welcome and were +pursued so close that the enemies' retreat came to plain running, though +they did work such a stratagem as has been seldom heard of, +viz.:--attempting to drive two droves of 1500 cattle into their rear." +(C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504.)] + +[Footnote 305: Morgan gives the number of Spaniards at 2100 foot and 600 +horse, and Frogge reports substantially the same figures. The President +of Panama, however, in his letter to the Queen, writes that he had but +1200 men, mostly negroes, mulattos and Indians, besides 200 slaves of +the Assiento. His followers, he continues, were armed only with +arquebuses and fowling-pieces, and his artillery consisted of three +wooden guns bound with hide.] + +[Footnote 306: According to Frogge the Spaniards lost 500 men in the +battle, the buccaneers but one Frenchman. Morgan says that the whole +day's work only cost him five men killed and ten wounded, and that the +loss of the enemy was about 400.] + +[Footnote 307: "In the city they had 200 fresh men, two forts, all the +streets barricaded and great guns in every street, which in all amounted +to thirty-two brass guns, but instead of fighting commanded it to be +fired, and blew up the chief fort, which was done in such haste that +forty of their own soldiers were blown up. In the market-place some +resistance was made, but at three o'clock they had quiet possession of +the city...."--Morgan's Report.] + +[Footnote 308: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + +[Footnote 309: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 547.] + +[Footnote 310: After the destruction of Panama in 1671, the old city was +deserted by the Spaniards, and the present town raised on a site several +miles to the westward, where there was a better anchorage and landing +facilities.] + +[Footnote 311: The incident of Morgan and the Spanish lady I have +omitted because it is so contrary to the testimony of Richard Browne +(who if anything was prejudiced against Morgan) that "as to their women, +I know or ever heard of anything offered beyond their wills; something I +know was cruelly executed by Captain Collier in killing a friar in the +field after quarter given; but for the Admiral he was noble enough to +the vanquished enemy." (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 608.)] + +[Footnote 312: The President had retired north to Nata de los Santos, +and thence sent couriers with an account of what had happened over +Darien to Cartagena, whence the news was forwarded by express boat to +Spain. (S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156). That the president made efforts to +raise men to oppose the retreat of the buccaneers, but received no +support from the inhabitants, is proved by Spanish documents in Add. +MSS., 11,268, ff. 33, 37, etc.] + +[Footnote 313: The President of Panama in his account contained in Add. +MSS. 11,268, gives the date as 25th February. Morgan, however, says that +they began the march for Venta Cruz on 14th February; but this +discrepancy may be due to a confusion of the old and new style of +dating.] + +[Footnote 314: The buccaneers arrived at Chagre on 26th +February.--Morgan's account.] + +[Footnote 315: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part III. pp. 31-76.] + +[Footnote 316: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 608. Wm. Frogge, too, says +that the share of each man was only £10.] + +[Footnote 317: Add. MSS., 11,268.] + +[Footnote 318: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 542, I.] + +[Footnote 319: Ibid., No. 542, II.] + +[Footnote 320: S.P. Spain, vol. 57, f. 76; vol. 58, f. 27.] + +[Footnote 321: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 513, 531, 532, 544; +Beeston's journal.] + +[Footnote 322: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 30.] + +[Footnote 323: _Cf._ Memorial of the Conde de Molina complaining that a +new governor had not been sent to Jamaica, as promised, nor the old +governor recalled, 26th Feb. 1671 (S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 62).] + +[Footnote 324: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 272.] + +[Footnote 325: Ibid., No. 331.] + +[Footnote 326: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 377, 424.] + +[Footnote 327: Ibid., Nos. 405, 441, 452, 453, 552, 587.] + +[Footnote 328: Ibid., Nos. 600, 604, 608, 655.] + +[Footnote 329: Ibid., Nos. 653, 654.] + +[Footnote 330: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + +[Footnote 331: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GOVERNMENT SUPPRESSES THE BUCCANEERS + + +The new Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch, brought with +him instructions to publish and carefully observe the articles of 1670 +with Spain, and at the same time to revoke all commissions issued by his +predecessor "to the prejudice of the King of Spain or any of his +subjects." When he proclaimed the peace he was likewise to publish a +general pardon to privateers who came in and submitted within a +reasonable time, of all offences committed since June 1660, assuring to +them the possession of their prize-goods (except the tenths and the +fifteenths which were always reserved to the crown as a condition of +granting commissions), and offering them inducements to take up +planting, trade, or service in the royal navy. But he was not to insist +positively on the payment of the tenths and fifteenths if it discouraged +their submission; and if this course failed to bring in the rovers, he +was to use every means in his power "by force or persuasion" to make +them submit.[332] Lynch immediately set about to secure the good-will of +his Spanish neighbours and to win back the privateers to more peaceful +pursuits. Major Beeston was sent to Cartagena with the articles of +peace, where he was given every satisfaction and secured the release of +thirty-two English prisoners.[333] On the 15th August the proclamation +of pardon to privateers was issued at Port Royal;[334] and those who had +railed against their commanders for cheating them at Panama, were given +an opportunity of resorting to the law-courts.[335] Similar +proclamations were sent by the governor "to all their haunts," +intimating that he had written to Bermuda, the Caribbees, New England, +New York and Virginia for their apprehension, had sent notices to all +Spanish ports declaring them pirates, and intended to send to Tortuga to +prevent their reception there.[336] However, although the governor wrote +home in the latter part of the month that the privateers were entirely +suppressed, he soon found that the task was by no means a simple one. +Two buccaneers with a commission from Modyford, an Englishman named +Thurston and a mulatto named Diego, flouted his offer of pardon, +continued to prey upon Spanish shipping, and carried their prizes to +Tortuga.[337] A Dutchman named Captain Yallahs (or Yellowes) fled to +Campeache, sold his frigate for 7000 pieces of eight to the Spanish +governor, and entered into Spanish service to cruise against the English +logwood-cutters. The Governor of Jamaica sent Captain Wilgress in +pursuit, but Wilgress devoted his time to chasing a Spanish vessel +ashore, stealing logwood and burning Spanish houses on the coast.[338] A +party of buccaneers, English and French, landed upon the north side of +Cuba and burnt two towns, carrying away women and inflicting many +cruelties on the inhabitants; and when the governors of Havana and St. +Jago complained to Lynch, the latter could only disavow the English in +the marauding party as rebels and pirates, and bid the Spanish governors +hang all who fell into their power.[339] The governor, in fact, was +having his hands full, and wrote in January 1672 that "this cursed trade +has been so long followed, and there is so many of it, that like weeds +or hydras, they spring up as fast as we can cut them down."[340] + +Some of the recalcitrant freebooters, however, were captured and brought +to justice. Major Beeston, sent by the governor in January 1672, with a +frigate and four smaller vessels, to seize and burn some pirate ships +careening on the south cays of Cuba, fell in instead with two other +vessels, one English and one French, which had taken part in the raids +upon Cuba, and carried them to Jamaica. The French captain was offered +to the Governor of St. Jago, but the latter refused to punish him for +fear of his comrades in Tortuga and Hispaniola. Both captains were +therefore tried and condemned to death at Port Royal. As the Spaniards, +however, had refused to punish them, and as there was no reason why the +Jamaicans should be the executioners, the captains of the port and some +of the council begged for a reprieve, and the English prisoner, Francis +Witherborn, was sent to England.[341] Captain Johnson, one of the +pirates after whom Beeston had originally been sent, was later in the +year shipwrecked by a hurricane upon the coast of Jamaica. Johnson, +immediately after the publication of the peace by Sir Thomas Lynch, had +fled from Port Royal with about ten followers, and falling in with a +Spanish ship of eighteen guns, had seized it and killed the captain and +twelve or fourteen of the crew. Then gathering about him a party of a +hundred or more, English and French, he had robbed Spanish vessels round +Havana and the Cuban coast. Finally, however, he grew weary of his +French companions, and sailed for Jamaica to make terms with the +governor, when on coming to anchor in Morant Bay he was blown ashore by +the hurricane. The governor had him arrested, and gave a commission to +Colonel Modyford, the son of Sir Thomas, to assemble the justices and +proceed to trial and immediate execution. He adjured him, moreover, to +see to it that the pirate was not acquitted. Colonel Modyford, +nevertheless, sharing perhaps his father's sympathy with the sea-rovers, +deferred the trial, acquainted none of the justices with his orders, and +although Johnson and two of his men "confessed enough to hang a hundred +honester persons," told the jury they could not find against the +prisoner. Half an hour after the dismissal of the court, Johnson "came +to drink with his judges." The baffled governor thereupon placed Johnson +a second time under arrest, called a meeting of the council, from which +he dismissed Colonel Modyford, and "finding material errors," reversed +the judgment. The pirate was again tried--Lynch himself this time +presiding over the court--and upon making a full confession, was +condemned and executed, though "as much regretted," writes Lynch, "as if +he had been as pious and as innocent as one of the primitive martyrs." +The second trial was contrary to the fundamental principles of English +law, howsoever guilty the culprit may have been, and the king sent a +letter to Lynch reproving him for his rashness. He commanded the +governor to try all pirates thereafter by maritime law, and if a +disagreement arose to remit the case to the king for re-judgment. +Nevertheless he ordered Lynch to suspend from all public employments in +the island, whether civil or military, both Colonel Modyford and all +others guilty with him of designedly acquitting Johnson.[342] + +The Spaniards in the West Indies, notwithstanding the endeavours of Sir +Thomas Lynch to clear their coasts of pirates, made little effort to +co-operate with him. The governors of Cartagena and St. Jago de Cuba, +pretending that they feared being punished for allowing trade, had +forbidden English frigates to come into their ports, and refused them +provisions and water; and the Governor of Campeache had detained money, +plate and negroes taken out of an English trading-vessel, to the value +of 12,000 pieces of eight. When Lynch sent to demand satisfaction, the +governor referred him to Madrid for justice, "which to me that have been +there," writes Lynch, "seems worse than the taking it away."[343] The +news also of the imposing armament, which the Spanish grandees made +signs of preparing to send to the Indies on learning of the capture of +Panama, was in November 1671 just beginning to filter into Jamaica; and +the governor and council, fearing that the fleet was directed against +them, made vigorous efforts, by repairing the forts, collecting stores +and marshalling the militia, to put the island in a state of defence. +The Spanish fleet never appeared, however, and life on the island soon +subsided into its customary channels.[344] Sir Thomas Lynch, meanwhile, +was all the more careful to observe the peace with Spain and yet refrain +from alienating the more troublesome elements of the population. It had +been decided in England that Morgan, too, like Modyford, was to be +sacrificed, formally at least, to the remonstrances of the Spanish +Government; yet Lynch, because Morgan himself was ill, and fearing +perhaps that two such arrests might create a disturbance among the +friends of the culprits, or at least deter the buccaneers from coming in +under the declaration of amnesty, did not send the admiral to England +until the following spring. On 6th April 1672 Morgan sailed from Jamaica +a prisoner in the frigate "Welcome."[345] He sailed, however, with the +universal respect and sympathy of all parties in the colony. Lynch +himself calls him "an honest, brave fellow," and Major James Banister in +a letter to the Secretary of State recommends him to the esteem of +Arlington as "a very well deserving person, and one of great courage and +conduct, who may, with his Majesty's pleasure, perform good service at +home, and be very advantageous to the island if war should break forth +with the Spaniard."[346] + +Indeed Morgan, the buccaneer, was soon in high favour at the dissolute +court of Charles II., and when in January 1674 the Earl of Carlisle was +chosen Governor of Jamaica, Morgan was selected as his deputy[347]--an +act which must have entirely neutralized in Spanish Councils the effect +of his arrest a year and a half earlier. Lord Carlisle, however, did not +go out to Jamaica until 1678, and meanwhile in April a commission to be +governor was issued to Lord Vaughan,[348] and several months later +another to Morgan as lieutenant-governor.[349] Vaughan arrived in +Jamaica in the middle of March 1675; but Morgan, whom the king in the +meantime had knighted, sailed ahead of Vaughan, apparently in defiance +of the governor's orders, and although shipwrecked on the Isle la Vache, +reached Jamaica a week before his superior.[350] It seems that Sir +Thomas Modyford sailed for Jamaica with Morgan, and the return of these +two arch-offenders to the West Indies filled the Spanish Court with new +alarms. The Spanish ambassador in London presented a memorial of protest +to the English king,[351] and in Spain the Council of War blossomed into +fresh activity to secure the defence of the West Indies and the coasts +of the South Sea.[352] Ever since 1672, indeed, the Spaniards moved by +some strange infatuation, had persisted in a course of active hostility +to the English in the West Indies. Could the Spanish Government have +realized the inherent weakness of its American possessions, could it +have been informed of the scantiness of the population in proportion to +the large extent of territory and coast-line to be defended, could it +have known how in the midst of such rich, unpeopled countries abounding +with cattle, hogs and other provisions, the buccaneers could be +extirpated only by co-operation with its English and French neighbours, +it would have soon fallen back upon a policy of peace and good +understanding with England. But the news of the sack of Panama, +following so close upon the conclusion of the treaty of 1670, and the +continued depredations of the buccaneers of Tortuga and the declared +pirates of Jamaica, had shattered irrevocably the reliance of the +Spaniards upon the good faith of the English Government. And when Morgan +was knighted and sent back to Jamaica as lieutenant-governor, their +suspicions seemed to be confirmed. A ketch, sent to Cartagena in 1672 by +Sir Thomas Lynch to trade in negroes, was seized by the general of the +galleons, the goods burnt in the market-place, and the negroes sold for +the Spanish King's account.[353] An Irish papist, named Philip +Fitzgerald, commanding a Spanish man-of-war of twelve guns belonging to +Havana, and a Spaniard called Don Francisco with a commission from the +Governor of Campeache, roamed the West Indian seas and captured English +vessels sailing from Jamaica to London, Virginia and the Windward +Islands, barbarously ill-treating and sometimes massacring the English +mariners who fell into their hands.[354] The Spanish governors, in spite +of the treaty and doubtless in conformity with orders from home,[355] +did nothing to restrain the cruelties of these privateers. At one time +eight English sailors who had been captured in a barque off Port Royal +and carried to Havana, on attempting to escape from the city were +pursued by a party of soldiers, and all of them murdered, the head of +the master being set on a pole before the governor's door.[356] At +another time Fitzgerald sailed into the harbour of Havana with five +Englishmen tied ready to hang, two at the main-yard arms, two at the +fore-yard arms, and one at the mizzen peak, and as he approached the +castle he had the wretches swung off, while he and his men shot at the +dangling corpses from the decks of the vessel.[357] The repeated +complaints and demands for reparation made to the Spanish ambassador in +London, and by Sir William Godolphin to the Spanish Court, were answered +by counter-complaints of outrages committed by buccaneers who, though +long ago disavowed and declared pirates by the Governor of Jamaica, were +still charged by the Spaniards to the account of the English.[358] Each +return of the fleet from Porto Bello or Vera Cruz brought with it +English prisoners from Cartagena and other Spanish fortresses, who were +lodged in the dungeons of Seville and often condemned to the galleys or +to the quicksilver mines. The English ambassador sometimes secured their +release, but his efforts to obtain redress for the loss of ships and +goods received no satisfaction. The Spanish Government, believing that +Parliament was solicitous of Spanish trade and would not supply Charles +II. with the necessary funds for a war,[359] would disburse nothing in +damages. It merely granted to the injured parties despatches directed to +the Governor of Havana, which ordered him to restore the property in +dispute unless it was contraband goods. Godolphin realized that these +delays and excuses were only the prelude to an ultimate denial of any +reparation whatever, and wrote home to the Secretary of State that +"England ought rather to provide against future injuries than to depend +on satisfaction here, till they have taught the Spaniards their own +interest in the West Indies by more efficient means than +friendship."[360] The aggrieved merchants and shipowners, often only too +well acquainted with the dilatory Spanish forms of procedure, saw that +redress at Havana was hopeless, and petitioned Charles II. for letters +of reprisal.[361] Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the Admiralty, however, +in a report to the king gave his opinion that although he saw little +hope of real reparation, the granting of reprisals was not justified by +law until the cases had been prosecuted at Havana according to the +queen-regent's orders.[362] This apparently was never done, and some of +the cases dragged on for years without the petitioners ever receiving +satisfaction. + +The excuse of the Spaniards for most of these seizures was that the +vessels contained logwood, a dyewood found upon the coasts of Campeache, +Honduras and Yucatan, the cutting and removal of which was forbidden to +any but Spanish subjects. The occupation of cutting logwood had sprung +up among the English about ten years after the seizure of Jamaica. In +1670 Modyford writes that a dozen vessels belonging to Port Royal were +concerned in this trade alone, and six months later he furnished a list +of thirty-two ships employed in logwood cutting, equipped with +seventy-four guns and 424 men.[363] The men engaged in the business had +most of them been privateers, and as the regions in which they sought +the precious wood were entirely uninhabited by Spaniards, Modyford +suggested that the trade be encouraged as an outlet for the energies of +the buccaneers. By such means, he thought, these "soldiery men" might be +kept within peaceable bounds, and yet be always ready to serve His +Majesty in event of any new rupture. When Sir Thomas Lynch replaced +Modyford, he realized that this logwood-cutting would be resented by the +Spaniards and might neutralize all his efforts to effect a peace. He +begged repeatedly for directions from the council in England. "For God's +sake," he writes, "give your commands about the logwood."[364] In the +meantime, after consulting with Modyford, he decided to connive at the +business, but he compelled all who brought the wood into Port Royal to +swear that they had not stolen it or done any violence to the +Spaniards.[365] Secretary Arlington wrote to the governor, in November +1671, to hold the matter over until he obtained the opinion of the +English ambassador at Madrid, especially as some colour was lent to the +pretensions of the logwood cutters by the article of the peace of 1670 +which confirmed the English King in the possession and sovereignty of +all territory in America occupied by his subjects at that date.[366] In +May 1672 Ambassador Godolphin returned his answer. "The wood," he +writes, "is brought from Yucatan, a large province of New Spain, about +100 leagues in length, sufficiently peopled, having several great towns, +as Merida, Valladolid, San Francisco de Campeache, etc., and the +government one of the most considerable next to Peru and Mexico.... So +that Spain has as well too much right as advantage not to assert the +propriety of these woods, for though not all inhabited, these people may +as justly pretend to make use of our rivers, mountains and commons, as +we can to enjoy any benefit to those woods." So much for the strict +justice of the matter. But when the ambassador came to give his own +opinion on the trade, he advised that if the English confined themselves +to cutting wood alone, and in places remote from Spanish settlements, +the king might connive at, although not authorize, their so doing.[367] +Here was the kernel of the whole matter. Spain was too weak and impotent +to take any serious revenge. So let us rob her quietly but decently, +keeping the theft out of her sight and so sparing her feelings as much +as possible. It was the same piratical motive which animated Drake and +Hawkins, which impelled Morgan to sack Maracaibo and Panama, and which, +transferred to the dignified council chambers of England, took on a more +humane but less romantic guise. On 8th October 1672, the Council for the +Plantations dispatched to Governor Lynch their approval of his +connivance at the business, but they urged him to observe every care and +prudence, to countenance the cutting only in desolate and uninhabited +places, and to use every endeavour to prevent any just complaints by the +Spaniards of violence and depredation.[368] + +The Spaniards nevertheless did, as we have seen, engage in active +reprisal, especially as they knew the cutting of logwood to be but the +preliminary step to the growth of English settlements upon the coasts of +Yucatan and Honduras, settlements, indeed, which later crystallized into +a British colony. The Queen-Regent of Spain sent orders and instructions +to her governors in the West Indies to encourage privateers to take and +punish as pirates all English and French who robbed and carried away +wood within their jurisdictions; and three small frigates from Biscay +were sent to clear out the intruders.[369] The buccaneer Yallahs, we +have seen, was employed by the Governor of Campeache to seize the +logwood-cutters; and although he surprised twelve or more vessels, the +Governor of Jamaica, not daring openly to avow the business, could enter +no complaint. On 3rd November 1672, however, he was compelled to issue a +proclamation ordering all vessels sailing from Port Royal for the +purpose of cutting dye-wood to go in fleets of at least four as security +against surprise and capture. Under the governorship of Lord Vaughan, +and after him of Lord Carlisle, matters continued in this same uncertain +course, the English settlements in Honduras gradually increasing in +numbers and vitality, and the Spaniards maintaining their right to take +all ships they found at sea laden with logwood, and indeed, all English +and French ships found upon their coasts. Each of the English governors +in turn had urged that some equitable adjustment of the trade be made +with the Spanish Crown, if peace was to be preserved in the Indies and +the buccaneers finally suppressed; but the Spaniards would agree to no +accommodation, and in March 1679 the king wrote to Lord Carlisle bidding +him discourage, as far as possible, the logwood-cutting in Campeache or +any other of the Spanish dominions, and to try and induce the buccaneers +to apply themselves to planting instead.[370] + +The reprisals of the Spaniards on the score of logwood-cutting were not +the only difficulties with which Lord Vaughan as governor had to +contend. From the day of his landing in Jamaica he seems to have +conceived a violent dislike of his lieutenant, Sir Henry Morgan, and +this antagonism was embittered by Morgan's open or secret sympathy with +the privateers, a race with whom Vaughan had nothing in common. The ship +on which Morgan had sailed from England, and which was cast away upon +the Isle la Vache, had contained the military stores for Jamaica, most +of which were lost in the wreck. Morgan, contrary to Lord Vaughan's +positive and written orders, had sailed before him, and assumed the +authority in Jamaica a week before the arrival of the governor at Port +Royal. This the governor seems to have been unable to forgive. He openly +blamed Morgan for the wreck and the loss of the stores; and only two +months after his coming to Jamaica, in May 1675, he wrote to England +that for the good of His Majesty's service he thought Morgan ought to be +removed, and the charge of so useless an officer saved.[371] In +September he wrote that he was "every day more convinced of (Morgan's) +imprudence and unfitness to have anything to do in the Civil Government, +and of what hazards the island may run by so dangerous a succession." +Sir Henry, he continued, had made himself and his authority so cheap at +the Port, drinking and gaming in the taverns, that the governor intended +to remove thither speedily himself for the reputation of the island and +the security of the place.[372] He recommended that his predecessor, Sir +Thomas Lynch, whom he praises for "his prudent government and conduct of +affairs," be appointed his deputy instead of Morgan in the event of the +governor's death or absence.[373] Lord Vaughan's chief grievance, +however, was the lieutenant-governor's secret encouragement of the +buccaneers. "What I most resent," he writes again, "is ... that I find +Sir Henry, contrary to his duty and trust, endeavours to set up +privateering, and has obstructed all my designs and purposes for the +reducing of those that do use this course of life."[374] When he had +issued proclamations, the governor continued, declaring as pirates all +the buccaneers who refused to submit, Sir Henry had encouraged the +English freebooters to take French commissions, had himself fitted them +out for sea, and had received authority from the French Governor of +Tortuga to collect the tenths on prize goods brought into Jamaica under +cover of these commissions. The quarrel came to a head over the arrest +and trial of a buccaneer named John Deane, commander of the ship "St. +David." Deane was accused of having stopped a ship called the "John +Adventure," taken out several pipes of wine and a cable worth £100, and +forcibly carried the vessel to Jamaica. He was also reported to be +wearing Dutch, French and Spanish colours without commission.[375] When +the "John Adventure" entered Port Royal it was seized by the governor +for landing goods without entry, contrary to the Acts of Navigation, and +on complaint of the master of the vessel that he had been robbed by +Deane and other privateers, Sir Henry Morgan was ordered to imprison the +offenders. The lieutenant-governor, however, seems rather to have +encouraged them to escape,[376] until Deane made so bold as to accuse +the governor of illegal seizure. Deane was in consequence arrested by +the governor, and on 27th April 1676, in a Court of Admiralty presided +over by Lord Vaughan as vice-admiral, was tried and condemned to suffer +death as a pirate.[377] The proceedings, however, were not warranted by +legal practice, for according to statutes of the twenty-seventh and +twenty-eighth years of Henry VIII., pirates might not be tried in an +Admiralty Court, but only under the Common Law of England by a +Commission of Oyer and Terminer under the great seal.[378] After +obtaining an opinion to this effect from the Judge of the Admiralty, the +English Council wrote to Lord Vaughan staying the execution of Deane, +and ordering a new trial to be held under a proper commission about to +be forwarded to him.[379] The Governor of Jamaica, however, upon +receiving a confession from Deane and frequent petitions for pardon, had +reprieved the pirate a month before the letter from the council reached +him.[380] The incident had good effect in persuading the freebooters to +come in, and that result assured, the governor could afford to bend to +popular clamour in favour of the culprit. In the latter part of 1677 a +standing commission of Oyer and Terminer for the trial of pirates in +Jamaica was prepared by the attorney-general and sent to the +colony.[381] + +After the trial of Deane, the lieutenant-governor, according to Lord +Vaughan, had openly expressed himself, both in the taverns and in his +own house, in vindication of the condemned man and in disparagement of +Vaughan himself.[382] The quarrel hung fire, however, until on 24th July +when the governor, in obedience to orders from England,[383] cited +Morgan and his brother-in-law, Colonel Byndloss, to appear before the +council. Against Morgan he brought formal charges of using the +governor's name and authority without his orders in letters written to +the captains of the privateers, and Byndloss he accused of unlawfully +holding a commission from a foreign governor to collect the tenths on +condemned prize goods.[384] Morgan in his defence to Secretary Coventry +flatly denied the charges, and denounced the letters written to the +privateers as forgeries; and Byndloss declared his readiness "to go in +this frigate with a tender of six or eight guns and so to deal with the +privateers at sea, and in their holes (_sic_) bring in the chief of them +to His Majesty's obedience or bring in their heads and destroy their +ships."[385] There seems to be little doubt that letters were written by +Morgan to certain privateers soon after his arrival in Jamaica, offering +them, in the name of the governor, favour and protection in Port Royal. +Copies of these letters, indeed, still exist;[386] but whether they were +actually used is not so certain. Charles Barre, secretary to Sir Henry +Morgan, confessed that such letters had been written, but with the +understanding that the governor lent them his approval, and that when +this was denied Sir Henry refused to send them.[387] It is natural to +suppose that Morgan should feel a bond of sympathy with his old +companions in the buccaneer trade, and it is probable that in 1675, in +the first enthusiasm of his return to Jamaica, having behind him the +openly-expressed approbation of the English Court for what he had done +in the past, and feeling uncertain, perhaps, as to Lord Vaughan's real +attitude toward the sea-rovers, Morgan should have done some things +inconsistent with the policy of stern suppression pursued by the +government. It is even likely that he was indiscreet in some of his +expressions regarding the governor and his actions. His bluff, +unconventional, easygoing manners, natural to men brought up in new +countries and intensified by his early association with the buccaneers, +may have been distasteful to a courtier accustomed to the urbanities of +Whitehall. It is also clear, however, that Lord Vaughan from the first +conceived a violent prejudice against his lieutenant, and allowed this +prejudice to colour the interpretation he put upon all of Sir Henry's +actions. And it is rather significant that although the particulars of +the dispute and of the examination before the Council of Jamaica were +sent to the Privy Council in England, the latter body did not see fit to +remove Morgan from his post until six years later. + +As in the case of Modyford and Lynch, so with Lord Vaughan, the thorn in +his side was the French colony on Hispaniola and Tortuga. The English +buccaneers who would not come in under the proclamation of pardon +published at Port Royal, still continued to range the seas with French +commissions, and carried their prizes into French ports. The governor +protested to M. d'Ogeron and to his successor, M. de Pouançay, declaring +that any English vessels or subjects caught with commissions against the +Spaniards would be treated as pirates and rebels; and in December 1675, +in compliance with the king's orders of the previous August, he issued a +public proclamation to that effect.[388] In April 1677 an act was passed +by the assembly, declaring it felony for any English subject belonging +to the island to serve under a foreign prince or state without licence +under the hand and seal of the governor;[389] and in the following July +the council ordered another proclamation to be issued, offering ample +pardon to all men in foreign service who should come in within twelve +months to claim the benefit of the act.[390] These measures seem to have +been fairly successful, for on 1st August Peter Beckford, Clerk of the +Council in Jamaica, wrote to Secretary Williamson that since the passing +of the law at least 300 privateers had come in and submitted, and that +few men would now venture their lives to serve the French.[391] + +Even with the success of this act, however, the path of the governor was +not all roses. Buccaneering had always been so much a part of the life +of the colony that it was difficult to stamp it out entirely. Runaway +servants and others from the island frequently recruited the ranks of +the freebooters; members of the assembly, and even of the council, were +interested in privateering ventures; and as the governor was without a +sufficient naval force to deal with the offenders independently of the +council and assembly, he often found his efforts fruitless. In the early +part of 1677 a Scotchman, named James Browne, with a commission from M. +d'Ogeron and a mixed crew of English, Dutch and French, seized a Dutch +ship trading in negroes off the coast of Cartagena, killed the Dutch +captain and several of his men, and landed the negroes, about 150 in +number, in a remote bay of Jamaica. Lord Vaughan sent a frigate which +seized about 100 of the negroes, and when Browne and his crew fell into +the governor's hands he had them all tried and condemned for piracy. +Browne was ordered to be executed, but his men, eight in number, were +pardoned. The captain petitioned the assembly to have the benefit of the +Act of Privateers, and the House twice sent a committee to the governor +to endeavour to obtain a reprieve. Lord Vaughan, however, refused to +listen and gave orders for immediate execution. Half an hour after the +hanging, the provost-marshal appeared with an order signed by the +speaker to observe the Chief-Justice's writ of Habeas Corpus, whereupon +Vaughan, resenting the action, immediately dissolved the Assembly.[392] + +The French colony on Hispaniola was an object of concern to the +Jamaicans, not only because it served as a refuge for privateers from +Port Royal, but also because it threatened soon to overwhelm the old +Spanish colony and absorb the whole island. Under the conciliatory, +opportunist regime of M. d'Ogeron, the French settlements in the west of +the island had grown steadily in number and size;[393] while the old +Spanish towns seemed every year to become weaker and more open to +attack. D'Ogeron, who died in France in 1675, had kept always before him +the project of capturing the Spanish capital, San Domingo; but he was +too weak to accomplish so great a design without aid from home, and this +was never vouchsafed him. His policy, however, was continued by his +nephew and successor, M. de Pouançay, and every defection from Jamaica +seemed so much assistance to the French to accomplish their ambition. +Yet it was manifestly to the English interest in the West Indies not to +permit the French to obtain a pre-eminence there. The Spanish colonies +were large in area, thinly populated, and ill-supported by the home +government, so that they were not likely to be a serious menace to the +English islands. With their great wealth and resources, moreover, they +had few manufactures and offered a tempting field for exploitation by +English merchants. The French colonies, on the other hand, were easily +supplied with merchandise from France, and in event of a war would prove +more dangerous as neighbours than the Spaniards. To allow the French to +become lords of San Domingo would have been to give them an undisputed +predominance in the West Indies and make them masters of the +neighbouring seas. + +In the second war of conquest waged by Louis XIV. against Holland, the +French in the West Indies found the buccaneers to be useful allies, but +as usually happened at such times, the Spaniards paid the bill. In the +spring of 1677 five or six English privateers surprised the town of +Santa Marta on the Spanish Main. According to the reports brought to +Jamaica, the governor and the bishop, in order to save the town from +being burnt, agreed with the marauders for a ransom; but the Governor of +Cartagena, instead of contributing with pieces of eight, despatched a +force of 500 men by land and three vessels by sea to drive out the +invaders. The Spanish troops, however, were easily defeated, and the +ships, seeing the French colours waving over the fort and the town, +sailed back to Cartagena. The privateers carried away the governor and +the bishop and came to Jamaica in July. The plunder amounted to only £20 +per man. The English in the party, about 100 in number and led by +Captains Barnes and Coxon, submitted at Port Royal under the terms of +the Act against Privateers, and delivered up the Bishop of Santa Marta +to Lord Vaughan. Vaughan took care to lodge the bishop well, and hired a +vessel to send him to Cartagena, at which "the good old man was +exceedingly pleased." He also endeavoured to obtain the custody of the +Spanish governor and other prisoners, but without success, "the French +being obstinate and damnably enraged the English had left them" and +submitted to Lord Vaughan.[394] + +In the beginning of the following year, 1678, Count d'Estrées, +Vice-Admiral of the French fleet in the West Indies, was preparing a +powerful armament to go against the Dutch on Curaçao, and sent two +frigates to Hispaniola with an order from the king to M. de Pouançay to +join him with 1200 buccaneers. De Pouançay assembled the men at Cap +François, and embarking on the frigates and on some filibustering ships +in the road, sailed for St. Kitts. There he was joined by a squadron of +fifteen or more men-of-war from Martinique under command of Count +d'Estrées. The united fleet of over thirty vessels sailed for Curaçao on +7th May, but on the fourth day following, at about eight o'clock in the +evening, was wrecked upon some coral reefs near the Isle d'Aves.[395] As +the French pilots had been at odds among themselves as to the exact +position of the fleet, the admiral had taken the precaution to send a +fire-ship and three buccaneering vessels several miles in advance of the +rest of the squadron. Unfortunately these scouts drew too little water +and passed over the reefs without touching them. A buccaneer was the +first to strike and fired three shots to warn the admiral, who at once +lighted fires and discharged cannon to keep off the rest of the ships. +The latter, however, mistaking the signals, crowded on sail, and soon +most of the fleet were on the reefs. Those of the left wing, warned in +time by a shallop from the flag-ship, succeeded in veering off. The +rescue of the crews was slow, for the seas were heavy and the boats +approached the doomed ships with difficulty. Many sailors and marines +were drowned, and seven men-of-war, besides several buccaneering ships, +were lost on the rocks. Count d'Estrées himself escaped, and sailed with +the remnant of his squadron to Petit Goave and Cap François in +Hispaniola, whence on 18th June he departed for France.[396] + +The buccaneers were accused in the reports which reached Barbadoes of +deserting the admiral after the accident, and thus preventing the +reduction of Curaçao, which d'Estrées would have undertaken in spite of +the shipwreck.[397] However this may be, one of the principal buccaneer +leaders, named de Grammont, was left by de Pouançay at the Isle d'Aves +to recover what he could from the wreck, and to repair some of the +privateering vessels.[398] When he had accomplished this, finding +himself short of provisions, he sailed with about 700 men to make a +descent on Maracaibo; and after spending six months in the lake, seizing +the shipping and plundering all the settlements in that region, he +re-embarked in the middle of December. The booty is said to have been +very small.[399] Early in the same year the Marquis de Maintenon, +commanding the frigate "La Sorcière," and aided by some French +filibusters from Tortuga, was on the coast of Caracas, where he ravaged +the islands of Margarita and Trinidad. He had arrived in the West Indies +from France in the latter part of 1676, and when he sailed from Tortuga +was at the head of 700 or 800 men. His squadron met with little success, +however, and soon scattered.[400] Other bands of filibusters pillaged +Campeache, Puerto Principe in Cuba, Santo Tomas on the Orinoco, and +Truxillo in the province of Honduras; and de Pouançay, to console the +buccaneers for their losses at the Isle d'Aves, sent 800 men under the +Sieur de Franquesnay to make a descent upon St. Jago de Cuba, but the +expedition seems to have been a failure.[401] + +On 1st March 1678 a commission was again issued to the Earl of Carlisle, +appointing him governor of Jamaica.[402] Carlisle arrived in his new +government on 18th July,[403] but Lord Vaughan, apparently because of +ill-health, had already sailed for England at the end of March, leaving +Sir Henry Morgan, who retained his place under the new governor, deputy +in his absence.[404] Lord Carlisle, immediately upon his arrival, +invited the privateers to come in and encouraged them to stay, hoping, +according to his own account, to be able to wean them from their +familiar courses, and perhaps to use them in the threatened war with +France, for the island then had "not above 4000 whites able to bear +arms, a secret not fit to be made public."[405] If the governor was +sincere in his intentions, the results must have been a bitter +disappointment. Some of the buccaneers came in, others persevered in the +old trade, and even those who returned abused the pardon they had +received. In the autumn of 1679, several privateering vessels under +command of Captains Coxon, Sharp and others who had come back to +Jamaica, made a raid in the Gulf of Honduras, plundered the royal +storehouses there, carried off 500 chests of indigo,[406] besides cocoa, +cochineal, tortoiseshell, money and plate, and returned with their +plunder to Jamaica. Not knowing what their reception might be, one of +the vessels landed her cargo of indigo in an unfrequented spot on the +coast, and the rest sent word that unless they were allowed to bring +their booty to Port Royal and pay the customs duty, they would sail to +Rhode Island or to one of the Dutch plantations. The governor had taken +security for good behaviour from some of the captains before they sailed +from Jamaica; yet in spite of this they were permitted to enter the +indigo at the custom house and divide it in broad daylight; and the +frigate "Success" was ordered to coast round Jamaica in search of other +privateers who failed to come in and pay duty on their plunder at Port +Royal. The glut of indigo in Jamaica disturbed trade considerably, and +for a time the imported product took the place of native sugar and +indigo as a medium of exchange. Manufacture on the island was hindered, +prices were lowered, and only the king's customs received any actual +benefit.[407] + +These same privateers, however, were soon out upon a much larger design. +Six captains, Sharp, Coxon, Essex, Allison, Row, and Maggott, in four +barques and two sloops, met at Point Morant in December 1679, and on 7th +January set sail for Porto Bello. They were scattered by a terrible +storm, but all eventually reached their rendezvous in safety. There they +picked up another barque commanded by Captain Cooke, who had sailed from +Jamaica on the same design, and likewise a French privateering vessel +commanded by Captain Lessone. They set out for Porto Bello in canoes +with over 300 men, and landing twenty leagues from the town, marched for +four days along the seaside toward the city. Coming to an Indian village +about three miles from Porto Bello, they were discovered by the natives, +and one of the Indians ran to the city, crying, "Ladrones! ladrones!" +The buccaneers, although "many of them were weak, being three days +without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes," +made all speed for the town, which they entered without difficulty on +17th February 1680. Most of the inhabitants sought refuge in the castle, +whence they made a counter-attack without success upon the invaders. On +the evening of the following day, the buccaneers retreated with their +prisoners and booty down to a cay or small island about three and a half +leagues from Porto Bello, where they were joined by their ships. They +had just left in time to avoid a force of some 700 Spanish troops who +were sent from Panama and arrived the day after the buccaneers departed. +After capturing two Spanish vessels bound for Porto Bello with +provisions from Cartagena, they divided the plunder, of which each man +received 100 pieces of eight, and departed for Boca del Toro some fifty +leagues to the north. There they careened and provisioned, and being +joined by two other Jamaican privateers commanded by Sawkins and Harris, +sailed for Golden Island, whence on 5th April 1680, with 334 men, they +began their march across the Isthmus of Darien to the coasts of Panama +and the South Seas.[408] + +Lord Carlisle cannot escape the charge of culpable negligence for having +permitted these vessels in the first place to leave Jamaica. All the +leaders in the expedition were notorious privateers, men who had +repeatedly been concerned in piratical outrages against the Dutch and +Spaniards. Coxon and Harris had both come in after taking part in the +expedition against Santa Marta; Sawkins had been caught with his vessel +by the frigate "Success" and sent to Port Royal, where on 1st December +1679 he seems to have been in prison awaiting trial;[410] while Essex +had been brought in by another frigate, the "Hunter," in November, and +tried with twenty of his crew for plundering on the Jamaican coast, two +of his men being sentenced to death.[411] The buccaneers themselves +declared that they had sailed with permission from Lord Carlisle to cut +logwood.[412] This was very likely true; yet after the exactly similar +ruse of these men when they went to Honduras, the governor could not +have failed to suspect their real intentions. + +At the end of May 1680 Lord Carlisle suddenly departed for England in +the frigate "Hunter," leaving Morgan again in charge as +lieutenant-governor.[413] On his passage home the governor met with +Captain Coxon, who, having quarrelled with his companions in the +Pacific, had returned across Darien to the West Indies and was again +hanging about the shores of Jamaica. The "Hunter" gave chase for +twenty-four hours, but being outsailed was content to take two small +vessels in the company of Coxon which had been deserted by their +crews.[414] In England Samuel Long, whom the governor had suspended from +the council and dismissed from his post as chief justice of the colony +for his opposition to the new Constitution, accused the governor before +the Privy Council of collusion with pirates and encouraging them to +bring their plunder to Jamaica. The charges were doubtless conceived in +a spirit of revenge; nevertheless the two years during which Carlisle +was in Jamaica were marked by an increased activity among the +freebooters, and by a lukewarmness and negligence on the part of the +government, for which Carlisle alone must be held responsible. To accuse +him of deliberately supporting and encouraging the buccaneers, however, +may be going too far. Sir Henry Morgan, during his tenure of the chief +command of the island, showed himself very zealous in the pursuit of the +pirates, and sincerely anxious to bring them to justice; and as Carlisle +and Morgan always worked together in perfect harmony, we may be +justified in believing that Carlisle's mistakes were those of negligence +rather than of connivance. The freebooters who brought goods into +Jamaica increased the revenues of the island, and a governor whose +income was small and tastes extravagant, was not apt to be too +inquisitive about the source of the articles which entered through the +customs. There is evidence, moreover, that French privateers, being +unable to obtain from the merchants on the coast of San Domingo the +cables, anchors, tar and other naval stores necessary for their +armaments, were compelled to resort to other islands to buy them, and +that Jamaica came in for a share of this trade. Provisions, too, were +more plentiful at Port Royal than in the _cul-de-sac_ of Hispaniola, and +the French governors complained to the king that the filibusters carried +most of their money to foreign plantations to exchange for these +commodities. Such French vessels if they came to Jamaica were not +strictly within the scope of the laws against piracy which had been +passed by the assembly, and their visits were the more welcome as they +paid for their goods promptly and liberally in good Spanish +doubloons.[415] + +A general warrant for the apprehension of Coxon, Sharp and the other men +who had plundered Porto Bello had been issued by Lord Carlisle in May +1680, just before his departure for England. On 1st July a similar +warrant was issued by Morgan, and five days later a proclamation was +published against all persons who should hold any correspondence +whatever with the outlawed crews.[416] Three men who had taken part in +the expedition were captured and clapped into prison until the next +meeting of the court. The friends of Coxon, however, including, it +seems, almost all the members of the council, offered to give £2000 +security, if he was allowed to come to Port Royal, that he would never +take another commission except from the King of England; and Morgan +wrote to Carlisle seeking his approbation.[417] At the end of the +following January Morgan received word that a notorious Dutch privateer, +named Jacob Everson, commanding an armed sloop, was anchored on the +coast with a brigantine which he had lately captured. The +lieutenant-governor manned a small vessel with fifty picked men and sent +it secretly at midnight to seize the pirate. Everson's sloop was boarded +and captured with twenty-six prisoners, but Everson himself and several +others escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to the shore. The +prisoners, most of whom were English, were tried six weeks later, +convicted of piracy and sentenced to death; but the lieutenant-governor +suspended the execution and wrote to the king for instructions. On 16th +June 1681, the king in council ordered the execution of the condemned +men.[418] + +The buccaneers who, after plundering Porto Bello, crossed the Isthmus of +Darien to the South Seas, had a remarkable history. For eighteen months +they cruised up and down the Pacific coast of South America, burning and +plundering Spanish towns, giving and taking hard blows with equal +courage, keeping the Spanish provinces of Equador, Peru and Chili in a +fever of apprehension, finally sailing the difficult passage round Cape +Horn, and returning to the Windward Islands in January of 1682. Touching +at the island of Barbadoes, they learned that the English frigate +"Richmond" was lying in the road, and fearing seizure they sailed on to +Antigua. There the governor, Colonel Codrington, refused to give them +leave to enter the harbour. So the party, impatient of their dangerous +situation, determined to separate, some landing on Antigua, and Sharp +and sixteen others going to Nevis where they obtained passage to +England. On their arrival in England several, including Sharp, were +arrested at the instance of the Spanish ambassador, and tried for +committing piracy in the South Seas; but from the defectiveness of the +evidence produced they escaped conviction.[419] Four of the party came +to Jamaica, where they were apprehended, tried and condemned. One of the +four, who had given himself up voluntarily, turned State's evidence; two +were represented by the judges as fit objects of the king's mercy; and +the other, "a bloody and notorious villein," was recommended to be +executed as an example to the rest.[420] + +The recrudescence of piratical activity between the years 1679 and 1682 +had, through its evil effects, been strongly felt in Jamaica; and public +opinion was now gradually changing from one of encouragement and welcome +to the privateers and of secret or open opposition to the efforts of the +governors who tried to suppress them, to one of distinct hostility to +the old freebooters. The inhabitants were beginning to realize that in +the encouragement of planting, and not of buccaneering, lay the +permanent welfare of the island. Planting and buccaneering, side by +side, were inconsistent and incompatible, and the colonists chose the +better course of the two. In spite of the frequent trials and executions +at Port Royal, the marauders seemed to be as numerous as ever, and even +more troublesome. Private trade with the Spaniards was hindered; runaway +servants, debtors and other men of unfortunate or desperate condition +were still, by every new success of the buccaneers, drawn from the +island to swell their ranks; and most of all, men who were now outlawed +in Jamaica, driven to desperation turned pirate altogether, and began to +wage war indiscriminately on the ships of all nationalities, including +those of the English. Morgan repeatedly wrote home urging the dispatch +of small frigates of light draught to coast round the island and +surprise the freebooters, and he begged for orders for himself to go on +board and command them, for "then I shall not much question," he +concludes, "to reduce them or in some time to leave them shipless."[421] +"The governor," wrote the Council of Jamaica to the Lords of Trade and +Plantations in May 1680, "can do little from want of ships to reduce the +privateers, and of plain laws to punish them"; and they urged the +ratification of the Act passed by the assembly two years before, making +it felony for any British subject in the West Indies to serve under a +foreign prince without leave from the governor.[422] This Act, and +another for the more effectual punishment of pirates, had been under +consideration in the Privy Council in February 1678, and both were +returned to Jamaica with certain slight amendments. They were again +passed by the assembly as one Act in 1681, and were finally incorporated +into the Jamaica Act of 1683 "for the restraining and punishing of +privateers and pirates."[423] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 332: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 367.] + +[Footnote 333: Ibid., Nos. 604, 608, 729; Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 334: Ibid., Nos. 552, 602.] + +[Footnote 335: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 608, 633.] + +[Footnote 336: Ibid., No. 604.] + +[Footnote 337: Ibid., Nos. 638, 640, 663, 697. This may be the Diego +Grillo to whom Duro (_op. cit._, V. p. 180) refers--a native of Havana +commanding a vessel of fifteen guns. He defeated successively in the +Bahama Channel three armed ships sent out to take him, and in all of +them he massacred without exception the Spaniards of European birth. He +was captured in 1673 and suffered the fate he had meted out to his +victims.] + +[Footnote 338: Ibid., Nos. 697, 709, 742, 883, 944.] + +[Footnote 339: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 733, 742, 796.] + +[Footnote 340: Ibid., No. 729.] + +[Footnote 341: Ibid., Nos. 742, 777, 785, 789, 794, 796.] + +[Footnote 342: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 742, 945, 1042.] + +[Footnote 343: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 733, 742, 779, 796, 820, +1022.] + +[Footnote 344: Ibid., Nos. 650, 663, 697. Seventeen months later, after +the outbreak of the Dutch war, the Jamaicans had a similar scare over an +expected invasion of the Dutch and Spaniards, but this, too, was +dissolved by time into thin air. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 887, +1047, 1055, 1062). In this connection, _cf._ Egerton MSS., 2375, f. +491:--Letter written by the Governor of Cumana to the Duke of Veragua, +1673, seeking his influence with the Council of the Indies to have the +Governor of Margarita send against Jamaica 1500 or 2000 Indians, "guay +quies," as they are valient bowmen, seamen and divers.] + +[Footnote 345: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 697, 789, 794, 900, 911; +Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 346: Ibid., Nos. 697, 789.] + +[Footnote 347: Ibid., Nos. 1212, 1251-5.] + +[Footnote 348: Ibid., No. 1259, _cf._ also 1374, 1385, 1394.] + +[Footnote 349: Ibid., No. 1379.] + +[Footnote 350: Ibid., 1675-76, Nos. 458, 467, 484, 521, 525, 566.] + +[Footnote 351: S.P. Spain, vol. 63, f. 56.] + +[Footnote 352: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1389; _ibid._ 1675-76, No. +564; Add. MSS., 36,330, No. 28.] + +[Footnote 353: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 888, 940.] + +[Footnote 354: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 1178, 1180, 1226; _ibid._, +1675-76, No. 579.] + +[Footnote 355: Ibid., 1669-74, No. 1423; _ibid._, 1675-76, No. 707.] + +[Footnote 356: Ibid., 1675-76, No. 520.] + +[Footnote 357: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 358: Ibid., 1669-74, Nos. 1335, 1351, 1424; S.P. Spain, vols. +60, 62, 63.] + +[Footnote 359: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 643.] + +[Footnote 360: Ibid., Nos. 639-643.] + +[Footnote 361: Ibid., Nos. 633-635, 729.] + +[Footnote 362: Ibid., Nos. 693, 719, 720.] + +[Footnote 363: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 310, 704, iv. It was a very +profitable business for the wood then sold at £25 or £30 a ton. For a +description of the life of the logwood-cutters _cf._ Dampier, Voyages, +_ed._ 1906, ii. pp. 155-56. 178-79, 181 _ff._] + +[Footnote 364: Ibid., No. 580.] + +[Footnote 365: Ibid., Nos. 587, 638.] + +[Footnote 366: Ibid., Nos. 777, 786.] + +[Footnote 367: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74. No. 825.] + +[Footnote 368: Ibid., Nos. 819, 943.] + +[Footnote 369: Ibid., Nos. 954, 1389. Fernandez Duro (t.v., p. 181) +mentions a Spanish ordinance of 22nd February 1674, which authorized +Spanish corsairs to go out in the pursuit and punishment of pirates. +Periaguas, or large flat-bottomed canoes, were to be constructed for use +in shoal waters. They were to be 90 feet long and from 16 to 18 feet +wide, with a draught of only 4 or 5 feet, and were to be provided with a +long gun in the bow and four smaller pieces in the stern. They were to +be propelled by both oars and sails, and were to carry 120 men.] + +[Footnote 370: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 950, 1094; Beeston's +Journal, Aug. 1679.] + +[Footnote 371: Ibid., 1675-76, No. 566.] + +[Footnote 372: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 673.] + +[Footnote 373: Ibid., No. 526. In significant contrast to Lord Vaughan's +praise of Lynch, Sir Henry Morgan, who could have little love for the +man who had shipped him and Modyford as prisoners to England, filled the +ears of Secretary Williamson with veiled accusations against Lynch of +having tampered with the revenues and neglected the defences of the +island. (Ibid., No. 521.)] + +[Footnote 374: Ibid., No. 912. In testimony of Lord Vaughan's +straightforward policy toward buccaneering, _cf._ Beeston's Journal, +June 1676.] + +[Footnote 375: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 988.] + +[Footnote 376: Leeds MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm., XI. pt. 7, p. +13)--Depositions in which Sir Henry Morgan is represented as +endeavouring to hush up the matter, saying "the privateers were poore, +honest fellows," to which the plundered captain replied "that he had not +found them soe."] + +[Footnote 377: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76; Nos. 860, 913.] + +[Footnote 378: Statutes at Large, vol. ii. (Lond. 1786), pp. 210, 247.] + +[Footnote 379: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76; Nos. 993-995, 1001.] + +[Footnote 380: Ibid., No. 1093.] + +[Footnote 381: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 500, 508.] + +[Footnote 382: Ibid., 1675-76, No. 916.] + +[Footnote 383: Ibid., No. 1126.] + +[Footnote 384: Ibid., Nos. 998, 1006.] + +[Footnote 385: Ibid., No. 1129.] + +[Footnote 386: Ibid., No. 1129 (vii., viii.); _cf._ also No. 657.] + +[Footnote 387: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 1129 (xiv., xvii.).] + +[Footnote 388: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Nos. 656, 741.] + +[Footnote 389: Ibid., 1677-80, No. 313; _cf._ also Nos. 478, 486.] + +[Footnote 390: Ibid., No. 368. A similar proclamation was issued in May +1681; _cf._ Ibid., 1681-85, No. 102.] + +[Footnote 391: Ibid., No. 375.] + +[Footnote 392: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 243, 365, 383; Egerton MSS., +2395, f. 591.] + +[Footnote 393: In a memoir to Mme. de Montespan, dated 8th July 1677, +the population of French San Domingo is given as between four and five +thousand, white and black. The colony embraced a strip of coast 80 +leagues in length and 9 or 10 miles wide, and it produced 2,000,000 lbs. +of tobacco annually. (Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 258).] + +[Footnote 394: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 347, 375, 383, 1497; S.P. +Spain, vol. 65, f. 102.] + +[Footnote 395: A small island east of Curaçao, in latitude 12° north, +longitude 67° 41' west.] + +[Footnote 396: Saint Yves, G. Les campagnes de Jean d'Estrées dans la +mer des Antilles, 1676-78; _cf._ also C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 604, +642, 665, 687-90, 718, 741 (xiv., xv.), 1646-47. + +According to one story, the Dutch governor of Curaçao sent out three +privateers with orders to attend the French fleet, but to run no risk of +capture. The French, discovering them, gave chase, but being +unacquainted with those waters were decoyed among the reefs.] + +[Footnote 397: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1646-47.] + +[Footnote 398: Dampier says of this occasion: "The privateers ... told +me that if they had gone to Jamaica with £30 a man in their Pockets, +they could not have enjoyed themselves more. For they kept in a Gang by +themselves, and watched when the Ships broke, to get the Goods that came +from them; and though much was staved against the Rocks, yet abundance +of Wine and Brandy floated over the Riff, where the Privateers waited to +take it up. They lived here about three Weeks, waiting an Opportunity to +transport themselves back again to Hispaniola; in all which Time they +were never without two or three Hogsheads of Wine and Brandy in their +Tents, and Barrels of Beef and Pork."--Dampier, _ed._ 1906, i. p. 81.] + +[Footnote 399: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. p. 120.] + +[Footnote 400: Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 260; Charlevoix, _op. +cit._, liv. viii. p. 122.] + +[Footnote 401: Ibid., p. 119; C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 815, 869; +Beeston's Journal, 18th October 1678.] + +[Footnote 402: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 569, 575, 618.] + +[Footnote 403: Ibid., No. 770.] + +[Footnote 404: Ibid., Nos. 622, 646.] + +[Footnote 405: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 770, 815, 1516: Beeston's +Journal, 18th October 1678.] + +[Footnote 406: The Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro Ronquillo, in his +complaint to Charles II. in September 1680, placed the number at 1000. +(C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, No. 1498.)] + +[Footnote 407: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1150, 1188, 1199, 1516; +Beeston's Journal, 29th September and 6th October 1678. Lord Carlisle, +in answer to the complaints of the Spanish ambassador, pretended +ignorance of the source of the indigo thus admitted through the customs, +and maintained that it was brought into Port Royal "in lawful ships by +lawful men."] + +[Footnote 408: Sloane MSS., 2752, f. 29; S.P. Spain, vol. 65, f. 121. +According to the latter account, which seems to be derived from a +Spanish source, the loss suffered by the city amounted to about 100,000 +pieces of eight, over half of which was plunder carried away by the +freebooters. Thirteen of the inhabitants were killed and four wounded, +and of the buccaneers thirty were killed. + +Dampier writes concerning this first irruption of the buccaneers into +the Pacific:--"Before my first going over into the South Seas with +Captain Sharp ... I being then on Board Captain Coxon, in company with 3 +or 4 more Privateers, about 4 leagues to the East of Portobel, we took +the Pacquets bound thither from Cartagena. We open'd a great quantity of +the Merchants Letters, and found ... the Merchants of several parts of +Old Spain thereby informing their Correspondents of Panama and elsewhere +of a certain Prophecy that went about Spain that year, the Tenour of +which was, That there would be English Privateers that Year in the West +Indies, who would ... open a Door into the South Seas; which they +supposed was fastest shut: and the Letters were accordingly full of +Cautions to their Friends to be very watchful and careful of their +Coasts. + +"This Door they spake of we all concluded must be the Passage over Land +through the Country of the Indians of Darien, who were a little before +this become our Friends, and had lately fallen out with the Spaniards, +... and upon calling to mind the frequent Invitations we had from these +Indians a little before this time, to pass through their Country, and +fall upon the Spaniards in the South Seas, we from henceforward began to +entertain such thoughts in earnest, and soon came to a Resolution to +make those Attempts which we afterwards did, ... so that the taking +these Letters gave the first life to those bold undertakings: and we +took the advantage of the fears the Spaniards were in from that Prophecy +... for we sealed up most of the Letters again, and sent them ashore to +Portobel."--_Ed._ 1906, I. pp. 200-201.] + +[Footnote 410: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, No. 1199.] + +[Footnote 411: Ibid., No. 1188.] + +[Footnote 412: Sloane MSS., 2572, f. 29.] + +[Footnote 413: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1344, 1370.] + +[Footnote 414: Ibid., No. 1516.] + +[Footnote 415: _Cf._ Archives Coloniales--Correspondance générale de St +Domingue, vol. i.; Martinique, vol. iv.] + +[Footnote 416: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1420, 1425; Sloane MSS., +2724, f. 3.] + +[Footnote 417: Sloane MSS., 2724, f. 198. + +Coxon probably did not submit, for Dampier tells us that at the end of +May 1681, Coxon was lying with seven or eight other privateers at the +Samballas, islands on the coast of Darien, with a ship of ten guns and +100 men.--_Ed._ 1906, i. p. 57.] + +[Footnote 418: Ibid., f. 200; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 16, 51, 144, +431. Everson was not shot and killed in the water, as Morgan's account +implies, for he flourished for many years afterwards as one of the most +notorious of the buccaneer captains.] + +[Footnote 419: Ringrose's Journal. _Cf._ also S.P. Spain, vol. 67, f. +169; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 872.] + +[Footnote 420: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 431, 632, 713; Hist. MSS. +Commiss., VII., 405 b.] + +[Footnote 421: C.S.P Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1425, 1462.] + +[Footnote 422: Ibid., No. 1361.] + +[Footnote 423: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 601, 606, 607, 611; _ibid._, +1681-85, No. 160; Add. MSS., 22, 676; Acts of Privy Council, Colonial +Series I. No. 1203.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BUCCANEERS TURN PIRATE + + +On 25th May 1682, Sir Thomas Lynch returned to Jamaica as governor of +the colony.[424] Of the four acting governors since 1671, Lynch stood +apart as the one who had endeavoured with singleness and tenacity of +purpose to clear away the evils of buccaneering. Lord Vaughan had +displayed little sympathy for the corsairs, but he was hampered by an +irascible temper, and according to some reports by an avarice which +dimmed the lustre of his name. The Earl of Carlisle, if he did not +directly encourage the freebooters, had been grossly negligent in the +performance of his duty of suppressing them; while Morgan, although in +the years 1680 and 1681 he showed himself very zealous in punishing his +old associates, cannot escape the suspicion of having secretly aided +them under the governorship of Lord Vaughan. The task of Sir Thomas +Lynch in 1671 had been a very difficult one. Buccaneering was then at +flood-tide; three wealthy Spanish cities on the mainland had in turn +been plundered, and the stolen riches carried to Jamaica; the air was +alive with the exploits of these irregular warriors, and the pockets of +the merchants and tavern-keepers of Port Royal were filled with Spanish +doubloons, with emeralds and pearls from New Granada and the coasts of +Rio de la Hacha, and with gold and silver plate from the Spanish +churches and cathedrals of Porto Bello and Panama. The old governor, Sir +Thomas Modyford, had been popular in his person, and his policy had been +more popular still. Yet Lynch, by a combination of tact and firmness, +and by an untiring activity with the small means at his disposal, had +inaugurated a new and revolutionary policy in the island, which it was +the duty of his successors merely to continue. In 1682 the problem +before him, although difficult, was much simpler. Buccaneering was now +rapidly being transformed into pure piracy. By laws and repeated +proclamations, the freebooters had been offered an opportunity of +returning to civilized pursuits, or of remaining ever thereafter +outlawed. Many had come in, some to remain, others to take the first +opportunity of escaping again. But many entirely refused to obey the +summons, trusting to the protection of the French in Hispaniola, or so +hardened to their cruel, remorseless mode of livelihood that they +preferred the dangerous risks of outlawry. The temper of the inhabitants +of the island, too, had changed. The planters saw more clearly the +social and economic evils which the buccaneers had brought upon the +island. The presence of these freebooters, they now began to realize, +had discouraged planting, frightened away capital, reduced the number of +labourers, and increased drunkenness, debauchery and every sort of moral +disorder. The assembly and council were now at one with the governor as +to the necessity of curing this running sore, and Lynch could act with +the assurance which came of the knowledge that he was backed by the +conscience of his people. + +One of the earliest and most remarkable cases of buccaneer turning +pirate was that of "La Trompeuse." In June 1682, before Governor Lynch's +arrival in Jamaica, a French captain named Peter Paine (or Le Pain), +commander of a merchant ship called "La Trompeuse" belonging to the +French King, came to Port Royal from Cayenne in Guiana. He told Sir +Henry Morgan and the council that, having heard of the inhuman treatment +of his fellow Protestants in France, he had resolved to send back his +ship and pay what was due under his contract; and he petitioned for +leave to reside with the English and have English protection. The +Council, without much inquiry as to the petitioner's antecedents, +allowed him to take the oath of allegiance and settle at St. Jago, while +his cargo was unloaded and entered customs-free. The ship was then hired +by two Jamaican merchants and sent to Honduras to load logwood, with +orders to sail eventually for Hamburg and be delivered to the French +agent.[425] The action of the Council had been very hasty and +ill-considered, and as it turned out, led to endless trouble. It soon +transpired that Paine did not own the cargo, but had run away with it +from Cayenne, and had disposed of both ship and goods in his own +interest. The French ambassador in London made complaints to the English +King, and letters were sent out to Sir Thomas Lynch and to Governor +Stapleton of the Leeward Isles to arrest Paine and endeavour to have the +vessel lade only for her right owners.[426] Meanwhile a French pirate +named Jean Hamlin, with 120 desperadoes at his back, set out in a sloop +in pursuit of "La Trompeuse," and coming up with her invited the master +and mate aboard his own vessel, and then seized the ship. Carrying the +prize to some creek or bay to careen her and fit her up as a man-of-war, +he then started out on a mad piratical cruise, took sixteen or eighteen +Jamaican vessels, barbarously ill-treated the crews, and demoralized the +whole trade of the island.[427] Captain Johnson was dispatched by Lynch +in a frigate in October 1682 to find and destroy the pirate; but after a +fruitless search of two months round Porto Rico and Hispaniola, he +returned to Port Royal. In December Lynch learned that "La Trompeuse" +was careening in the neighbourhood of the Isle la Vache, and sent out +another frigate, the "Guernsey," to seize her; but the wary pirate had +in the meantime sailed away. On 15th February the "Guernsey" was again +dispatched with positive orders not to stir from the coast of Hispaniola +until the pirate was gone or destroyed; and Coxon, who seems to have +been in good odour at Port Royal, was sent to offer to a privateer named +"Yankey," men, victuals, pardon and naturalization, besides £200 in +money for himself and Coxon, if he would go after "La Trompeuse."[428] +The next news of Hamlin was from the Virgin Islands, where he was +received and entertained by the Governor of St. Thomas, a small island +belonging to the King of Denmark.[429] Making St. Thomas his +headquarters, he robbed several English vessels that came into his way, +and after first obtaining from the Danish governor a promise that he +would find shelter at St. Thomas on his return, stood across for the +Gulf of Guinea. In May 1683 Hamlin arrived on the west side of Africa +disguised as an English man-of-war, and sailing up and down the coast of +Sierra Leone captured or destroyed within several weeks seventeen ships, +Dutch and English, robbing them of gold-dust and negroes.[430] The +pirates then quarrelled over the division of their plunder and separated +into two companies, most of the English following a Captain Morgan in +one of the prizes, and the rest returning in "La Trompeuse" to the West +Indies. The latter arrived at Dominica in July, where forty of the crew +deserted the ship, leaving but sixteen white men and twenty-two negroes +on board. Finally on the 27th the pirates dropped anchor at St. Thomas. +They were admitted and kindly received by the governor, and allowed to +bring their plunder ashore.[431] Three days later Captain Carlile of +H.M.S. "Francis," who had been sent out by Governor Stapleton to hunt +for pirates, sailed into the harbour, and on being assured by the pilot +and by an English sloop lying at anchor there that the ship before him +was the pirate "La Trompeuse," in the night of the following day he set +her on fire and blew her up. Hamlin and some of the crew were on board, +but after firing a few shots, escaped to the shore. The pirate ship +carried thirty-two guns, and if she had not been under-manned Carlile +might have encountered a formidable resistance. The Governor of St. +Thomas sent a note of protest to Carlile for having, as he said, +secretly set fire to a frigate which had been confiscated to the King of +Denmark.[432] Nevertheless he sent Hamlin and his men for safety in a +boat to another part of the island, and later selling him a sloop, let +him sail away to join the French buccaneers in Hispaniola.[433] + +The Danish governor of St. Thomas, whose name was Adolf Esmit, had +formerly been himself a privateer, and had used his popularity on the +island to eject from authority his brother Nicholas Esmit, the lawful +governor. By protecting and encouraging pirates--for a consideration, of +course--he proved a bad neighbour to the surrounding English islands. +Although he had but 300 or 350 people on St. Thomas, and most of these +British subjects, he laid claim to all the Virgin Islands, harboured +runaway servants, seamen and debtors, fitted out pirate vessels with +arms and provisions, and refused to restore captured ships and crews +which the pirates brought into his port.[434] The King of Denmark had +sent out a new governor, named Everson, to dispossess Esmit, but he did +not arrive in the West Indies until October 1684, when with the +assistance of an armed sloop which Sir William Stapleton had been +ordered by the English Council to lend him, he took possession of St. +Thomas and its pirate governor.[435] + +A second difficulty encountered by Sir Thomas Lynch, in the first year +of his return, was the privateering activity of Robert Clarke, Governor +of New Providence, one of the Bahama Islands. Governor Clarke, on the +plea of retaliating Spanish outrages, gave letters of marque to several +privateers, including Coxon, the same famous chief who in 1680 had led +the buccaneers into the South Seas. Coxon carried his commission to +Jamaica and showed it to Governor Lynch, who was greatly incensed and +wrote to Clarke a vigorous note of reproof.[436] To grant such letters +of marque was, of course, contrary to the Treaty of Madrid, and by +giving the pirates only another excuse for their actions, greatly +complicated the task of the Governor of Jamaica. Lynch forwarded Coxon's +commission to England, where in August 1682 the proprietors of the +Bahama Islands were ordered to attend the council and answer for the +misdeeds of their governor.[437] The proprietors, however, had already +acted on their own initiative, for on 29th July they issued instructions +to a new governor, Robert Lilburne, to arrest Clarke and keep him in +custody till he should give security to answer accusations in England, +and to recall all commissions against the Spaniards.[438] The whole +trouble, it seems, had arisen over the wreck of a Spanish galleon in the +Bahamas, to which Spaniards from St. Augustine and Havana were +accustomed to resort to fish for ingots of silver, and from which they +had been driven away by the governor and inhabitants of New Providence. +The Spaniards had retaliated by robbing vessels sailing to and from the +Bahamas, whereupon Clarke, without considering the illegality of his +action, had issued commissions of war to privateers. + +The Bahamas, however, were a favourite resort for pirates and other men +of desperate character, and Lilburne soon discovered that his place was +no sinecure. He found it difficult moreover to refrain from hostilities +against a neighbour who used every opportunity to harm and plunder his +colony. In March 1683, a former privateer named Thomas Pain[439] had +entered into a conspiracy with four other captains, who were then +fishing for silver at the wreck, to seize St. Augustine in Florida. They +landed before the city under French colours, but finding the Spaniards +prepared for them, gave up the project and looted some small +neighbouring settlements. On the return of Pain and two others to New +Providence, Governor Lilburne tried to apprehend them, but he failed for +lack of means to enforce his authority. The Spaniards, however, were not +slow to take their revenge. In the following January they sent 250 men +from Havana, who in the early morning surprised and plundered the town +and shipping at New Providence, killed three men, and carried away money +and provisions to the value of £14,000.[440] When Lilburne in February +sent to ask the Governor of Havana whether the plunderers had acted +under his orders, the Spaniard not only acknowledged it but threatened +further hostilities against the English settlement. Indeed, later in the +same year the Spaniards returned, this time, it seems, without a +commission, and according to report burnt all the houses, murdered the +governor in cold blood, and carried many of the women, children and +negroes to Havana.[441] About 200 of the inhabitants made their way to +Jamaica, and a number of the men, thirsting for vengeance, joined the +English pirates in the Carolinas.[442] + +In French Hispaniola corsairing had been forbidden for several years, +yet the French governor found the problem of suppressing the evil even +more difficult than it was in Jamaica. M. de Pouançay, the successor of +d'Ogeron, died toward the end of 1682 or the beginning of 1683, and in +spite of his efforts to establish order in the colony he left it in a +deplorable condition. The old fraternity of hunters or cow-killers had +almost disappeared; but the corsairs and the planters were strongly +united, and galled by the oppression of the West India Company, +displayed their strength in a spirit of indocility which caused great +embarrassment to the governor. Although in time of peace the freebooters +kept the French settlements in continual danger of ruin by reprisal, in +time of war they were the mainstay of the colony. As the governor, +therefore, was dependent upon them for protection against the English, +Spanish and Dutch, although he withdrew their commissions he dared not +punish them for their crimes. The French buccaneers, indeed, occupied a +curious and anomalous position. They were not ordinary privateers, for +they waged war without authority; and they were still less pirates, for +they had never been declared outlaws, and they confined their attentions +to the Spaniards. They served under conditions which they themselves +imposed, or which they deigned to accept, and were always ready to turn +against the representatives of authority if they believed they had aught +of which to complain.[443] + +The buccaneers almost invariably carried commissions from the governors +of French Hispaniola, but they did not scruple to alter the wording of +their papers, so that a permission to privateer for three months was +easily transformed into a licence to plunder for three years. These +papers, moreover, were passed about from one corsair to another, until +long after the occasion for their issue had ceased to exist. Thus in May +or June of 1680, de Grammont, on the strength of an old commission +granted him by de Pouançay before the treaty of Nimuegen, had made a +brilliant night assault upon La Guayra, the seaport of Caracas. Of his +180 followers only forty-seven took part in the actual seizure of the +town, which was amply protected by two forts and by cannon upon the +walls. On the following day, however, he received word that 2000 men +were approaching from Caracas, and as the enemy were also rallying in +force in the vicinity of the town he was compelled to retire to the +ships. This movement was executed with difficulty, and for two hours de +Grammont with a handful of his bravest companions covered the +embarkation from the assaults of the Spaniards. Although he himself was +dangerously wounded in the throat, he lost only eight or nine men in the +whole action. He carried away with him the Governor of La Guayra and +many other prisoners, but the booty was small. De Grammont retired to +the Isle d'Aves to nurse his wound, and after a long convalescence +returned to Petit Goave.[444] + +In 1683, however, these filibusters of Hispaniola carried out a much +larger design upon the coasts of New Spain. In April of that year eight +buccaneer captains made a rendezvous in the Gulf of Honduras for the +purpose of attacking Vera Cruz. The leaders of the party were two +Dutchmen named Vanhorn and Laurens de Graff. Of the other six captains, +three were Dutch, one was French, and two were English. Vanhorn himself +had sailed from England in the autumn of 1681 in command of a merchant +ship called the "Mary and Martha," _alias_ the "St. Nicholas." He soon, +however, revealed the rogue he was by turning two of his merchants +ashore at Cadiz and stealing four Spanish guns. He then sailed to the +Canaries and to the coast of Guinea, plundering ships and stealing +negroes, and finally, in November 1682, arrived at the city of San +Domingo, where he tried to dispose of his black cargo. From San Domingo +he made for Petit Goave picked up 300 men, and sailed to join Laurens in +the Gulf of Honduras.[445] Laurens, too, had distinguished himself but a +short time before by capturing a Spanish ship bound from Havana for San +Domingo and Porto Rico with about 120,000 pieces of eight to pay off the +soldiers. The freebooters had shared 700 pieces of eight per man, and +carrying their prize to Petit Goave had compounded with the French +governor for a part of the booty.[446] + +The buccaneers assembled near Cape Catoche to the number of about 1000 +men, and sailed in the middle of May for Vera Cruz. Learning from some +prisoners that the Spaniards on shore were expecting two ships from +Caracas, they crowded the landing party of about 800 upon two of their +vessels, displayed the Spanish colours, and stood in for the city. The +unfortunate inhabitants mistook them for their own people, and even +lighted fires to pilot them in. The pirates landed at midnight on 17th +May about two miles from the town, and by daybreak had possession of the +city and its forts. They found the soldiers and sentinels asleep, and +"all the people in the houses as quiet and still as if in their graves." +For four days they held the place, plundering the churches, houses and +convents; and not finding enough plate and jewels to meet their +expectations, they threatened to burn the cathedral and all the +prisoners within it, unless a ransom was brought in from the surrounding +country. The governor, Don Luis de Cordova, was on the third day +discovered by an Englishman hidden in the hay in a stable, and was +ransomed for 70,000 pieces of eight. Meanwhile the Spanish Flota of +twelve or fourteen ships from Cadiz had for two days been lying outside +the harbour and within sight of the city; yet it did not venture to land +or to attack the empty buccaneer vessels. The proximity of such an +armament, however, made the freebooters uneasy, especially as the +Spanish viceroy was approaching with an army from the direction of +Mexico. On the fourth day, therefore, they sailed away in the very face +of the Flota to a neighbouring cay, where they divided the pillage into +a thousand or more shares of 800 pieces of eight each. Vanhorn alone is +said to have received thirty shares for himself and his two ships. He +and Laurens, who had never been on good terms, quarrelled and fought +over the division, and Vanhorn was wounded in the wrist. The wound +seemed very slight, however, and he proposed to return and attack the +Spanish fleet, offering to board the "Admiral" himself; but Laurens +refused, and the buccaneers sailed away, carrying with them over 1000 +slaves. The invaders, according to report, had lost but four men in the +action. About a fortnight later Vanhorn died of gangrene in his wound, +and de Grammont, who was then acting as his lieutenant, carried his ship +back to Petit Goave, where Laurens and most of the other captains had +already arrived.[447] + +The Mexican fleet, which returned to Cadiz on 18th December, was only +half its usual size because of the lack of a market after the visit of +the corsairs; and the Governor of Vera Cruz was sentenced to lose his +head for his remissness in defending the city.[448] The Spanish +ambassador in London, Ronquillo, requested Charles II. to command Sir +Thomas Lynch to co-operate with a commissioner whom the Spanish +Government was sending to the West Indies to inquire into this latest +outrage of the buccaneers, and such orders were dispatched to Lynch in +April 1684.[449] + +M. de Cussy, who had been appointed by the French King to succeed his +former colleague, de Pouançay, arrived at Petit Goave in April 1684, and +found the buccaneers on the point of open revolt because of the efforts +of de Franquesnay, the temporary governor, to enforce the strict orders +from France for their suppression.[450] De Cussy visited all parts of +the colony, and by tact, patience and politic concessions succeeded in +restoring order. He knew that in spite of the instructions from France, +so long as he was surrounded by jealous neighbours, and so long as the +peace in Europe remained precarious, the safety of French Hispaniola +depended on his retaining the presence and good-will of the sea-rovers; +and when de Grammont and several other captains demanded commissions +against the Spaniards, the governor finally consented on condition that +they persuade all the freebooters driven away by de Franquesnay to +return to the colony. Two commissioners, named Begon and St. Laurent, +arrived in August 1684 to aid him in reforming this dissolute society, +but they soon came to the same conclusions as the governor, and sent a +memoir to the French King advising less severe measures. The king did +not agree with their suggestion of compromise, and de Cussy, compelled +to deal harshly with the buccaneers, found his task by no means an easy +one.[451] Meanwhile, however, many of the freebooters, seeing the +determined attitude of the established authorities, decided to transfer +their activities to the Pacific coasts of America, where they would be +safe from interference on the part of the English or French Governments. +The expedition of Harris, Coxon, Sharp and their associates across the +isthmus in 1680 had kindled the imaginations of the buccaneers with the +possibilities of greater plunder and adventure in these more distant +regions. Other parties, both English and French, speedily followed in +their tracks, and after 1683 it became the prevailing practice for +buccaneers to make an excursion into the South Seas. The Darien Indians +and their fiercer neighbours, the natives of the Mosquito Coast, who +were usually at enmity with the Spaniards, allied themselves with the +freebooters, and the latter, in their painful marches through the dense +tropical wilderness of these regions, often owed it to the timely aid +and friendly offices of the natives that they finally succeeded in +reaching their goal. + +In the summer of 1685, a year after the arrival of de Cussy in +Hispaniola, de Grammont and Laurens de Graff united their forces again +at the Isle la Vache, and in spite of the efforts of the governor to +persuade them to renounce their project, sailed with 1100 men for the +coasts of Campeache. An attempt on Merida was frustrated by the +Spaniards, but Campeache itself was occupied after a feeble resistance, +and remained in possession of the French for six weeks. After reducing +the city to ashes and blowing up the fortress, the invaders retired to +Hispaniola.[452] According to Charlevoix, before the buccaneers sailed +away they celebrated the festival of St. Louis by a huge bonfire in +honour of the king, in which they burnt logwood to the value of 200,000 +crowns, representing the greater part of their booty. The Spaniards of +Hispaniola, who kept up a constant desultory warfare with their French +neighbours, were incited by the ravages of the buccaneers in the South +Seas, and by the sack of Vera Cruz and Campeache, to renewed +hostilities; and de Cussy, anxious to attach to himself so enterprising +and daring a leader as de Grammont, obtained for him, in September 1686, +the commission of "Lieutenant de Roi" of the coast of San Domingo. +Grammont, however, on learning of his new honour, wished to have a last +fling at the Spaniards before he settled down to respectability. He +armed a ship, sailed away with 180 men, and was never heard of +again.[453] At the same time Laurens de Graff was given the title of +"Major," and he lived to take an active part in the war against the +English between 1689 and 1697.[454] + +These semi-pirates, whom the French governor dared not openly support +yet feared to disavow, were a constant source of trouble to the Governor +of Jamaica. They did not scruple to attack English traders and fishing +sloops, and when pursued took refuge in Petit Goave, the port in the +_cul-de-sac_ at the west end of Hispaniola which had long been a +sanctuary of the freebooters, and which paid little respect to the +authority of the royal governor.[455] In Jamaica they believed that the +corsairs acted under regular commissions from the French authorities, +and Sir Thomas Lynch sent repeated complaints to de Pouançay and to his +successor. He also wrote to England begging the Council to ascertain +from the French ambassador whether these governors had authority to +issue commissions of war, so that his frigates might be able to +distinguish between the pirate and the lawful privateer.[456] Except at +Petit Goave, however, the French were really desirous of preserving +peace with Jamaica, and did what they could to satisfy the demands of +the English without unduly irritating the buccaneers. They were in the +same position as Lynch in 1671, who, while anxious to do justice to the +Spaniards, dared not immediately alienate the freebooters who plundered +them, and who might, if driven away, turn their arms against Jamaica. +Vanhorn himself, it seems, when he left Hispaniola to join Laurens in +the Gulf of Honduras, had been sent out by de Pouançay really to pursue +"La Trompeuse" and other pirates, and his lieutenant, de Grammont, +delivered letters to Governor Lynch to that effect; but once out of +sight he steered directly for Central America, where he anticipated a +more profitable game than pirate-hunting.[457] + +On the 24th of August 1684 Sir Thomas Lynch died in Jamaica, and Colonel +Hender Molesworth, by virtue of his commission as lieutenant-governor, +assumed the authority.[458] Sir Henry Morgan, who had remained +lieutenant-governor when Lynch returned to Jamaica, had afterwards been +suspended from the council and from all other public employments on +charges of drunkenness, disorder, and encouraging disloyalty to the +government. His brother-in-law, Byndloss, was dismissed for similar +reasons, and Roger Elletson, who belonged to the same faction, was +removed from his office as attorney-general of the island. Lynch had had +the support of both the assembly and the council, and his actions were +at once confirmed in England.[459] The governor, however, although he +had enjoyed the confidence of most of the inhabitants, who looked upon +him as the saviour of the island, left behind in the persons of Morgan, +Elletson and their roystering companions, a group of implacable enemies, +who did all in their power to vilify his memory to the authorities in +England. Several of these men, with Elletson at their head, accused the +dead governor of embezzling piratical goods which had been confiscated +to the use of the king; but when inquiry was made by Lieutenant-Governor +Molesworth, the charges fell to the ground. Elletson's information was +found to be second-hand and defective, and Lynch's name was more than +vindicated. Indeed, the governor at his death had so little ready means +that his widow was compelled to borrow £500 to pay for his funeral.[460] + +The last years of Sir Thomas Lynch's life had been troublous ones. Not +only had the peace of the island been disturbed by "La Trompeuse" and +other French corsairs which hovered about Hispaniola; not only had his +days been embittered by strife with a small, drunken, insolent faction +which tried to belittle his attempts to introduce order and sobriety +into the colony; but the hostility of the Spanish governors in the West +Indies still continued to neutralize his efforts to root out +buccaneering. Lynch had in reality been the best friend of the Spaniards +in America. He had strictly forbidden the cutting of logwood in +Campeache and Honduras, when the Spaniards were outraging and enslaving +every Englishman they found upon those coasts;[461] he had sent word to +the Spanish governors of the intended sack of Vera Cruz;[462] he had +protected Spanish merchant ships with his own men-of-war and hospitably +received them in Jamaican ports. Yet Spanish corsairs continued to rob +English vessels, and Spanish governors refused to surrender English +ships and goods which were carried into their ports.[463] On the plea of +punishing interlopers they armed small galleys and ordered them to take +all ships which had on board any products of the Indies.[464] Letters to +the governors at Havana and St. Jago de Cuba were of no avail. English +trade routes were interrupted and dangerous, the turtling, trading and +fishing sloops, which supplied a great part of the food of Jamaica, were +robbed and seized, and Lynch was compelled to construct a galley of +fifty oars for their protection.[465] Pirates, it is true, were +frequently brought into Port Royal by the small frigates employed by the +governor, and there were numerous executions;[466] yet the outlaws +seemed to increase daily. Some black vessel was generally found hovering +about the island ready to pick up any who wished to join it, and when +the runaways were prevented from returning by the statute against +piracy, they retired to the Carolinas or to New England to dispose of +their loot and refit their ships.[467] When such retreats were available +the laws against piracy did not reduce buccaneering so much as they +depopulated Jamaica of its white inhabitants. + +After 1680, indeed, the North American colonies became more and more the +resort of the pirates who were being driven from West Indian waters by +the stern measures of the English governors. Michel Landresson, _alias_ +Breha, who had accompanied Pain in his expedition against St. Augustine +in 1683, and who had been a constant source of worriment to the +Jamaicans because of his attacks on the fishing sloops, sailed to Boston +and disposed of his booty of gold, silver, jewels and cocoa to the godly +New England merchants, who were only too ready to take advantage of so +profitable a trade and gladly fitted him out for another cruise.[468] +Pain himself appeared in Rhode Island, displayed the old commission to +hunt for pirates given him by Sir Thomas Lynch, and was protected by the +governor against the deputy-collector of customs, who endeavoured to +seize him and his ship.[469] The chief resort of the pirates, however, +was the colony of Carolina. Indented by numerous harbours and inlets, +the shores of Carolina had always afforded a safe refuge for refitting +and repairing after a cruise, and from 1670 onwards, when the region +began to be settled by colonists from England, the pirates found in the +new communities a second Jamaica, where they could sell their cargoes +and often recruit their forces. In the latter part of 1683 Sir Thomas +Lynch complained to the Lords of the Committee for Trade and +Plantations;[470] and in February of the following year the king, at the +suggestion of the committee, ordered that a draft of the Jamaican law +against pirates be sent to all the plantations in America, to be passed +and enforced in each as a statute of the province.[471] On 12th March +1684 a general proclamation was issued by the king against pirates in +America, and a copy forwarded to all the colonial governors for +publication and execution.[472] Nevertheless in Massachusetts, in spite +of these measures and of a letter from the king warning the governors to +give no succour or aid to any of the outlaws, Michel had been received +with open arms, the proclamation of 12th March was torn down in the +streets, and the Jamaica Act, though passed, was never enforced.[473] In +the Carolinas, although the Lords Proprietors wrote urging the governors +to take every care that no pirates were entertained in the colony, the +Act was not passed until November 1685.[474] There were few, if any, +convictions, and the freebooters plied their trade with the same +security as before. Toward the end of 1686 three galleys from St. +Augustine landed about 150 men, Spaniards, Indians and mulattos, a few +leagues below Charleston, and laid waste several plantations, including +that of Governor Moreton. The enemy pushed on to Port Royal, completely +destroyed the Scotch colony there, and retired before a force could be +raised to oppose them. To avenge this inroad the inhabitants immediately +began preparations for a descent upon St. Augustine; and an expedition +consisting of two French privateering vessels and about 500 men was +organized and about to sail, when a new governor, James Colleton, +arrived and ordered it to disband.[475] Colleton was instructed to +arrest Governor Moreton on the charge of encouraging piracy, and to +punish those who entertained and abetted the freebooters;[476] and on +12th February 1687 he had a new and more explicit law to suppress the +evil enacted by the assembly.[477] On 22nd May of the same year James +II. renewed the proclamation for the suppression of pirates, and offered +pardon to all who surrendered within a limited time and gave security +for future good behaviour.[478] The situation was so serious, however, +that in August the king commissioned Sir Robert Holmes to proceed with a +squadron to the West Indies and make short work of the outlaws;[479] and +in October he issued a circular to all the governors in the colonies, +directing the most stringent enforcement of the laws, "a practice having +grown up of bringing pirates to trial before the evidence was ready, and +of using other evasions to insure their acquittal."[480] On the +following 20th January another proclamation was issued by James to +insure the co-operation of the governors with Sir Robert Holmes and his +agents.[481] The problem, however, was more difficult than the king had +anticipated. The presence of the fleet upon the coast stopped the evil +for a time, but a few years later, especially in the Carolinas under the +administration of Governor Ludwell (1691-1693), the pirates again +increased in numbers and in boldness, and Charleston was completely +overrun with the freebooters, who, with the connivance of the merchants +and a free display of gold, set the law at defiance. + +In Jamaica Lieutenant-Governor Molesworth continued in the policy and +spirit of his predecessor. He sent a frigate to the Bay of Darien to +visit Golden Isle and the Isle of Pines (where the buccaneers were +accustomed to make their rendezvous when they crossed over to the South +Seas), with orders to destroy any piratical craft in that vicinity, and +he made every exertion to prevent recruits from leaving Jamaica.[482] +The stragglers who returned from the South Seas he arrested and +executed, and he dealt severely with those who received and entertained +them.[483] By virtue of the king's proclamation of 1684, he had the +property in Port Royal belonging to men then in the South Seas forfeited +to the crown.[484] A Captain Bannister, who in June 1684 had run away +from Port Royal on a privateering venture with a ship of thirty guns, +had been caught and brought back by the frigate "Ruby," but when put on +trial for piracy was released by the grand jury on a technicality. Six +months later Bannister managed to elude the forts a second time, and for +two years kept dodging the frigates which Molesworth sent in pursuit of +him. Finally, in January 1687, Captain Spragge sailed into Port Royal +with the buccaneer and three of his companions hanging at the yard-arms, +"a spectacle of great satisfaction to all good people, and of terror to +the favourers of pirates."[485] It was during the government of +Molesworth that the "Biscayners" began to appear in American waters. +These privateers from the Bay of Biscay seem to have been taken into the +King of Spain's service to hunt pirates, but they interrupted English +trade more than the pirates did. They captured and plundered English +merchantmen right and left, and carried them to Cartagena, Vera Cruz, +San Domingo and other Spanish ports, where the governors took charge of +their prisoners and allowed them to dispose of their captured goods. +They held their commissions, it seems, directly from the Crown, and so +pretended to be outside the pale of the authority of the Spanish +governors. The latter, at any rate, declared that they could give no +redress, and themselves complained to the authorities in Jamaica of the +independence of these marauders.[486] In December 1688 the king issued a +warrant to the Governor of Jamaica authorizing him to suppress the +Biscayans with the royal frigates.[487] + +On 28th October 1685 the governorship of the island was assigned to Sir +Philip Howard,[488] but Howard died shortly after, and the Duke of +Albemarle was appointed in his stead.[489] Albemarle, who arrived at +Port Royal in December 1687,[490] completely reversed the policy of his +predecessors, Lynch and Molesworth. Even before he left England he had +undermined his health by his intemperate habits, and when he came to +Jamaica he leagued himself with the most unruly and debauched men in the +colony. He seems to have had no object but to increase his fortune at +the expense of the island. Before he sailed he had boldly petitioned for +powers to dispose of money without the advice and consent of his +council, and, if he saw fit, to reinstate into office Sir Henry Morgan +and Robert Byndloss. The king, however, decided that the suspension of +Morgan and Byndloss should remain until Albemarle had reported on their +case from Jamaica.[491] When the Duke entered upon his new government, +he immediately appointed Roger Elletson to be Chief Justice of the +island in the place of Samuel Bernard. Three assistant-judges of the +Supreme Court thereupon resigned their positions on the bench, and one +was, in revenge, dismissed by the governor from the council. Several +other councillors were also suspended, contrary to the governor's +instructions against arbitrary dismissal of such officers, and on 18th +January 1688 Sir Henry Morgan, upon the king's approval of the Duke's +recommendation, was re-admitted to the council-chamber.[492] The old +buccaneer, however, did not long enjoy his restored dignity. About a +month later he succumbed to a sharp illness, and on 26th August was +buried in St. Catherine's Church in Port Royal.[493] + +In November 1688 a petition was presented to the king by the planters +and merchants trading to Jamaica protesting against the new régime +introduced by Lord Albemarle:--"The once flourishing island of Jamaica +is likely to be utterly undone by the irregularities of some needy +persons lately set in power. Many of the most considerable inhabitants +are deserting it, others are under severe fines and imprisonments from +little or no cause.... The provost-marshal has been dismissed and an +indebted person put in his place; and all the most substantial officers, +civil and military, have been turned out and necessitous persons set up +in their room. The like has been done in the judicial offices, whereby +the benefit of appeals and prohibitions is rendered useless. Councillors +are suspended without royal order and without a hearing. Several persons +have been forced to give security not to leave the island lest they +should seek redress; others have been brought before the council for +trifling offences and innumerable fees taken from them; money has been +raised twenty per cent. over its value to defend creditors. Lastly, the +elections have been tampered with by the indebted provost-marshal, and +since the Duke of Albemarle's death are continued without your royal +authority."[494] The death of Albemarle, indeed, at this opportune time +was the greatest service he rendered to the colony. Molesworth was +immediately commanded to return to Jamaica and resume authority. The +duke's system was entirely reversed, and the government restored as it +had been under the administration of Sir Thomas Lynch. Elletson was +removed from the council and from his position as chief justice, and +Bernard returned in his former place. All of the rest of Albemarle's +creatures were dismissed from their posts, and the supporters of Lynch's +régime again put in control of a majority in the council.[495] This +measure of plain justice was one of the last acts of James II. as King +of England. On 5th November 1688 William of Orange landed in England at +Torbay, and on 22nd December James escaped to France to live as a +pensioner of Louis XIV. The new king almost immediately wrote to Jamaica +confirming the reappointment of Molesworth, and a commission to the +latter was issued on 25th July 1689.[496] Molesworth, unfortunately for +the colony, died within a few days,[497] and the Earl of Inchiquin was +appointed on 19th September to succeed him.[498] Sir Francis Watson, +President of the Council in Jamaica, obeyed the instructions of William +III., although he was a partizan of Albemarle; yet so high was the +feeling between the two factions that the greatest confusion reigned in +the government of the island until the arrival of Inchiquin in May +1690.[499] + +The Revolution of 1688, by placing William of Orange on the English +throne, added a powerful kingdom to the European coalition which in 1689 +attacked Louis XIV. over the question of the succession of the +Palatinate. That James II. should accept the hospitality of the French +monarch and use France as a basis for attack on England and Ireland was, +quite apart from William's sympathy with the Protestants on the +Continent, sufficient cause for hostilities against France. War broke +out in May 1689, and was soon reflected in the English and French +colonies in the West Indies. De Cussy, in Hispaniola, led an expedition +of 1000 men, many of them filibusters, against St. Jago de los +Cavalleros in the interior of the island, and took and burnt the town. +In revenge the Spaniards, supported by an English fleet which had just +driven the French from St. Kitts, appeared in January 1691 before Cap +François, defeated and killed de Cussy in an engagement near the town, +and burned and sacked the settlement. Three hundred French filibusters +were killed in the battle. The English fleet visited Leogane and Petit +Goave in the _cul-de-sac_ of Hispaniola, and then sailed to Jamaica. De +Cussy before his death had seized the opportunity to provide the +freebooters with new commissions for privateering, and English shipping +suffered severely.[500] Laurens with 200 men touched at Montego Bay on +the north coast in October, and threatened to return and plunder the +whole north side of the island. The people were so frightened that they +sent their wives and children to Port Royal; and the council armed +several vessels to go in pursuit of the Frenchmen.[501] It was a new +experience to feel the danger of invasion by a foreign foe. The +Jamaicans had an insight into the terror which their Spanish neighbours +felt for the buccaneers, whom the English islanders had always been so +ready to fit out, or to shield from the arm of the law. Laurens in the +meantime was as good as his word. He returned to Jamaica in the +beginning of December with several vessels, seized eight or ten English +trading sloops, landed on the north shore and plundered a +plantation.[502] War with France was formally proclaimed in Jamaica on +the 13th of January 1690.[503] + +Two years later, in January 1692, Lord Inchiquin also succumbed to +disease in Jamaica, and in the following June Colonel William Beeston +was chosen by the queen to act as lieutenant-governor.[504] Inchiquin +before he left England had solicited for the power to call in and pardon +pirates, so as to strengthen the island during the war by adding to its +forces men who would make good fighters on both land and sea. The +Committee on Trade and Plantations reported favourably on the proposal, +but the power seems never to have been granted.[505] In January 1692, +however, the President of the Council of Jamaica began to issue +commissions to privateers, and in a few months the surrounding seas were +full of armed Jamaican sloops.[506] On 7th June of the same year the +colony suffered a disaster which almost proved its destruction. A +terrible earthquake overwhelmed Port Royal and "in ten minutes threw +down all the churches, dwelling-houses and sugar-works in the island. +Two-thirds of Port Royal were swallowed up by the sea, all the forts and +fortifications demolished and great part of its inhabitants miserably +knocked on the head or drowned."[507] The French in Hispaniola took +advantage of the distress caused by the earthquake to invade the island, +and nearly every week hostile bands landed and plundered the coast of +negroes and other property.[508] In December 1693 a party of 170 swooped +down in the night upon St. Davids, only seven leagues from Port Royal, +plundered the whole parish, and got away again with 370 slaves.[509] In +the following April Ducasse, the new French governor of Hispaniola, sent +400 buccaneers in six small vessels to repeat the exploit, but the +marauders met an English man-of-war guarding the coast, and concluding +"that they would only get broken bones and spoil their men for any other +design," they retired whence they had come.[510] Two months later, +however, a much more serious incursion was made. An expedition of +twenty-two vessels and 1500 men, recruited in France and instigated, it +is said, by Irish and Jacobite refugees, set sail under Ducasse on 8th +June with the intention of conquering the whole of Jamaica. The French +landed at Point Morant and Cow Bay, and for a month cruelly desolated +the whole south-eastern portion of the island. Then coasting along the +southern shore they made a feint on Port Royal, and landed in Carlisle +Bay to the west of the capital. After driving from their breastworks the +English force of 250 men, they again fell to ravaging and burning, but +finding they could make no headway against the Jamaican militia, who +were now increased to 700 men, in the latter part of July they set sail +with their plunder for Hispaniola.[511] Jamaica had been denuded of men +by the earthquake and by sickness, and Lieutenant-Governor Beeston had +wisely abandoned the forts in the east of the island and concentrated +all his strength at Port Royal.[512] It was this expedient which +doubtless saved the island from capture, for Ducasse feared to attack +the united Jamaican forces behind strong intrenchments. The harm done to +Jamaica by the invasion, however, was very great. The French wholly +destroyed fifty sugar works and many plantations, burnt and plundered +about 200 houses, and killed every living thing they found. Thirteen +hundred negroes were carried off besides other spoil. In fighting the +Jamaicans lost about 100 killed and wounded, but the loss of the French +seems to have been several times that number. After the French returned +home Ducasse reserved all the negroes for himself, and many of the +freebooters who had taken part in the expedition, exasperated by such a +division of the spoil, deserted the governor and resorted to +buccaneering on their own account.[513] + +Colonel, now become Sir William, Beeston, from his first arrival in +Jamaica as lieutenant-governor, had fixed his hopes upon a joint +expedition with the Spaniards against the French at Petit Goave; but the +inertia of the Spaniards, and the loss of men and money caused by the +earthquake, had prevented his plans from being realized.[514] In the +early part of 1695, however, an army of 1700 soldiers on a fleet of +twenty-three ships sailed from England under command of Commodore Wilmot +for the West Indies. Uniting with 1500 Spaniards from San Domingo and +the Barlovento fleet of three sail, they captured and sacked Cap +François and Port de Paix in the French end of the island. It had been +the intention of the allies to proceed to the _cul-de-sac_ and destroy +Petit Goave and Leogane, but they had lost many men by sickness and bad +management, and the Spaniards, satisfied with the booty already +obtained, were anxious to return home. So the English fleet sailed away +to Port Royal.[515] These hostilities so exhausted both the French in +Hispaniola and the English in Jamaica that for a time the combatants lay +back to recover their strength. + +The last great expedition of this war in the West Indies serves as a +fitting close to the history of the buccaneers. On 26th September 1696 +Ducasse received from the French Minister of Marine, Pontchartrain, a +letter informing him that the king had agreed to the project of a large +armament which the Sieur de Pointis, aided by private capital, was +preparing for an enterprise in the Mexican Gulf.[516] Ducasse, although +six years earlier he had written home urging just such an enterprise +against Vera Cruz or Cartagena, now expressed his strong disapproval of +the project, and dwelt rather on the advantages to be gained by the +capture of Spanish Hispaniola, a conquest which would give the French +the key to the Indies. A second letter from Pontchartrain in January +1697, however, ordered him to aid de Pointis by uniting all the +freebooters and keeping them in the colony till 15th February. It was a +difficult task to maintain the buccaneers in idleness for two months and +prohibit all cruising, especially as de Pointis, who sailed from Brest +in the beginning of January, did not reach Petit Goave till about 1st +March.[517] The buccaneers murmured and threatened to disband, and it +required all the personal ascendancy of Ducasse to hold them together. +The Sieur de Pointis, although a man of experience and resource, capable +of forming a large design and sparing nothing to its success, suffered +from two very common faults--vanity and avarice. He sometimes allowed +the sense of his own merits to blind him to the merits of others, and +considerations of self-interest to dim the brilliance of his +achievements. Of Ducasse he was insanely jealous, and during the whole +expedition he tried in every way to humiliate him. Unable to bring +himself to conciliate the unruly spirit of the buccaneers, he told them +plainly that he would lead them not as a companion in fortune but as a +military superior, and that they must submit themselves to the same +rules as the men on the king's ships. The freebooters rebelled under the +haughtiness of their commander, and only Ducasse's influence was able to +bring them to obedience.[518] On 18th March the ships were all gathered +at the rendezvous at Cape Tiburon, and on the 13th of the following +month anchored two leagues to the east of Cartagena.[519] De Pointis had +under his command about 4000 men, half of them seamen, the rest +soldiers. The reinforcements he had received from Ducasse numbered 1100, +and of these 650 were buccaneers commanded by Ducasse himself. He had +nine frigates, besides seven vessels belonging to the buccaneers, and +numerous smaller boats.[520] The appearance of so formidable an armament +in the West Indies caused a great deal of concern both in England and in +Jamaica. Martial law was proclaimed in the colony and every means taken +to put Port Royal in a state of defence.[521] Governor Beeston, at the +first news of de Pointis' fleet, sent advice to the governors of Porto +Bello and Havana, against whom he suspected that the expedition was +intended.[522] A squadron of thirteen vessels was sent out from England +under command of Admiral Nevill to protect the British islands and the +Spanish treasure fleets, for both the galleons and the Flota were then +in the Indies.[523] Nevill touched at Barbadoes on 17th April,[524] and +then sailed up through the Leeward Islands towards Hispaniola in search +of de Pointis. The Frenchman, however, had eluded him and was already +before Cartagena. + +Cartagena, situated at the eastward end of a large double lagoon, was +perhaps the strongest fortress in the Indies, and the Spaniards within +opposed a courageous defence.[525] After a fortnight of fighting and +bombardment, however, on the last day of April the outworks were carried +by a brilliant assault, and on 6th May the small Spanish garrison, +followed by the _Cabildo_ or municipal corporation, and by many of the +citizens of the town, in all about 2800 persons, marched out with the +honours of war. Although the Spaniards had been warned of the coming of +the French, and before their arrival had succeeded in withdrawing the +women and some of their riches to Mompos in the interior, the treasure +which fell into the hands of the invaders was enormous, and has been +variously estimated at from six million crowns to twenty millions +sterling. Trouble soon broke out between de Pointis and the buccaneers, +for the latter wanted the whole of the plunder to be divided equally +among the men, as had always been their custom, and they expected, +according to this arrangement, says de Pointis in his narrative, about a +quarter of all the booty. De Pointis, however, insisted upon the order +which he had published before the expedition sailed from Petit Goave, +that the buccaneers should be subject to the same rule in the division +of the spoil as the sailors in the fleet, i.e., they should receive +one-tenth of the first million and one-thirtieth of the rest. Moreover, +fearing that the buccaneers would take matters into their own hands, he +had excluded them from the city while his officers gathered the plunder +and carried it to the ships. On the repeated remonstrances of Ducasse, +de Pointis finally announced that the share allotted to the men from +Hispaniola was 40,000 crowns. The buccaneers, finding themselves so +miserably cheated, broke out into open mutiny, but were restrained by +the influence of their leader and the presence of the king's frigates. +De Pointis, meanwhile, seeing his own men decimated by sickness, put all +the captured guns on board the fleet and made haste to get under sail +for France. South of Jamaica he fell in with the squadron of Admiral +Nevill, to which in the meantime had been joined some eight Dutch +men-of-war; but de Pointis, although inferior in numbers, outsailed the +English ships and lost but one or two of his smaller vessels. He then +man[oe]uvred past Cape S. Antonio, round the north of Cuba and through +the Bahama Channel to Newfoundland, where he stopped for fresh wood and +water, and after a brush with a small English squadron under Commodore +Norris, sailed into the harbour of Brest on 19th August 1697.[526] + +The buccaneers, even before de Pointis sailed for France, had turned +their ships back toward Cartagena to reimburse themselves by again +plundering the city. De Pointis, indeed, was then very ill, and his +officers were in no condition to oppose them. After the fleet had +departed the freebooters re-entered Cartagena, and for four days put it +to the sack, extorting from the unfortunate citizens, and from the +churches and monasteries, several million more in gold and silver. +Embarking for the Isle la Vache, they had covered but thirty leagues +when they met with the same allied fleet which had pursued de Pointis. +Of the nine buccaneer vessels, the two which carried most of the booty +were captured, two more were driven ashore, and the rest succeeded in +escaping to Hispaniola. Ducasse, who had returned to Petit Goave when de +Pointis sailed for France, sent one of his lieutenants on a mission to +the French Court to complain of the ill-treatment he had received from +de Pointis, and to demand his own recall; but the king pacified him by +making him a Chevalier of St. Louis, and allotting 1,400,000 francs to +the French colonists who had aided in the expedition. The money, +however, was slow in reaching the hands of those to whom it was due, and +much was lost through the malversations of the men charged with its +distribution.[527] + + * * * * * + +With the capture of Cartagena in 1697 the history of the buccaneers may +be said to end. More and more during the previous twenty years they had +degenerated into mere pirates, or had left their libertine life for more +civilised pursuits. Since 1671 the English government had been +consistent in its policy of suppressing the freebooters, and with few +exceptions the governors sent to Jamaica had done their best to uphold +and enforce the will of the councils at home. Ten years or more had to +elapse before the French Court saw the situation in a similar light, and +even then the exigencies of war and defence in French Hispaniola +prevented the governors from taking any effective measures toward +suppression. The problem, indeed, had not been an easy one. The +buccaneers, whatever their origin, were intrepid men, not without a +sense of honour among themselves, wedded to a life of constant danger +which they met and overcame with surprising hardiness. When an +expedition was projected against their traditional foes, the Spaniards, +they calculated the chances of profit, and taking little account of the +perils to be run, or indeed of the flag under which they sailed, +English, French and Dutch alike became brothers under a chief whose +courage they perfectly recognised and whom they servilely obeyed. They +lived at a time when they were in no danger of being overhauled by +ubiquitous cruisers with rifled guns, and so long as they confined +themselves to His Catholic Majesty's ships and settlements, they had +trusted in the immunity arising from the traditional hostility existing +between the English and the Spaniards of that era. And for the Spaniards +the record of the buccaneers had been a terrible one. Between the years +1655 and 1671 alone, the corsairs had sacked eighteen cities, four towns +and more than thirty-five villages--Cumana once, Cumanagote twice, +Maracaibo and Gibraltar twice, Rio de la Hacha five times, Santa Marta +three times, Tolu eight times, Porto Bello once, Chagre twice, Panama +once, Santa Catalina twice, Granada in Nicaragua twice, Campeache three +times, St. Jago de Cuba once, and other towns and villages in Cuba and +Hispaniola for thirty leagues inland innumerable times. And this fearful +tale of robbery and outrage does not embrace the various expeditions +against Porto Bello, Campeache, Cartagena and other Spanish ports made +after 1670. The Marquis de Barinas in 1685 estimated the losses of the +Spaniards at the hands of the buccaneers since the accession of Charles +II. to be sixty million crowns; and these figures covered merely the +destruction of towns and treasure, without including the loss of more +than 250 merchant ships and frigates.[528] If the losses and suffering +of the Spaniards had been terrible, the advantages accruing to the +invaders, or to the colonies which received and supported them, scarcely +compensated for the effort it cost them. Buccaneering had denuded +Jamaica of its bravest men, lowered the moral tone of the island, and +retarded the development of its natural resources. It was estimated that +there were lost to the island between 1668 and 1671, in the designs +against Tobago, Curaçao, Porto Bello, Granada and Panama, about 2600 +men,[529] which was a large number for a new and very weak colony +surrounded by powerful foes. Says the same writer later on: "People have +not married, built or settled as they would in time of peace--some for +fear of being destroyed, others have got much suddenly by privateers +bargains and are gone. War carries away all freemen, labourers and +planters of provisions, which makes work and victuals dear and scarce. +Privateering encourages all manner of disorder and dissoluteness; and if +it succeed, does but enrich the worst sort of people and provoke and +alarm the Spaniards."[530] + +The privateers, moreover, really injured English trade as much as they +injured Spanish navigation; and if the English in the second half of the +seventeenth century had given the Spaniards as little cause for enmity +in the West Indies as the Dutch had done, they perhaps rather than the +Dutch would have been the convoys and sharers in the rich Flotas. The +Spaniards, moreover, if not in the court at home, at least in the +colonies, would have readily lent themselves to a trade, illicit though +it be, with the English islands, a trade, moreover, which it was the +constant aim of English diplomacy to encourage and maintain, had they +been able to assure themselves that their English neighbours were their +friends. But when outrage succeeded upon outrage, and the English +Governors seemed, in spite of their protestations of innocence, to make +no progress toward stopping them, the Spaniards naturally concluded that +the English government was the best of liars and the worst of friends. +From another point of view, too, the activity of the buccaneers was +directly opposed to the commercial interests of Great Britain. Of all +the nations of Europe the Spaniards were those who profited least from +their American possessions. It was the English, the French and the Dutch +who carried their merchandize to Cadiz and freighted the +Spanish-American fleets, and who at the return of these fleets from +Porto Bello and Vera Cruz appropriated the greater part of the gold, +silver and precious stuffs which composed their cargoes. And when the +buccaneers cut off a Spanish galleon, or wrecked the Spanish cities on +the Main, it was not so much the Spaniards who suffered as the foreign +merchants interested in the trade between Spain and her colonies. If the +policy of the English and French Governments toward the buccaneers +gradually changed from one of connivance or encouragement to one of +hostility and suppression, it was because they came to realise that it +was easier and more profitable to absorb the trade and riches of Spanish +America through the peaceful agencies of treaty and concession, than by +endeavouring to enforce a trade in the old-fashioned way inaugurated by +Drake and his Elizabethan contemporaries. + +The pirate successors of the buccaneers were distinguished from their +predecessors mainly by the fact that they preyed on the commerce of all +flags indiscriminately, and were outlawed and hunted down by all nations +alike. They, moreover, widely extended their field of operations. No +longer content with the West Indies and the shores of the Caribbean Sea, +they sailed east to the coast of Guinea and around Africa to the Indian +Ocean. They haunted the shores of Madagascar, the Red Sea and the +Persian Gulf, and ventured even as far as the Malabar Coast, +intercepting the rich trade with the East, the great ships from Bengal +and the Islands of Spice. And not only did the outlaws of all nations +from America and the West Indies flock to these regions, but sailors +from England were fired by reports of the rich spoils obtained to +imitate their example. One of the most remarkable instances was that of +Captain Henry Avery, _alias_ Bridgman. In May 1694 Avery was on an +English merchantman, the "Charles II.," lying near Corunna. He persuaded +the crew to mutiny, set the captain on shore, re-christened the ship the +"Fancy," and sailed to the East Indies. Among other prizes he captured, +in September 1695, a large vessel called the "Gunsway," belonging to the +Great Mogul--an exploit which led to reprisals and the seizure of the +English factories in India. On application of the East India Company, +proclamations were issued on 17th July, 10th and 21st August 1696, by +the Lords Justices of England, declaring Avery and his crew pirates and +offering a reward for their apprehension.[531] Five of the crew were +seized on their return to England in the autumn of the same year, were +tried at the Old Bailey and hanged, and several of their companions were +arrested later.[532] + +In the North American colonies these new pirates still continued to find +encouragement and protection. Carolina had long had an evil reputation +as a hot-bed of piracy, and deservedly so. The proprietors had removed +one governor after another for harbouring the freebooters, but with +little result. In the Bahamas, which belonged to the same proprietors, +the evil was even more flagrant. Governor Markham of the Quaker colony +of Pennsylvania allowed the pirates to dispose of their goods and to +refit upon the banks of the Delaware, and William Penn, the proprietor, +showed little disposition to reprimand or remove him. Governor Fletcher +of New York was in open alliance with the outlaws, accepted their gifts +and allowed them to parade the streets in broad daylight. The merchants +of New York, as well as those of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, who +were prevented by the Navigation Laws from engaging in legitimate trade +with other nations, welcomed the appearance of the pirate ships laden +with goods from the East, provided a ready market for their cargoes, and +encouraged them to repeat their voyages. + +In 1699 an Act was passed through Parliament of such severity as to +drive many of the outlaws from American waters. It was largely a revival +of the Act of 28, Henry VIII., was in force for seven years, and was +twice renewed. The war of the Spanish Succession, moreover, gave many +men of piratical inclinations an opportunity of sailing under lawful +commissions as privateers against the French and Spaniards. In this long +war, too, the French filibusters were especially numerous and active. In +1706 there were 1200 or 1300 who made their headquarters in Martinique +alone.[533] While keeping the French islands supplied with provisions +and merchandise captured in their prizes, they were a serious +discouragement to English commerce in those regions, especially to the +trade with the North American colonies. Occasionally they threatened the +coasts of Virginia and New England, and some combined with their West +Indian cruises a foray along the coasts of Guinea and into the Red Sea. +These corsairs were not all commissioned privateers, however, for some +of them seized French shipping with as little compunction as English or +Dutch. Especially after the Treaty of Utrecht there was a recrudescence +of piracy both in the West Indies and in the East, and it was ten years +or more thereafter before the freebooters were finally suppressed. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 424: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 501, 552. _Cf._ also Nos. +197, 227.] + +[Footnote 425: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 364-366, 431, 668.] + +[Footnote 426: Ibid., Nos. 476, 609, 668. Paine was sent from Jamaica +under arrest to Governor de Cussy in 1684, and thence was shipped on a +frigate to France. (Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 334.)] + +[Footnote 427: Ibid., Nos. 668, 769, 963.] + +[Footnote 428: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 769, 963, 993.] + +[Footnote 429: Ibid., Nos. 1065, 1313.] + +[Footnote 430: Ibid., No. 1313.] + +[Footnote 431: Ibid., Nos. 1190, 1216.] + +[Footnote 432: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1173.] + +[Footnote 433: Ibid., Nos. 1168, 1190, 1223, 1344; _cf._ also Nos. 1381, +1464, 1803. + +In June 1684 we learn that "Hamlin, captain of La Trompeuse, got into a +ship of thirty-six guns on the coast of the Main last month, with sixty +of his old crew and as many new men. They call themselves pirates, and +their ship La Nouvelle Trompeuse, and talk of their old station at Isle +de Vaches." (Ibid., No. 1759.)] + +[Footnote 434: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 777, 1188, 1189, 1223, 1376, +1471-1474, 1504, 1535, 1537, 1731.] + +[Footnote 435: Ibid., Nos. 1222, 1223, 1676, 1678, 1686, 1909; _cf._ +also Nos. 1382, 1547, 1665.] + +[Footnote 436: Ibid., Nos. 552, 599, 668, 712. + +Coxon continued to vacillate between submission to the Governor of +Jamaica and open rebellion. In October 1682 he was sent by Sir Thos. +Lynch with three vessels to the Gulf of Honduras to fetch away the +English logwood-cutters. "His men plotted to take the ship and go +privateering, but he valiently resisted, killed one or two with his own +hand, forced eleven overboard, and brought three here (Port Royal) who +were condemned last Friday." (Ibid., No. 769. Letter of Sir Thos. Lynch, +6th Nov. 1682.) A year later, in November 1683, he had again reverted to +piracy (_ibid._, No. 1348), but in January 1686 surrendered to +Lieut.-Governor Molesworth and was ordered to be arrested and tried at +St. Jago de la Vega (_ibid._, 1685-88, No. 548). He probably in the +meantime succeeded in escaping from the island, for in the following +November he was reported to be cutting logwood in the Gulf of Campeache, +and Molesworth was issuing a proclamation declaring him an outlaw +(_ibid._, No. 965). He remained abroad until September 1688 when he +again surrendered to the Governor of Jamaica (_ibid._, No. 1890), and +again by some hook or crook obtained his freedom.] + +[Footnote 437: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 660, 673.] + +[Footnote 438: Ibid., Nos. 627, 769.] + +[Footnote 439: He is not to be confused with the Peter Paine who brought +"La Trompeuse" to Port Royal. Thomas Pain, a few months before he +arrived in the Bahamas, had come in and submitted to Sir Thomas Lynch, +and had been sent out again by the governor to cruise after pirates. +(C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 769, 1707.)] + +[Footnote 440: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1509, 1540, 1590, 1924, +1926.] + +[Footnote 441: Ibid., Nos. 1927, 1938.] + +[Footnote 442: Ibid., Nos. 1540, 1833.] + +[Footnote 443: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. p. 130. In 1684 there +were between 2000 and 3000 filibusters who made their headquarters in +French Hispaniola. They had seventeen vessels at sea with batteries +ranging from four to fifty guns. (C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 668; Bibl. +Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 336.)] + +[Footnote 444: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. pp. 128-30.] + +[Footnote 445: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 963, 998, 1065.] + +[Footnote 446: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 709, 712.] + +[Footnote 447: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1163; Charlevoix, liv. viii. +p. 133; Narrative contained in "The Voyages and Adventures of Captain +Barth, Sharpe and others in the South Sea." Lon. 1684. + +Governor Lynch wrote in July 1683: "All the governors in America have +known of this very design for four or five months." Duro, quoting from a +Spanish MS. in the Coleccion Navarrete, t. x. No. 33, says that the +booty at Vera Cruz amounted to more than three million reales de plata +in jewels and merchandise, for which the invaders demanded a ransom of +150,000 pieces of eight. They also carried away, according to the +account, 1300 slaves. (_Op. cit._, v. p. 271.) A real de plata was +one-eighth of a peso or piece of eight.] + +[Footnote 448: S.P. Spain, vol. 69, f. 339.] + +[Footnote 449: Ibid., vol. 70, f. 57; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1633.] + +[Footnote 450: During de Franquesnay's short tenure of authority, +Laurens, driven from Hispaniola by the stern measures of the governor +against privateers, made it understood that he desired to enter the +service of the Governor of Jamaica. The Privy Council empowered Lynch to +treat with him, offering pardon and permission to settle on the island +on giving security for his future good behaviour. But de Cussy arrived +in the meantime, reversed the policy of de Franquesnay, received Laurens +with all the honour due to a military hero, and endeavoured to engage +him in the services of the government (Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. +viii. pp. 141, 202; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1210, 1249, 1424, 1461, +1649, 1718 and 1839).] + +[Footnote 451: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. pp. 139-145; C.S.P. +Colon., 1685-88, No. 378.] + +[Footnote 452: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. ix. pp. 197-99; Duro., _op. +cit._, v. pp. 273-74; C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 193, 339, 378, 778.] + +[Footnote 453: According to Charlevoix, de Grammont was a native of +Paris, entered the Royal Marine, and distinguished himself in several +naval engagements. Finally he appeared in the West Indies as the +commander of a frigate armed for privateering, and captured near +Martinique a Dutch vessel worth 400,000 livres. He carried his prize to +Hispaniola, where he lost at the gaming table and consumed in debauchery +the whole value of his capture; and not daring to return to France he +joined the buccaneers.] + +[Footnote 454: "Laurens-Cornille Baldran, sieur de Graff, lieutenant du +roi en l'isle de Saint Domingue, capitaine de frégate légère, chevalier +de Saint Louis"--so he was styled after entering the service of the +French king (Vaissière, _op cit._, p. 70, note). According to Charlevoix +he was a native of Holland, became a gunner in the Spanish navy, and for +his skill and bravery was advanced to the post of commander of a vessel. +He was sent to American waters, captured by the buccaneers, and joined +their ranks. Such was the terror inspired by his name throughout all the +Spanish coasts that in the public prayers in the churches Heaven was +invoked to shield the inhabitants from his fury. Divorced from his first +wife, whom he had married at Teneriffe in 1674, he was married again in +March 1693 to a Norman or Breton woman named Marie-Anne Dieu-le-veult, +the widow of one of the first inhabitants of Tortuga (_ibid._). The +story goes that Marie-Anne, thinking one day that she had been +grievously insulted by Laurens, went in search of the buccaneer, pistol +in hand, to demand an apology for the outrage. De Graff, judging this +Amazon to be worthy of him, turned about and married her (Ducéré, _op. +cit._, p. 113, note). In October 1698 Laurens de Graff, in company with +Iberville, sailed from Rochefort with two ships, and in Mobile and at +the mouths of the Mississippi laid the foundations of Louisiana (Duro, +_op. cit._, v. p. 306). De Graff died in May 1704. _Cf._ also Bibl. +Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325 f. 311.] + +[Footnote 455: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1958, 1962, 1964, 1991, +2000. + +Dampier writes (1685) that "it hath been usual for many years past for +the Governor of Petit Guaves to send blank Commissions to Sea by many of +his Captains, with orders to dispose of them to whom they saw +convenient.... I never read any of these French Commissions ... but I +have learnt since that the Tenor of them is to give a Liberty to Fish, +Fowl and Hunt. The Occasion of this is, that ... in time of Peace these +Commissions are given as a Warrant to those of each side (i.e., French +and Spanish in Hispaniola) to protect them from the adverse Party: But +in effect the French do not restrain them to Hispaniola, but make them a +pretence for a general ravage in any part of America, by Sea or +Land."--Edition 1906, I. pp. 212-13.] + +[Footnote 456: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 668, 769, 942, 948, 1281, +1562, 1759; _ibid._, 1685-88, No. 558. + +In a memoir of MM. de St. Laurent and Begon to the French King in +February 1684, they report that in the previous year some French +filibusters discovered in a patache captured from the Spaniards a letter +from the Governor of Jamaica exhorting the Spaniards to make war on the +French in Hispaniola, and promising them vessels and other means for +entirely destroying the colony. This letter caused a furious outburst of +resentment among the French settlers against the English (_cf._ also +C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1348). Shortly after, according to the +memoir, an English ship of 30 guns appeared for several days cruising in +the channel between Tortuga and Port de Paix. The sieur de Franquesnay, +on sending to ask for an explanation of this conduct, received a curt +reply to the effect that the sea was free to everyone. The French +governor thereupon sent a barque with 30 filibusters to attack the +Englishman, but the filibusters returned well beaten. In despair de +Franquesnay asked Captain de Grammont, who had just returned from a +cruise in a ship of 50 guns, to go out against the intruder. With 300 of +the corsairs at his back de Grammont attacked the English frigate. The +reception accorded by the latter was as vigorous as before, but the +result was different, for de Grammont at once grappled with his +antagonist, boarded her and put all the English except the captain to +the sword.--Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325 f. 332. + +No reference to this incident is found in the English colonial records.] + +[Footnote 457: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 963.] + +[Footnote 458: Ibid., Nos. 1844, 1852.] + +[Footnote 459: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1246, 1249, 1250, 1294, +1295, 1302, 1311, 1348, 1489, 1502, 1503, 1510, 1562, 1563, 1565.] + +[Footnote 460: Ibid., No. 1938; _ibid._, 1685-88, Nos. 33, 53, 57, 68, +128, 129, 157.] + +[Footnote 461: Ibid., 1681-85, Nos. 668, 769; _ibid._, 1685-88, No. +986.] + +[Footnote 462: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1163, 1198; Bibl. Nat., +Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 332.] + +[Footnote 463: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1796, 1854, 1855, 1943; +_ibid._, 1685-88, Nos. 218, 269, 569, 591, 609, 706, 739.] + +[Footnote 464: Ibid., 1681-85, Nos. 1163, 1198, 1249, 1630.] + +[Footnote 465: Ibid., Nos. 963, 992, 1938, 1949, 2025, 2067.] + +[Footnote 466: Ibid., Nos. 963, 992, 1759.] + +[Footnote 467: Ibid., Nos. 1259, 1563.] + +[Footnote 468: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1845, 1851, 1862, 2042. + +His ship is called in these letters "La Trompeuse." Unless this is a +confusion with Hamlin's vessel, there must have been more than one "La +Trompeuse" in the West Indies. Very likely the fame or ill-fame of the +original "La Trompeuse" led other pirate captains to flatter themselves +by adopting the same name. Breha was captured in 1686 by the Armada de +Barlovento and hung with nine or ten of his companions (Charlevoix, _op. +cit._, liv. ix. p. 207).] + +[Footnote 469: Ibid., Nos. 1299, 1862.] + +[Footnote 470: Ibid., No. 1249.] + +[Footnote 471: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1560, 1561.] + +[Footnote 472: Ibid., Nos. 1605, 1862.] + +[Footnote 473: Ibid., Nos. 1634, 1845, 1851, 1862.] + +[Footnote 474: Ibid., 1685-88, Nos. 363, 364, 639, 1164.] + +[Footnote 475: Ibid., Nos. 1029, 1161; Hughson: Carolina Pirates, p. +24.] + +[Footnote 476: Ibid., 1681-85, No. 1165.] + +[Footnote 477: Hughson, _op. cit._, p. 22.] + +[Footnote 478: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1277, 1278.] + +[Footnote 479: Ibid., No. 1411.] + +[Footnote 480: Ibid., No. 1463.] + +[Footnote 481: Ibid., No. 1602; _cf._ also _ibid._, 1693-96, No. 2243.] + +[Footnote 482: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 116, 269, 805.] + +[Footnote 483: Ibid., Nos. 1066, 1212.] + +[Footnote 484: Ibid., Nos. 965, 1066, 1128.] + +[Footnote 485: Ibid., 1681-85, Nos. 1759, 1852, 2067; _ibid._, 1685-88, +No. 1127 and _cf._ Index. + +For the careers of John Williams (_alias_ Yankey) and Jacob Everson +(_alias_ Jacobs) during these years _cf._ C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. +259, 348, 897, 1449, 1476-7, 1624, 1705, 1877; Hist. MSS. Comm., xi. pt. +5, p. 136 (Earl of Dartmouth's MSS.).] + +[Footnote 486: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1406, 1656, 1670, 1705, +1723, 1733; _ibid._, 1689-92, Nos. 52, 515; Hist. MSS. Commiss., xi. pt. +5, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 487: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, No. 1959.] + +[Footnote 488: Ibid., No. 433.] + +[Footnote 489: Ibid., Nos. 706, 1026.] + +[Footnote 490: Ibid., No. 1567.] + +[Footnote 491: Ibid., Nos. 758, 920, 927, 930, 1001, 1187, 1210.] + +[Footnote 492: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1567, 1646, 1655, 1656, +1659, 1663, 1721, 1838, 1858.] + +[Footnote 493: Dict. of Nat. Biog.] + +[Footnote 494: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, No. 1941; _cf._ also 1906.] + +[Footnote 495: Ibid., No. 1940.] + +[Footnote 496: Ibid., 1689-92, Nos. 6, 29, 292.] + +[Footnote 497: Ibid., No. 299.] + +[Footnote 498: Ibid., No. 493.] + +[Footnote 499: Ibid., Nos. 7, 50, 52, 54, 85, 120, 176-178, 293, +296-299, 514, 515, 874, 880, 980, 1041.] + +[Footnote 500: C.S.P. Colon., 1689-92, Nos. 293, 467; Ibid., 1693-96, +Nos. 1931, vii., 1934.] + +[Footnote 501: Ibid., 1689-92, Nos. 515, 616, 635, 769.] + +[Footnote 502: C.S.P. Colon., 1689-92, Nos. 873, 980, 1021, 1041.] + +[Footnote 503: Ibid., No. 714.] + +[Footnote 504: Ibid., Nos. 2034, 2043, 2269, 2496, 2498, 2641, 2643.] + +[Footnote 505: Ibid., Nos. 72-76, 2034.] + +[Footnote 506: Ibid., Nos. 2034, 2044, 2047, 2052, 2103.] + +[Footnote 507: Ibid., Nos. 2278, 2398, 2416, 2500.] + +[Footnote 508: Ibid., 1693-96, Nos. 634, 635, 1009, 1236.] + +[Footnote 509: C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 778, 876; Archives +Coloniales, Corresp. Gen. de St. Dom. III. Letter of Ducasse, 30 March +1694.] + +[Footnote 510: C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 1109, 1236 (i.).] + +[Footnote 511: Ibid., Nos. 1074, 1083, 1106, 1109, 1114, 1121, 1131, +1194, 1236; Charlevoix, I. x. p. 256 _ff._; Stowe MSS., 305 f., 205 b; +Ducéré: Les corsaires sous l'ancien regime, p. 142.] + +[Footnote 512: The number of white men on the island at this time was +variously estimated from 2000 to 2400 men. (C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. +1109 and 1258.)] + +[Footnote 513: C.S.P. Colon, 1693-96, No. 1516.] + +[Footnote 514: Ibid., Nos. 207, 876, 1004.] + +[Footnote 515: C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 1946, 1973, 1974, 1980, +1983, 2022. According to Charlevoix, it was the dalliance and cowardice +of Laurens de Graff, who was in command at Cap François, and feared +falling into the hands of his old enemies the English and Spaniards, +which had much to do with the success of the invasion. After the +departure of the allies Laurens was deprived of his post and made +captain of a light corvette. (Charlevoix, I. x. p. 266 _ff._)] + +[Footnote 516: Ducéré, _op. cit._ p. 148.] + +[Footnote 517: Narrative of de Pointis.] + +[Footnote 518: Narrative of de Pointis; C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, No. +824.] + +[Footnote 519: Narrative of de Pointis; C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, No. +868.] + +[Footnote 520: Narrative of de Pointis.] + +[Footnote 521: C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, Nos. 373-376, 413, 661, 769.] + +[Footnote 522: Ibid., Nos. 715, 868.] + +[Footnote 523: C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, Nos. 375, 453.] + +[Footnote 524: Ibid., 944. 978.] + +[Footnote 525: The mouth of the harbour, called Boca Chica, was defended +by a fort with 4 bastions and 33 guns; but the guns were badly mounted +on flimsy carriages of cedar, and were manned by only 15 soldiers. +Inside the harbour was another fort called Santa Cruz, well-built with 4 +bastions and a moat, but provided with only a few iron guns and without +a garrison. Two other forts formed part of the exterior works of the +town, but they had neither garrison nor guns. The city itself was +surrounded by solid walls of stone, with 12 bastions and 84 brass +cannon, to man which there was a company of 40 soldiers. Such was the +war footing on which the Spanish Government maintained the "Key of the +Indies." (Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 287.)] + +[Footnote 526: Narrative of de Pointis. _Cf._ Charlevoix, _op cit._, +liv. xi., for the best account of the whole expedition.] + +[Footnote 527: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. xi. p. 352. + +In one of the articles of capitulation which the Governor of Cartagena +obtained from de Pointis, the latter promised to leave untouched the +plate, jewels and other treasure of the churches and convents. This +article was not observed by the French. On the return of the expedition +to France, however, Louis XIV. ordered the ecclesiastical plate to be +sequestered, and after the conclusion of the Peace of Ryswick sent it +back to San Domingo to be delivered to the governor and clergy of the +Spanish part of the island. (Duro, _op. cit._, v. pp. 291, 296-97).] + +[Footnote 528: Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 310.] + +[Footnote 529: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 697.] + +[Footnote 530: Ibid.; _cf._ C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 138: "The number +of tippling houses is now doubly increased, so that there is not now +resident upon the place ten men to every house that selleth strong +liquors. There are more than 100 licensed houses, besides sugar and rum +works that sell without licence."] + +[Footnote 531: Crawford: Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Handlist of +Proclamations.] + +[Footnote 532: Firth: Naval Songs and Ballads, pp. l.-lii.; _cf._ also +Archives Coloniales, Corresp. Gén. de St Dom., vols. iii.-ix.; Ibid., +Martinique, vols. viii.-xix.] + +[Footnote 533: Archives Coloniales, Corresp. Gén. de Martinique, vol. +xvi.] + + + + +APPENDIX I + + +An account of the English buccaneers belonging to Jamaica and Tortuga in +1663, found among the Rawlinson MSS., makes the number of privateering +ships fifteen, and the men engaged in the business nearly a thousand. +The list is as follows:-- + +_Captain Ship Men Guns_ +Sir Thomas Whetstone a Spanish prize 60 7 +Captain Smart Griffon, frigate 100 14 +Captain Guy James, frigate 90 14 +Captain James American, frigate 70 6 +Captain Cooper his frigate 80 10 +Captain Morris a brigantine 60 7 +Captain Brenningham his frigate 70 6 +Captain Mansfield a brigantine 60 4 +Captain Goodly a pink 60 6 +Captain Blewfield, belonging + to Cape Gratia de Dios, + living among the Indians a barque 50 3 +Captain Herdue a frigate 40 4 + +There were four more belonging to Jamaica, of which no account was +available. The crews were mixed of English, French and Dutch. + + + + +APPENDIX II + + +List of filibusters and their vessels on the coasts of French San +Domingo in 1684:-- + +_Captain Ship Men Guns_ + +Le sieur Grammont le Hardy 300 52 +" capitaine Laurens de Graff " Neptune 210 54 +" " Michel la Mutine 200 44 +" " Janquais " Dauphine 180 30 +" " le Sage le Tigre 130 30 +" " Dedran " Chasseur 120 20 +" sieur du Mesnil la Trompeuse 100 14 +" capitaine Jocard l'Irondelle 120 18 +" " Brea la Fortune 100 14 +La prise du cap^ne. Laurens -- 80 18 +Le sieur de Bernanos la Schitie 60 8 +" capitaine Cachemarée le St Joseph 70 6 +" " Blot la Quagone 90 8 +" " Vigeron " Louse (barque) 30 4 +" " Petit le Ruzé (bateau) 40 4 +" " Lagarde la Subtille 30 2 +" " Verpre le Postilion 25 2 + +(Paris, Archives Coloniales, Corresp. gén. de St. Dom., vol. i.--Mémoire +sur l'estat de Saint Domingue à M. de Seignelay par M. de Cussy.) + + + + +SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +Manuscript Sources in England + +_Public Record Office:_ + +State Papers. Foreign. Spain. Vols. 34-72. (Abbreviated in the footnotes +as S.P. Spain.) + +_British Museum:_ + +Additional MSS. Vols. 11,268; 11,410-11; 12,410; 12,423; 12,429-30; +13,964; 13,975; 13,977; 13,992; 18,273; 22,676; 36,314-53. + +Egerton MSS. Vol. 2395. + +Sloane MSS. Vols. 793 or 894; 2724; 2752; 4020. + +Stowe MSS. Vols. 305f; 205b. + +_Bodleian Library:_ + +Rawlinson MSS. Vols. a. 26, 31, 32, 175, 347. + +Tanner MSS. Vols. xlvii.; li. + + +Manuscript Sources in France + +_Archives du ministère des Colonies:_ + +Correspondance générale de Saint-Domingue. Vols. i.-ix. + +Historique de Saint-Domingue. Vols. i.-iii. + +Correspondance générale de Martinique. Vols. i.-xix. + +_Archives du ministère des affaires étrangères:_ + +Mémoires et documents. Fonds divers. Amérique. Vols. v., xiii., xlix., +li. + +Correspondance politique. Angleterre. + +_Bibliothèque nationale:_ + +Manuscrits, nouvelles acquisitions. Vols. 9325; 9334. + +Renaudat MSS. + + +Printed Sources + +Calendar of State Papers. Colonial series. America and the West Indies. +1574-1699. (Abbreviated in the footnotes as C.S.P. Colon.) + +Calendar of State Papers. Venetian. 1603-1617. (Abbreviated in the +footnotes as C.S.P. Ven.) + +Dampier, William: Voyages. Edited by J. Masefield. 2 vols. London, 1906. + +Gage, Thomas: The English American ... or a new survey of the West +Indies, etc. London, 1648. + +Historical Manuscripts Commission: Reports. London, 1870 (in progress). + +Margry, Pierre: Relations et mémoires inédits pour servir à l'histoire +de la France dans les pays d'outremer. Paris, 1867. + +Pacheco, Cardenas, y Torres de Mendoza: Coleccion de documentos +relativos al describrimiento, conquista y colonizacion de las posesiones +españoles en América y Oceania. 42 vols. Madrid, 1864-83; _continued as_ +Coleccion de documentos ineditos ... de ultramar. 13 vols. Madrid, +1885-1900. + +Pointis, Jean Bernard Desjeans, sieur de: Relation de l'expedition de +Carthagène faite par les François en 1697. Amsterdam, 1698. + +Present state of Jamaica ... to which is added an exact account of Sir +Henry Morgan's voyage to ... Panama, etc. London, 1683. + +Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, mandadas imprimir y +publicar por rey Carlos II. 4 vols. Madrid, 1681. + +Sharp, Bartholomew: The voyages and adventures of Captain B. Sharp ... +in the South Sea ... Also Captain Van Horn with his buccanieres +surprising of la Vera Cruz, etc. London, 1684. + +Thurloe, John. A collection of the State papers of, etc. Edited by +Thomas Birch. 7 vols. London, 1742. + +Venables, General. The narrative of, etc. Edited by C.H. Firth. London, +1900. + +Wafer, Lionel: A new voyage and description of the Isthmus of America, +etc. London, 1699. + +Winwood, Sir Ralph. Memorials of affairs of State ... collected from the +original papers of, etc. Edited by Edmund Sawyer. London, 1725. + + * * * * * + +Among the printed sources one of the earliest and most important is the +well-known history of the buccaneers written by Alexander Olivier +Exquemelin (corrupted by the English into Esquemeling, by the French +into Oexmelin). Of the author himself very little is known. Though +sometimes claimed as a native of France, he was probably a Fleming or a +Hollander, for the first edition of his works was written in the Dutch +language. He came to Tortuga in 1666 as an _engagé_ of the French West +India Company, and after serving three years under a cruel master was +rescued by the governor, M. d'Ogeron, joined the filibusters, and +remained with them till 1674, taking part in most of their exploits. He +seems to have exercised among them the profession of barber-surgeon. +Returning to Europe in 1674, he published a narrative of the exploits in +which he had taken part, or of which he at least had a first-hand +knowledge. This "history" is the oldest and most elaborate chronicle we +possess of the extraordinary deeds and customs of these freebooters who +played so large a part in the history of the West Indies in the +seventeenth century, and it forms the basis of all the popular modern +accounts of Morgan and other buccaneer captains. Exquemelin, although he +sadly confuses his dates, seems to be a perfectly honest witness, and +his accounts of such transactions as fell within his own experience are +closely corroborated by the official narratives. + +(Biographies of Exquemelin are contained in the "Biographie Universelle" +of Michaud, vol. xxxi. p. 201, and in the "Nouvelle Biographie Générale" +of Hoefer, vol. xxxviii. p. 544. But both are very unsatisfactory and +display a lamentable ignorance of the bibliography of his history of the +buccaneers. According to the preface of a French edition of the work +published at Lyons in 1774 and cited in the "Nouvelle Biographie," +Exquemelin was born about 1645 and died after 1707.) + +The first edition of the book, now very rare, is entitled: + + De Americaensche Zee-Roovers. Behelsende eene pertinente + en waerachtige Beschrijving van alle de voornaemste + Roveryen en onmenschliycke wreend heden die Englese en + France Rovers tegens de Spanjaerden in America gepleeght + hebben; Verdeelt in drie deelen ... Beschreven door A. + O. Exquemelin ... t'Amsterdam, by Jan ten Hoorn, anno + 1678, in 4º. + +(Brit. Mus., 1061. _Cf._ 20 (2). The date, 1674, of the first Dutch +edition cited by Dampierre ("Essai sur les sources de l'histoire des +Antilles Françaises," p. 151) is doubtless a misprint.) + +(Both Dampierre (_op. cit._, p. 152) and Sabin ("Dict. of Books relating +to America," vi. p. 310) cite, as the earliest separate account of the +buccaneers, Claes G. Campaen's "Zee-Roover," Amsterdam, 1659. This +little volume, however, does not deal with the buccaneers in the West +Indies, but with privateering along the coasts of Europe and Africa.) + +This book was reprinted several times and numerous translations were +made, one on the top of the other. What appears to be a German +translation of Exquemelin appeared in 1679 with the title: + + Americanische Seeräuber. Beschreibung der grössesten + durch die Französische und Englische Meer-Beuter wider + die Spanier in Amerika verübten Raubery Grausamheit ... + Durch A. O. Nürnberg, 1679. 12º. + +("Historie der Boecaniers of Vrybuyters van America ... Met Figuuren, 3 +Deel. t'Amsterdam, 1700," 4º.--Brit. Mus., 9555. c. 19.) + +This was followed two years later by a Spanish edition, also taken from +the Dutch original: + + Piratas de la America y luz a la defensa de las costas + de Indias Occidentales. Dedicado a Don Bernadino Antonio + de Pardinas Villar de Francos ... por el zelo y cuidado + de Don Antonio Freyre ... Traducido de la lingua + Flamenca en Espanola por el Dor. de Buena-Maison ... + Colonia Agrippina, en casa de Lorenzo Struickman. Ano de + 1681. 12º. + +(Brit. Mus., G. 7179. The appended description of the Spanish Government +in America was omitted and a few Spanish verses were added in one or two +places, but otherwise the translation seems to be trustworthy. The +portraits and the map of the isthmus of Panama are the same as in the +Dutch edition, but the other plates are different and better. In the +Bibl. Nat. there is another Spanish edition of 1681 in quarto.) + +This Spanish text, which seems to be a faithful rendering of the Dutch, +was reprinted with a different dedication in 1682 and in 1684, and again +in Madrid in 1793. It is the version on which the first English edition +was based. The English translation is entitled: + + Bucaniers of America; or a true account of the ... + assaults committed ... upon the coasts of the West + Indies, by the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga ... + especially the ... exploits of Sir Henry Morgan ... + written originally in Dutch by J. Esquemeling ... now + ... rendered into English. W. Crooke; London, 1684. 4º. + +(Brit. Mus., 1198, a. 12 (or) 1197, h. 2.; G. 7198.) + +The first English edition of Exquemelin was so well received that within +three months a second was published, to which was added the account of a +voyage by Captain Cook and a brief chapter on the exploits of Barth. +Sharp in the Pacific Ocean. In the same year, moreover, there appeared +an entirely different English version, with the object of vindicating +the character of Morgan from the charges of brutality and lust which had +appeared in the first translation and in the Dutch original. It was +entitled: + + The History of the Bucaniers; being an impartial + relation of all the battels, sieges, and other most + eminent assaults committed for several years upon the + coasts of the West Indies by the pirates of Jamaica and + Tortuga. More especially the unparalleled achievements + of Sir Henry Morgan ... very much corrected from the + errors of the original, by the relations of some English + gentlemen, that then resided in those parts. _Den + Engelseman is een Duyvil voor een Mensch._ London, + printed for Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultry. + 1684. + +(Brit. Mus., G. 13,674.) + +The first edition of 1684 was reprinted with a new title-page in 1695, +and again in 1699. The latter included, in addition to the text of +Exquemelin, the journals of Basil Ringrose and Raveneau de Lussan, both +describing voyages in the South Seas, and the voyage of the Sieur de +Montauban to Guinea in 1695. This was the earliest of the composite +histories of the buccaneers and became the model for the Dutch edition +of 1700 and the French editions published at Trevoux in 1744 and 1775. + +The first French translation of Exquemelin appeared two years after the +English edition of 1684. It is entitled: + + Histoire des Aventuriers qui se sont signalez dans les + Indes contenant ce qu'ils ont fait de plus remarquable + depuis vingt années. Avec la vie, les Moeurs, les + Coutumes des Habitans de Saint Domingue et de la Tortuë + et une Description exacte de ces lieux; ... Le tout + enrichi de Cartes Geographiques et de Figures en + Taille-douce. Par Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin. A Paris, + chez Jacques Le Febre. MDCLXXXVI., 2 vols. 12º. + +(Brit. Mus., 9555, aa. 4.) + +This version may have been based on the Dutch original; although the +only indication we have of this is the fact that the work includes at +the end a description of the government and revenues of the Spanish +Indies, a description which is found in none of the earlier editions of +Exquemelin, except in the Dutch original of 1678. The French text, +however, while following the outline of Exquemelin's narrative, is +greatly altered and enlarged. The history of Tortuga and French +Hispaniola is elaborated with details from another source, as are also +the descriptions of the manners and customs of the cattle-hunters and +the freebooters. Accounts of two other buccaneers, Montbars and +Alexandre Bras-le-Fer, are inserted, but d'Ogeron's shipwreck on Porto +Rico and the achievements of Admiral d'Estrees against the Dutch are +omitted. In general the French editor, the Sieur de Frontignières, has +re-cast the whole story. A similar French edition appeared in Paris in +1688, (Brit. Mus., 278, a. 13, 14.) and in 1713 a facsimile of this last +was published at Brussels by Serstevens (Dampierre, p. 153). Sabin (_op. +cit._, vi. 312) mentions an edition of 1699 in three volumes which +included the journal of Raveneau de Lussan. In 1744, and again in 1775, +another French edition was published in four volumes at Trevoux, to +which was added the voyage of Montauban to the Guinea Coast, and the +expeditions against Vera Cruz in 1683, Campeache in 1685, and Cartagena +in 1697. The third volume contained the journal of R. de Lussan, and the +fourth a translation of Johnson's "History of the Pirates." (Brit. Mus., +9555, aa. 1.) A similar edition appeared at Lyons in 1774, but I have +had no opportunity of examining a copy. (Nouvelle Biographie Générale, +tom. xxxviii. 544. The best bibliography of Exquemelin is in Sabin, _op. +cit._, vi. 309.) + + +Secondary Works + +Of the secondary works concerned with the history of the buccaneers, the +oldest are the writings of the French Jesuit historians of the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Dutertre (Histoire générale des +Antilles. Paris, 1667-71), a chronicler of events within his own +experience as well as a reliable historian, unfortunately brings his +narrative to a close in 1667, but up to that year he is the safest guide +to the history of the French Antilles. Labat, in his "Nouveau Voyage aux +Isles de l'Amerique" (Paris, 1722), gives an account of eleven years, +between 1694 and 1705, spent in Martinique and Guadeloupe, and although +of little value as an historian, he supplies us with a fund of the most +picturesque and curious details about the life and manners of the people +in the West Indies at the end of the seventeenth century. A much more +important and accurate work is Charlevoix's "Histoire de l'Isle +Espagnole ou de S. Domingue" (Paris, 1732), and this I have used as a +general introduction to the history of the French buccaneers. Raynal's +"Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce +européen dans les deux Indes" (Amsterdam, 1770) is based for the origin +of the French Antilles upon Dutertre and Labat and is therefore +negligible for the period of the buccaneers. Adrien Dessalles, who in +1847 published his "Histoire générale des Antilles," preferred, like +Labat and Raynal, to depend on the historians who had preceded him +rather than endeavour to gain an intimate knowledge of the sources. + +In the English histories of Jamaica written by Long, Bridges, and +Gardner, whatever notice is taken of the buccaneers is meagre and +superficial, and the same is true of Bryan Edwards' "History, civil and +commercial, of the British colonies in the West Indies." Thomas Southey, +in his "Chronological History of the West Indies" (Lond. 1827), devotes +considerable space to their achievements, but depends entirely upon the +traditional sources. In 1803 J.W. von Archenholz published "Die +Geschichte der Flibustier," a superficial, diffuse and even puerile +narrative, giving no references whatever to authorities. (It was +translated into French (Paris, 1804), and into English by Geo. Mason +(London, 1807).) In 1816 a "History of the Buccaneers in America" was +published by James Burney as the fourth volume of "A chronological +History of the Discoveries in the South Seas or Pacific Ocean." Burney +casts but a rapid glance over the West Indies, devoting most of the +volume to an account of the voyages of the freebooters along the coast +of South America and in the East Indies. Walter Thornbury in 1858 wrote +"The Buccaneers, or the Monarchs of the Main," a hasty compilation, +florid and overdrawn, and without historical judgment or accuracy. In +1895 M. Henri Lorin presented a Latin thesis to the Faculty of History +in Paris, entitled:--"De praedonibus Insulam Santi Dominici +celebrantibus saeculo septimo decimo," but he seems to have confined +himself to Exquemelin, Le Pers, Labat, Dutertre and a few documents +drawn from the French colonial archives. The best summary account in +English of the history and significance of the buccaneers in the West +Indies is contained in Hubert H. Bancroft's "History of Central America" +(ii. chs. 26, 28-30). Within the past year there has appeared an +excellent volume by M. Pierre de Vaissière describing creole life and +manners in the French colony of San Domingo in the century and a half +preceding the Revolution. (Vaissière, Pierre de: Saint Dominigue. +(1629-1789). Paris, 1909.) It is a reliable monograph, and like his +earlier volume, "Gentilshommes campagnards de l'ancienne France," is +written in a most entertaining style. De Vaissière contributes much +valuable information, especially in the first chapter, about the origins +and customs of the French "flibustiers." + +I have been able to find only two Spanish works which refer at all to +the buccaneers. One is entitled: + + Piraterias y agresiones de los ingleses y de otros + pueblos de Europa en la America espanola desde el siglo + XVI. al XVIII., deducidas de las obras de D. Dionisio de + Alcedo y Herrera. Madrid, 1883. 4º. + +Except for a long introduction by Don Justo Zaragoza based upon +Exquemelin and Alcedo, it consists of a collection of extracts referring +to freebooters on the coasts of Peru and Chili, and deals chiefly with +the eighteenth century. The other Spanish work is an elaborate history +of the Spanish navy lately published in nine volumes by Cesareo +Fernandez Duro, and entitled:-- + + Armada espanola desde la union de los reinos de Castilla + y de Aragon. Madrid, 1895. + +There are numerous chapters dealing with the outrages of the French and +English freebooters in the West Indies, some of them based upon Spanish +sources to which I have had no access. But upon comparison of Duro's +narrative, which in so far as it relates to the buccaneers is often +meagre, with the sources available to me, I find that he adds little to +what may be learned on the subject here in England. + +One of the best English descriptions of the Spanish colonial +administration and commercial system is still that contained in book +viii. of Robertson's "History of America" (Lond. 1777). The latest and +best summary account, however, is in French, in the introduction to vol. +i. of "La traite négrière aux Indes de Castille" (Paris, 1906), by +Georges Scelle. Weiss, in vol. ii. of his history of "L'Espagne depuis +Philippe II. jusqu'aux Bourbons" (Paris, 1844), treats of the causes of +the economic decadence of Spain, and gives an account of the contraband +trade in Spanish America, drawn largely from Labat. On this general +subject Leroy-Beaulieu, "De la colonization chez les peuples modernes" +(Paris, 1874), has been especially consulted. + +The best account of the French privateers of the sixteenth century in +America is in an essay entitled: "Les corsairs français au XVI^e siècle +dans les Antilles" (Paris, 1902), by Gabriel Marcel. It is a short +monograph based on the collections of Spanish documents brought together +by Pacheco and Navarrete. The volume by E. Ducéré entitled, "Les +corsairs sous l'ancien regîme" (Bayonne, 1895), is also valuable for the +history of privateering. For the history of the Elizabethan mariners I +have made use of the two works by J. S. Corbett: "Drake and the Tudor +Navy" (Lond. 1898), and "The successors of Drake" (Lond. 1900). Other +works consulted were: + +Arias de Miranda, José: Examen critico-historico del influyo que tuvo en +el comercio, industria y poblacion de Espana su dominacion en America. +Madrid, 1854. + +Blok, Pieter Johan: History of the people of the Netherlands. Translated +by C. A. Bierstadt and Ruth Putnam. 4 vols. New York, 1898. + +Brown, Alex.: The Genesis of the United States. 2 vols. Lond., 1890. + +Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of: Bibliotheca Lindesiana. +Handlist of proclamations. 3 vols. Aberdeen, 1893-1901. + +Dumont, Jean: Corps universel diplomatique. 13 vols. Hague, 1726-39. + +Froude, James Anthony: History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the +defeat of the Spanish armada. 12 vols. 1870-75. English seamen in the +sixteenth century. Lond., 1901. + +Gardiner, Samuel Rawson: History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, +1649-1660. 3 vols. Lond., 1894-1903. + +Geographical and historical description of ... Cartagena, Porto Bello, +La Vera Cruz, the Havana and San Augustin. Lond., 1741. + +Gibbs, Archibald R.: British Honduras ... from ... 1670. Lond., 1883. + +Hakluyt, Richard: The principal navigations ... of the English nation, +etc. 3 vols. Lond., 1598-1600. + +Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio: Historia general de las Indias. 4 vols. +Madrid, 1601-15. + +Hughson, Shirley C.: The Carolina pirates and colonial commerce. +Baltimore, 1894. + +Lucas, C. P.: A historical geography of the British colonies. 4 vols. +Oxford, 1905. Vol. ii. The West Indies. + +Monson, Sir William: The naval tracts of ... Edited ... by M. Oppenheim. +Vols. i. and ii. Lond., 1902--(in progress). + +Oviedo y Valdes, Gonzalo Fernandez de: Historia general de las Indias. +Salamanca, 1547. + +Peytraud, Lucien: L'Esclavage aux Antilles françaises avant 1789, etc. +Paris, 1897. + +Saint-Yves, G.: Les compagnes de Jean d'Estrées dans la mer des +Antilles, 1676-78. Paris, 1900. + +Strong, Frank: Causes of Cromwell's West Indian expedition. (Amer. Hist. +Review. Jan. 1899). + +Veitia Linaje, Josef de: Norte de la Contratacion de las Indias +Occidentales. Sevilla, 1672. + +Vignols, Leon: La piraterie sur l'Atlantique au XVIII^e siècle. Rennes, +1891. + + + + +INDEX + + +Acapulco, 21 + +Aix-la-Chapelle, peace of, 156 + +_Ajoupa_, 68, 79 + +Albemarle, first duke of, _see_ Monck, George + + " second duke of, _see_ Monck, Christopher + +Albuquerque, Duke of, 109, 199 + +Alexander VI., Bull of Pope, 3, 30 + +Allison, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Antigua, 48, 55, 229 + +Araya salt-mine, 53-54 + +Archenholz, J.W. von, 283 + +Arlington, Earl of, _see_ Bennett, Sir Henry + +Arundell, James, 114, 117 + +Assiento of negroes, 26, 36-7, 103, 184 _n._ + +Association, Island, _see_ Tortuga + +Aston, Lord of Forfar, 102 + +Avery, Captain Henry, 270-71 + +Aves, Isle d', _see_ Isle d'Aves + +Aylett, Captain (buccaneer), 156 + +_Azogues_, 22, 101 + +Azores, 3, 4, 15, 20, 42, 84 + + +Bahama Islands, 2, 237, 238 and _n._, 271 + +Bahia, 49 + +Bancroft, Hubert H., 284 + +Banister, Major James, 205 + +Bannister, Captain (buccaneer) 254 + +_Barbacoa_, 68 + +Barbadoes, 47, 50, 67, 74, 85 and _n._, 87, 92, 99, 104, 120, etc. + +Barbuda, 48 + +Barinas, Marques de, 268 + +Barker, Andrew, 40 + +Barlovento, Armada de, 109, 251 _n._, 261 + +Barnard, Captain (buccaneer), 111 + +Barnes, Captain ( " ), 219 + +Barre, Charles, 215 + +Barry, Colonel Samuel, 118 and _n._ + +Beckford, Peter, 217 + +Beeston, Captain (afterwards Sir), William, 97 _n._, 108 _n._, 118, 135 +and _n._, 142, 155, 158, 200, 202, 259, etc. + +Begon, M. Michel (Intendant of the French Islands), 244, 247 _n._ + +Benavides, Don Juan de, 50 + +Bennett, Sir Henry (afterwards Earl of Arlington), 100, 122, 128, 132, +133, 142, 143 _n._, 160, 186, 198, etc. + +Berkeley, Sir Thomas, 41 + +Bermuda, 20, 75, 92, 201 + +Bernanos, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Bernard, Samuel, 255, 257 + +Bigford, Captain (buccaneer), 156 + +"Biscayners," 254-5 + +Blake, Captain, R.N., 93 + +Blewfield, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Blot, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Boston (Mass.), 251 + +Bradley, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph (buccaneer), 164-5 + +Brayne, Lieutenant-General William, 96, 114, 127 + +Brazil, 3, 25, 36, 47, 49 and _n._, 102 + +Breda, treaties of, 141 + +Breha, Captain, _see_ Landresson, Michel + +Brenningham, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Brest, corsairs of, 42, 262, 265 + +Bridges, George W., 283 + +Browne, Captain James (buccaneer), 217-18 + +Browne, Richard (buccaneer), 156, 190 _n._, 195, 196 + +Buccaneers, cruelties of, 147-50, 153 _n._, 185 _ff._ + + " customs of, 70-78, 163 _n._ + + " derivation of the word, 66 + +Buccaneers, laws against, _see_ Laws against privateers and pirates + + " numbers of, 124, 240 _n._, 271 + + " origins of, 67, 69, 78-80, 125-27 + + " suppression of, 200 _ff._ + + " vessels of, 75 + +Buenos Ayres, 10, 22 + +Bull of Pope Alexander VI., _see_ Alexander VI. + +Burney, James, 283 + +Burough, Cornelius, 99 + +Butler, Gregory (Commissioner of Jamaica), 85 _n._ + +Byndloss, Colonel Robert, 215, 248, 255 + + +Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, 3 + +Cachemarée, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Cadiz, 9 _n._, 12 and _n._, 13 and _n._, 16, 20, 22, 25 _n._, 26, 40, 96 +_n._, etc. + +Campeache, city of, 12 _n._, 22, 107-8, 109, 111, 210, 222, 245 + + " province of, 21, 107, 137 _n._, 138, 143, 155, 201, 204, 207, +208, etc. + +Campo y Espinosa, Don Alonso del, 157, 158 + +Canary Islands, 14, 15, 42, 241 + +Cap François, 220, 221, 258, 261, 262 _n._ + +Caracas, 10, 12 _n._, 15, 16, 22, 50, 154, 222, 240, 242 + +Cardenas, Alonso de, 52, 53 + +Carey, Colonel Theod., 129, 130 + +Carleill, General Christopher, 39 + +Carleton, Sir Dudley, Viscount Dorchester, 102 + +Carlile, Captain Charles, R.N., 236 + +Carlisle, Earl of, _see_ Howard, Charles + +Carolinas, 3, 47, 239, 250, 251, 252, 253, 271 + +Cartagena (New Granada), 9 _n._, 11, 14 and _n._, 15, 16, 19, 23, 38, +39, 262, etc. + +Cartago (Costa Rica), 136 and _n._ + +_Casa de Contratacion_, 11, 12, 13 _n._, 22, 25 and _n._, 42 + +Catherine of Braganza, 100 + +Cattle-hunters, 57-58, 62, 65, 66-69 + +Cavallos (Honduras), 21 + +Cayenne (Guiana), 233, 234 + +Cecil, Robert, Viscount Cranborne and Earl of Salisbury, 32 _n._, 51 + +"Centurion," 104, 105, 108 and _n._ + +Chagre, port of, 43, 195, 267 + + " river, 17 _n._, 164, 168, 175, 193 + +Chaloner, Captain, 54 + +Charles I., King of England, 50, 52, 102 + + " II., King of England, 97, 100, 101, 103, 109, 110, 117, 119, +120, 121, etc. + + " II., King of Spain, 268 + + " V., Emperor, 10, 13 _n._, 45, 46 + +Charleston (Carolina), 252, 253 + +Charlevoix, Pierre-François-Xavier, 58, 62, 70, 78, 81, 245, 246 _n._, +262 _n._, 283, 284 _n._ + +_Chasse-partie_, 73 + +Chili, 10, 11, 17, 48, 229 + +_Cinquantaines_, 63 + +Clandestine trade, 8 and _n._, 25-27, 36-38, 102-104 + +Clarke, Robert (Governor of the Bahamas), 237-8 + +Clifford, George, Earl of Cumberland, 34, 40, 41 + +Codrington, Christopher (Deputy-Governor of Nevis), 229 + +Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, Marquis de Seignelay, 8 _n._, 9 _n._ + +Coligny, Admiral Gaspard de, 47 + +Colleton, James (Governor of Carolina), 252 + +Collier, Edward (buccaneer), 155, 156, 160, 182 _n._, 190 _n._, 196 + +Colombia, U.S. of, _see_ New Granada + +Columbus, Christopher, 2, 42 + +_Consulado_, 12, 13 + +Contraband trade, _see_ Clandestine trade + +Cooke, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Cooper, Captain (buccaneer), 111, 273 + +Corbett, Julian S., 286 + +Cordova, Don Luis de, 242 + +Cornwallis, Sir Charles, 51, 54 + +Coro (Venezuela), 98 + +Cortez, Hernando, 3, 46 + +Costa Rico, 136 and _n._ + +Cottington, Francis, Lord, 101-2 + +Council of the Indies, 13 and _n._, 14, 22, 25 _n._, 102 + +"Cour Volant," 155-6, and _n._ + +Coventry, Sir Henry (Secretary of State), 215 + +Coxon, Captain John (buccaneer), 220, 223, 224, 225 _n._, 226, 227-8 and +_n._, 235, 237 and _n._, 238, 245, etc. + +Cranborne, Viscount, _see_ Cecil, Robert + +Criminals transported to the colonies, 5, 92, 125-6 + +Cromwell, Oliver, 85, 87-90, 92, 100 + +Cuba, 2, 19, 21, 23, 26, 32, 42, 46, 49, 77, etc. + +Cumana (Venezuela), 16, 53, 98, 267 + +Cumanagote (Venezuela), 267 + +Cumberland, Earl of, _see_ Clifford, George + +Curaçao, 48, 67, 128, 129, 131, 134, 135, 143, 220, 221, etc. + +Cussy, Sieur Tarin de (Governor of French Hispaniola), 243-4 and _n._, +245, 246, 258 + + +Dalyson, Captain William, 99 _n._ + +Dampier, William, 73 _n._, 108 _n._, 221 _n._, 225 _n._, 228 _n._, 247 +_n._ + +Daniel, Captain (buccaneer), 74 + +Darien, Isthmus of, 3, 22, 39, 40, 43, 145, 163, 191 _n._, 225 and _n._, +226, etc. + +Deane, John (buccaneer), 213-14 + +Dedran, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Dempster, Captain (buccaneer), 154 + +Deschamps, Jérémie, Seigneur de Rausset (Governor of Tortuga), 116 and +_n._, 117, 119 + +Deseada, 14, 15, 20 + +Desjeans, Jean-Bernard, Sieur de Pointis, 262 _ff._ + +Dessalles, Adrien, 283 + +Diaz Pimienta, Don Francisco, 55, 56 _n._ + +Diego Grillo (buccaneer), 201 and _n._ + +Dieppe, corsairs of, 42, 48 + +Dominica, 20, 38, 74, 235 + +"Don Francisco," 207 + +"Don Juan Morf," 60 and _n._, 61 + +Dorchester, Viscount _see_ Carleton, Sir Dudley + +Doyley, Colonel Edward (Governor of Jamaica), 91, 96-97, 98, 99 and +_n._, 100, 101, 107, 116, 122, 124, etc. + +Drake, Sir Francis, 31, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 50, 89 and _n._, 195, 210, +etc. + +Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (Governor of French Hispaniola), 260-61, 262, +263, 265, 266 + +Ducéré, Eduard, 285-6 + +Duro, Cesario Fernandez, 135 _n._, 211 _n._, 243 _n._, 285 + +Dutch wars, _see_ War + + " West India Company, 47, 49 + +Dutertre, Jean-Baptiste, 70, 114, 116 _n._, 118 _n._, 282, 284 + + +East Indies, _see_ Indies, East + +Edmondes, Sir Thomas, 54 + +Edwards, Bryan, 283 + +Elizabeth, Queen, 29, 31, 34, 38, 39, 46, 50, 101, 136 + +Elletson, Robert, 248, 249, 255, 257 + +_Engagés_, 59, 79-80, 124 + +Equador, 17, 229 + +Esmit, Adolf (Governor of St. Thomas), 234-37 + + " Nicholas (Governor of St. Thomas), 236 + +Esnambuc, Mons. d', 63 + +Essex, Captain Cornelius (buccaneer), 224, 226 + +Estrées, Jean, Comte d', 9 _n._, 220-221 + +Everson, Captain Jacob (buccaneer), 228 and _n._, 254 _n._ + +Everson, Jory (Governor of St. Thomas), 237 + +Exquemelin, Alexander Olivier, 70, 77, 78, 79, 124, 131 _n._, 135 _n._, +136 _n._, 137 _n._, 277-82 + + +Fanshaw, Sir Richard, 103, 106, 120, 121, 140, 141 + +Ferdinand and Isabella, Kings of Spain, 3, 10 + +Fitzgerald, Philip, 206-7 + +Fletcher, Benjamin (Governor of New York), 271 + +_Flibustiers_, derivation of the word, 66; _see_ Buccaneers + +Fload, Captain (Governor of Tortuga), 64 _n._ + +Flores, _see_ Azores. + +Florida, 2, 47, 54. + +Flota, 20, 38-9, 49, 77, 95, 96 and _n._, 103, 109, 242; + _cf. also_ Treasure fleets + +Fontenay, Chevalier de (Governor of Tortuga), 81-84, 113, 116 + +Fortescue, Major-General Richard, 92, 96, 127 + +Franquesnay, Sieur de (Governor of French Hispaniola), 222, 244 and +_n._, 247 _n._ + +French wars, _see_ War + +French West India Company, 48, 117, 123, 162 + +Frobisher, Martin, 39 + +Frogge, William, 174 _n._, 177 _n._, 184 _n._, 186, 196 _n._ + +Fuemayor, Rui Fernandez de, 61 and _n._ + + +Gage, Thomas, 16 _n._, 18, 23, 55 _n._, 90 + +Galicia, Company of, 12 _n._ + +Galleons, 14-20, 21, 22, 23, 25 _n._, 55, 56 _n._, 62, 76; + _cf. also_ Treasure fleets. + +Galleons' passage, 15 + +Gardner, William J., 283 + +Gautemala, 10, 16, 17 _n._, 22, 77 + +Gaves, Don Gabriel de, 60 + +"Gens de la côte," 69 + +Gibraltar (Venezuela), 157, 267 + +Godolphin, Sir William, 103, 160, 186, 197, 198, 199, 207, 208, 209-10 + +"Golden Hind," 39 + +Golden Island, 225, 253 + +Goodly, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Goodson, Vice-Admiral William, 92-96, 98 _n._, 99, 104 + +Graff, Laurens-Cornille Baldran, Sieur de, 241-43, 244 _n._, 245, 246 +and _n._, 248, 258-59, 262 _n._, 274 + +Grammont, Sieur de (buccaneer), 73, 221-2, 240-1, 243, 244, 245, 246 and +_n._, 248 and _n._ + +Granada (Nicaragua), 16 _n._, 136, 138-9, 162, 267, 268 + +Granjeria de las Perlas (New Granada), 44 + +Grenville, Sir Richard, 40 + +Guadaloupe, 14, 20, 48, 67, 131, 282 + +"Guanahani," 2 + +Guiana, 10, 41, 47, 54 + +Guinea, coast of, 36, 37, 38, 235, 241, 270, 272 + +Guipuzcoa, Company of, 12 _n._ + +"Gunsway," 270 + +Guy, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Guzman, Gonzalo de, 43 + + " Don Juan Perez de, _see_ Perez de Guzman. + + +Hamlin, Captain Jean (buccaneer), 234-6 and _n._, 251 _n._ + +Hampton, Thomas, 37-38 + +Haro, Don Francisco de, 183 _n._ + + " Don Luis de, 100 + +Harris, Captain Peter (buccaneer), 225, 226, 245 + +Harrison, Captain, (buccaneer), 162 + +Hattsell, Captain, ( " ), 136 + +Havana, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 42, 43, 45, etc. + +Havre, corsairs, of, 48 + +Hawkins, Sir John, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 210. + + " William, 36 + +Heath, Attorney-General Sir Robert, 52 + +Henrietta Island, 55, 59 _n._ + +Henry II., King of France, 53 + + " IV., " 9 _n._, 48 + + " VIII. King of England, 36 and _n._ + +Herdue, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Heyn, Admiral Piet, 49, 96 + +Hilton, Captain (Governor of Tortuga), 59, 60 + +Hispaniola, 2, 20 and _n._ 26, 32, 34, 35, 37, 46, 55, 57, etc. + +Holland, Earl of, _see_ Rich, Henry + +Holmes, Admiral Sir Robert, 253 + +Honduras, 50, 107, 208, 211, 223, 226, 234, 249 + +Hopton, Sir Arthur, 53 + +Howard, Charles, Earl of Carlisle (Governor of Jamaica), 205, 211, 212, +222-28, 232 + + " Sir Philip, 255 + +Humanes, Conde de, 102 + + +Ibarra, Don Carlos, 62 _n._ + +Inchiquin, Earl of, _see_ O'Brien, William + +Indian Ocean, pirates in, _see_ Pirates + +Indians, _see_ Spain, cruelties to Indians + +Indies, Council of the, _see_ Council + + " exclusion of foreigners from, _see_ Spain + +Indies, East, pirates in, _see_ Pirates + + " West, colonisation of, 45-48 + + " " first English ship in, 34-35 + +"Indults," 25 + +Interlopers, _see_ Clandestine trade + +Isabella, Queen, _see_ Ferdinand and Isabella + +Isle d'Aves, 220 and _n._, 221, 222, 241 + + " la Vache, 155, 156, 160, 161, 162, 205, 212, 235, 236 _n._, 245, +etc. + + +Jackman, Captain (buccaneer), 137, 143 + +Jackson, Captain William, 50, 67, 85 + +Jacobs, Captain (buccaneer), _see_ Everson + +Jamaica, 2, 19, 46, 50, 57, 73, 77, 85, 86, 90, etc. + + " assembly of, 110, 217, 218, 227, 230, 231, 233, 248 + + " Council of, 104, 106, 107, 111, 118, 132, 159, 196, 202, 203, etc. + +James, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + + " ("President of Tortuga"), 64 _n._ + +James I., King of England, 46, 50, 51, 101 _n._ + + " II., King of England, 253, 255, 257, 258 + +Jamestown (Virginia), 47 + +Jenkins, Sir Leoline, 208 + +Jiménez, Don José Sánchez, 139 + +Jocard, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Johnson, Captain (buccaneer), 202-3 + + " " R.N., 234 + +"Judith," 39 + +_Juzgado de Indias_, 13 _n._ + + +Kingston (Jamaica), 50, 86 + +Knollys, Francis, 39, 40 + + +Labat, Jean-Baptiste, 70, 73-5, 282, 284, 285 + +Lagarde, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +La Guayra (Venezuela), 240-41 + +Lancers, _see Cinquantaines_ + +Landresson, Captain Michel, _alias_ Breha (buccaneer), 251 and _n._, +252, 274 + +Langford, Captain Abraham, 118-19 + +Las Casas, Bartolomé de, Bishop of Chiapa, 32 + +Laurens de Graff, _see_ Graff. + +La Vivon, Mons., 155-6 and _n._ + +Laws against privateers and pirates, 110, 217, 218, 220, 227, 230-31, +251-53, 271 + +Le Clerc, Captain François, 42 + +Legane (Hispaniola), 124, 258, 261 + +Legrand, Pierre (buccaneer), 135 _n._ + +"Le Pain," _see_ Paine, Peter + +Le Pers (Jesuit writer), 284 and _n._ + +Lerma, Duque de, 9 _n._ + +Leroy-Beaulieu, Pierre-Paul, 1, 285 + +Le Sage, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Lessone, " ( " ), 224 + +Levasseur, Mons., 63-66, 78, 80-82, 116 + +Ley, James, Earl of Marlborough, 52, 53 + +Lilburne, Robert (Governor of Bahamas), 238-39 + +Lima (Peru), 16, 17, 25 + +Linhares, Conde de, 102 + +Logwood, 201, 208-12, 226, 234, 249 + +Long, Edward, 127, 283 + + " Samuel, 226 + +Lonvilliers, Mons. de, 81 + +Lorin, Henri, 284 + +Louis XIV., King of France, 9 _n._, 116, 219, 257, 258, 266 _n._ + +Ludbury, Captain (buccaneer), 162 + +Ludwell, Philip (Governor of Carolina), 253 + +Lynch, Sir Thomas (Governor of Jamaica), 111, 121, 197, 198, 200-205, +209, 213, 216, 232-38, 243, and _n._, etc. + +Lyttleton, Sir Charles (Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), 106, 109, 110, +111, 112, 118, 127 + + +Madeira, 42 + +Maggott, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Maintenon, Marquis de, 222 + +Maldonado de Aldana, 108 + +Mansfield, Captain Edward (buccaneer), 73, 131, and _n._, 134-36, 138, +143, 163 _n._, 164, 273 + +"Mansvelt," _see_ Mansfield + +Maracaibo (Venezuela), 15, 22, 50, 156-8, 159, 161, 210, 222, 267 + +Marcel, Gabriel, 285 + +Margarita Island, 2, 15, 16, 38, 222 + + " patache, 15, 16, 19 and _n._ + +Margot, Port (Hispaniola), 64, 65, 83, 84, 123 + +Marie-Anne of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain, 141, 159, 184 _n._, 198, +199, 208, 211 + +Markham, William (Governor of Pennsylvania), 271 + +Marlborough, Earl of, _see_ Ley, James + +"Marston Moor," 87, 97, 98 and _n._, 99 + +Marteen, Captain David (buccaneer), 134 + +Martin, 81-82, 83 _n._ + +Martinique, 48, 67, 73, 74, 75, 220, 246 _n._, 272, 282 + +"Mary of Guildford," 36 _n._ + +Mary, Queen of England, 259 + +Massachusetts, 252, 271 + +_Matelotage_, 69 + +Medina Coeli, Duque de, 199 + + " de los Torres, Duque de, 141 + +Merida (Yucatan), 210, 245 + +Mesnil, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Mexico, _see_ New Spain + +Michel, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + + " le Basque (buccaneer), 124, 156 + +Milton, John (Latin Secretary of State), 89 _n._ + +Mitchell, Captain (buccaneer), 108 _n._ + +Modyford, Colonel Charles, 203 + + " Sir James, 127, 137, 143 _n._, 163 _n._ + + " Sir Thomas (Governor of Jamaica), 119-23, +127, 128, 131-35, 136 _n._, 137 and _n._, 140, 142, 143 _n._, 144, etc. + +Moledi, Don Patricio, 111 + +Molesworth, Hender (Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), 237 _n._, 248, 249, +253-54, 255, 257 + +Molina, Conde de, 158, 197 _n._ + +Mompos (New Granada), 264 + +Mona, Island of, 20, 34 + +Monck, Christopher, second Duke of Albemarle (Governor of Jamaica), 255-57 + + " George, first Duke of Albemarle, 132, 133, 142, 143 _n._, 154, 159 + +Montagu, Edward, Earl of Sandwich, 103, 141, 142 + +Montemayor, Don Juan Francisco de, 82 + +Montespan, Marquise de, 218 _n._ + +Montserrat, 48, 129 + +Moralis, Don Pedro de, 105 + +Moreton, Joseph (Governor of Carolina), 252 + +Morgan, Captain (buccaneer), 235 + + " Colonel Blodre (buccaneer), 163 _n._, 182 _n._ + + " Colonel Edward, 120, 121, 129, 130, 133, 137 _n._, 143 + + " Sir Henry (buccaneer and Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), +73, 137 and _n._, 143-96, 204-6, 210, 212-16, 222, 226, 227, 228, etc. + + " Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas, 130 _n._, 137 _n._ + +Morris, Captain John (buccaneer), 137, 143, 161, 182 _n._, 273 + +Mosquito Coast, 19, 55, 76, 138, 245 + +Munden, Captain Robert, 118 + +Myngs, Captain Christopher, R.N., 98 and _n._, 99 and _n._, 105, 106, +107, 108 and _n._, 109, 121 + + +Nata de los Santos (Darien), 136 _n._, 191 _n._ + +Nau, Jean-David (buccaneer), 124 and _n._, 156, 157 + +Navigation Laws, 99, 101 _n._, 102, 214, 271 + +"Navio del Oro," 17 + +Negro slave-trade, 36-38; + _cf. also_ Clandestine trade + +Negroes, Assiento of, _see_ Assiento + +Netherlands, truce of 1609, 52 + + " wars of, _see_ War + +Nevill, Vice-Admiral John, 264, 265 + +Nevis, 47, 63, 86, 129, 229 + +New England, 86, 92, 93, 116, 201, 250, 272 + +Newfoundland, 35, 265 + +New Granada, 11, 16, 42, 232 + +New Providence Island (Bahamas), 237-39 + +New Spain, 3, 10, 21, 22, 32, 33, 46, 76, 90, 111, etc. + +New York, 129, 201, 271 + +Nicaragua, 19, 76, 137, 162 + + " Lake, 16, 138 + +Nimuegen, peace of, 240 + +Nombre de Dios (Darien), 14 _n._, 17 _n._, 40 + +Norris, Commodore Sir John, 265 + + +O'Brien, William, Earl of Inchiquin (Governor of Jamaica), 257, 259 + +Ogeron, Bertrand d' (Governor of French Hispaniola), 118, 123-4, 216, +217, 218, 239 + +Olivares, Conde de, 9 _n._ + +Olonnais (buccaneer), _see_ Nau, Jean-David + +Orinoco River, 2, 32 _n._, 47, 85 _n._, 111 + +Oxenham, John, 40 + +"Oxford," 155 + + +Pain, Captain Thomas (buccaneer), 238 and _n._, 239, 259 + +Paine, Peter, 233-34 and _n._, 238 _n._ + +Panama, city of, 10, 16, 17 and _n._, 18, 40, 97, 120, 136 _n._, 139, +140, etc. + + " Isthmus of, _see_ Darien + + " President of, _see_ Perez de Guzman + +Payta (Peru), 17, 188 + +Penalva, Conde de, 113 + +Penn, Admiral William, 85 and _n._, 86, 87, 93, 113 + + " William (proprietor of Penns.), 271 + +Pennsylvania, 271 + +Perez de Guzman, Don Juan (President of Panama), 139, 164, 170 _n._, 184 +_n._, 186, 191 and _n._, 192 _n._ + + " Diego, 44 + +Pernambuco, 49 + +Perry, Mr. 61 _n._ + +Peru, 3, 10, 11, 16, 17, 22, 25, 32, 42, 46, etc. + +Petit, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Petit-Goave (Hispaniola), 118, 119, 124, 221, 241, 242, 243, 244, 247 +and _n._, 248, etc. + +Philip II., King of Spain, 14, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 40, 46, 101 + +Philip III., King of Spain, 51 + + " IV., King of Spain, 9 _n._, 55, 141 + +Philippine Islands, 3, 21 + +"Piece of eight," value of, 77 _n._ + +"Pie de Palo," _see_ Heyn, Admiral Piet _and_ Le Clerc, François + +Pirates, depredations in the East, 270, 272 + + " laws against, _see_ Laws + + " trials of, 202, 203, 213-15, 218, 226, 228, 229 + +Pizarro, Francisco, 3, 46 + +Place, Sieur de la (Deputy-Governor of Tortuga), 117, 124 + +Plenneville, Clement de, 118 + +Poincy, Mons. de (Governor of the French West Indies), 63, 64, 80, 81 + +Pointis, Sieur de, _see_ Desjeans + +Pontchartrain, Louis Phelypeaux, Comte de, 262 + +Port de Paix (Hispaniola), 65, 247 _n._, 261 + +Porto Bello, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17 and _n._, 18, 19, 23, 76, 143-54, etc. + +Porto Rico, 2, 20 and _n._, 22, 31 _n._, 34, 35, 41, 46, 56, 57, etc. + +Port Royal (Carolina), 47, 252 + + " (Jamaica), 97, 98 and _n._, 101, 107, 108 and _n._, 111, +112, 121, 127, 128, etc. + +Pouançay, Mons. de (Governor of French Hispaniola), 216, 219, 220, 221, +222, 239, 240, 244, 247, 248, etc. + +Prince, Captain Lawrence (buccaneer), 162, 182 _n._ + +Privateers, laws against, _see_ Laws + +Providence Company, 55, 59 and _n._, 60, 61 _n._, 62, 64 _n._ + +Providence Island, 55 and _n._, 56 _n._, 64, 76, 86, 135-7, 139-40, 143, +163 and _n._, etc. + +Puerta de Plata (Hispaniola), 115 + +Puerto Cabello (Venezuela), 98 + + " Principe (Cuba), 117, 144 and _n._, 145, 222 + + +Queen Regent of Spain, _see_ Marie-Anne of Austria + +Quito, province of, _see_ Equador + + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, 34, 40, 41, 47, 89 + +Rancherias (New Granada), 16, 40 + +Rausset, Sieur de, _see_ Deschamps + +Raynal, Guillaume, Thomas-François, 283 + +Red Sea, pirates in, _see_ Pirates + +Rhode Island, 223, 251, 271 + +Rich, Henry, Earl of Holland, 59 + + " Robert, Earl of Warwick, 50 and _n._, 52 + +Rio Garta, 138 + +Rio de la Hacha (New Granada), 38, 40, 44, 93, 98 _n._, 161, 232, 267 + +Rio Nuevo (Jamaica), 91 + +Riskinner, Captain Nicholas (Governor of Tortuga), 62 + +Rivero Pardal, Manuel, 159, 161 + +Roanoke Island (Carolina), 47 + +Roatan Island, 76, 138 + +Robertson, William, 285 + +Rogers, Captain Thomas (buccaneer), 174 _n._ + +Ronquillo, Don Pedro, 223 _n._, 243 + +Row, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Roxas de Valle-Figueroa, Don Gabriel, 82-83 + +Ruyter, Admiral Michel-Adriaanszoon van, 129 + +Ryswick, treaty of, 266 _n._ + + +Saba, 129, 130 and _n._ + +St. Augustine (Florida), 238, 251, 252 + +St. Christopher, _see_ St. Kitts + +St. Eustatius, 48, 67, 129, 130 and _n._, 133, 143 + +St. Jago de Cuba, 21, 42, 44, 91, 100, 104-6, 108 _n._, 109, 145, 159, +etc. + + " de la Vega (Jamaica), 50, 85, 86, 234, 237 _n._ + + " de los Cavalleros (Hispaniola), 114-15, 258 + +St. Kitts, 47, 48, 50, 54, 56, 58, 60, 63, 67, 80, etc. + +St. Laurent, Mons. de, 244, 247 _n._ + +St. Malo, corsairs of, 48 + +St. Martins, 130 + +St. Thomas, 235-7 + +Salisbury, Earl of, _see_ Cecil, Robert + +Samana, 77 _n._ + +Samballas Islands, 228 _n._ + +"Samson," 36 _n._ + +Sancti Spiritus (Cuba), 134, 135 and _n._ + +San Domingo, city of, 9 _n._, 21, 22, 35, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 60, 86, +etc. + + " French, _see_ Hispaniola + +Sandwich, Earl of, _see_ Montagu, Edward + +San Juan de Porto Rico, 21, 40, 41, 49 + + " d'Ulloa, _see_ Vera Cruz + + " River (Nicaragua), 16, 136, 138, 162 + +San Lorenzo, castle of (Chagre), 164-8, 170 _n._, 193, 194 and _n._ + +San Lucar, 11, 13, 15, 20 + +Santa Catalina, _see_ Providence Island + +Santa Cruz, 20, 48, 56, 117 + +Santa Marta (New Granada), 15, 40, 44, 93, 97, 161, 219-20, 226, 267 + +Santa Marta de la Vitoria (Tabasco), 139 _n._ + + " Tomas (Orinoco), 111, 222 + +Sasi Arnoldo, Don Christopher, 91, 105 + +"Satisfaction," 156 _n._ + +Sawkins, Captain (buccaneer), 225, 226 + +Scaliger, Joseph-Juste, 28 + +Scelle, Georges, 3, 285 + +Searle, Daniel (Governor of Barbadoes), 85 _n._ + +Searles, Captain Robert (buccaneer), 122, 131 + +Sedgwick, Major-General Robert, 96, 104 + +Seignelay, Marquis de, _see_ Colbert + +Seville, 11, 22, 26, 54, 103, 106, 109, 159 _n._, 207, etc. + +Sharp, Captain Bartholomew (buccaneer), 223, 224, 225 _n._, 228, 229, +245 + +Shirley, Sir Anthony, 85 + +"Sloop-trade," 27 + +Smart, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Smith, Major Samuel, 137, 139, 140 + +Sore, Jacques, 42, 45 + +Southey, Thomas, 283 + +Spain, colonial laws, 5, 10, 12, 13, 24 + + " colonial system, 1 _ff._ + + " commercial system, 6-13 + + " cruelties to English mariners, 29, 53-54, 88, 89 _n._, 207 + + " cruelties to Indians, 4, 9, 10, 32, 33, 89 _n._ + + " decline of, 1 _ff._, 46 + + " discovery and exploration in South America, 2-3 + + " exclusion of foreigners from Spanish Indies, 24 + + " privateers of, 207, 211 and _n._ + + " trade relations with England, 101-104 + + " treaty of 1667 with England, 141 + + " " 1670 with England, 196-7, 200, 209 + + " truce of 1609 with the Netherlands, _see_ Netherlands + + " venality of Spanish colonial governors, 26 _n._ + + " weakness of Spanish ships, 23 + +Spragge, Captain, R.N., 254 + +Stanley, Captain (buccaneer), 140 + +Stapleton, Sir William (Governor of Leeward Islands), 234, 236, 237 + +Stedman, Captain (buccaneer), 131 and _n._ + +Style, John, 153 _n._ + + +Tabasco River, 138, 139 _n._ + +Tavoga Island, 179, 188 + +Tavogilla Island, 179, 188 + +Taylor, John, 102 + +Terrier, Jean, 42 + +Thibault, 81-82, 83 _n._ + +Thomas, Dalby, 33 + +Thornbury, Walter, 284 + +Thurloe, John (Secretary of State), 104 + +Thurston, Captain (buccaneer), 201 + +Tobago, 15, 48, 67, 131, 268 + +Toledo, Don Federico de, 54, 58 + +Tolu (New Granada), 97, 267 + +Tortola, 130 + +Tortuga, 2, 55, 58-66, 69, 70, 73, 77, 80, 81, 113, etc. + +Trade, clandestine, _see_ Clandestine trade + +Treasure fleets, 13-24, 31, 85; + _cf. also_ Flota _and_ Galleons + +Treval, Mons. de, 82 + +Trinidad, 2, 15, 32 _n._, 46, 131, 222 + +"Trompense, La," 233-36, 238 _n._, 248, 249, 251 _n._ + + " La Nouvelle," 236 _n_. + +Truxillo (Honduras), 21, 22, 50, 77, 138, 222 + +Turrialva (Costa Rica), 136 + + +Utrecht, Treaty of, 272 + + +Vache, Isle la, _see_ Isle la Vache + +_Vaisseaux de registre_, 11, 22 and _n._ + +Vaissière, Pierre de, 284 + +Valladolid (Yucatan), 210 + +Valle-Figueroa, Don Gabriel Roxas de, _see_ Roxas de Valle-Figueroa + +Van Horn, Captain Nicholas (buccaneer), 241-43, 248 + +Vaughan, John, Lord (Governor of Jamaica), 205, 211, 212-22, 232 + +Venables, General Robert, 85 and _n._, 86, 87, 88, 89, 96, 113 + +Venezuela, 16, 23, 156 + +Venta Cruz (Darien), 17 _n._, 164, 170 _n._, 174 and _n._, 177 _n._, 192 +_n._, 193 + +Vera Cruz (New Spain), 11, 12 _n._, 14, 21, 22, 38, 49, 103, 109, 111, +etc., 241 + +Veragua, 136 and _n._ + +Vernon, Admiral Edward, 195 + +Verpre, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Vervins, Treaty of, 48 + +_Viande boucannée_, 66 + +Vigneron, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Villa de Mosa (Tabasco), 138 and _n._ + +Villalba y Toledo, Don Francisco de, 77 + +Villars, Marquis de, 9 _n._ + +Virgin Islands, 40, 235, 236 + +Virginia, 47, 51, 54, 112, 129, 201, 207, 272 + + +War between England and France, 1666-67, 131, 141 + +War between England and Netherlands, 1665-67, 127-41 + +War between France and Netherlands, 1674-78, 219 _ff._ + +War of the Spanish Succession, 271-72 + + " Succession of the Palatinate, 258 _ff._ + +Watson, Sir Francis, 257 + +Watts, Elias (Governor of Tortuga), 114, 116 and _n._, 117 + +Watts, Colonel William (Governor of St. Kitts), 130 _n._ + +Weiss, Charles, 285 + +West Indies, _see_ Indies, West + +Whitstone, Sir Thomas (buccaneer), 140, 273 + +Wilgress, Captain, 201 + +William III., King of England, 257, 258 + +Williams, Captain John, _alias_ Yankey (buccaneer), 235, 254 _n._, 274 + + " Captain Morris (buccaneer), 122 and _n._ + +Williamson, Sir Joseph (Secretary of State), 213 _n._, 217 + +Willoughby, William, Lord (Governor of Barbadoes), 131 + +Wilmot, Commodore Robert, 261 + +Windebank, Sir Francis (Secretary of State), 53 + +Windsor, Thomas, Lord (Governor of Jamaica), 97, 101 and _n._, 104, 105, +106-7, 111, 117, 118, 137 + +Winslow, Edward (Commissioner of Jamaica), 85 _n._ + +Winter, Sir William, 40 + +Witherborn, Captain Francis (buccaneer), 202 + +Wormeley, Captain Christopher (Governor of Tortuga), 59, 62 and _n._ + + +Yallahs, Captain (buccaneer) 201, 211 + +"Yankey," _see_ Williams, Captain John + +Yucatan, 2, 23, 82 _n._, 208, 210, 211 + + +Zuniga, Don Pedro de, 51 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Buccaneers in the West Indies in +the XVII Century, by Clarence Henry Haring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST *** + +***** This file should be named 19139-8.txt or 19139-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/3/19139/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, David King, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century + +Author: Clarence Henry Haring + +Release Date: August 29, 2006 [EBook #19139] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, David King, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>THE BUCCANEERS IN THE +WEST INDIES IN THE +XVII CENTURY</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>C.H. HARING</h2> + +<h3>WITH TEN MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + + +<p>METHUEN & CO. LTD.<br/> +36 ESSEX STREET W.C.<br/> +LONDON</p> + +<p><i>First Published in 1910</i></p> +<a name="illus-map" id="illus-map"><img width="600" height="426" src="images/frontispiece.png" alt="Map of the Caribbean"/></a> + + + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The principal facts about the exploits of the English +and French buccaneers of the seventeenth century +in the West Indies are sufficiently well known to +modern readers. The French Jesuit historians of the +Antilles have left us many interesting details of their +mode of life, and Exquemelin's history of the freebooters +has been reprinted numerous times both in France and +in England. Based upon these old, contemporary narratives, +modern accounts are issued from the press with +astonishing regularity, some of them purporting to be +serious history, others appearing in the more popular and +entertaining guise of romances. All, however, are alike +in confining themselves for their information to what may +almost be called the traditional sources—Exquemelin, the +Jesuits, and perhaps a few narratives like those of Dampier +and Wafer. To write another history of these privateers +or pirates, for they have, unfortunately, more than once +deserved that name, may seem a rather fruitless undertaking. +It is justified only by the fact that there exist +numerous other documents bearing upon the subject, +documents which till now have been entirely neglected. +Exquemelin has been reprinted, the story of the +buccaneers has been re-told, yet no writer, whether +editor or historian, has attempted to estimate the trustworthiness +of the old tales by comparing them with these +other sources, or to show the connection between the +buccaneers and the history of the English colonies in the +West Indies. The object of this volume, therefore, is +not only to give a narrative, according to the most +authentic, available sources, of the more brilliant exploits +of these sea-rovers, but, what is of greater interest and +importance, to trace the policy pursued toward them +by the English and French Governments.</p> + +<p>The "Buccaneers in the West Indies" was presented +as a thesis to the Board of Modern History of Oxford +University in May 1909 to fulfil the requirements for +the degree of Bachelor of Letters. It was written under +the supervision of C.H. Firth, Regius Professor of Modern +History in Oxford, and to him the writer owes a lasting +debt of gratitude for his unfailing aid and sympathy +during the course of preparation.</p> + +<p>C.H.H.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Oxford</span>, 1910</p> + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. Introductory</a><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. The Beginnings of the Buccaneers</a><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. The Conquest of Jamaica</a><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. Tortuga—1655-1664</a><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. Porto Bello and Panama</a><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. The Government Suppresses the Buccaneers</a><br/> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. The Buccaneers Turn Pirate</a><br/> +<br/> +<a href="#APPENDIX_I">APPENDIX I. English Buccaneers</a><br/> +<a href="#APPENDIX_I">APPENDIX II. List of Filibusters</a><br/> +<a href="#SOURCES">SOURCES AND BIBLIGRAPHY</a><br/> +<a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a><br/> +</p> + + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p> +<a href="#illus-map">Map of the West Indies</a><br/> +<a href="#illus-periagua">Spanish Periagua</a>, From <span class="sc">Exquemelin's</span> <i>Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux</i>, 1744<br/> +<a href="#illus-jamaica">A Correct Map of Jamaica</a>, From the <i>Royal Magazine</i>, 1760.<br/> +<a href="#illus-san-domingo">Map of San Domingo</a>, From <span class="sc">Charlevoix'</span> <i>Histoire de S. Domingue</i>.<br/> +<a href="#illus-portobelo">Plan of the Bay and Town of Portobelo</a>, From <span class="sc">Prevost d'Exiles'</span> <i>Voyages</i>.<br/> +<a href="#illus-panama">The Isthmus of Darien</a>, From <span class="sc">Exquelmelin's</span> <i>Bucaniers</i>, 1684-5.<br/> +<a href="#illus-vera-cruz">Plan of Vera-Cruz</a>, From <span class="sc">Charlevoix'</span> <i>Histoire de S. Domingue</i>, 1730.<br/> +<a href="#illus-cartagena">Plan of the Town and Roadstead of Cartegena +and of the Forts</a>, From <span class="sc">Baron de Pontis</span>' <i>Relation de ce qui c'est fait la prise de Carthagene</i>, Bruxelles, 1698.<br/> +</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page1" id="page1"></a>{1}</span> + + + +<center><a name="illus-periagua" id="illus-periagua"><img width="492" height="390" src="images/fp001.png" alt="Piriague Espagnole"/></a></center> +<h2>THE BUCCANEERS IN THE +WEST INDIES IN THE +XVII CENTURY</h2> + + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCTORY</h3> + +<h3>I.—THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM</h3> + + +<p>At the time of the discovery of America the Spaniards, +as M. Leroy-Beaulieu has remarked, were perhaps +less fitted than any other nation of western Europe +for the task of American colonization. Whatever may +have been the political <i>rôle</i> thrust upon them in the sixteenth +century by the Hapsburg marriages, whatever +certain historians may say of the grandeur and nobility of +the Spanish national character, Spain was then neither +rich nor populous, nor industrious. For centuries she had +been called upon to wage a continuous warfare with the +Moors, and during this time had not only found little +leisure to cultivate the arts of peace, but had acquired a +disdain for manual work which helped to mould her +colonial administration and influenced all her subsequent +history. And when the termination of the last of these +wars left her mistress of a united Spain, and the exploitation +of her own resources seemed to require all the energies +she could muster, an entire new hemisphere was suddenly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page2" id="page2"></a>{2}</span> +thrown open to her, and given into her hands by a papal +decree to possess and populate. Already weakened by +the exile of the most sober and industrious of her population, +the Jews; drawn into a foreign policy for which she +had neither the means nor the inclination; instituting at +home an economic policy which was almost epileptic in +its consequences, she found her strength dissipated, and +gradually sank into a condition of economic and political +impotence.</p> + +<p>Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor in the service +of the Castilian Crown, wishing to find a western route by +sea to India and especially to Zipangu (Japan), the magic +land described by the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, +landed on 12th October 1492, on "Guanahani," one of the +Bahama Islands. From "Guanahani" he passed on to +other islands of the same group, and thence to Hispaniola, +Tortuga and Cuba. Returning to Spain in March 1493, +he sailed again in September of the same year with +seventeen vessels and 1500 persons, and this time keeping +farther to the south, sighted Porto Rico and some of the +Lesser Antilles, founded a colony on Hispaniola, and +discovered Jamaica in 1494. On a third voyage in 1498 +he discovered Trinidad, and coasted along the shores of +South America from the Orinoco River to the island of +Margarita. After a fourth and last voyage in 1502-04, +Columbus died at Valladolid in 1506, in the firm belief +that he had discovered a part of the Continent of Asia.</p> + +<p>The entire circle of the Antilles having thus been +revealed before the end of the fifteenth century, the +Spaniards pushed forward to the continent. While +Hojida, Vespucci, Pinzon and de Solis were exploring the +eastern coast from La Plata to Yucatan, Ponce de Leon in +1512 discovered Florida, and in 1513 Vasco Nunez de +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" id="page3"></a>{3}</span> +Balboa descried the Pacific Ocean from the heights of +Darien, revealing for the first time the existence of a new +continent. In 1520 Magellan entered the Pacific through +the strait which bears his name, and a year later was +killed in one of the Philippine Islands. Within the next +twenty years Cortez had conquered the realm of Montezuma, +and Pizarro the empire of Peru; and thus within +the space of two generations all of the West Indies, North +America to California and the Carolinas, all of South +America except Brazil, which the error of Cabral gave to +the Portuguese, and in the east the Philippine Islands and +New Guinea passed under the sway of the Crown of +Castile.</p> + +<p>Ferdinand and Isabella in 1493 had consulted with +several persons of eminent learning to find out whether it +was necessary to obtain the investiture of the Pope for +their newly-discovered possessions, and all were of opinion +that this formality was unnecessary.<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> Nevertheless, on +3rd May 1493, a bull was granted by Pope Alexander VI., +which divided the sovereignty of those parts of the world +not possessed by any Christian prince between Spain and +Portugal by a meridian line 100 leagues west of the +Azores or of Cape Verde. Later Spanish writers made +much of this papal gift; yet, as Georges Scelle points +out,<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> it is possible that this bull was not so much a deed of +conveyance, investing the Spaniards with the proprietorship +of America, as it was an act of ecclesiastical jurisdiction +according them, on the strength of their acquired +right and proven Catholicism, a monopoly as it were in the +propagation of the faith. At that time, even Catholic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" id="page4"></a>{4}</span> +princes were no longer accustomed to seek the Pope's +sanction when making a new conquest, and certainly in +the domain of public law the Pope was not considered to +have temporal jurisdiction over the entire world. He did, +however, intervene in temporal matters when they directly +influenced spiritual affairs, and of this the propagation of +the faith was an instance. As the compromise between +Spain and Portugal was very indecisive, owing to the +difference in longitude of the Azores and Cape Verde, a +second Act was signed on 7th June 1494, which placed the +line of demarcation 270 leagues farther to the west.</p> + +<p>The colonization of the Spanish Indies, on its social +and administrative side, presents a curious contrast. On +the one hand we see the Spanish Crown, with high ideals of +order and justice, of religious and political unity, extending +to its ultramarine possessions its faith, its language, +its laws and its administration; providing for the welfare +of the aborigines with paternal solicitude; endeavouring +to restrain and temper the passions of the conquerors; +building churches and founding schools and monasteries; +in a word, trying to make its colonies an integral part of +the Spanish monarchy, "une société vieille dans une +contrée neuve." Some Spanish writers, it is true, have +exaggerated the virtues of their old colonial system; yet +that system had excellences which we cannot afford to +despise. If the Spanish kings had not choked their +government with procrastination and routine; if they had +only taken their task a bit less seriously and had not tried +to apply too strictly to an empty continent the paternal +administration of an older country; we might have been +privileged to witness the development and operation of as +complete and benign a system of colonial government as +has been devised in modern times. The public initiative +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" id="page5"></a>{5}</span> +of the Spanish government, and the care with which it +selected its colonists, compare very favourably with the +opportunism of the English and the French, who colonized +by chance private activity and sent the worst elements of +their population, criminals and vagabonds, to people their +new settlements across the sea. However much we may +deprecate the treatment of the Indians by the <i>conquistadores</i>, +we must not forget that the greater part of the +population of Spanish America to-day is still Indian, and +that no other colonizing people have succeeded like the +Spaniards in assimilating and civilizing the natives. The +code of laws which the Spaniards gradually evolved for +the rule of their transmarine provinces, was, in spite of +defects which are visible only to the larger experience of +the present day, one of the wisest, most humane and best co-ordinated +of any to this day published for any colony. +Although the Spaniards had to deal with a large population +of barbarous natives, the word "conquest" was suppressed +in legislation as ill-sounding, "because the peace is +to be sealed," they said, "not with the sound of arms, but +with charity and good-will."<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> + +<p>The actual results, however, of the social policy of the +Spanish kings fell far below the ideals they had set for +themselves. The monarchic spirit of the crown was so +strong that it crushed every healthy, expansive tendency +in the new countries. It burdened the colonies with a +numerous, privileged nobility, who congregated mostly in +the larger towns and set to the rest of the colonists a +pernicious example of idleness and luxury. In its zeal +for the propagation of the Faith, the Crown constituted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" id="page6"></a>{6}</span> +a powerfully endowed Church, which, while it did splendid +service in converting and civilizing the natives, engrossed +much of the land in the form of mainmort, and filled the +new world with thousands of idle, unproductive, and often +licentious friars. With an innate distrust and fear of +individual initiative, it gave virtual omnipotence to royal +officials and excluded all creoles from public employment. +In this fashion was transferred to America the crushing +political and ecclesiastical absolutism of the mother +country. Self-reliance and independence of thought or +action on the part of the creoles was discouraged, +divisions and factions among them were encouraged and +educational opportunities restricted, and the American-born +Spaniards gradually sank into idleness and lethargy, +indifferent to all but childish honours and distinctions +and petty local jealousies. To make matters worse, +many of the Spaniards who crossed the seas to the +American colonies came not to colonize, not to trade +or cultivate the soil, so much as to extract from the +natives a tribute of gold and silver. The Indians, instead +of being protected and civilized, were only too often +reduced to serfdom and confined to a laborious routine +for which they had neither the aptitude nor the strength; +while the government at home was too distant to +interfere effectively in their behalf. Driven by cruel +taskmasters they died by thousands from exhaustion +and despair, and in some places entirely disappeared.</p> + +<p>The Crown of Castile, moreover, in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries sought to extend Spanish commerce +and monopolize all the treasure of the Indies by means +of a rigid and complicated commercial system. Yet in +the end it saw the trade of the New World pass into +the hands of its rivals, its own marine reduced to a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" id="page7"></a>{7}</span> +shadow of its former strength, its crews and its vessels +supplied by merchants from foreign lands, and its riches +diverted at their very source.</p> + +<p>This Spanish commercial system was based upon +two distinct principles. One was the principle of +colonial exclusivism, according to which all the trade of +the colonies was to be reserved to the mother country. +Spain on her side undertook to furnish the colonies with +all they required, shipped upon Spanish vessels; the +colonies in return were to produce nothing but raw +materials and articles which did not compete with the +home products with which they were to be exchanged. +The second principle was the mercantile doctrine which, +considering as wealth itself the precious metals which +are but its symbol, laid down that money ought, by +every means possible, to be imported and hoarded, never +exported.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> This latter theory, the fallacy of which has +long been established, resulted in the endeavour of the +Spanish Hapsburgs to conserve the wealth of the country, +not by the encouragement of industry, but by the increase +and complexity of imposts. The former doctrine, adopted +by a non-producing country which was in no position to +fulfil its part in the colonial compact, led to the most +disastrous consequences.</p> + +<p>While the Spanish Crown was aiming to concentrate +and monopolize its colonial commerce, the prosperity of +Spain itself was slowly sapped by reason of these mistaken +economic theories. Owing to the lack of workmen, +the increase of imposts, and the prejudice against +the mechanic arts, industry was being ruined; while +the increased depopulation of the realm, the mainmort +of ecclesiastical lands, the majorats of the nobility and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" id="page8"></a>{8}</span> +the privileges of the Mesta, brought agriculture rapidly +into decay. The Spaniards, consequently, could not +export the products of their manufacture to the +colonies, when they did not have enough to supply their +own needs. To make up for this deficiency their +merchants were driven to have recourse to foreigners, +to whom they lent their names in order to elude a law +which forbade commerce between the colonies and traders +of other nations. In return for the manufactured articles +of the English, Dutch and French, and of the great commercial +cities like Genoa and Hamburg, they were obliged +to give their own raw materials and the products of the +Indies—wool, silks, wines and dried fruits, cochineal, dye-woods, +indigo and leather, and finally, indeed, ingots of +gold and silver. The trade in Spain thus in time became +a mere passive machine. Already in 1545 it had been +found impossible to furnish in less than six years the +goods demanded by the merchants of Spanish America. +At the end of the seventeenth century, foreigners were +supplying five-sixths of the manufactures consumed +in Spain itself, and engrossed nine-tenths of that +American trade which the Spaniards had sought so +carefully to monopolize.<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>{9}</span> + +<p>In the colonies the most striking feature of Spanish +economic policy was its wastefulness. After the conquest +of the New World, it was to the interest of the Spaniards +to gradually wean the native Indians from barbarism by +teaching them the arts and sciences of Europe, to encourage +such industries as were favoured by the soil, and +to furnish the growing colonies with those articles which +they could not produce themselves, and of which they +stood in need. Only thus could they justify their monopoly +of the markets of Spanish America. The same test, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>{10}</span> +indeed, may be applied to every other nation which +adopted the exclusivist system. Queen Isabella wished +to carry out this policy, introduced into the newly-discovered +islands wheat, the olive and the vine, and acclimatized +many of the European domestic animals.<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> Her +efforts, unfortunately, were not seconded by her successors, +nor by the Spaniards who went to the Indies. In time +the government itself, as well as the colonist, came to be +concerned, not so much with the agricultural products of +the Indies, but with the return of the precious metals. +Natives were made to work the mines, while many regions +adapted to agriculture, Guiana, Caracas and Buenos +Ayres, were neglected, and the peopling of the colonies +by Europeans was slow. The emperor, Charles V., did +little to stem this tendency, but drifted along with the +tide. Immigration was restricted to keep the colonies +free from the contamination of heresy and of foreigners. +The Spanish population was concentrated in cities, and +the country divided into great estates granted by the +crown to the families of the <i>conquistadores</i> or to favourites +at court. The immense areas of Peru, Buenos Ayres and +Mexico were submitted to the most unjust and arbitrary +regulations, with no object but to stifle growing industry +and put them in absolute dependence upon the metropolis. +It was forbidden to exercise the trades of dyer, fuller, +weaver, shoemaker or hatter, and the natives were compelled +to buy of the Spaniards even the stuffs they wore +on their backs. Another ordinance prohibited the cultivation +of the vine and the olive except in Peru and Chili, +and even these provinces might not send their oil and +wine to Panama, Gautemala or any other place which +could be supplied from Spain.<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> To maintain the commercial +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>{11}</span> +monopoly, legitimate ports of entry in Spanish +America were made few and far apart—for Mexico, Vera +Cruz, for New Granada, the town of Cartagena. The +islands and most of the other provinces were supplied by +uncertain "vaisseaux de registre," while Peru and Chili, +finding all direct commerce by the Pacific or South Sea +interdicted, were obliged to resort to the fever-ridden town +of Porto Bello, where the mortality was enormous and the +prices increased tenfold.</p> + +<p>In Spain, likewise, the colonial commerce was restricted +to one port—Seville. For in the estimation of +the crown it was much more important to avoid being +defrauded of its dues on import and export, than to +permit the natural development of trade by those towns +best fitted to acquire it. Another reason, prior in point +of time perhaps, why Seville was chosen as the port +for American trade, was that the Indies were regarded +as the exclusive appanage of the crown of Castile, and +of that realm Seville was then the chief mercantile city. +It was not a suitable port, however, to be distinguished +by so high a privilege. Only ships of less than 200 tons +were able to cross the bar of San Lucar, and goods therefore +had to be transhipped—a disability which was soon +felt when traffic and vessels became heavier.<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> The fact, +nevertheless, that the official organization called the <i>Casa +dé Contratacion</i> was seated in Seville, together with the +influence of the vested interests of the merchants whose +prosperity depended upon the retention of that city +as the one port for Indian commerce, were sufficient +to bear down all opposition. The maritime towns +of Galicia and Asturia, inhabited by better seamen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>{12}</span> +and stronger races, often protested, and sometimes +succeeded in obtaining a small share of the lucrative +trade.<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> But Seville retained its primacy until 1717, +in which year the <i>Contratacion</i> was transferred to +Cadiz.</p> + +<p>The administration of the complex rules governing the +commerce between Spain and her colonies was entrusted +to two institutions located at Seville,—the <i>Casa de Contratacion</i>, +mentioned above, and the <i>Consulado</i>. The <i>Casa de +Contratacion</i>, founded by royal decree as early as 1503, +was both a judicial tribunal and a house of commerce. +Nothing might be sent to the Indies without its consent; +nothing might be brought back and landed, either on the +account of merchants or of the King himself, without its +authorization. It received all the revenues accruing from +the Indies, not only the imposts on commerce, but also all +the taxes remitted by colonial officers. As a consultative +body it had the right to propose directly to the King +anything which it deemed necessary to the development +and organization of American commerce; and as a tribunal +it possessed an absolute competence over all crimes under +the common law, and over all infractions of the ordinances +governing the trade of the Indies, to the exclusion of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>{13}</span> +every ordinary court. Its jurisdiction began at the +moment the passengers and crews embarked and the +goods were put on board, and ended only when the return +voyage and disembarkation had been completed.<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a> The +civil jurisdiction of the <i>Casa</i> was much more restricted +and disputes purely commercial in character between the +merchants were reserved to the <i>Consulado</i>, which was a +tribunal of commerce chosen entirely by the merchants +themselves. Appeals in certain cases might be carried to +the Council of the Indies.<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a></p> + +<p>The first means adopted by the northern maritime +nations to appropriate to themselves a share of the riches +of the New World was open, semi-piratical attack upon +the Spanish argosies returning from those distant +El Dorados. The success of the Norman and Breton +corsairs, for it was the French, not the English, who +started the game, gradually forced upon the Spaniards, +as a means of protection, the establishment of great +merchant fleets sailing periodically at long intervals and +accompanied by powerful convoys. During the first half +of the sixteenth century any ship which had fulfilled the +conditions required for engaging in American commerce +was allowed to depart alone and at any time of the year. +From about 1526, however, merchant vessels were ordered +to sail together, and by a <i>cedula</i> of July 1561, the system +of fleets was made permanent and obligatory. This decree +prohibited any ship from sailing alone to America from +Cadiz or San Lucar on pain of forfeiture of ship and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>{14}</span> +cargo.<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a> Two fleets were organized each year, one for +Terra Firma going to Cartagena and Porto Bello, the other +designed for the port of San Juan d'Ulloa (Vera Cruz) in +New Spain. The latter, called the Flota, was commanded +by an "almirante," and sailed for Mexico in the early +summer so as to avoid the hurricane season and the +"northers" of the Mexican Gulf. The former was usually +called the galeones (<i>anglice</i> "galleons"), was commanded +by a "general," and sailed from Spain earlier in the year, +between January and March. If it departed in March, it +usually wintered at Havana and returned with the Flota +in the following spring. Sometimes the two fleets sailed +together and separated at Guadaloupe, Deseada or another +of the Leeward Islands.<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a></p> + +<p>The galleons generally consisted of from five to eight +war-vessels carrying from forty to fifty guns, together with +several smaller, faster boats called "pataches," and a fleet +of merchantmen varying in number in different years. In +the time of Philip II. often as many as forty ships supplied +Cartagena and Porto Bello, but in succeeding reigns, +although the population of the Indies was rapidly increasing, +American commerce fell off so sadly that eight or ten +were sufficient for all the trade of South and Central +America. The general of the galleons, on his departure, +received from the Council of the Indies three sealed +packets. The first, opened at the Canaries, contained the +name of the island in the West Indies at which the fleet was +first to call. The second was unsealed after the galleons +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>{15}</span> +arrived at Cartagena, and contained instructions for the +fleet to return in the same year or to winter in America. +In the third, left unopened until the fleet had emerged +from the Bahama Channel on the homeward voyage, +were orders for the route to the Azores and the islands +they should touch in passing, usually Corvo and Flores or +Santa Maria.<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a></p> + +<p>The course of the galleons from San Lucar was south-west +to Teneriffe on the African coast, and thence to +the Grand Canary to call for provisions—considered in +all a run of eight days. From the Canaries one of the +pataches sailed on alone to Cartagena and Porto Bello, +carrying letters and packets from the Court and announcing +the coming of the fleet. If the two fleets sailed +together, they steered south-west from the Canaries to +about the latitude of Deseada, 15' 30", and then catching +the Trade winds continued due west, rarely changing a +sail until Deseada or one of the other West Indian islands +was sighted. From Deseada the galleons steered an easy +course to Cape de la Vela, and thence to Cartagena. +When the galleons sailed from Spain alone, however, +they entered the Caribbean Sea by the channel between +Tobago and Trinidad, afterwards named the Galleons' +Passage. Opposite Margarita a second patache left the +fleet to visit the island and collect the royal revenues, +although after the exhaustion of the pearl fisheries the +island lost most of its importance. As the fleet advanced +into regions where more security was felt, merchant ships +too, which were intended to unload and trade on the +coasts they were passing, detached themselves during the +night and made for Caracas, Santa Marta or Maracaibo +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16"></a>{16}</span> +to get silver, cochineal, leather and cocoa. The Margarita +patache, meanwhile, had sailed on to Cumana and Caracas +to receive there the king's treasure, mostly paid in cocoa, +the real currency of the country, and thence proceeded to +Cartagena to rejoin the galleons.<a id="footnotetag15" name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15"><sup>15</sup></a></p> + +<p>The fleet reached Cartagena ordinarily about two +months after its departure from Cadiz. On its arrival, the +general forwarded the news to Porto Bello, together with +the packets destined for the viceroy at Lima. From +Porto Bello a courier hastened across the isthmus to +the President of Panama, who spread the advice amongst +the merchants in his jurisdiction, and, at the same time, +sent a dispatch boat to Payta, in Peru. The general of +the galleons, meanwhile, was also sending a courier overland +to Lima, and another to Santa Fe, the capital of the +interior province of New Granada, whence runners carried +to Popagan, Antioquia, Mariguita, and adjacent provinces, +the news of his arrival.<a id="footnotetag16" name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16"><sup>16</sup></a> The galleons were instructed to +remain at Cartagena only a month, but bribes from the +merchants generally made it their interest to linger for +fifty or sixty days. To Cartagena came the gold and +emeralds of New Granada, the pearls of Margarita and +Rancherias, and the indigo, tobacco, cocoa and other +products of the Venezuelan coast. The merchants of +Gautemala, likewise, shipped their commodities to Cartagena +by way of Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan river, +for they feared to send goods across the Gulf of Honduras +to Havana, because of the French and English buccaneers +hanging about Cape San Antonio.<a id="footnotetag17" name="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17"><sup>17</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>{17}</span> + +<p>Meanwhile the viceroy at Lima, on receipt of his +letters, ordered the Armada of the South Sea to prepare +to sail, and sent word south to Chili and throughout the +province of Peru from Las Charcas to Quito, to forward +the King's revenues for shipment to Panama. Within +less than a fortnight all was in readiness. The Armada, +carrying a considerable treasure, sailed from Callao and, +touching at Payta, was joined by the Navio del Oro +(golden ship), which carried the gold from the province of +Quito and adjacent districts. While the galleons were +approaching Porto Bello the South Sea fleet arrived +before Panama, and the merchants of Chili and Peru +began to transfer their merchandise on mules across the +high back of the isthmus.<a id="footnotetag18" name="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18"><sup>18</sup></a></p> + +<p>Then began the famous fair of Porto Bello.<a id="footnotetag19" name="footnotetag19"></a><a href="#footnote19"><sup>19</sup></a> The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>{18}</span> +town, whose permanent population was very small and +composed mostly of negroes and mulattos, was suddenly +called upon to accommodate an enormous crowd of merchants, +soldiers and seamen. Food and shelter were to +be had only at extraordinary prices. When Thomas +Gage was in Porto Bello in 1637 he was compelled to +pay 120 crowns for a very small, meanly-furnished room +for a fortnight. Merchants gave as much as 1000 crowns +for a moderate-sized shop in which to sell their commodities. +Owing to overcrowding, bad sanitation, and +an extremely unhealthy climate, the place became an +open grave, ready to swallow all who resorted there. In +1637, during the fifteen days that the galleons remained +at Porto Bello, 500 men died of sickness. Meanwhile, +day by day, the mule-trains from Panama were winding +their way into the town. Gage in one day counted 200 +mules laden with wedges of silver, which were unloaded +in the market-place and permitted to lie about like +heaps of stones in the streets, without causing any +fear or suspicion of being lost.<a id="footnotetag20" name="footnotetag20"></a><a href="#footnote20"><sup>20</sup></a> While the treasure +of the King of Spain was being transferred to the +galleons in the harbour, the merchants were making +their trade. There was little liberty, however, in commercial +transactions, for the prices were fixed and +published beforehand, and when negotiations began exchange +was purely mechanical. The fair, which was +supposed to be open for forty days, was, in later times, +generally completed in ten or twelve. At the beginning +of the eighteenth century the volume of business transacted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>{19}</span> +was estimated to amount to thirty or forty million +pounds sterling.<a id="footnotetag21" name="footnotetag21"></a><a href="#footnote21"><sup>21</sup></a></p> + +<p>In view of the prevailing east wind in these regions, +and the maze of reefs, cays and shoals extending far out +to sea from the Mosquito Coast, the galleons, in making +their course from Porto Bello to Havana, first sailed back +to Cartagena upon the eastward coast eddy, so as to +get well to windward of Nicaragua before attempting +the passage through the Yucatan Channel.<a id="footnotetag22" name="footnotetag22"></a><a href="#footnote22"><sup>22</sup></a> The fleet +anchored at Cartagena a second time for ten or twelve +days, where it was rejoined by the patache of Margarita<a id="footnotetag23" name="footnotetag23"></a><a href="#footnote23"><sup>23</sup></a> +and by the merchant ships which had been sent to trade +in Terra-Firma. From Cartagena, too, the general sent +dispatches to Spain and to Havana, giving the condition +of the vessels, the state of trade, the day when he +expected to sail, and the probable time of arrival.<a id="footnotetag24" name="footnotetag24"></a><a href="#footnote24"><sup>24</sup></a> For +when the galleons were in the Indies all ports were +closed by the Spaniards, for fear that precious information +of the whereabouts of the fleet and of the value of its +cargo might inconveniently leak out to their rivals. +From Cartagena the course was north-west past Jamaica +and the Caymans to the Isle of Pines, and thence round +Capes Corrientes and San Antonio to Havana. The +fleet generally required about eight days for the journey, +and arrived at Havana late in the summer. Here the +galleons refitted and revictualled, received tobacco, sugar, +and other Cuban exports, and if not ordered to return with +the Flota, sailed for Spain no later than the middle of +September. The course for Spain was from Cuba through +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>{20}</span> +the Bahama Channel, north-east between the Virginian +Capes and the Bermudas to about 38°, in order to recover +the strong northerly winds, and then east to the Azores. +In winter the galleons sometimes ran south of the Bermudas, +and then slowly worked up to the higher latitude; +but in this case they often either lost some ships on the +Bermuda shoals, or to avoid these slipped too far south, +were forced back into the West Indies and missed their +voyage altogether.<a id="footnotetag25" name="footnotetag25"></a><a href="#footnote25"><sup>25</sup></a> At the Azores the general, falling +in with his first intelligence from Spain, learned where on +the coast of Europe or Africa he was to sight land; and +finally, in the latter part of October or the beginning of +November, he dropped anchor at San Lucar or in Cadiz +harbour.</p> + +<p>The Flota or Mexican fleet, consisting in the seventeenth +century of two galleons of 800 or 900 tons and +from fifteen to twenty merchantmen, usually left Cadiz +between June and July and wintered in America; but +if it was to return with the galleons from Havana in +September it sailed for the Indies as early as April. The +course from Spain to the Indies was the same as for the +fleet of Terra-Firma. From Deseada or Guadeloupe, however, +the Flota steered north-west, passing Santa Cruz and +Porto Rico on the north, and sighting the little isles of +Mona and Saona, as far as the Bay of Neyba in Hispaniola, +where the ships took on fresh wood and water.<a id="footnotetag26" name="footnotetag26"></a><a href="#footnote26"><sup>26</sup></a> Putting +to sea again, and circling round Beata and Alta Vela, the +fleet sighted in turn Cape Tiburon, Cape de Cruz, the Isle +of Pines, and Capes Corrientes and San Antonio at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>{21}</span> +west end of Cuba. Meanwhile merchant ships had dropped +away one by one, sailing to San Juan de Porto Rico, San +Domingo, St. Jago de Cuba and even to Truxillo and +Cavallos in Honduras, to carry orders from Spain to the +governors, receive cargoes of leather, cocoa, etc., and rejoin +the Flota at Havana. From Cape San Antonio to Vera +Cruz there was an outside or winter route and an inside or +summer route. The former lay north-west between the +Alacranes and the Negrillos to the Mexican coast about +sixteen leagues north of Vera Cruz, and then down before +the wind into the desired haven. The summer track was +much closer to the shore of Campeache, the fleet threading +its way among the cays and shoals, and approaching Vera +Cruz by a channel on the south-east.</p> + +<p>If the Flota sailed from Spain in July it generally +arrived at Vera Cruz in the first fifteen days of September, +and the ships were at once laid up until March, when the +crews reassembled to careen and refit them. If the fleet +was to return in the same year, however, the exports of +New Spain and adjacent provinces, the goods from China +and the Philippines carried across Mexico from the Pacific +port of Acapulco, and the ten or twelve millions of treasure +for the king, were at once put on board and the ships +departed to join the galleons at Havana. Otherwise the +fleet sailed from Vera Cruz in April, and as it lay dead to +the leeward of Cuba, used the northerly winds to about +25°, then steered south-east and reached Havana in +eighteen or twenty days. By the beginning of June it +was ready to sail for Spain, where it arrived at the end +of July, by the same course as that followed by the +galleons.<a id="footnotetag27" name="footnotetag27"></a><a href="#footnote27"><sup>27</sup></a></p> + +<p>We are accustomed to think of Spanish commerce +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>{22}</span> +with the Indies as being made solely by great fleets which +sailed yearly from Seville or Cadiz to Mexico and the +Isthmus of Darien. There were, however, always exceptions +to this rule. When, as sometimes happened, the +Flota did not sail, two ships of 600 or 700 tons were sent +by the King of Spain to Vera Cruz to carry the quicksilver +necessary for the mines. The metal was divided +between New Spain and Peru by the viceroy at Mexico, +who sent <i>via</i> Gautemala the portion intended for the +south. These ships, called "azogues," carried from 2000 +to 2500 quintals<a id="footnotetag28" name="footnotetag28"></a><a href="#footnote28"><sup>28</sup></a> of silver, and sometimes convoyed six +or seven merchant vessels. From time to time an isolated +ship was also allowed to sail from Spain to Caracas with +licence from the Council of the Indies and the <i>Contratacion</i>, +paying the king a duty of five ducats on the ton. +It was called the "register of Caracas," took the same +route as the galleons, and returned with one of the fleets +from Havana. Similar vessels traded at Maracaibo, in +Porto Rico and at San Domingo, at Havana and Matanzas +in Cuba and at Truxillo and Campeache.<a id="footnotetag29" name="footnotetag29"></a><a href="#footnote29"><sup>29</sup></a> There was +always, moreover, a special traffic with Buenos Ayres. +This port was opened to a limited trade in negroes in +1595. In 1602 permission was given to the inhabitants +of La Plata to export for six years the products of +their lands to other Spanish possessions, in exchange +for goods of which they had need; and when in 1616 +the colonists demanded an indefinite renewal of this +privilege, the sop thrown to them was the bare right +of trade to the amount of 100 tons every three years. +Later in the century the Council of the Indies extended +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>{23}</span> +the period to five years, so as not to prejudice the trade +of the galleons.<a id="footnotetag30" name="footnotetag30"></a><a href="#footnote30"><sup>30</sup></a></p> + +<p>It was this commerce, which we have noticed at such +length, that the buccaneers of the West Indies in the +seventeenth century came to regard as their legitimate +prey. These "corsarios Luteranos," as the Spaniards +sometimes called them, scouring the coast of the Main +from Venezuela to Cartagena, hovering about the broad +channel between Cuba and Yucatan, or prowling in the +Florida Straits, became the nightmare of Spanish seamen. +Like a pack of terriers they hung upon the skirts of the +great unwieldy fleets, ready to snap up any unfortunate +vessel which a tempest or other accident had separated +from its fellows. When Thomas Gage was sailing in the +galleons from Porto Bello to Cartagena in 1637, four +buccaneers hovering near them carried away two merchant-ships +under cover of darkness. As the same fleet was +departing from Havana, just outside the harbour two +strange vessels appeared in their midst, and getting to +the windward of them singled out a Spanish ship which +had strayed a short distance from the rest, suddenly +gave her a broadside and made her yield. The vessel +was laden with sugar and other goods to the value of +80,000 crowns. The Spanish vice-admiral and two other +galleons gave chase, but without success, for the wind +was against them. The whole action lasted only half +an hour.<a id="footnotetag31" name="footnotetag31"></a><a href="#footnote31"><sup>31</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Spanish ships of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries were notoriously clumsy and unseaworthy. +With short keel and towering poop and forecastle they +were an easy prey for the long, low, close-sailing sloops +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>{24}</span> +and barques of the buccaneers. But this was not their +only weakness. Although the king expressly prohibited +the loading of merchandise on the galleons except on +the king's account, this rule was often broken for the +private profit of the captain, the sailors, and even of the +general. The men-of-war, indeed, were sometimes so +embarrassed with goods and passengers that it was +scarcely possible to defend them when attacked. The +galleon which bore the general's flag had often as many +as 700 souls, crew, marines and passengers, on board, and +the same number were crowded upon those carrying the +vice-admiral and the pilot. Ship-masters frequently hired +guns, anchors, cables, and stores to make up the required +equipment, and men to fill up the muster-rolls, against the +time when the "visitadors" came on board to make their +official inspection, getting rid of the stores and men +immediately afterward. Merchant ships were armed with +such feeble crews, owing to the excessive crowding, that +it was all they could do to withstand the least spell +of bad weather, let alone outmanœuvre a swift-sailing +buccaneer.<a id="footnotetag32" name="footnotetag32"></a><a href="#footnote32"><sup>32</sup></a></p> + +<p>By Spanish law strangers were forbidden to resort to, +or reside in, the Indies without express permission of the +king. By law, moreover, they might not trade with the +Indies from Spain, either on their own account or through +the intermediary of a Spaniard, and they were forbidden +even to associate with those engaged in such a trade. +Colonists were stringently enjoined from having anything +to do with them. In 1569 an order was issued for the +seizure of all goods sent to the colonies on the account of +foreigners, and a royal <i>cedula</i> of 1614 decreed the penalty +of death and confiscation upon any who connived at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>{25}</span> +participation of foreigners in Spanish colonial commerce.<a id="footnotetag33" name="footnotetag33"></a><a href="#footnote33"><sup>33</sup></a> +It was impossible, however, to maintain so complete an +exclusion when the products of Spain fell far short of +supplying the needs of the colonists. Foreign merchants +were bound to have a hand in this traffic, and the Spanish +government tried to recompense itself by imposing on the +out-going cargoes tyrannical exactions called "indults." +The results were fatal. Foreigners often eluded these +impositions by interloping in the West Indies and in the +South Sea.<a id="footnotetag34" name="footnotetag34"></a><a href="#footnote34"><sup>34</sup></a> And as the <i>Contratacion</i>, by fixing each +year the nature and quantity of the goods to be shipped +to the colonies, raised the price of merchandise at will and +reaped enormous profits, the colonists welcomed this +contraband trade as an opportunity of enriching themselves +and adding to the comforts and luxuries of living.</p> + +<p>From the beginning of the seventeenth century as +many as 200 ships sailed each year from Portugal with +rich cargoes of silks, cloths and woollens intended for +Spanish America.<a id="footnotetag35" name="footnotetag35"></a><a href="#footnote35"><sup>35</sup></a> The Portuguese bought these articles +of the Flemish, English, and French, loaded them at +Lisbon and Oporto, ran their vessels to Brazil and up the +La Plata as far as navigation permitted, and then transported +the goods overland through Paraguay and Tucuman +to Potosi and even to Lima. The Spanish merchants of +Peru kept factors in Brazil as well as in Spain, and as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>{26}</span> +Portuguese imposts were not so excessive as those levied +at Cadiz and Seville, the Portuguese could undersell their +Spanish rivals. The frequent possession of Assientos by +the Portuguese and Dutch in the first half of the seventeenth +century also facilitated this contraband, for when +carrying negroes from Africa to Hispaniola, Cuba and the +towns on the Main, they profited by their opportunities to +sell merchandise also, and generally without the least +obstacle.</p> + +<p>Other nations in the seventeenth century were not slow +to follow the same course; and two circumstances contributed +to make that course easy. One was the great +length of coast line on both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes +over which a surveillance had to be exercised, making it +difficult to catch the interlopers. The other was the venal +connivance of the governors of the ports, who often +tolerated and even encouraged the traffic on the plea that +the colonists demanded it.<a id="footnotetag36" name="footnotetag36"></a><a href="#footnote36"><sup>36</sup></a> The subterfuges adopted by +the interlopers were very simple. When a vessel wished +to enter a Spanish port to trade, the captain, pretending +that provisions had run low, or that the ship suffered from +a leak or a broken mast, sent a polite note to the governor +accompanied by a considerable gift. He generally +obtained permission to enter, unload, and put the ship into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>{27}</span> +a seaworthy condition. All the formalities were minutely +observed. The unloaded goods were shut up in a storehouse, +and the doors sealed. But there was always found +another door unsealed, and by this they abstracted the +goods during the night, and substituted coin or bars of +gold and silver. When the vessel was repaired to the +captain's satisfaction, it was reloaded and sailed away.</p> + +<p>There was also, especially on the shores of the +Caribbean Sea, a less elaborate commerce called "sloop-trade," +for it was usually managed by sloops which hovered +near some secluded spot on the coast, often at the mouth +of a river, and informed the inhabitants of their presence +in the neighbourhood by firing a shot from a cannon. +Sometimes a large ship filled with merchandise was +stationed in a bay close at hand, and by means of these +smaller craft made its trade with the colonists. The latter, +generally in disguise, came off in canoes by night. The +interlopers, however, were always on guard against such +dangerous visitors, and never admitted more than a few at +a time; for when the Spaniards found themselves stronger +than the crew, and a favourable opportunity presented +itself, they rarely failed to attempt the vessel.</p> + +<p>Thus the Spaniards of the seventeenth century, by +persisting, both at home and in their colonies, in an +economic policy which was fatally inconsistent with +their powers and resources, saw their commerce gradually +extinguished by the ships of the foreign interloper, and +their tropical possessions fall a prey to marauding bands +of half-piratical buccaneers. Although struggling under +tremendous initial disabilities in Europe, they had +attempted, upon the slender pleas of prior discovery +and papal investiture, to reserve half the world to +themselves. Without a marine, without maritime traditions, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>{28}</span> +they sought to hold a colonial empire greater +than any the world had yet seen, and comparable only +with the empire of Great Britain three centuries later. +By discouraging industry in Spain, and yet enforcing in +the colonies an absolute commercial dependence on the +home-country, by combining in their rule of distant +America a solicitous paternalism with a restriction of +initiative altogether disastrous in its consequences, the +Spaniards succeeded in reducing their colonies to political +impotence. And when, to make their grip the more firm, +they evolved, as a method of outwitting the foreigner of his +spoils, the system of great fleets and single ports of call, +they found the very means they had contrived for their +own safety to be the instrument of commercial disaster.</p> + + +<h3>II.—THE FREEBOOTERS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY</h3> + +<p>It was the French chronologist, Scaliger, who in the +sixteenth century asserted, "nulli melius piraticam +exercent quam Angli"; and although he had no need +to cross the Channel to find men proficient in this +primitive calling, the remark applies to the England of +his time with a force which we to-day scarcely realise. +Certainly the inveterate hostility with which the Englishman +learned to regard the Spaniard in the latter half of +the sixteenth and throughout the seventeenth centuries +found its most remarkable expression in the exploits of +the Elizabethan "sea-dogs" and of the buccaneers of +a later period. The religious differences and political +jealousies which grew out of the turmoil of the +Reformation, and the moral anarchy incident to the +dissolution of ancient religious institutions, were the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>{29}</span> +motive causes for an outburst of piratical activity +comparable only with the professional piracy of the +Barbary States.</p> + +<p>Even as far back as the thirteenth century, indeed, +lawless sea-rovers, mostly Bretons and Flemings, had +infested the English Channel and the seas about Great +Britain. In the sixteenth this mode of livelihood +became the refuge for numerous young Englishmen, +Catholic and Protestant, who, fleeing from the persecutions +of Edward VI. and of Mary, sought refuge in +French ports or in the recesses of the Irish coast, and +became the leaders of wild roving bands living chiefly +upon plunder. Among them during these persecutions +were found many men belonging to the best families +in England, and although with the accession of Elizabeth +most of the leaders returned to the service of the State, +the pirate crews remained at their old trade. The +contagion spread, especially in the western counties, +and great numbers of fishermen who found their old +employment profitless were recruited into this new +calling.<a id="footnotetag37" name="footnotetag37"></a><a href="#footnote37"><sup>37</sup></a> At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign we find +these Anglo-Irish pirates venturing farther south, +plundering treasure galleons off the coast of Spain, and +cutting vessels out of the very ports of the Spanish king. +Such outrages of course provoked reprisals, and the +pirates, if caught, were sent to the galleys, rotted in the +dungeons of the Inquisition, or, least of all, were burnt +in the plaza at Valladolid. These cruelties only added +fuel to a deadly hatred which was kindling between the +two nations, a hatred which it took one hundred and +fifty years to quench.</p> + +<p>The most venturesome of these sea-rovers, however, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>{30}</span> +were soon attracted to a larger and more distant sphere +of activity. Spain, as we have seen, was then endeavouring +to reserve to herself in the western hemisphere an +entire new world; and this at a time when the great +northern maritime powers, France, England and Holland, +were in the full tide of economic development, restless +with new thoughts, hopes and ambitions, and keenly +jealous of new commercial and industrial outlets. The +famous Bull of Alexander VI. had provoked Francis I. +to express a desire "to see the clause in Adam's will +which entitled his brothers of Castile and Portugal to +divide the New World between them," and very early the +French corsairs had been encouraged to test the pretensions +of the Spaniards by the time-honoured proofs of +fire and steel. The English nation, however, in the first +half of the sixteenth century, had not disputed with Spain +her exclusive trade and dominion in those regions. The +hardy mariners of the north were still indifferent to the +wonders of a new continent awaiting their exploitation, +and it was left to the Spaniards to unfold before the eyes +of Europe the vast riches of America, and to found +empires on the plateaus of Mexico and beyond the Andes. +During the reign of Philip II. all this was changed. +English privateers began to extend their operations +westward, and to sap the very sources of Spanish wealth +and power, while the wars which absorbed the attention +of the Spaniards in Europe, from the revolt of the Low +Countries to the Treaty of Westphalia, left the field clear +for these ubiquitous sea-rovers. The maritime powers, +although obliged by the theory of colonial exclusion to +pretend to acquiesce in the Spaniard's claim to tropical +America, secretly protected and supported their mariners +who coursed those western seas. France and England +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>{31}</span> +were now jealous and fearful of Spanish predominance +in Europe, and kept eyes obstinately fixed on the inexhaustible +streams of gold and silver by means of which +Spain was enabled to pay her armies and man her fleets. +Queen Elizabeth, while she publicly excused or disavowed +to Philip II. the outrages committed by Hawkins and +Drake, blaming the turbulence of the times and promising +to do her utmost to suppress the disorders, was secretly +one of the principal shareholders in their enterprises.</p> + +<p>The policy of the marauders was simple. The treasure +which oiled the machinery of Spanish policy came from +the Indies where it was accumulated; hence there were +only two means of obtaining possession of it:—bold raids +on the ill-protected American continent, and the capture +of vessels <i>en route</i>.<a id="footnotetag38" name="footnotetag38"></a><a href="#footnote38"><sup>38</sup></a> The counter policy of the Spaniards +was also two-fold:—on the one hand, the establishment +of commerce by means of annual fleets protected by a +powerful convoy; on the other, the removal of the centres +of population from the coasts to the interior of the +country far from danger of attack.<a id="footnotetag39" name="footnotetag39"></a><a href="#footnote39"><sup>39</sup></a> The Spaniards in +America, however, proved to be no match for the bold, +intrepid mariners who disputed their supremacy. The +descendants of the <i>Conquistadores</i> had deteriorated sadly +from the type of their forbears. Softened by tropical +heats and a crude, uncultured luxury, they seem to have +lost initiative and power of resistance. The disastrous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>{32}</span> +commercial system of monopoly and centralization forced +them to vegetate; while the policy of confining political +office to native-born Spaniards denied any outlet to +creole talent and energy. Moreover, the productive power +and administrative abilities of the native-born Spaniards +themselves were gradually being paralyzed and reduced +to impotence under the crushing obligation of preserving +and defending so unwieldy an empire and of managing +such disproportionate riches, a task for which they had +neither the aptitude nor the means.<a id="footnotetag40" name="footnotetag40"></a><a href="#footnote40"><sup>40</sup></a> Privateering in the +West Indies may indeed be regarded as a challenge to +the Spaniards of America, sunk in lethargy and living +upon the credit of past glory and achievement, a challenge +to prove their right to retain their dominion and extend +their civilization and culture over half the world.<a id="footnotetag41" name="footnotetag41"></a><a href="#footnote41"><sup>41</sup></a></p> + +<p>There were other motives which lay behind these +piratical aggressions of the French and English in Spanish +America. The Spaniards, ever since the days of the +Dominican monk and bishop, Las Casas, had been reprobated +as the heartless oppressors and murderers of +the native Indians. The original owners of the soil had +been dispossessed and reduced to slavery. In the West +Indies, the great islands, Cuba and Hispaniola, were +rendered desolate for want of inhabitants. Two great +empires, Mexico and Peru, had been subdued by treachery, +their kings murdered, and their people made to suffer a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>{33}</span> +living death in the mines of Potosi and New Spain. +Such was the Protestant Englishman's conception, in the +sixteenth century, of the results of Spanish colonial policy. +To avenge the blood of these innocent victims, and teach +the true religion to the survivors, was to glorify the Church +militant and strike a blow at Antichrist. Spain, moreover, +in the eyes of the Puritans, was the lieutenant of +Rome, the Scarlet Woman of the Apocalypse, who harried +and burnt their Protestant brethren whenever she could +lay hands upon them. That she was eager to repeat her +ill-starred attempt of 1588 and introduce into the British +Isles the accursed Inquisition was patent to everyone. +Protestant England, therefore, filled with the enthusiasm +and intolerance of a new faith, made no bones of despoiling +the Spaniards, especially as the service of God was likely +to be repaid with plunder.</p> + +<p>A pamphlet written by Dalby Thomas in 1690 expresses +with tolerable accuracy the attitude of the average +Englishman toward Spain during the previous century. +He says:—"We will make a short reflection on the +unaccountable negligence, or rather stupidity, of this +nation, during the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., +Edward VI. and Queen Mary, who could contentedly sit +still and see the Spanish rifle, plunder and bring home +undisturbed, all the wealth of that golden world; and to +suffer them with forts and castles to shut up the doors and +entrances unto all the rich provinces of America, having +not the least title or pretence of right beyond any other +nation; except that of being by accident the first discoverer +of some parts of it; where the unprecedented +cruelties, exorbitances and barbarities, their own histories +witness, they practised on a poor, naked and innocent +people, which inhabited the islands, as well as upon those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>{34}</span> +truly civilized and mighty empires of Peru and Mexico, +called to all mankind for succour and relief against their +outrageous avarice and horrid massacres.... (We) slept +on until the ambitious Spaniard, by that inexhaustible +spring of treasure, had corrupted most of the courts and +senates of Europe, and had set on fire, by civil broils and +discords, all our neighbour nations, or had subdued them +to his yoke; contriving too to make us wear his chains +and bear a share in the triumph of universal monarchy, +not only projected but near accomplished, when Queen +Elizabeth came to the crown ... and to the divided +interests of Philip II. and Queen Elizabeth, in personal +more than National concerns, we do owe that start of hers +in letting loose upon him, and encouraging those daring +adventurers, Drake, Hawkins, Rawleigh, the Lord Clifford +and many other braves that age produced, who, by their +privateering and bold undertaking (like those the +buccaneers practise) now opened the way to our discoveries, +and succeeding settlements in America."<a id="footnotetag42" name="footnotetag42"></a><a href="#footnote42"><sup>42</sup></a></p> + +<p>On the 19th of November 1527, some Spaniards in a +caravel loading cassava at the Isle of Mona, between +Hispaniola and Porto Rico, sighted a strange vessel of +about 250 tons well-armed with cannon, and believing it +to be a ship from Spain sent a boat to make inquiries. +The new-comers at the same time were seen to launch a +pinnace carrying some twenty-five men, all armed with +corselets and bows. As the two boats approached the +Spaniards inquired the nationality of the strangers and +were told that they were English. The story given by +the English master was that his ship and another had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>{35}</span> +been fitted out by the King of England and had sailed +from London to discover the land of the Great Khan; +that they had been separated in a great storm; that this +ship afterwards ran into a sea of ice, and unable to get +through, turned south, touched at Bacallaos (Newfoundland), +where the pilot was killed by Indians, and sailing +400 leagues along the coast of "terra nueva" had found +her way to this island of Porto Rico. The Englishmen +offered to show their commission written in Latin and +Romance, which the Spanish captain could not read; and +after sojourning at the island for two days, they inquired +for the route to Hispaniola and sailed away. On the +evening of 25th November this same vessel appeared +before the port of San Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, +where the master with ten or twelve sailors went ashore +in a boat to ask leave to enter and trade. This they +obtained, for the <i>alguazil mayor</i> and two pilots were sent +back with them to bring the ship into port. But early +next morning, when they approached the shore, the +Spanish <i>alcaide</i>, Francisco de Tapia, commanded a gun +to be fired at the ship from the castle; whereupon the +English, seeing the reception accorded them, sailed back +to Porto Rico, there obtained some provisions in exchange +for pewter and cloth, and departed for Europe, "where it +is believed that they never arrived, for nothing is known +of them." The <i>alcaide</i>, says Herrera, was imprisoned by +the <i>oidores</i>, because he did not, instead of driving the +ship away, allow her to enter the port, whence she could +not have departed without the permission of the city and +the fort.<a id="footnotetag43" name="footnotetag43"></a><a href="#footnote43"><sup>43</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>{36}</span> + +<p>This is the earliest record we possess of the appearance +of an English ship in the waters of Spanish America. +Others, however, soon followed. In 1530 William +Hawkins, father of the famous John Hawkins, ventured +in "a tall and goodly ship ... called the 'Polo of +Plymouth,'" down to the coast of Guinea, trafficked with +the natives for gold-dust and ivory, and then crossed the +ocean to Brazil, "where he behaved himself so wisely with +those savage people" that one of the kings of the country +took ship with him to England and was presented to +Henry VIII. at Whitehall.<a id="footnotetag44" name="footnotetag44"></a><a href="#footnote44"><sup>44</sup></a> The real occasion, however, +for the appearance of foreign ships in Spanish-American +waters was the new occupation of carrying negroes from +the African coast to the Spanish colonies to be sold as +slaves. The rapid depopulation of the Indies, and the +really serious concern of the Spanish crown for the +preservation of the indigenes, had compelled the Spanish +government to permit the introduction of negro slaves +from an early period. At first restricted to Christian +slaves carried from Spain, after 1510 licences to take over +a certain number, subject of course to governmental +imposts, were given to private individuals; and in +August 1518, owing to the incessant clamour of the +colonists for more negroes, Laurent de Gouvenot, +Governor of Bresa and one of the foreign favourites of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>{37}</span> +Charles V., obtained the first regular contract to carry +4000 slaves directly from Africa to the West Indies.<a id="footnotetag45" name="footnotetag45"></a><a href="#footnote45"><sup>45</sup></a> +With slight modifications the contract system became +permanent, and with it, as a natural consequence, came +contraband trade. Cargoes of negroes were frequently +"run" from Africa by Spaniards and Portuguese, and as +early as 1506 an order was issued to expel all contraband +slaves from Hispaniola.<a id="footnotetag46" name="footnotetag46"></a><a href="#footnote46"><sup>46</sup></a> The supply never equalled the +demand, however, and this explains why John Hawkins +found it so profitable to carry ship-loads of blacks +across from the Guinea coast, and why Spanish colonists +could not resist the temptation to buy them, notwithstanding +the stringent laws against trading with +foreigners.</p> + +<p>The first voyage of John Hawkins was made in 1562-63. +In conjunction with Thomas Hampton he fitted out +three vessels and sailed for Sierra Leone. There he +collected, "partly by the sword and partly by other +means," some 300 negroes, and with this valuable human +freight crossed the Atlantic to San Domingo in +Hispaniola. Uncertain as to his reception, Hawkins on +his arrival pretended that he had been driven in by foul +weather, and was in need of provisions, but without ready +money to pay for them. He therefore requested permission +to sell "certain slaves he had with him." The +opportunity was eagerly welcomed by the planters, and +the governor, not thinking it necessary to construe his +orders from home too stringently, allowed two-thirds of +the cargo to be sold. As neither Hawkins nor the Spanish +colonists anticipated any serious displeasure on the part +of Philip II., the remaining 100 slaves were left as a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38"></a>{38}</span> +deposit with the Council of the island. Hawkins invested +the proceeds in a return cargo of hides, half of which he +sent in Spanish vessels to Spain under the care of his +partner, while he returned with the rest to England. +The Spanish Government, however, was not going to +sanction for a moment the intrusion of the English into +the Indies. On Hampton's arrival at Cadiz his cargo was +confiscated and he himself narrowly escaped the Inquisition. +The slaves left in San Domingo were forfeited, and +Hawkins, although he "cursed, threatened and implored," +could not obtain a farthing for his lost hides and negroes. +The only result of his demands was the dispatch of a +peremptory order to the West Indies that no English +vessel should be allowed under any pretext to trade +there.<a id="footnotetag47" name="footnotetag47"></a><a href="#footnote47"><sup>47</sup></a></p> + +<p>The second of the great Elizabethan sea-captains to +beard the Spanish lion was Hawkins' friend and pupil, +Francis Drake. In 1567 he accompanied Hawkins on +his third expedition. With six ships, one of which was +lent by the Queen herself, they sailed from Plymouth in +October, picked up about 450 slaves on the Guinea coast, +sighted Dominica in the West Indies in March, and +coasted along the mainland of South America past +Margarita and Cape de la Vela, carrying on a "tolerable +good trade." Rio de la Hacha they stormed with 200 +men, losing only two in the encounter; but they were +scattered by a tempest near Cartagena and driven into +the Gulf of Mexico, where, on 16th September, they +entered the narrow port of S. Juan d'Ulloa or Vera Cruz. +The next day the fleet of New Spain, consisting of +thirteen large ships, appeared outside, and after an +exchange of pledges of peace and amity with the English +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>{39}</span> +intruders, entered on the 20th. On the morning of the +24th, however, a fierce encounter was begun, and Hawkins +and Drake, stubbornly defending themselves against +tremendous odds, were glad to escape with two shattered +vessels and the loss of £100,000 treasure. After a voyage +of terrible suffering, Drake, in the "Judith," succeeded in +reaching England on 20th January 1569, and Hawkins +followed five days later.<a id="footnotetag48" name="footnotetag48"></a><a href="#footnote48"><sup>48</sup></a> Within a few years, however, +Drake was away again, this time alone and with the sole, +unblushing purpose of robbing the Dons. With only two +ships and seventy-three men he prowled about the waters +of the West Indies for almost a year, capturing and +rifling Spanish vessels, plundering towns on the Main +and intercepting convoys of treasure across the Isthmus +of Darien. In 1577 he sailed on the voyage which +carried him round the world, a feat for which he was +knighted, promoted to the rank of admiral, and visited by +the Queen on board his ship, the "Golden Hind." While +Drake was being feted in London as the hero of the hour, +Philip of Spain from his cell in the Escorial must have +execrated these English sea-rovers whose visits brought +ruin to his colonies and menaced the safety of his treasure +galleons.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1585 Drake was again in command +of a formidable armament intended against the West +Indies. Supported by 2000 troops under General Carleill, +and by Martin Frobisher and Francis Knollys in the fleet, +he took and plundered San Domingo, and after occupying +Cartagena for six weeks ransomed the city for 110,000 +ducats. This fearless old Elizabethan sailed from +Plymouth on his last voyage in August 1595. Though +under the joint command of Drake and Hawkins, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>{40}</span> +expedition seemed doomed to disaster throughout its +course. One vessel, the "Francis," fell into the hands of +the Spaniards. While the fleet was passing through the +Virgin Isles, Hawkins fell ill and died. A desperate +attack was made on S. Juan de Porto Rico, but the +English, after losing forty or fifty men, were compelled to +retire. Drake then proceeded to the Main, where in +turn he captured and plundered Rancherias, Rio de la +Hacha, Santa Marta and Nombre de Dios. With 750 +soldiers he made a bold attempt to cross the isthmus +to the city of Panama, but turned back after the loss +of eighty or ninety of his followers. A few days later, +on 15th January 1596, he too fell ill, died on the +28th, and was buried in a leaden coffin off the coast of +Darien.<a id="footnotetag49" name="footnotetag49"></a><a href="#footnote49"><sup>49</sup></a></p> + +<p>Hawkins and Drake, however, were by no means the +only English privateers of that century in American +waters. Names like Oxenham, Grenville, Raleigh and +Clifford, and others of lesser fame, such as Winter, Knollys +and Barker, helped to swell the roll of these Elizabethan +sea-rovers. To many a gallant sailor the Caribbean Sea +was a happy hunting-ground where he might indulge at +his pleasure any propensities to lawless adventure. If in +1588 he had helped to scatter the Invincible Armada, he +now pillaged treasure ships on the coasts of the Spanish +Main; if he had been with Drake to flout his Catholic +Majesty at Cadiz, he now closed with the Spaniards +within their distant cities beyond the seas. Thus he lined +his own pockets with Spanish doubloons, and incidentally +curbed Philip's power of invading England. Nor must we +think these mariners the same as the lawless buccaneers +of a later period. The men of this generation were of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>{41}</span> +sterner and more fanatical mould, men who for their +wildest acts often claimed the sanction of religious convictions. +Whether they carried off the heathen from +Africa, or plundered the fleets of Romish Spain, they +were but entering upon "the heritage of the saints." +Judged by the standards of our own century they were +pirates and freebooters, but in the eyes of their fellow-countrymen +their attacks upon the Spaniards seemed fair +and honourable.</p> + +<p>The last of the great privateering voyages for which +Drake had set the example was the armament which +Lord George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, sent against +Porto Rico in 1598. The ill-starred expeditions of Raleigh +to Guiana in 1595 and again in 1617 belong rather to +the history of exploration and colonization. Clifford, +"courtier, gambler and buccaneer," having run through a +great part of his very considerable fortune, had seized the +opportunity offered him by the plunder of the Spanish +colonies to re-coup himself; and during a period of twelve +years, from 1586 to 1598, almost every year fitted out, and +often himself commanded, an expedition against the +Spaniards. In his last and most ambitious effort, in 1598, +he equipped twenty vessels entirely at his own cost, sailed +from Plymouth in March, and on 6th June laid siege to the +city of San Juan, which he proposed to clear of Spaniards +and establish as an English stronghold. Although the +place was captured, the expedition proved a fiasco. A +violent sickness broke out among the troops, and as +Clifford had already sailed away with some of the ships +to Flores to lie in wait for the treasure fleet, Sir Thomas +Berkeley, who was left in command in Porto Rico, +abandoned the island and returned to rejoin the Earl.<a id="footnotetag50" name="footnotetag50"></a><a href="#footnote50"><sup>50</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>{42}</span> + +<p>The English in the sixteenth century, however, had no +monopoly of this piratical game. The French did something +in their own way, and the Dutch were not far +behind. Indeed, the French may claim to have set the +example for the Elizabethan freebooters, for in the first +half of the sixteenth century privateers flocked to the +Spanish Indies from Dieppe, Brest and the towns of the +Basque coast. The gleam of the golden lingots of Peru, +and the pale lights of the emeralds from the mountains of +New Granada, exercised a hypnotic influence not only on +ordinary seamen but on merchants and on seigneurs with +depleted fortunes. Names like Jean Terrier, Jacques Sore +and François le Clerc, the latter popularly called "Pie de +Palo," or "wooden-leg," by the Spaniards, were as detestable +in Spanish ears as those of the great English captains. +Even before 1500 French corsairs hovered about Cape St +Vincent and among the Azores and the Canaries; and +their prowess and audacity were so feared that Columbus, +on returning from his third voyage in 1498, declared that +he had sailed for the island of Madeira by a new route to +avoid meeting a French fleet which was awaiting him near +St Vincent.<a id="footnotetag51" name="footnotetag51"></a><a href="#footnote51"><sup>51</sup></a> With the establishment of the system of +armed convoys, however, and the presence of Spanish +fleets on the coast of Europe, the corsairs suffered some +painful reverses which impelled them to transfer their +operations to American waters. Thereafter Spanish +records are full of references to attacks by Frenchmen on +Havana, St. Jago de Cuba, San Domingo and towns on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>{43}</span> +the mainland of South and Central America; full of +appeals, too, from the colonies to the neglectful authorities +in Spain, urging them to send artillery, cruisers and +munitions of war for their defence.<a id="footnotetag52" name="footnotetag52"></a><a href="#footnote52"><sup>52</sup></a></p> + +<p>A letter dated 8th April 1537, written by Gonzalo de +Guzman to the Empress, furnishes us with some interesting +details of the exploits of an anonymous French corsair +in that year. In November 1536 this Frenchman had +seized in the port of Chagre, on the Isthmus of Darien, a +Spanish vessel laden with horses from San Domingo, had +cast the cargo into the sea, put the crew on shore and +sailed away with his prize. A month or two later he +appeared off the coast of Havana and dropped anchor in a +small bay a few leagues from the city. As there were +then five Spanish ships lying in the harbour, the inhabitants +compelled the captains to attempt the seizure of the +pirate, promising to pay for the ships if they were lost. +Three vessels of 200 tons each sailed out to the attack, and +for several days they fired at the French corsair, which, +being a patache of light draught, had run up the bay +beyond their reach. Finally one morning the Frenchmen +were seen pressing with both sail and oar to escape from +the port. A Spanish vessel cut her cables to follow in +pursuit, but encountering a heavy sea and contrary winds +was abandoned by her crew, who made for shore in boats. +The other two Spanish ships were deserted in similar +fashion, whereupon the French, observing this new turn of +affairs, re-entered the bay and easily recovered the three +drifting vessels. Two of the prizes they burnt, and +arming the third sailed away to cruise in the Florida +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44"></a>{44}</span> +straits, in the route of ships returning from the West Indies +to Spain.<a id="footnotetag53" name="footnotetag53"></a><a href="#footnote53"><sup>53</sup></a></p> + +<p>The corsairs, however, were not always so uniformly +successful. A band of eighty, who attempted to plunder +the town of St. Jago de Cuba, were repulsed with some +loss by a certain Diego Perez of Seville, captain of an +armed merchant ship then in the harbour, who later +petitioned for the grant of a coat-of-arms in recognition of +his services.<a id="footnotetag54" name="footnotetag54"></a><a href="#footnote54"><sup>54</sup></a> In October 1544 six French vessels attacked +the town of Santa Maria de los Remedios, near Cape de +la Vela, but failed to take it in face of the stubborn +resistance of the inhabitants. Yet the latter a few months +earlier had been unable to preserve their homes from +pillage, and had been obliged to flee to La Granjeria de +las Perlas on the Rio de la Hacha.<a id="footnotetag55" name="footnotetag55"></a><a href="#footnote55"><sup>55</sup></a> There is small +wonder, indeed, that the defenders were so rarely victorious. +The Spanish towns were ill-provided with forts and +guns, and often entirely without ammunition or any +regular soldiers. The distance between the settlements as +a rule was great, and the inhabitants, as soon as informed +of the presence of the enemy, knowing that they had no +means of resistance and little hope of succour, left their +homes to the mercy of the freebooters and fled to the hills +and woods with their families and most precious belongings. +Thus when, in October 1554, another band of three hundred +French privateers swooped down upon the unfortunate +town of St. Jago de Cuba, they were able to hold it for +thirty days, and plundered it to the value of 80,000 pieces +of eight.<a id="footnotetag56" name="footnotetag56"></a><a href="#footnote56"><sup>56</sup></a> The following year, however, witnessed an even +more remarkable action. In July 1555 the celebrated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>{45}</span> +captain, Jacques Sore, landed two hundred men from a +caravel a half-league from the city of Havana, and before +daybreak marched on the town and forced the surrender of +the castle. The Spanish governor had time to retire to the +country, where he gathered a small force of Spaniards and +negroes, and returned to surprise the French by night. +Fifteen or sixteen of the latter were killed, and Sore, who +himself was wounded, in a rage gave orders for the +massacre of all the prisoners. He burned the cathedral +and the hospital, pillaged the houses and razed most of the +city to the ground. After transferring all the artillery to +his vessel, he made several forays into the country, burned +a few plantations, and finally sailed away in the beginning +of August. No record remains of the amount of the +booty, but it must have been enormous. To fill the cup of +bitterness for the poor inhabitants, on 4th October there +appeared on the coast another French ship, which had +learned of Sore's visit and of the helpless state of the +Spaniards. Several hundred men disembarked, sacked a +few plantations neglected by their predecessors, tore down +or burned the houses which the Spaniards had begun to +rebuild, and seized a caravel loaded with leather which +had recently entered the harbour.<a id="footnotetag57" name="footnotetag57"></a><a href="#footnote57"><sup>57</sup></a> It is true that during +these years there was almost constant war in Europe +between the Emperor and France; yet this does not +entirely explain the activity of the French privateers in +Spanish America, for we find them busy there in the +years when peace reigned at home. Once unleash the +sea-dogs and it was extremely difficult to bring them +again under restraint.</p> + +<p>With the seventeenth century began a new era in the +history of the West Indies. If in the sixteenth the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>{46}</span> +English, French and Dutch came to tropical America as +piratical intruders into seas and countries which belonged +to others, in the following century they came as permanent +colonisers and settlers. The Spaniards, who had explored +the whole ring of the West Indian islands before 1500, +from the beginning neglected the lesser for the larger +Antilles—Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico and Jamaica—and +for those islands like Trinidad, which lie close to the +mainland. And when in 1519 Cortez sailed from Cuba +for the conquest of Mexico, and twelve years later Pizarro +entered Peru, the emigrants who left Spain to seek +their fortunes in the New World flocked to the vast +territories which the <i>Conquistadores</i> and their lieutenants +had subdued on the Continent. It was consequently to +the smaller islands which compose the Leeward and +Windward groups that the English, French and Dutch +first resorted as colonists. Small, and therefore "easy +to settle, easy to depopulate and to re-people, attractive +not only on account of their own wealth, but also as +a starting-point for the vast and rich continent off +which they lie," these islands became the pawns in a +game of diplomacy and colonization which continued for +150 years.</p> + +<p>In the seventeenth century, moreover, the Spanish +monarchy was declining rapidly both in power and +prestige, and its empire, though still formidable, no longer +overshadowed the other nations of Europe as in the days +of Charles V. and Philip II. France, with the Bourbons +on the throne, was entering upon an era of rapid expansion +at home and abroad, while the Dutch, by the truce of 1609, +virtually obtained the freedom for which they had struggled +so long. In England Queen Elizabeth had died in 1603, +and her Stuart successor exchanged her policy of dalliance, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>{47}</span> +of balance between France and Spain, for one of peace +and conciliation. The aristocratic free-booters who had +enriched themselves by harassing the Spanish Indies were +succeeded by a less romantic but more business-like +generation, which devoted itself to trade and planting. +Abortive attempts at colonization had been made in the +sixteenth century. The Dutch, who were trading in the +West Indies as early as 1542, by 1580 seem to have gained +some foothold in Guiana;<a id="footnotetag58" name="footnotetag58"></a><a href="#footnote58"><sup>58</sup></a> and the French Huguenots, +under the patronage of the Admiral de Coligny, made +three unsuccessful efforts to form settlements on the +American continent, one in Brazil in 1555, another near +Port Royal in South Carolina in 1562, and two years later +a third on the St. John's River in Florida. The only +English effort in the sixteenth century was the vain +attempt of Sir Walter Raleigh between 1585 and 1590 to +plant a colony on Roanoke Island, on the coast of what +is now North Carolina. It was not till 1607 that the +first permanent English settlement in America was made +at Jamestown in Virginia. Between 1609 and 1619 +numerous stations were established by English, Dutch and +French in Guiana between the mouth of the Orinoco and +that of the Amazon. In 1621 the Dutch West India +Company was incorporated, and a few years later proposals +for a similar company were broached in England. Among +the West Indian Islands, St. Kitts received its first English +settlers in 1623; and two years later the island was +formally divided with the French, thus becoming the +earliest nucleus of English and French colonization in +those regions. Barbadoes was colonized in 1624-25. In +1628 English settlers from St. Kitts spread to Nevis and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>{48}</span> +Barbuda, and within another four years to Antigua and +Montserrat; while as early as 1625 English and Dutch +took joint possession of Santa Cruz. The founders of the +French settlement on St. Kitts induced Richelieu to incorporate +a French West India Company with the title, "The +Company of the Isles of America," and under its auspices +Guadeloupe, Martinique and other islands of the Windward +group were colonized in 1635 and succeeding +years. Meanwhile between 1632 and 1634 the Dutch +had established trading stations on St. Eustatius in the +north, and on Tobago and Curaçao in the south near +the Spanish mainland.</p> + +<p>While these centres of trade and population were being +formed in the very heart of the Spanish seas, the privateers +were not altogether idle. To the treaty of Vervins between +France and Spain in 1598 had been added a secret restrictive +article whereby it was agreed that the peace +should not hold good south of the Tropic of Cancer and +west of the meridian of the Azores. Beyond these two +lines (called "les lignes de l'enclos des Amitiés") French +and Spanish ships might attack each other and take fair +prize as in open war. The ministers of Henry IV. communicated +this restriction verbally to the merchants of +the ports, and soon private men-of-war from Dieppe, +Havre and St. Malo flocked to the western seas.<a id="footnotetag59" name="footnotetag59"></a><a href="#footnote59"><sup>59</sup></a> Ships +loaded with contraband goods no longer sailed for the +Indies unless armed ready to engage all comers, and +many ship-captains renounced trade altogether for the +more profitable and exciting occupation of privateering. +In the early years of the seventeenth century, moreover, +Dutch fleets harassed the coasts of Chile and Peru,<a id="footnotetag60" name="footnotetag60"></a><a href="#footnote60"><sup>60</sup></a> while +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>{49}</span> +in Brazil<a id="footnotetag61" name="footnotetag61"></a><a href="#footnote61"><sup>61</sup></a> and the West Indies a second "Pie de Palo," +this time the Dutch admiral, Piet Heyn, was proving a +scourge to the Spaniards. Heyn was employed by the +Dutch West India Company, which from the year +1623 onwards, carried the Spanish war into the transmarine +possessions of Spain and Portugal. With a fleet +composed of twenty-six ships and 3300 men, of which +he was vice-admiral, he greatly distinguished himself at +the capture of Bahia, the seat of Portuguese power in +Brazil. Similar expeditions were sent out annually, and +brought back the rich spoils of the South American +colonies. Within two years the extraordinary number of +eighty ships, with 1500 cannon and over 9000 sailors and +soldiers, were despatched to American seas, and although +Bahia was soon retaken, the Dutch for a time occupied +Pernambuco, as well as San Juan de Porto Rico in the +West Indies.<a id="footnotetag62" name="footnotetag62"></a><a href="#footnote62"><sup>62</sup></a> In 1628 Piet Heyn was in command of a +squadron designed to intercept the plate fleet which sailed +every year from Vera Cruz to Spain. With thirty-one +ships, 700 cannon and nearly 3000 men he cruised along +the northern coast of Cuba, and on 8th September fell in +with his quarry near Cape San Antonio. The Spaniards +made a running fight along the coast until they reached +the Matanzas River near Havana, into which they turned +with the object of running the great-bellied galleons +aground and escaping with what treasure they could. +The Dutch followed, however, and most of the rich cargo +was diverted into the coffers of the Dutch West India +Company. The gold, silver, indigo, sugar and logwood +were sold in the Netherlands for fifteen million guilders, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50"></a>{50}</span> +and the company was enabled to distribute to its shareholders +the unprecedented dividend of 50 per cent. It +was an exploit which two generations of English mariners +had attempted in vain, and the unfortunate Spanish general, +Don Juan de Benavides, on his return to Spain was +imprisoned for his defeat and later beheaded.<a id="footnotetag63" name="footnotetag63"></a><a href="#footnote63"><sup>63</sup></a></p> + +<p>In 1639 we find the Spanish Council of War for the +Indies conferring with the King on measures to be taken +against English piratical ships in the Caribbean;<a id="footnotetag64" name="footnotetag64"></a><a href="#footnote64"><sup>64</sup></a> and in +1642 Captain William Jackson, provided with an ample +commission from the Earl of Warwick<a id="footnotetag65" name="footnotetag65"></a><a href="#footnote65"><sup>65</sup></a> and duplicates +under the Great Seal, made a raid in which he emulated +the exploits of Sir Francis Drake and his contemporaries. +Starting out with three ships and about 1100 men, mostly +picked up in St. Kitts and Barbadoes, he cruised along the +Main from Caracas to Honduras and plundered the +towns of Maracaibo and Truxillo. On 25th March 1643 +he dropped anchor in what is now Kingston Harbour in +Jamaica, landed about 500 men, and after some sharp +fighting and the loss of forty of his followers, entered the +town of St. Jago de la Vega, which he ransomed for 200 +beeves, 10,000 lbs. of cassava bread and 7000 pieces of +eight. Many of the English were so captivated by the +beauty and fertility of the island that twenty-three deserted +in one night to the Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag66" name="footnotetag66"></a><a href="#footnote66"><sup>66</sup></a></p> + +<p>The first two Stuart Kings, like the great Queen +who preceded them, and in spite of the presence of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>{51}</span> +powerful Spanish faction at the English Court, looked +upon the Indies with envious eyes, as a source of +perennial wealth to whichever nation could secure them. +James I., to be sure, was a man of peace, and soon +after his accession patched up a treaty with the Spaniards; +but he had no intention of giving up any English +claims, however shadowy they might be, to America. +Cornwallis, the new ambassador at Madrid, from a +vantage ground where he could easily see the financial +and administrative confusion into which Spain, in spite +of her colonial wealth, had fallen, was most dissatisfied +with the treaty. In a letter to Cranborne, dated 2nd +July 1605, he suggested that England never lost so +great an opportunity of winning honour and wealth as by +relinquishing the war with Spain, and that Philip and +his kingdom "were reduced to such a state as they +could not in all likelihood have endured for the space +of two years more."<a id="footnotetag67" name="footnotetag67"></a><a href="#footnote67"><sup>67</sup></a> This opinion we find repeated +in his letters in the following years, with covert hints +that an attack upon the Indies might after all be the +most profitable and politic thing to do. When, in +October 1607, Zuniga, the Spanish ambassador in +London, complained to James of the establishment of +the new colony in Virginia, James replied that Virginia +was land discovered by the English and therefore not +within the jurisdiction of Philip; and a week later +Salisbury, while confiding to Zuniga that he thought +the English might not justly go to Virginia, still +refused to prohibit their going or command their return, +for it would be an acknowledgment, he said, that +the King of Spain was lord of all the Indies.<a id="footnotetag68" name="footnotetag68"></a><a href="#footnote68"><sup>68</sup></a> In 1609, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>{52}</span> +in the truce concluded between Spain and the Netherlands, +one of the stipulations provided that for nine +years the Dutch were to be free to trade in all places +in the East and West Indies except those in actual +possession of the Spaniards on the date of cessation of +hostilities; and thereafter the English and French +governments endeavoured with all the more persistence +to obtain a similar privilege. Attorney-General Heath, +in 1625, presented a memorial to the Crown on the +advantages derived by the Spaniards and Dutch in the +West Indies, maintaining that it was neither safe nor +profitable for them to be absolute lords of those regions; +and he suggested that his Majesty openly interpose or +permit it to be done underhand.<a id="footnotetag69" name="footnotetag69"></a><a href="#footnote69"><sup>69</sup></a> In September 1637 +proposals were renewed in England for a West India +Company as the only method of obtaining a share in +the wealth of America. It was suggested that some +convenient port be seized as a safe retreat from which +to plunder Spanish trade on land and sea, and that +the officers of the company be empowered to conquer +and occupy any part of the West Indies, build ships, +levy soldiers and munitions of war, and make reprisals.<a id="footnotetag70" name="footnotetag70"></a><a href="#footnote70"><sup>70</sup></a> +The temper of Englishmen at this time was again +illustrated in 1640 when the Spanish ambassador, Alonzo +de Cardenas, protested to Charles I. against certain +ships which the Earls of Warwick and Marlborough +were sending to the West Indies with the intention, +Cardenas declared, of committing hostilities against the +Spaniards. The Earl of Warwick, it seems, pretended +to have received great injuries from the latter and +threatened to recoup his losses at their expense. He +procured from the king a broad commission which gave +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>{53}</span> +him the right to trade in the West Indies, and to +"offend" such as opposed him. Under shelter of this +commission the Earl of Marlborough was now going +to sea with three or four armed ships, and Cardenas +prayed the king to restrain him until he gave security +not to commit any acts of violence against the Spanish +nation. The petition was referred to a committee of +the Lords, who concluded that as the peace had never +been strictly observed by either nation in the Indies +they would not demand any security of the Earl. +"Whether the Spaniards will think this reasonable or +not," concludes Secretary Windebank in his letter to Sir +Arthur Hopton, "is no great matter."<a id="footnotetag71" name="footnotetag71"></a><a href="#footnote71"><sup>71</sup></a></p> + +<p>During this century and a half between 1500 and +1650, the Spaniards were by no means passive or indifferent +to the attacks made upon their authority and +prestige in the New World. The hostility of the +mariners from the north they repaid with interest, and +woe to the foreign interloper or privateer who fell into +their clutches. When Henry II. of France in 1557 +issued an order that Spanish prisoners be condemned +to the galleys, the Spanish government retaliated by +commanding its sea-captains to mete out the same treatment +to their French captives, except that captains, +masters and officers taken in the navigation of the +Indies were to be hung or cast into the sea.<a id="footnotetag72" name="footnotetag72"></a><a href="#footnote72"><sup>72</sup></a> In +December 1600 the governor of Cumana had suggested +to the King, as a means of keeping Dutch and English +ships from the salt mines of Araya, the ingenious scheme +of poisoning the salt. This advice, it seems, was not +followed, but a few years later, in 1605, a Spanish fleet +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>{54}</span> +of fourteen galleons sent from Lisbon surprised and +burnt nineteen Dutch vessels found loading salt at +Araya, and murdered most of the prisoners.<a id="footnotetag73" name="footnotetag73"></a><a href="#footnote73"><sup>73</sup></a> In +December 1604 the Venetian ambassador in London +wrote of "news that the Spanish in the West Indies +captured two English vessels, cut off the hands, feet, +noses and ears of the crews and smeared them with +honey and tied them to trees to be tortured by flies +and other insects. The Spanish here plead," he continued, +"that they were pirates, not merchants, and +that they did not know of the peace. But the barbarity +makes people here cry out."<a id="footnotetag74" name="footnotetag74"></a><a href="#footnote74"><sup>74</sup></a> On 22nd June 1606, +Edmondes, the English Ambassador at Brussels, in a +letter to Cornwallis, speaks of a London ship which +was sent to trade in Virginia, and putting into a river in +Florida to obtain water, was surprised there by Spanish +vessels from Havana, the men ill-treated and the cargo +confiscated.<a id="footnotetag75" name="footnotetag75"></a><a href="#footnote75"><sup>75</sup></a> And it was but shortly after that Captain +Chaloner's ship on its way to Virginia was seized by the +Spaniards in the West Indies, and the crew sent to languish +in the dungeons of Seville or condemned to the galleys.</p> + +<p>By attacks upon some of the English settlements, too, +the Spaniards gave their threats a more effective form. +Frequent raids were made upon the English and Dutch +plantations in Guiana;<a id="footnotetag76" name="footnotetag76"></a><a href="#footnote76"><sup>76</sup></a> and on 8th-18th September 1629 a +Spanish fleet of over thirty sail, commanded by Don +Federico de Toledo, nearly annihilated the joint French +and English colony on St. Kitts. Nine English ships +were captured and the settlements burnt. The French +inhabitants temporarily evacuated the island and sailed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>{55}</span> +for Antigua; but of the English some 550 were carried +to Cartagena and Havana, whence they were shipped to +England, and all the rest fled to the mountains and +woods.<a id="footnotetag77" name="footnotetag77"></a><a href="#footnote77"><sup>77</sup></a> Within three months' time, however, after the +departure of the Spaniards, the scattered settlers had +returned and re-established the colony. Providence Island +and its neighbour, Henrietta, being situated near the +Mosquito Coast, were peculiarly exposed to Spanish +attack;<a id="footnotetag78" name="footnotetag78"></a><a href="#footnote78"><sup>78</sup></a> while near the north shore of Hispaniola the +island of Tortuga, which was colonized by the same +English company, suffered repeatedly from the assaults +of its hostile neighbours. In July 1635 a Spanish fleet +from the Main assailed the island of Providence, but unable +to land among the rocks, was after five days beaten +off "considerably torn" by the shot from the fort.<a id="footnotetag79" name="footnotetag79"></a><a href="#footnote79"><sup>79</sup></a> On +the strength of these injuries received and of others anticipated, +the Providence Company obtained from the king +the liberty "to right themselves" by making reprisals, and +during the next six years kept numerous vessels preying +upon Spanish commerce in those waters. King Philip +was therefore all the more intent upon destroying the +plantation.<a id="footnotetag80" name="footnotetag80"></a><a href="#footnote80"><sup>80</sup></a> He bided his time, however, until the early +summer of 1641, when the general of the galleons, Don +Francisco Diaz Pimienta, with twelve sail and 2000 men, +fell upon the colony, razed the forts and carried off all the +English, about 770 in number, together with forty cannon and +half a million of plunder.<a id="footnotetag81" name="footnotetag81"></a><a href="#footnote81"><sup>81</sup></a> It was just ten years later that a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>{56}</span> +force of 800 men from Porto Rico invaded Santa Cruz, whence +the Dutch had been expelled by the English in 1646, killed +the English governor and more than 100 settlers, seized +two ships in the harbour and burnt and pillaged most of +the plantations. The rest of the inhabitants escaped to +the woods, and after the departure of the Spaniards +deserted the colony for St. Kitts and other islands.<a id="footnotetag82" name="footnotetag82"></a><a href="#footnote82"><sup>82</sup></a></p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a><b>Footnote 1: </b><a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a><p>Herrera: Decades II. 1, p. 4, cited in Scelle: la +Traite Négrière, I. p. 6. Note 2.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2: </b><a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. pp. 6-9.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3: </b><a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a><p>"Por cuanto los pacificaciones no se han de hacer con ruido de armas, +sino con caridad y buen modo."—Recop. de leyes ... de las Indias, lib. +vii. tit. 1.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4: </b><a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 35.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5: </b><a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a><p>Weiss: L'Espagne depuis Philippe II. jusqu'aux Bourbons., II. pp. 204 +and 215. Not till 1722 was legislative sanction given to this practice.</p> + +<p>M. Lemonnet wrote to Colbert in 1670 concerning this commerce:—"Quelque +perquisition qu'on ait faite dans ce dernier temps aux Indes pour +découvrir les biens des François, ils ont plustost souffert la prison que de +rien déclarer ... toute les merchandises qu'on leur donne à porter aux +Indes sont chargées sous le nom d'Espagnols, que bien souvent n'en ont pas +connaissance, ne jugeant pas à propos de leur en parler, afin de tenir les +affaires plus secrètes et qu'il n'y ait que le commissionaire à le savoir, lequel +en rend compte à son retour des Indes, directement à celui qui en a donne la +cargaison en confiance sans avoir nul egard pour ceux au nom desquels le +chargement à été fait, et lorsque ces commissionaires reviennent des Indes +soit sur le flottes galions ou navires particuliers, ils apportent leur argent dans +leurs coffres, la pluspart entre pont et sans connoissement." (Margry: Relations +et mémoires inédits pour servir à l'histoire de la France dans les pays +d'outremer, p. 185.)</p> + +<p>The importance to the maritime powers of preserving and protecting this +clandestine trade is evident, especially as the Spanish government frequently +found it a convenient instrument for retaliating upon those nations against +which it harboured some grudge. All that was necessary was to sequester +the vessels and goods of merchants belonging to the nation at which it wished +to strike. This happened frequently in the course of the seventeenth century. +Thus Lerma in 1601 arrested the French merchants in Spain to revenge himself +on Henry IV. In 1624 Olivares seized 160 Dutch vessels. The goods +of Genoese merchants were sequestered by Philip IV. in 1644; and in 1684 +French merchandize was again seized, and Mexican traders whose storehouses +contained such goods were fined 500,000 ecus, although the same storehouses +contained English and Dutch goods which were left unnoticed. The fine +was later restored upon Admiral d'Estrées' threat to bombard Cadiz. The +solicitude of the French government for this trade is expressed in a letter of +Colbert to the Marquis de Villars, ambassador at Madrid, dated 5th February +1672:—"Il est tellement necessaire d'avoir soin d'assister les particuliers qui +font leur trafic en Espagne, pour maintenir le plus important commerce que +nous ayons, que je suis persuadé que vous ferez toutes les instances qui pourront +dépendre de vous ... en sorte que cette protection produira des avantages +considérables au commerce des sujets de Sa Majesté" (<i>ibid.</i>, p. 188).</p> + +<p><i>Cf.</i> also the instructions of Louis XIV. to the Comte d'Estrées, 1st April +1680. The French admiral was to visit all the ports of the Spaniards in the +West Indies, especially Cartagena and San Domingo; and to be always informed +of the situation and advantages of these ports, and of the facilities and +difficulties to be met with in case of an attack upon them; so that the +Spaniards might realise that if they failed to do justice to the French merchants +on the return of the galleons, his Majesty was always ready to force +them to do so, either by attacking these galleons, or by capturing one of their +West Indian ports (<i>ibid.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6: </b><a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a><p>Weiss, <i>op. cit.</i>, II. p. 205.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7: </b><a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, II. p. 206.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a><b>Footnote 8: </b><a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a><p>Oppenheim: The Naval Tracts of Sir Wm. Monson. Vol. II. +Appendix B., p. 316.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a><b>Footnote 9: </b><a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a><p>In 1509, owing to the difficulties experienced by merchants in ascending +the Guadalquivir, ships were given permission to load and register at Cadiz +under the supervision of an inspector or "visitador," and thereafter commerce +and navigation tended more and more to gravitate to that port. After 1529, +in order to facilitate emigration to America, vessels were allowed to sail from +certain other ports, notably San Sebastian, Bilboa, Coruna, Cartagena and +Malaga. The ships might register in these ports, but were obliged always to +make their return voyage to Seville. But either the <i>cedula</i> was revoked, or +was never made use of, for, according to Scelle, there are no known instances +of vessels sailing to America from those towns. The only other exceptions +were in favour of the Company of Guipuzcoa in 1728, to send ships from San +Sebastian to Caracas, and of the Company of Galicia in 1734, to send two +vessels annually to Campeache and Vera Cruz. (Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. pp. 48-49 +and notes.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a><b>Footnote 10: </b><a href="#footnotetag10">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 36 <i>ff.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a><b>Footnote 11: </b><a href="#footnotetag11">(return)</a><p>In Nov. 1530 Charles V., against the opposition of the <i>Contratacion</i>, +ordered the Council of the Indies to appoint a resident judge at Cadiz to +replace the officers of the <i>Casa</i> there. This institution, called the "Juzgado +de Indias," was, until the removal of the <i>Casa</i> to Cadiz in 1717, the source of +constant disputes and irritation.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a><b>Footnote 12: </b><a href="#footnotetag12">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 52 and note; Duro: Armada +Espanola, I. p. 204.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a><b>Footnote 13: </b><a href="#footnotetag13">(return)</a><p>The distinction between the Flota or fleet for New Spain and the +galleons intended for Terra Firma only began with the opening of the great +silver mines of Potosi, the rich yields of which after 1557 made advisable an +especial fleet for Cartagena and Nombre de Dios. (Oppenheim, II. +Appendix B., p. 322.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a><b>Footnote 14: </b><a href="#footnotetag14">(return)</a><p>Memoir of MM. Duhalde and de Rochefort to the French king, 1680 +(Margry, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 192 <i>ff.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote15" name="footnote15"></a><b>Footnote 15: </b><a href="#footnotetag15">(return)</a><p>Memoir of MM. Duhalde and de Rochefort to the French king, 1680 +(Margry, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 192 <i>ff.</i>)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote16" name="footnote16"></a><b>Footnote 16: </b><a href="#footnotetag16">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 64; Dampier: Voyages, <i>ed.</i> 1906, i. p. 200.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote17" name="footnote17"></a><b>Footnote 17: </b><a href="#footnotetag17">(return)</a><p>Gage: A New Survey of the West Indies, <i>ed.</i> 1655, pp. 185-6. When +Gage was at Granada, in February 1637, strict orders were received from +Gautemala that the ships were not to sail that year, because the President and +Audiencia were informed of some Dutch and English ships lying in wait at +the mouth of the river.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote18" name="footnote18"></a><b>Footnote 18: </b><a href="#footnotetag18">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. pp. 64-5; Duhalde and de Rochefort. +There were two +ways of sending goods from Panama to Porto Bello. One was an overland +route of 18 leagues, and was used only during the summer. The other was +by land as far as Venta Cruz, 7 leagues from Panama, and thence by water +on the river Chagre to its mouth, a distance of 26 leagues. When the river +was high the transit might be accomplished in two or three days, but at +other times from six to twelve days were required. To transfer goods from +Chagre to Porto Bello was a matter of only eight or nine hours. This route +was used in winter when the roads were rendered impassable by the great +rains and floods. The overland journey, though shorter, was also more difficult +and expensive. The goods were carried on long mule-trains, and the +"roads, so-called, were merely bridle paths ... running through swamps +and jungles, over hills and rocks, broken by unbridged rivers, and situated in +one of the deadliest climates in the world." The project of a canal to be cut +through the isthmus was often proposed to the Councils in Spain, but was +never acted upon. (Descript. ... of Cartagena; Oppenheim, i. p. 333.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote19" name="footnote19"></a><b>Footnote 19: </b><a href="#footnotetag19">(return)</a><p>Nombre de Dios, a few leagues to the east of Porto Bello, had formerly +been the port where the galleons received the treasure brought from Panama, +but in 1584 the King of Spain ordered the settlement to be abandoned on +account of its unhealthiness, and because the harbour, being open to the sea, +afforded little shelter to shipping. Gage says that in his time Nombre de +Dios was almost forsaken because of its climate. Dampier, writing thirty +years later, describes the site as a waste. "Nombre de Dios," he says, "is +now nothing but a name. For I have lain ashore in the place where that City +stood, but it is all overgrown with Wood, so as to have no sign that any +Town hath been there." (Voyages, <i>ed.</i> 1906, i. p. 81.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote20" name="footnote20"></a><b>Footnote 20: </b><a href="#footnotetag20">(return)</a><p>Gage, <i>ed.</i> 1655, pp. 196-8.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote21" name="footnote21"></a><b>Footnote 21: </b><a href="#footnotetag21">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 65.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote22" name="footnote22"></a><b>Footnote 22: </b><a href="#footnotetag22">(return)</a><p>Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote23" name="footnote23"></a><b>Footnote 23: </b><a href="#footnotetag23">(return)</a><p>When the Margarita patache failed to meet the galleons at Cartagena, +it was given its clearance and allowed to sail alone to Havana—a tempting +prey to buccaneers hovering in those seas.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote24" name="footnote24"></a><b>Footnote 24: </b><a href="#footnotetag24">(return)</a><p>Duhalde and de Rochefort.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote25" name="footnote25"></a><b>Footnote 25: </b><a href="#footnotetag25">(return)</a><p>Rawl. MSS., A. 175, 313 b; Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote26" name="footnote26"></a><b>Footnote 26: </b><a href="#footnotetag26">(return)</a><p>Here I am following the MSS. quoted by Oppenheim (ii. pp. 335 <i>ff.</i>). +Instead of watering in Hispaniola, the fleet sometimes stopped at Dominica, +or at Aguada in Porto Rico.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote27" name="footnote27"></a><b>Footnote 27: </b><a href="#footnotetag27">(return)</a><p>Duhalde and de Rochefort.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote28" name="footnote28"></a><b>Footnote 28: </b><a href="#footnotetag28">(return)</a><p>Quintal=about 100 pounds.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote29" name="footnote29"></a><b>Footnote 29: </b><a href="#footnotetag29">(return)</a><p>These "vaisseaux de registre" were supposed not to exceed +300 tons, but through fraud were often double that burden.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote30" name="footnote30"></a><b>Footnote 30: </b><a href="#footnotetag30">(return)</a><p>Duhalde and de Rochefort; Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 54.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote31" name="footnote31"></a><b>Footnote 31: </b><a href="#footnotetag31">(return)</a><p>Gage, <i>ed.</i> 1655, pp. 199-200.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote32" name="footnote32"></a><b>Footnote 32: </b><a href="#footnotetag32">(return)</a><p>Duhalde and de Rochefort; Oppenheim, ii. p. 318.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote33" name="footnote33"></a><b>Footnote 33: </b><a href="#footnotetag33">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 45; Recop., t. i. lib. iii. tit. viii.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote34" name="footnote34"></a><b>Footnote 34: </b><a href="#footnotetag34">(return)</a><p>There seems to have been a contraband trade carried on at Cadiz itself. +Foreign merchants embarked their goods upon the galleons directly from +their own vessels in the harbour, without registering them with the <i>Contratacion</i>; +and on the return of the fleets received the price of their goods in +ingots of gold and silver by the same fraud. It is scarcely possible that this +was done without the tacit authorization of the Council of the Indies at +Madrid, for if the Council had insisted upon a rigid execution of the laws +regarding registration, detection would have been inevitable.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote35" name="footnote35"></a><b>Footnote 35: </b><a href="#footnotetag35">(return)</a><p>Weiss, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. p. 226.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote36" name="footnote36"></a><b>Footnote 36: </b><a href="#footnotetag36">(return)</a><p>Most of the offices in the Spanish Indies were venal. No one obtained a +post without paying dearly for it, except the viceroys of Mexico and Peru, +who were grandees, and received their places through favour at court. The +governors of the ports, and the presidents of the Audiencias established at +Panama, San Domingo, and Gautemala, bought their posts in Spain. The +offices in the interior were in the gift of the viceroys and sold to the highest +bidder. Although each port had three corregidors who audited the finances, +as they also paid for their places, they connived with the governors. The +consequence was inevitable. Each official during his tenure of office expected +to recover his initial outlay, and amass a small fortune besides. So +not only were the bribes of interlopers acceptable, but the officials often themselves +bought and sold the contraband articles.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote37" name="footnote37"></a><b>Footnote 37: </b><a href="#footnotetag37">(return)</a><p>Froude: History of England, viii. p. 436 <i>ff.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote38" name="footnote38"></a><b>Footnote 38: </b><a href="#footnotetag38">(return)</a><p>1585, August 12th. Ralph Lane to Sir Philip Sidney. Port Ferdinando, +Virginia.—He has discovered the infinite riches of St. John (Porto Rico?) and +Hispaniola by dwelling on the islands five weeks. He thinks that if the Queen +finds herself burdened with the King of Spain, to attempt them would be most +honourable, feasible and profitable. He exhorts him not to refuse this good +opportunity of rendering so great a service to the Church of Christ. The +strength of the Spaniards doth altogether grow from the mines of her treasure. +Extract, C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote39" name="footnote39"></a><b>Footnote 39: </b><a href="#footnotetag39">(return)</a><p>Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. p. xiii.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote40" name="footnote40"></a><b>Footnote 40: </b><a href="#footnotetag40">(return)</a><p> Scelle, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. ix.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote41" name="footnote41"></a><b>Footnote 41: </b><a href="#footnotetag41">(return)</a><p>1611, February 28. Sir Thos. Roe to Salisbury. Port d'Espaigne, +Trinidad.—He has seen more of the coast from the River Amazon to the +Orinoco than any other Englishman alive. The Spaniards here are proud +and insolent, yet needy and weak, their force is reputation, their safety is +opinion. The Spaniards treat the English worse than Moors. The government +is lazy and has more skill in planting and selling tobacco than in erecting +colonies and marching armies. Extract, C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660. (Roe was +sent by Prince Henry upon a voyage of discovery to the Indies.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote42" name="footnote42"></a><b>Footnote 42: </b><a href="#footnotetag42">(return)</a><p>"An historical account of the rise and growth of the West India +Colonies." By Dalby Thomas, Lond., 1690. (Harl. Miscell., 1808, ii. +357.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote43" name="footnote43"></a><b>Footnote 43: </b><a href="#footnotetag43">(return)</a><p>Oviedo: Historia general de las Indias, lib. xix. cap. xiii.; +Coleccion de documentos ... de ultramar, tom. iv. p. 57 (deposition of +the Spanish captain at the Isle of Mona); Pacheco, etc.: Coleccion de +documentos ... de las posesiones espanoles en America y Oceania, tom. +xl. p. 305 (cross-examination of witnesses by officers of the Royal Audiencia +in San Domingo just after the visit of the English ship to that place); English +Historical Review, XX. p. 115.</p> + +<p>The ship is identified with the "Samson" dispatched by Henry VIII. in +1527 "with divers cunning men to seek strange regions," which sailed from +the Thames on 20th May in company with the "Mary of Guildford," was lost +by her consort in a storm on the night of 1st July, and was believed to have +foundered with all on board. (<i>Ibid.</i>)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote44" name="footnote44"></a><b>Footnote 44: </b><a href="#footnotetag44">(return)</a><p>Hakluyt, <i>ed.</i> 1600, iii. p. 700; Froude, <i>op. +cit.</i>, viii. p. 427.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote45" name="footnote45"></a><b>Footnote 45: </b><a href="#footnotetag45">(return)</a><p>Scelle., <i>op. cit.</i>, i. pp. 123-25, 139-61.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote46" name="footnote46"></a><b>Footnote 46: </b><a href="#footnotetag46">(return)</a><p>Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar. tom. vi. p. 15.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote47" name="footnote47"></a><b>Footnote 47: </b><a href="#footnotetag47">(return)</a><p>Froude, <i>op. cit.</i>, viii. pp. 470-72.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote48" name="footnote48"></a><b>Footnote 48: </b><a href="#footnotetag48">(return)</a><p>Corbett: Drake and the Tudor Navy, i. ch. 3.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote49" name="footnote49"></a><b>Footnote 49: </b><a href="#footnotetag49">(return)</a><p>Corbett: Drake and the Tudor Navy, ii. chs. 1, 2, 11.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote50" name="footnote50"></a><b>Footnote 50: </b><a href="#footnotetag50">(return)</a><p>Corbett: The Successors of Drake, ch. x.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote51" name="footnote51"></a><b>Footnote 51: </b><a href="#footnotetag51">(return)</a><p>Marcel: Les corsaires français au XVIe siècle, p. 7. As early as 1501 a +royal ordinance in Spain prescribed the construction of carracks to pursue the +privateers, and in 1513 royal <i>cedulas</i> were sent to the officials of the <i>Casa de +Contratacion</i> ordering them to send two caravels to guard the coasts of Cuba +and protect Spanish navigation from the assaults of French corsairs. (<i>Ibid.</i>, +p. 8).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote52" name="footnote52"></a><b>Footnote 52: </b><a href="#footnotetag52">(return)</a><p>Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tomos i., iv., vi.; Ducéré: Les +corsaires sous l'ancien régime. Append. II.; Duro., <i>op. cit.</i>, i. Append. +XIV.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote53" name="footnote53"></a><b>Footnote 53: </b><a href="#footnotetag53">(return)</a><p>Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 22.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote54" name="footnote54"></a><b>Footnote 54: </b><a href="#footnotetag54">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, p. 23.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote55" name="footnote55"></a><b>Footnote 55: </b><a href="#footnotetag55">(return)</a><p>Marcel, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 16.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote56" name="footnote56"></a><b>Footnote 56: </b><a href="#footnotetag56">(return)</a><p>Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 360.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote57" name="footnote57"></a><b>Footnote 57: </b><a href="#footnotetag57">(return)</a><p>Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 360.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote58" name="footnote58"></a><b>Footnote 58: </b><a href="#footnotetag58">(return)</a><p>Lucas: A Historical Geography of the British Colonies, vol. ii. +pp. 37, 50.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote59" name="footnote59"></a><b>Footnote 59: </b><a href="#footnotetag59">(return)</a><p>Weiss, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. p. 292.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote60" name="footnote60"></a><b>Footnote 60: </b><a href="#footnotetag60">(return)</a><p>Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. ch. xvi.; iv. chs. iii., viii.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote61" name="footnote61"></a><b>Footnote 61: </b><a href="#footnotetag61">(return)</a><p>Portugal between 1581 and 1640 was subject to the Crown of Spain, and +Brazil, a Portuguese colony, was consequently within the pale of Spanish +influence and administration.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote62" name="footnote62"></a><b>Footnote 62: </b><a href="#footnotetag62">(return)</a><p>Blok: History of the People of the Netherlands, iv. p. 36.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote63" name="footnote63"></a><b>Footnote 63: </b><a href="#footnotetag63">(return)</a><p>Blok: History of the People of the Netherlands, iv. p. 37; Duro, <i>op. +cit.</i>, iv. p. 99; Gage, <i>ed.</i> 1655, p. 80.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote64" name="footnote64"></a><b>Footnote 64: </b><a href="#footnotetag64">(return)</a><p>Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,325, No. 10.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote65" name="footnote65"></a><b>Footnote 65: </b><a href="#footnotetag65">(return)</a><p>Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, was created admiral of the fleet by order +of Parliament in March 1642, and although removed by Charles I. was reinstated +by Parliament on 1st July.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote66" name="footnote66"></a><b>Footnote 66: </b><a href="#footnotetag66">(return)</a><p>Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 793 or 894; Add. MSS., 36,327, No. 9.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote67" name="footnote67"></a><b>Footnote 67: </b><a href="#footnotetag67">(return)</a><p>Winwood Papers, ii. pp. 75-77.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote68" name="footnote68"></a><b>Footnote 68: </b><a href="#footnotetag68">(return)</a><p>Brown: Genesis of the United States, i. pp. 120-25, 172.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote69" name="footnote69"></a><b>Footnote 69: </b><a href="#footnotetag69">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote70" name="footnote70"></a><b>Footnote 70: </b><a href="#footnotetag70">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote71" name="footnote71"></a><b>Footnote 71: </b><a href="#footnotetag71">(return)</a><p>Clarendon State Papers, ii. p. 87; Rymer: Fœdera, xx. p. 416.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote72" name="footnote72"></a><b>Footnote 72: </b><a href="#footnotetag72">(return)</a><p> Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. p. 462.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote73" name="footnote73"></a><b>Footnote 73: </b><a href="#footnotetag73">(return)</a><p>Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. pp. 236-37.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote74" name="footnote74"></a><b>Footnote 74: </b><a href="#footnotetag74">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Venet., 1603-07, p. 199.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote75" name="footnote75"></a><b>Footnote 75: </b><a href="#footnotetag75">(return)</a><p>Winwood Papers, ii. p. 233.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote76" name="footnote76"></a><b>Footnote 76: </b><a href="#footnotetag76">(return)</a><p>Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,319, No. 7; 36,320, No. 8; 36,321, No. +24; 36,322, No. 23.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote77" name="footnote77"></a><b>Footnote 77: </b><a href="#footnotetag77">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660:—1629, 5th and 30th Nov.; 1630, 29th July.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote78" name="footnote78"></a><b>Footnote 78: </b><a href="#footnotetag78">(return)</a><p>Gage saw at Cartagena about a dozen English prisoners captured by the +Spaniards at sea, and belonging to the settlement on Providence Island.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote79" name="footnote79"></a><b>Footnote 79: </b><a href="#footnotetag79">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660:—1635, 19th March; 1636, 26th March.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote80" name="footnote80"></a><b>Footnote 80: </b><a href="#footnotetag80">(return)</a><p>Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,323, No. 10.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote81" name="footnote81"></a><b>Footnote 81: </b><a href="#footnotetag81">(return)</a><p>Duro, Tomo., iv. p. 339; <i>cf.</i> also in Bodleian Library:—"A letter +written upon occasion in the Low Countries, etc. Whereunto is added avisos +from several places, of the taking of the Island of Providence, by the Spaniards +from the English. London. Printed for Nath. Butter, Mar. 22, 1641.</p> + +<p>"I have letter by an aviso from Cartagena, dated the 14th of September, +wherein they advise that the galleons were ready laden with the silver, and +would depart thence the 6th of October. The general of the galleons, named +Francisco Dias Pimienta, had beene formerly in the moneth of July with +above 3000 men, and the least of his ships, in the island of S. Catalina, where +he had taken and carried away with all the English, and razed the forts, +wherein they found 600 negroes, much gold and indigo, so that the prize is +esteemed worth above halfe a million."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote82" name="footnote82"></a><b>Footnote 82: </b><a href="#footnotetag82">(return)</a><p>Rawl. MSS., A. 32,297; 31, 121.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>{57}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE BEGINNINGS OF THE BUCCANEERS</h3> + + +<p>In the second half of the sixteenth and the early part +of the seventeenth centuries, strangers who visited the +great Spanish islands of Hispaniola, Jamaica or +Porto Rico, usually remarked the extraordinary number +of wild cattle and boars found roaming upon them. +These herds were in every case sprung from domestic +animals originally brought from Spain. For as the +aborigines in the Greater Antilles decreased in numbers +under the heavy yoke of their conquerors, and as the +Spaniards themselves turned their backs upon the Antilles +for the richer allurements of the continent, less and less +land was left under cultivation; and cattle, hogs, horses +and even dogs ran wild, increased at a rapid rate, and +soon filled the broad savannas and deep woods which +covered the greater part of these islands. The northern +shore of Hispaniola the Spaniards had never settled, and +thither, probably from an early period, interloping ships +were accustomed to resort when in want of victuals. +With a long range of uninhabited coast, good anchorage +and abundance of provisions, this northern shore could +not fail to induce some to remain. In time we find there +scattered groups of hunters, mostly French and English, +who gained a rude livelihood by killing wild cattle for their +skins, and curing the flesh to supply the needs of passing +vessels. The origin of these men we do not know. They +may have been deserters from ships, crews of wrecked +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>{58}</span> +vessels, or even chance marooners. In any case the charm +of their half-savage, independent mode of life must soon +have attracted others, and a fairly regular traffic sprang up +between them and the ubiquitous Dutch traders, whom +they supplied with hides, tallow and cured meat in return +for the few crude necessities and luxuries they required. +Their numbers were recruited in 1629 by colonists from +St. Kitts who had fled before Don Federico de Toledo. +Making common lot with the hunters, the refugees +found sustenance so easy and the natural bounty of +the island so rich and varied, that many remained and +settled.</p> + +<p>To the north-west of Hispaniola lies a small, rocky +island about eight leagues in length and two in breadth, +separated by a narrow channel from its larger neighbour. +From the shore of Hispaniola the island appears in form +like a monster sea-turtle floating upon the waves, and +hence was named by the Spaniards "Tortuga." So +mountainous and inaccessible on the northern side as to +be called the Côte-de-Fer, and with only one harbour upon +the south, it offered a convenient refuge to the French and +English hunters should the Spaniards become troublesome. +These hunters probably ventured across to Tortuga before +1630, for there are indications that a Spanish expedition +was sent against the island from Hispaniola in 1630 or +1631, and a division of the spoil made in the city of San +Domingo after its return.<a id="footnotetag83" name="footnotetag83"></a><a href="#footnote83"><sup>83</sup></a> It was then, apparently, that +the Spaniards left upon Tortuga an officer and twenty-eight +men, the small garrison which, says Charlevoix, was +found there when the hunters returned. The Spanish +soldiers were already tired of their exile upon this lonely, +inhospitable rock, and evacuated with the same satisfaction +with which the French and English resumed their occupancy. +From the testimony of some documents in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>{59}</span> +English colonial archives we may gather that the English +from the first were in predominance in the new colony, and +exercised almost sole authority. In the minutes of the +Providence Company, under date of 19th May 1631, we find +that a committee was "appointed to treat with the agents +for a colony of about 150 persons, settled upon Tortuga";<a id="footnotetag84" name="footnotetag84"></a><a href="#footnote84"><sup>84</sup></a> +and a few weeks later that "the planters upon the island +of Tortuga desired the company to take them under their +protection, and to be at the charge of their fortification, in +consideration of a twentieth part of the commodities raised +there yearly."<a id="footnotetag85" name="footnotetag85"></a><a href="#footnote85"><sup>85</sup></a> At the same time the Earl of Holland, +governor of the company, and his associates petitioned +the king for an enlargement of their grant "only of 3 or 4 +degrees of northerly latitude, to avoid all doubts as to +whether one of the islands (Tortuga) was contained in +their former grant."<a id="footnotetag86" name="footnotetag86"></a><a href="#footnote86"><sup>86</sup></a> Although there were several islands +named Tortuga in the region of the West Indies, all the +evidence points to the identity of the island concerned in +this petition with the Tortuga near the north coast of +Hispaniola.<a id="footnotetag87" name="footnotetag87"></a><a href="#footnote87"><sup>87</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Providence Company accepted the offer of the +settlers upon Tortuga, and sent a ship to reinforce the +little colony with six pieces of ordnance, a supply of +ammunition and provisions, and a number of apprentices +or <i>engagés</i>. A Captain Hilton was appointed governor, +with Captain Christopher Wormeley to succeed him in +case of the governor's death or absence, and the name of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>{60}</span> +the island was changed from Tortuga to Association.<a id="footnotetag88" name="footnotetag88"></a><a href="#footnote88"><sup>88</sup></a> +Although consisting for the most part of high land covered +with tall cedar woods, the island contained in the south +and west broad savannas which soon attracted planters as +well as cattle-hunters. Some of the inhabitants of St. +Kitts, wearied of the dissensions between the French and +English there, and allured by reports of quiet and plenty in +Tortuga, deserted St. Kitts for the new colony. The +settlement, however, was probably always very poor and +struggling, for in January 1634 the Providence Company +received advice that Captain Hilton intended to desert the +island and draw most of the inhabitants after him; and a +declaration was sent out from England to the planters, +assuring them special privileges of trade and domicile, and +dissuading them from "changing certain ways of profit +already discovered for uncertain hopes suggested by fancy +or persuasion."<a id="footnotetag89" name="footnotetag89"></a><a href="#footnote89"><sup>89</sup></a> The question of remaining or departing, +indeed, was soon decided for the colonists without their +volition, for in December 1634 a Spanish force from +Hispaniola invaded the island and drove out all the +English and French they found there. It seems that an +Irishman named "Don Juan Morf" (John Murphy?),<a id="footnotetag90" name="footnotetag90"></a><a href="#footnote90"><sup>90</sup></a> who +had been "sargento-mayor" in Tortuga, became discontented +with the <i>régime</i> there and fled to Cartagena. The +Spanish governor of Cartagena sent him to Don Gabriel +de Gaves, President of the Audiencia in San Domingo, +thinking that with the information the renegade was able +to supply the Spaniards of Hispaniola might drive out the +foreigners. The President of San Domingo, however, died +three months later without bestirring himself, and it was +left to his successor to carry out the project. With the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>{61}</span> +information given by Murphy, added to that obtained from +prisoners, he sent a force of 250 foot under command of +Rui Fernandez de Fuemayor to take the island.<a id="footnotetag91" name="footnotetag91"></a><a href="#footnote91"><sup>91</sup></a> At this +time, according to the Spaniards' account, there were in +Tortuga 600 men bearing arms, besides slaves, women and +children. The harbour was commanded by a platform of +six cannon. The Spaniards approached the island just +before dawn, but through the ignorance of the pilot the +whole armadilla was cast upon some reefs near the shore. +Rui Fernandez with about thirty of his men succeeded in +reaching land in canoes, seized the fort without any +difficulty, and although his followers were so few managed +to disperse a body of the enemy who were approaching, +with the English governor at their head, to recover it. In +the mêlée the governor was one of the first to be killed—stabbed, +say the Spaniards, by the Irishman, who took +active part in the expedition and fought by the side of +Rui Fernandez. Meanwhile some of the inhabitants, +thinking that they could not hold the island, had regained +the fort, spiked the guns and transferred the stores to +several ships in the harbour, which sailed away leaving +only two dismantled boats and a patache to fall into the +hands of the Spaniards. Rui Fernandez, reinforced by +some 200 of his men who had succeeded in escaping from +the stranded armadilla, now turned his attention to the +settlement. He found his way barred by another body of +several hundred English, but dispersed them too, and took +seventy prisoners. The houses were then sacked and the +tobacco plantations burned by the soldiers, and the Spaniards +returned to San Domingo with four captured banners, the +six pieces of artillery and 180 muskets.<a id="footnotetag92" name="footnotetag92"></a><a href="#footnote92"><sup>92</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>{62}</span> + +<p>The Spanish occupation apparently did not last very +long, for in the following April the Providence Company +appointed Captain Nicholas Riskinner to be governor of +Tortuga in place of Wormeley, and in February 1636 it +learned that Riskinner was in possession of the island.<a id="footnotetag93" name="footnotetag93"></a><a href="#footnote93"><sup>93</sup></a> +Two planters just returned from the colony, moreover, informed +the company that there were then some 80 English +in the settlement, besides 150 negroes. It is evident that +the colonists were mostly cattle-hunters, for they assured +the company that they could supply Tortuga with 200 +beasts a month from Hispaniola, and would deliver calves +there at twenty shillings apiece.<a id="footnotetag94" name="footnotetag94"></a><a href="#footnote94"><sup>94</sup></a> Yet at a later meeting +of the Adventurers on 20th January 1637, a project for +sending more men and ammunition to the island was +suddenly dropped "upon intelligence that the inhabitants +had quitted it and removed to Hispaniola."<a id="footnotetag95" name="footnotetag95"></a><a href="#footnote95"><sup>95</sup></a> For three +years thereafter the Providence records are silent concerning +Tortuga. A few Frenchmen must have remained on +the island, however, for Charlevoix informs us that in 1638 +the general of the galleons swooped down upon the colony, +put to the sword all who failed to escape to the hills and +woods, and again destroyed all the habitations.<a id="footnotetag96" name="footnotetag96"></a><a href="#footnote96"><sup>96</sup></a> Persuaded +that the hunters would not expose themselves to a repetition +of such treatment, the Spaniards neglected to leave a +garrison, and a few scattered Frenchmen gradually filtered +back to their ruined homes. It was about this time, it +seems, that the President of San Domingo formed a body +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>{63}</span> +of 500 armed lancers in an effort to drive the intruders +from the larger island of Hispaniola. These lancers, half +of whom were always kept in the field, were divided +into companies of fifty each, whence they were called +by the French, "cinquantaines." Ranging the woods +and savannas this Spanish constabulary attacked isolated +hunters wherever they found them, and they formed +an important element in the constant warfare between +the French and Spanish colonists throughout the rest of +the century.<a id="footnotetag97" name="footnotetag97"></a><a href="#footnote97"><sup>97</sup></a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile an English adventurer, some time after the +Spanish descent of 1638, gathered a body of 300 of his +compatriots in the island of Nevis near St. Kitts, and sailing +for Tortuga dispossessed the few Frenchmen living +there of the island. According to French accounts he was +received amicably by the inhabitants and lived with them for +four months, when he turned upon his hosts, disarmed them +and marooned them upon the opposite shore of Hispaniola. +A few made their way to St. Kitts and complained to M. +de Poincy, the governor-general of the French islands, +who seized the opportunity to establish a French governor +in Tortuga. Living at that time in St. Kitts was a +Huguenot gentleman named Levasseur, who had been a +companion-in-arms of d'Esnambuc when the latter settled +St. Kitts in 1625, and after a short visit to France had returned +and made his fortune in trade. He was a man of +courage and command as well as a skilful engineer, and +soon rose high in the councils of de Poincy. Being a +Calvinist, however, he had drawn upon the governor the +reproaches of the authorities at home; and de Poincy proposed +to get rid of his presence, now become inconvenient, +by sending him to subdue Tortuga. Levasseur received +his commission from de Poincy in May 1640, assembled +forty or fifty followers, all Calvinists, and sailed in a barque +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>{64}</span> +to Hispaniola. He established himself at Port Margot, +about five leagues from Tortuga, and entered into friendly +relations with his English neighbours. He was but biding +his time, however, and on the last day of August 1640, on +the plea that the English had ill-used some of his followers +and had seized a vessel sent by de Poincy to obtain provisions, +he made a sudden descent upon the island with +only 49 men and captured the governor. The inhabitants +retired to Hispaniola, but a few days later returned and +besieged Levasseur for ten days. Finding that they could +not dislodge him, they sailed away with all their people to +the island of Providence.<a id="footnotetag98" name="footnotetag98"></a><a href="#footnote98"><sup>98</sup></a></p> + +<p>Levasseur, fearing perhaps another descent of the +Spaniards, lost no time in putting the settlement in a state +of defence. Although the port of Tortuga was little more +than a roadstead, it offered a good anchorage on a bottom +of fine sand, the approaches to which were easily defended +by a hill or promontory overlooking the harbour. The +top of this hill, situated 500 or 600 paces from the shore, +was a level platform, and upon it rose a steep rock some +30 feet high. Nine or ten paces from the base of the rock +gushed forth a perennial fountain of fresh water. The new +governor quickly made the most of these natural advantages. +The platform he shaped into terraces, with means for accommodating +several hundred men. On the top of the rock +he built a house for himself, as well as a magazine, and +mounted a battery of two guns. The only access to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>{65}</span> +rock was by a narrow approach, up half of which steps +were cut in the stone, the rest of the ascent being by means +of an iron ladder which could easily be raised and lowered.<a id="footnotetag99" name="footnotetag99"></a><a href="#footnote99"><sup>99</sup></a> +This little fortress, in which the governor could repose with +a feeling of entire security, he euphuistically called his +"dove-cote." The dove-cote was not finished any too soon, +for the Spaniards of San Domingo in 1643 determined to +destroy this rising power in their neighbourhood, and sent +against Levasseur a force of 500 or 600 men. When they +tried to land within a half gunshot of the shore, however, +they were greeted with a discharge of artillery from the +fort, which sank one of the vessels and forced the rest to +retire. The Spaniards withdrew to a place two leagues +to leeward, where they succeeded in disembarking, but fell +into an ambush laid by Levasseur, lost, according to the +French accounts, between 100 and 200 men, and fled to +their ships and back to Hispaniola. With this victory the +reputation of Levasseur spread far and wide throughout +the islands, and for ten years the Spaniards made no +further attempt to dislodge the French settlement.<a id="footnotetag100" name="footnotetag100"></a><a href="#footnote100"><sup>100</sup></a></p> + +<p>Planters, hunters and corsairs now came in greater +numbers to Tortuga. The hunters, using the smaller +island merely as a headquarters for supplies and a retreat +in time of danger, penetrated more boldly than ever into +the interior of Hispaniola, plundering the Spanish plantations +in their path, and establishing settlements on the +north shore at Port Margot and Port de Paix. Corsairs, +after cruising and robbing along the Spanish coasts, retired +to Tortuga to refit and find a market for their spoils. +Plantations of tobacco and sugar were cultivated, and +although the soil never yielded such rich returns as upon +the other islands, Dutch and French trading ships frequently +resorted there for these commodities, and especially for the +skins prepared by the hunters, bringing in exchange +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>{66}</span> +brandy, guns, powder and cloth. Indeed, under the active, +positive administration of Levasseur, Tortuga enjoyed a +degree of prosperity which almost rivalled that of the +French settlements in the Leeward Islands.</p> + +<p>The term "buccaneer," though usually applied to the +corsairs who in the seventeenth century ravaged the +Spanish possessions in the West Indies and the South Seas, +should really be restricted to these cattle-hunters of west +and north-west Hispaniola. The flesh of the wild-cattle +was cured by the hunters after a fashion learnt from the +Caribbee Indians. The meat was cut into long strips, laid +upon a grate or hurdle constructed of green sticks, and +dried over a slow wood fire fed with bones and the +trimmings of the hide of the animal. By this means an +excellent flavour was imparted to the meat and a fine red +colour. The place where the flesh was smoked was called +by the Indians a "boucan," and the same term, from the +poverty of an undeveloped language, was applied to the +frame or grating on which the flesh was dried. In +course of time the dried meat became known as +"viande boucannée," and the hunters themselves as +"boucaniers" or "buccaneers." When later circumstances +led the hunters to combine their trade in flesh +and hides with that of piracy, the name gradually lost +its original significance and acquired, in the English +language at least, its modern and better-known meaning +of corsair or freebooter. The French adventurers, however, +seem always to have restricted the word "boucanier" +to its proper signification, that of a hunter and curer of +meat; and when they developed into corsairs, by a curious +contrast they adopted an English name and called themselves +"filibustiers," which is merely the French sailor's +way of pronouncing the English word "freebooter."<a id="footnotetag101" name="footnotetag101"></a><a href="#footnote101"><sup>101</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>{67}</span> + +<p>The buccaneers or West Indian corsairs owed their +origin as well as their name to the cattle and hog-hunters +of Hispaniola and Tortuga. Doubtless many of the wilder, +more restless spirits in the smaller islands of the Windward +and Leeward groups found their way into the ranks +of this piratical fraternity, or were willing at least to lend +a hand in an occasional foray against their Spanish +neighbours. We know that Jackson, in 1642, had no +difficulty in gathering 700 or 800 men from Barbadoes +and St. Kitts for his ill-starred dash upon the Spanish +Main. And when the French in later years made their +periodical descents upon the Dutch stations on Tobago, +Curaçao and St. Eustatius, they always found in their +island colonies of Martinique and Guadeloupe buccaneers +enough and more, eager to fill their ships. It seems to be +generally agreed, however, among the Jesuit historians of +the West Indies—and upon these writers we are almost +entirely dependent for our knowledge of the origins of +buccaneering—that the corsairs had their source and +nucleus in the hunters who infested the coasts of Hispaniola. +Between the hunter and the pirate at first no impassable +line was drawn. The same person combined in himself +the occupations of cow-killing and cruising, varying the +monotony of the one by occasionally trying his hand at +the other. In either case he lived at constant enmity with +the Spaniards. With the passing of time the sea attracted +more and more away from their former pursuits. Even +the planters who were beginning to filter into the new +settlements found the attractions of coursing against the +Spaniards to be irresistible. Great extremes of fortune, +such as those to which the buccaneers were subject, have +always exercised an attraction over minds of an adventurous +stamp. It was the same allurement which drew the "forty-niners" +to California, and in 1897 the gold-seekers to the +Canadian Klondyke. If the suffering endured was often +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68"></a>{68}</span> +great, the prize to be gained was worth it. Fortune, if +fickle one day, might the next bring incredible bounty, +and the buccaneers who sweltered in a tropical sea, with +starvation staring them in the face, dreamed of rolling in +the oriental wealth of a Spanish argosy. Especially to +the cattle-hunter must this temptation have been great, +for his mode of life was the very rudest. He roamed the +woods by day with his dog and apprentices, and at night +slept in the open air or in a rude shed hastily constructed +of leaves and skins, which served as a house, and which he +called after the Indian name, "ajoupa" or "barbacoa." +His dress was of the simplest—coarse cloth trousers, and +a shirt which hung loosely over them, both pieces so black +and saturated with the blood and grease of slain animals +that they looked as if they had been tarred ("de toile +gaudronnée").<a id="footnotetag102" name="footnotetag102"></a><a href="#footnote102"><sup>102</sup></a> A belt of undressed bull's hide bound the +shirt, and supported on one side three or four large knives, +on the other a pouch for powder and shot. A cap with a +short pointed brim extending over the eyes, rude shoes of +cowhide or pigskin made all of one piece bound over the +foot, and a short, large-bore musket, completed the hunter's +grotesque outfit. Often he carried wound about his waist +a sack of netting into which he crawled at night to keep +off the pestiferous mosquitoes. With creditable regularity +he and his apprentices arose early in the morning and +started on foot for the hunt, eating no food until they had +killed and skinned as many wild cattle or swine as there +were persons in the company. After having skinned the +last animal, the master-hunter broke its softest bones and +made a meal for himself and his followers on the marrow. +Then each took up a hide and returned to the boucan, +where they dined on the flesh they had killed.<a id="footnotetag103" name="footnotetag103"></a><a href="#footnote103"><sup>103</sup></a> In this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>{69}</span> +fashion the hunter lived for the space of six months or a +year. Then he made a division of the skins and dried +meat, and repaired to Tortuga or one of the French settlements +on the coast of Hispaniola to recoup his stock of +ammunition and spend the rest of his gains in a wild +carouse of drunkenness and debauchery. His money gone, +he returned again to the hunt. The cow-killers, as they +had neither wife nor children, commonly associated in +pairs with the right of inheriting from each other, a custom +which was called "matelotage." These private associations, +however, did not prevent the property of all from +being in a measure common. Their mode of settling +quarrels was the most primitive—the duel. In other +things they governed themselves by a certain "coutumier," +a medley of bizarre laws which they had originated among +themselves. At any attempt to bring them under +civilised rules, the reply always was, "telle étoit la +coutume de la côte"; and that definitely closed the +matter. They based their rights thus to live upon the +fact, they said, of having passed the Tropic, where, borrowing +from the sailor's well-known superstition, they pretended +to have drowned all their former obligations.<a id="footnotetag104" name="footnotetag104"></a><a href="#footnote104"><sup>104</sup></a> +Even their family names they discarded, and the saying +was in those days that one knew a man in the Isles only +when he was married. From a life of this sort, cruising +against Spanish ships, if not an unmixed good, was at +least always a desirable recreation. Every Spanish prize +brought into Tortuga, moreover, was an incitement to +fresh adventure against the common foe. The "gens de +la côte," as they called themselves, ordinarily associated a +score or more together, and having taken or built themselves +a canoe, put to sea with intent to seize a Spanish +barque or some other coasting vessel. With silent paddles, +under cover of darkness, they approached the unsuspecting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>{70}</span> +prey, killed the frightened sailors or drove them overboard, +and carried the prize to Tortuga. There the raiders either +dispersed to their former occupations, or gathered a larger +crew of congenial spirits and sailed away for bigger game.</p> + +<p>All the Jesuit historians of the West Indies, Dutertre, +Labat and Charlevoix, have left us accounts of the +manners and customs of the buccaneers. The Dutch +physician, Exquemelin, who lived with the buccaneers +for several years, from 1668 to 1674, and wrote a picturesque +narrative from materials at his disposal, has also +been a source for the ideas of most later writers on the +subject. It may not be out of place to quote his description +of the men whose deeds he recorded.</p> + +<p>"Before the Pirates go out to sea," he writes, "they +give notice to every one who goes upon the voyage of +the day on which they ought precisely to embark, +intimating also to them their obligation of bringing each +man in particular so many pounds of powder and bullets +as they think necessary for that expedition. Being all +come on board, they join together in council, concerning +what place they ought first to go wherein to get +provisions—especially of flesh, seeing they scarce eat +anything else. And of this the most common sort +among them is pork. The next food is tortoises, which +they are accustomed to salt a little. Sometimes they +resolve to rob such or such hog-yards, wherein the +Spaniards often have a thousand heads of swine together. +They come to these places in the dark of night, and +having beset the keeper's lodge, they force him to rise, +and give them as many heads as they desire, threatening +withal to kill him in case he disobeys their command +or makes any noise. Yea, these menaces are oftentimes +put in execution, without giving any quarter to the +miserable swine-keepers, or any other person that +endeavours to hinder their robberies.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>{71}</span> + +<p>"Having got provisions of flesh sufficient for their +voyage, they return to their ship. Here their allowance, +twice a day to every one, is as much as he can eat, without +either weight or measure. Neither does the steward of the +vessel give any greater proportion of flesh or anything +else to the captain than to the meanest mariner. The +ship being well victualled, they call another council, +to deliberate towards what place they shall go, to seek +their desperate fortunes. In this council, likewise, they +agree upon certain Articles, which are put in writing, by +way of bond or obligation, which everyone is bound to +observe, and all of them, or the chief, set their hands to it. +Herein they specify, and set down very distinctly, what +sums of money each particular person ought to have for +that voyage, the fund of all the payments being the +common stock of what is gotten by the whole expedition; +for otherwise it is the same law, among these people, as +with other Pirates, 'No prey, no pay.' In the first place, +therefore, they mention how much the Captain ought to +have for his ship. Next the salary of the carpenter, or +shipwright, who careened, mended and rigged the vessel. +This commonly amounts to 100 or 150 pieces of eight, being, +according to the agreement, more or less. Afterwards for +provisions and victualling they draw out of the same +common stock about 200 pieces of eight. Also a +competent salary for the surgeon and his chest of +medicaments, which is usually rated at 200 or 250 +pieces of eight. Lastly they stipulate in writing what +recompense or reward each one ought to have, that is +either wounded or maimed in his body, suffering the loss +of any limb, by that voyage. Thus they order for the loss +of a right arm 600 pieces of eight, or six slaves; for the +loss of a left arm 500 pieces of eight, or five slaves; for +a right leg 500 pieces of eight, or five slaves; for the left +leg 400 pieces of eight, or four slaves; for an eye 100 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>{72}</span> +pieces of eight or one slave; for a finger of the hand the +same reward as for the eye. All which sums of money, +as I have said before, are taken out of the capital sum +or common stock of what is got by their piracy. For a +very exact and equal dividend is made of the remainder +among them all. Yet herein they have also regard to +qualities and places. Thus the Captain, or chief Commander, +is allotted five or six portions to what the +ordinary seamen have; the Master's Mate only two; +and other Officers proportionate to their employment. +After whom they draw equal parts from the highest even +to the lowest mariner, the boys not being omitted. For +even these draw half a share, by reason that, when they +happen to take a better vessel than their own, it is the +duty of the boys to set fire to the ship or boat wherein +they are, and then retire to the prize which they have +taken.</p> + +<p>"They observe among themselves very good orders. +For in the prizes they take it is severely prohibited to +everyone to usurp anything in particular to themselves. +Hence all they take is equally divided, according to what +has been said before. Yea, they make a solemn oath to +each other not to abscond or conceal the least thing they +find amongst the prey. If afterwards anyone is found +unfaithful, who has contravened the said oath, immediately +he is separated and turned out of the society. Among +themselves they are very civil and charitable to each +other. Insomuch that if any wants what another has, +with great liberality they give it one to another. As soon +as these pirates have taken any prize of ship or boat, the +first thing they endeavour is to set on shore the prisoners, +detaining only some few for their own help and service, +to whom also they give their liberty after the space of two +or three years. They put in very frequently for refreshment +at one island or another; but more especially into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>{73}</span> +those which lie on the southern side of the Isle of Cuba. +Here they careen their vessels, and in the meanwhile +some of them go to hunt, others to cruise upon the seas in +canoes, seeking their fortune. Many times they take the +poor fishermen of tortoises, and carrying them to their +habitations they make them work so long as the pirates +are pleased."</p> + +<p>The articles which fixed the conditions under which +the buccaneers sailed were commonly called the "chasse-partie."<a id="footnotetag105" name="footnotetag105"></a><a href="#footnote105"><sup>105</sup></a> +In the earlier days of buccaneering, before the +period of great leaders like Mansfield, Morgan and Grammont, +the captain was usually chosen from among their +own number. Although faithfully obeyed he was removable +at will, and had scarcely more prerogative than the +ordinary sailor. After 1655 the buccaneers generally +sailed under commissions from the governors of Jamaica +or Tortuga, and then they always set aside one tenth of +the profits for the governor. But when their prizes were +unauthorised they often withdrew to some secluded coast +to make a partition of the booty, and on their return to +port eased the governor's conscience with politic gifts; and +as the governor generally had little control over these +difficult people he found himself all the more obliged to +dissimulate. Although the buccaneers were called by the +Spaniards "ladrones" and "demonios," names which they +richly deserved, they often gave part of their spoil to +churches in the ports which they frequented, especially +if among the booty they found any ecclesiastical ornaments +or the stuffs for making them—articles which not +infrequently formed an important part of the cargo of +Spanish treasure ships. In March 1694 the Jesuit writer, +Labat, took part in a Mass at Martinique which was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>{74}</span> +performed for some French buccaneers in pursuance of a +vow made when they were taking two English vessels near +Barbadoes. The French vessel and its two prizes were +anchored near the church, and fired salutes of all their +cannon at the beginning of the Mass, at the Elevation of +the Host, at the Benediction, and again at the end of the +Te Deum sung after the Mass.<a id="footnotetag106" name="footnotetag106"></a><a href="#footnote106"><sup>106</sup></a> Labat, who, although a +priest, is particularly lenient towards the crimes of the +buccaneers, and who we suspect must have been the +recipient of numerous "favours" from them out of their +store of booty, relates a curious tale of the buccaneer, +Captain Daniel, a tale which has often been used by other +writers, but which may bear repetition. Daniel, in need +of provisions, anchored one night off one of the "Saintes," +small islands near Dominica, and landing without opposition, +took possession of the house of the curé and of some +other inhabitants of the neighbourhood. He carried the +curé and his people on board his ship without offering +them the least violence, and told them that he merely +wished to buy some wine, brandy and fowls. While these +were being gathered, Daniel requested the curé to celebrate +Mass, which the poor priest dared not refuse. So +the necessary sacred vessels were sent for and an altar +improvised on the deck for the service, which they chanted +to the best of their ability. As at Martinique, the Mass +was begun by a discharge of artillery, and after the +Exaudiat and prayer for the King was closed by a loud +"Vive le Roi!" from the throats of the buccaneers. A +single incident, however, somewhat disturbed the devotions. +One of the buccaneers, remaining in an indecent attitude +during the Elevation, was rebuked by the captain, and +instead of heeding the correction, replied with an impertinence +and a fearful oath. Quick as a flash Daniel whipped +out his pistol and shot the buccaneer through the head, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75"></a>{75}</span> +adjuring God that he would do as much to the first who +failed in his respect to the Holy Sacrifice. The shot was +fired close by the priest, who, as we can readily imagine, +was considerably agitated. "Do not be troubled, my +father," said Daniel; "he is a rascal lacking in his duty +and I have punished him to teach him better." A very +efficacious means, remarks Labat, of preventing his falling +into another like mistake. After the Mass the body of +the dead man was thrown into the sea, and the curé was +recompensed for his pains by some goods out of their stock +and the present of a negro slave.<a id="footnotetag107" name="footnotetag107"></a><a href="#footnote107"><sup>107</sup></a></p> + +<p>The buccaneers preferred to sail in barques, vessels of +one mast and rigged with triangular sails. This type of +boat, they found, could be more easily manœuvred, was +faster and sailed closer to the wind. The boats were built +of cedar, and the best were reputed to come from Bermuda. +They carried very few guns, generally from six to twelve +or fourteen, the corsairs believing that four muskets did +more execution than one cannon.<a id="footnotetag108" name="footnotetag108"></a><a href="#footnote108"><sup>108</sup></a> The buccaneers +sometimes used brigantines, vessels with two masts, +the fore or mizzenmast being square-rigged with two +sails and the mainmast rigged like that of a barque. +The corsair at Martinique of whom Labat speaks was +captain of a corvette, a boat like a brigantine, except that +all the sails were square-rigged. At the beginning of a +voyage the freebooters were generally so crowded in their +small vessels that they suffered much from lack of room. +Moreover, they had little protection from sun and rain, and +with but a small stock of provisions often faced starvation. +It was this as much as anything which frequently inspired +them to attack without reflection any possible prize, great +or small, and to make themselves masters of it or perish in +the attempt. Their first object was to come to close +quarters; and although a single broadside would have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76"></a>{76}</span> +sunk their small craft, they manœuvred so skilfully as to +keep their bow always presented to the enemy, while +their musketeers cleared the enemy's decks until the +time when the captain judged it proper to board. The +buccaneers rarely attacked Spanish ships on the outward +voyage from Europe to America, for such ships were loaded +with wines, cloths, grains and other commodities for which +they had little use, and which they could less readily turn +into available wealth. Outgoing vessels also carried large +crews and a considerable number of passengers. It was +the homeward-bound ships, rather, which attracted their +avarice, for in such vessels the crews were smaller and +the cargo consisted of precious metals, dye-woods and +jewels, articles which the freebooters could easily dispose +of to the merchants and tavern-keepers of the ports they +frequented.</p> + +<p>The Gulf of Honduras and the Mosquito Coast, dotted +with numerous small islands and protecting reefs, was a +favourite retreat for the buccaneers. As the clumsy +Spanish war-vessels of the period found it ticklish work +threading these tortuous channels, where a sudden adverse +wind usually meant disaster, the buccaneers there felt +secure from interference; and in the creeks, lagoons and +river-mouths densely shrouded by tropical foliage, they +were able to careen and refit their vessels, divide their +booty, and enjoy a respite from their sea-forays. Thence, +too, they preyed upon the Spanish ships which sailed from +the coast of Cartagena to Porto Bello, Nicaragua, Mexico, +and the larger Antilles, and were a constant menace to the +great treasure galleons of the Terra-Firma fleet. The +English settlement on the island of Providence, lying as +it did off the Nicaragua coast and in the very track of +Spanish commerce in those regions, was, until captured in +1641, a source of great fear to Spanish mariners; and when +in 1642 some English occupied the island of Roatan, near +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>{77}</span> +Truxillo, the governor of Cuba and the Presidents of the +Audiencias at Gautemala and San Domingo jointly equipped +an expedition of four vessels under D. Francisco de +Villalba y Toledo, which drove out the intruders.<a id="footnotetag109" name="footnotetag109"></a><a href="#footnote109"><sup>109</sup></a> Closer +to the buccaneering headquarters in Tortuga (and later in +Jamaica) were the straits separating the great West Indian +islands:—the Yucatan Channel at the western end of Cuba, +the passage between Cuba and Hispaniola in the east, and +the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Porto Rico. +In these regions the corsairs waited to pick up stray +Spanish merchantmen, and watched for the coming of the +galleons or the Flota.<a id="footnotetag110" name="footnotetag110"></a><a href="#footnote110"><sup>110</sup></a> +When the buccaneers returned from their cruises they +generally squandered in a few days, in the taverns of the +towns which they frequented, the wealth which had cost +them such peril and labour. Some of these outlaws, says +Exquemelin, would spend 2000 or 3000 pieces of eight<a id="footnotetag111" name="footnotetag111"></a><a href="#footnote111"><sup>111</sup></a> in +one night, not leaving themselves a good shirt to wear on +their backs in the morning. "My own master," he continues, +"would buy, on like occasions, a whole pipe of wine, +and placing it in the street would force every one that +passed by to drink with him; threatening also to pistol +them in case they would not do it. At other times he +would do the same with barrels of ale or beer. And, very +often, with both in his hands, he would throw these liquors +about the streets, and wet the clothes of such as walked +by, without regarding whether he spoiled their apparel or +not, were they men or women." The taverns and ale-houses +always welcomed the arrival of these dissolute +corsairs; and although they extended long credits, they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>{78}</span> +also at times sold as indentured servants those who +had run too deeply into debt, as happened in Jamaica +to this same patron or master of whom Exquemelin +wrote.</p> + +<p>Until 1640 buccaneering in the West Indies was more +or less accidental, occasional, in character. In the second +half of the century, however, the numbers of the freebooters +greatly increased, and men entirely deserted their +former occupations for the excitement and big profits of +the "course." There were several reasons for this increase +in the popularity of buccaneering. The English adventurers +in Hispaniola had lost their profession of hunting +very early, for with the coming of Levasseur the French +had gradually elbowed them out of the island, and compelled +them either to retire to the Lesser Antilles or to +prey upon their Spanish neighbours. But the French +themselves were within the next twenty years driven to +the same expedient. The Spanish colonists on Hispaniola, +unable to keep the French from the island, at last +foolishly resolved, according to Charlevoix's account, to +remove the principal attraction by destroying all the wild +cattle. If the trade with French vessels and the barter of +hides for brandy could be arrested, the hunters would be +driven from the woods by starvation. This policy, together +with the wasteful methods pursued by the hunters, caused +a rapid decrease in the number of cattle. The Spaniards, +however, did not dream of the consequences of their +action. Many of the French, forced to seek another +occupation, naturally fell into the way of buccaneering. +The hunters of cattle became hunters of Spaniards, and +the sea became the savanna on which they sought their +game. Exquemelin tells us that when he arrived at the +island there were scarcely three hundred engaged in +hunting, and even these found their livelihood precarious. +It was from this time forward to the end of the century +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>{79}</span> +that the buccaneers played so important a <i>rôle</i> on the +stage of West Indian history.</p> + +<p>Another source of recruits for the freebooters were the +indentured servants or <i>engagés</i>. We hear a great deal +of the barbarity with which West Indian planters and +hunters in the seventeenth century treated their servants, +and we may well believe that many of the latter, finding +their situation unendurable, ran away from their plantations +or ajoupas to join the crew of a chance corsair +hovering in the neighbourhood. The hunters' life, as we +have seen, was not one of revelry and ease. On the one +side were all the insidious dangers lurking in a wild, +tropical forest; on the other, the relentless hostility of the +Spaniards. The environment of the hunters made them +rough and cruel, and for many an <i>engagé</i> his three years +of servitude must have been a veritable purgatory. The +servants of the planters were in no better position. +Decoyed from Norman and Breton towns and villages by +the loud-sounding promises of sea-captains and West +Indian agents, they came to seek an El Dorado, and often +found only despair and death. The want of sufficient +negroes led men to resort to any artifice in order to obtain +assistance in cultivating the sugar-cane and tobacco. The +apprentices sent from Europe were generally bound out in +the French Antilles for eighteen months or three years, +among the English for seven years. They were often +resold in the interim, and sometimes served ten or twelve +years before they regained their freedom. They were +veritable convicts, often more ill-treated than the slaves +with whom they worked side by side, for their lives, after +the expiration of their term of service, were of no consequence +to their masters. Many of these apprentices, of +good birth and tender education, were unable to endure +the debilitating climate and hard labour, let alone the +cruelty of their employers. Exquemelin, himself originally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>{80}</span> +an <i>engagé</i>, gives a most piteous description of their +sufferings. He was sold to the Lieutenant-Governor of +Tortuga, who treated him with great severity and +refused to take less than 300 pieces of eight for his +freedom. Falling ill through vexation and despair, he +passed into the hands of a surgeon, who proved kind to +him and finally gave him his liberty for 100 pieces of +eight, to be paid after his first buccaneering voyage.<a id="footnotetag112" name="footnotetag112"></a><a href="#footnote112"><sup>112</sup></a></p> + +<p>We left Levasseur governor in Tortuga after the +abortive Spanish attack of 1643. Finding his personal +ascendancy so complete over the rude natures about him, +Levasseur, like many a greater man in similar circumstances, +lost his sense of the rights of others. His +character changed, he became suspicious and intolerant, +and the settlers complained bitterly of his cruelty and +overbearing temper. Having come as the leader of a band +of Huguenots, he forbade the Roman Catholics to hold +services on the island, burnt their chapel and turned out +their priest. He placed heavy imposts on trade, and soon +amassed a considerable fortune.<a id="footnotetag113" name="footnotetag113"></a><a href="#footnote113"><sup>113</sup></a> In his eyrie upon the +rock fortress, he is said to have kept for his enemies a cage +of iron, in which the prisoner could neither stand nor lie +down, and which Levasseur, with grim humour, called his +"little hell." A dungeon in his castle he termed in like +fashion his "purgatory." All these stories, however, are +reported by the Jesuits, his natural foes, and must be +taken with a grain of salt. De Poincy, who himself ruled +with despotic authority and was guilty of similar cruelties, +would have turned a deaf ear to the denunciations against +his lieutenant, had not his jealousy been aroused by the +suspicion that Levasseur intended to declare himself an +independent prince.<a id="footnotetag114" name="footnotetag114"></a><a href="#footnote114"><sup>114</sup></a> So the governor-general, already in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>{81}</span> +bad odour at court for having given Levasseur means of +establishing a little Geneva in Tortuga, began to disavow +him to the authorities at home. He also sent his nephew, +M. de Lonvilliers, to Tortuga, on the pretext of complimenting +Levasseur on his victory over the Spaniards, but +really to endeavour to entice him back to St. Kitts. +Levasseur, subtle and penetrating, skilfully avoided the +trap, and Lonvilliers returned to St. Kitts alone.</p> + +<p>Charlevoix relates an amusing instance of the governor's +stubborn resistance to de Poincy's authority. A silver +statue of the Virgin, captured by some buccaneer from a +Spanish ship, had been appropriated by Levasseur, and de +Poincy, desiring to decorate his chapel with it, wrote to +him demanding the statue, and observing that a Protestant +had no use for such an object. Levasseur, however, +replied that the Protestants had a great adoration for +silver virgins, and that Catholics being "trop spirituels +pour tenir à la matière," he was sending him, instead, a +madonna of painted wood.</p> + +<p>After a tenure of power for twelve years, Levasseur +came to the end of his tether. While de Poincy +was resolving upon an expedition to oust him from +authority, two adventurers named Martin and Thibault, +whom Levasseur had adopted as his heirs, and with whom, +it is said, he had quarrelled over a mistress, shot him as he +was descending from the fort to the shore, and completed +the murder by a poniard's thrust. They then seized the +government without any opposition from the inhabitants.<a id="footnotetag115" name="footnotetag115"></a><a href="#footnote115"><sup>115</sup></a> +Meanwhile there had arrived at St. Kitts the Chevalier de +Fontenay, a soldier of fortune who had distinguished +himself against the Turks and was attracted by the gleam +of Spanish gold. He it was whom de Poincy chose as the +man to succeed Levasseur. The opportunity for action +was eagerly accepted by de Fontenay, but the project was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>{82}</span> +kept secret, for if Levasseur had got wind of it all the +forces in St. Kitts could not have dislodged him. +Volunteers were raised on the pretext of a privateering +expedition to the coasts of Cartagena, and to complete +the deception de Fontenay actually sailed for the Main +and captured several prizes. The rendezvous was on the +coast of Hispaniola, where de Fontenay was eventually +joined by de Poincy's nephew, M. de Treval, with another +frigate and materials for a siege. Learning of the murder +of Levasseur, the invaders at once sailed for Tortuga and +landed several hundred men at the spot where the Spaniards +had formerly been repulsed. The two assassins, finding +the inhabitants indisposed to support them, capitulated +to de Fontenay on receiving pardon for their crime and +the peaceful possession of their property. Catholicism +was restored, commerce was patronized and buccaneers +encouraged to use the port. Two stone bastions were +raised on the platform and more guns were mounted.<a id="footnotetag116" name="footnotetag116"></a><a href="#footnote116"><sup>116</sup></a> De +Fontenay himself was the first to bear the official title of +"Governor for the King of Tortuga and the Coast of S. +Domingo."</p> + +<p>The new governor was not fated to enjoy his success +for any length of time. The President of S. Domingo, +Don Juan Francisco de Montemayor, with orders from the +King of Spain, was preparing for another effort to get rid +of his troublesome neighbour, and in November 1653 sent +an expedition of five vessels and 400 infantry against +the French, under command of Don Gabriel Roxas de +Valle-Figueroa. The ships were separated by a storm, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>{83}</span> +two ran aground and a third was lost, so that only the +"Capitana" and "Almirante" reached Tortuga on 10th +January. Being greeted with a rough fire from the platform +and fort as they approached the harbour, they +dropped anchor a league to leeward and landed with little +opposition. After nine days of fighting and siege of the +fort, de Fontenay capitulated with the honours of war.<a id="footnotetag117" name="footnotetag117"></a><a href="#footnote117"><sup>117</sup></a> +According to the French account, the Spaniards, lashing +their cannon to rough frames of wood, dragged a battery +of eight or ten guns to the top of some hills commanding +the fort, and began a furious bombardment. Several +sorties of the besieged to capture the battery were unsuccessful. +The inhabitants began to tire of fighting, and +de Fontenay, discovering some secret negotiations with +the enemy, was compelled to sue for terms. With incredible +exertions, two half-scuttled ships in the harbour +were fitted up and provisioned within three days, and upon +them the French sailed for Port Margot.<a id="footnotetag118" name="footnotetag118"></a><a href="#footnote118"><sup>118</sup></a> The Spaniards +claimed that the booty would have been considerable but +for some Dutch trading-ships in the harbour which conveyed +all the valuables from the island. They burned the +settlements, however, carried away with them some guns, +munitions of war and slaves, and this time taking the precaution +to leave behind a garrison of 150 men, sailed for +Hispaniola. Fearing that the French might join forces +with the buccaneers and attack their small squadron on +the way back, they retained de Fontenay's brother as a +hostage until they reached the city of San Domingo. +De Fontenay, indeed, after his brother's release, did determine +to try and recover the island. Only 130 of his men +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>{84}</span> +stood by him, the rest deserting to join the buccaneers in +western Hispaniola. While he was careening his ship at Port +Margot, however, a Dutch trader arrived with commodities +for Tortuga, and learning of the disaster, offered him aid +with men and supplies. A descent was made upon the +smaller island, and the Spaniards were besieged for twenty +days, but after several encounters they compelled the +French to withdraw. De Fontenay, with only thirty +companions, sailed for Europe, was wrecked among the +Azores, and eventually reached France, only to die a short +time afterwards.</p> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote83" name="footnote83"></a><b>Footnote 83: </b><a href="#footnotetag83">(return)</a><p>Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9334, f. 48.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote84" name="footnote84"></a><b>Footnote 84: </b><a href="#footnotetag84">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, p. 130. This company had been organised +under the name of "The Governor and Company of Adventurers for the +Plantations of the Islands of Providence, Henrietta and the adjacent islands, +between 10 and 20 degrees of north latitude and 290 and 310 degrees of +longitude." The patent of incorporation is dated 4th December 1630 (<i>ibid.</i>, +p. 123).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote85" name="footnote85"></a><b>Footnote 85: </b><a href="#footnotetag85">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, p. 131.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote86" name="footnote86"></a><b>Footnote 86: </b><a href="#footnotetag86">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote87" name="footnote87"></a><b>Footnote 87: </b><a href="#footnotetag87">(return)</a><p>This identity was first pointed out by Pierre de Vaissière in his recent +book: "Saint Domingue (1629-1789). La societé et la vie créoles sous +l'ancien régime," Paris, 1909, p. 7.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote88" name="footnote88"></a><b>Footnote 88: </b><a href="#footnotetag88">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, pp. 131-33.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote89" name="footnote89"></a><b>Footnote 89: </b><a href="#footnotetag89">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 174, 175.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote90" name="footnote90"></a><b>Footnote 90: </b><a href="#footnotetag90">(return)</a><p>This was probably the same man as the "Don Juan de Morfa Geraldino" +who was admiral of the fleet which attacked Tortuga in 1654. <i>Cf.</i> Duro, +<i>op. cit.</i>, v. p. 35.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote91" name="footnote91"></a><b>Footnote 91: </b><a href="#footnotetag91">(return)</a><p>In 1642 Rui Fernandez de Fuemayor was governor and captain-general +of the province of Venezuela. <i>Cf.</i> Doro, <i>op. cit.</i>, iv. p. 341; note 2.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote92" name="footnote92"></a><b>Footnote 92: </b><a href="#footnotetag92">(return)</a><p>Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,977, f. 505. According to the minutes of +the Providence Company, a certain Mr. Perry, newly arrived from Association, +gave information on 19th March 1635 that the island had been surprised by +the Spaniards (C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, p. 200). This news was confirmed +by a Mrs. Filby at another meeting of the company on 10th April, when Capt. +Wormeley, "by reason of his cowardice and negligence in losing the island," +was formally deprived of his office as governor and banished from the colony +(<i>ibid.</i>, p. 201).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote93" name="footnote93"></a><b>Footnote 93: </b><a href="#footnotetag93">(return)</a><p>Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,977, pp. 222-23.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote94" name="footnote94"></a><b>Footnote 94: </b><a href="#footnotetag94">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 226-27, 235.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote95" name="footnote95"></a><b>Footnote 95: </b><a href="#footnotetag95">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 226, 233, 235-37, 244.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote96" name="footnote96"></a><b>Footnote 96: </b><a href="#footnotetag96">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix: Histoire de. ... Saint Domingue, liv. vii. pp. 9-10. +The story is repeated by Duro (<i>op. cit.</i>, v. p. 34), who says that the Spaniards +were led by "el general D. Carlos Ibarra."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote97" name="footnote97"></a><b>Footnote 97: </b><a href="#footnotetag97">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. vii. p. 10; Bibl. +Nat. Nouv. Acq., 9334, p. 48 <i>ff.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote98" name="footnote98"></a><b>Footnote 98: </b><a href="#footnotetag98">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. vii. pp. 10-12; +Vaissière., <i>op. cit.</i>, Appendix I ("Mémoire envoyé aux seigneurs +de la Compagnie des Isles de l'Amérique par M. de Poincy, le 15 Novembre +1640").</p> + +<p>According to the records of the Providence Company, Tortuga in 1640 +had 300 inhabitants. A Captain Fload, who had been governor, was then in +London to clear himself of charges preferred against him by the planters, +while a Captain James was exercising authority as "President" in the island. +(C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660. pp. 313, 314.) Fload was probably the "English +captain" referred to in de Poincy's memoir. His oppressive rule seems to +have been felt as well by the English as by the French.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote99" name="footnote99"></a><b>Footnote 99: </b><a href="#footnotetag99">(return)</a><p>Dutertre: Histoire générale des Antilles, tom. i. p. 171.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote100" name="footnote100"></a><b>Footnote 100: </b><a href="#footnotetag100">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix: <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. vii. pp. 12-13.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote101" name="footnote101"></a><b>Footnote 101: </b><a href="#footnotetag101">(return)</a><p>In this monograph, by "buccaneers" are always meant the corsairs and +filibusters, and not the cattle and hog killers of Hispaniola and Tortuga.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote102" name="footnote102"></a><b>Footnote 102: </b><a href="#footnotetag102">(return)</a><p>Labat: Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amerique, <i>ed.</i> 1742, tom. vii. +p. 233.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote103" name="footnote103"></a><b>Footnote 103: </b><a href="#footnotetag103">(return)</a><p>Le Pers, printed in Margry, <i>op. cit.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote104" name="footnote104"></a><b>Footnote 104: </b><a href="#footnotetag104">(return)</a><p>Le Pers, printed in Margry, <i>op. cit.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote105" name="footnote105"></a><b>Footnote 105: </b><a href="#footnotetag105">(return)</a><p>Dampier writes that "Privateers are not obliged to any ship, but free to +go ashore where they please, or to go into any other ship that will entertain +them, only paying for their provision." (Edition 1906, i. p. 61).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote106" name="footnote106"></a><b>Footnote 106: </b><a href="#footnotetag106">(return)</a><p>Labat, <i>op. cit.</i>, tom. i. ch. 9.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote107" name="footnote107"></a><b>Footnote 107: </b><a href="#footnotetag107">(return)</a><p>Labat, <i>op. cit.</i>, tom. vii. ch. 17.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote108" name="footnote108"></a><b>Footnote 108: </b><a href="#footnotetag108">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, tom. ii. ch. 17.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote109" name="footnote109"></a><b>Footnote 109: </b><a href="#footnotetag109">(return)</a><p>Gibbs: British Honduras, p. 25.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote110" name="footnote110"></a><b>Footnote 110: </b><a href="#footnotetag110">(return)</a><p>A Spaniard, writing from S. Domingo in 1635, complains of an English +buccaneer settlement at Samana (on the north coast of Hispaniola, near the +Mona Passage), where they grew tobacco, and preyed on the ships sailing +from Cartagena and S. Domingo for Spain. (Add. MSS., 13,977, f. 508.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote111" name="footnote111"></a><b>Footnote 111: </b><a href="#footnotetag111">(return)</a><p>A piece of eight was worth in Jamaica from 4s. 6d. to 5s.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote112" name="footnote112"></a><b>Footnote 112: </b><a href="#footnotetag112">(return)</a><p> Exquemelin, <i>ed.</i> 1684, Part I. pp. 21-22.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote113" name="footnote113"></a><b>Footnote 113: </b><a href="#footnotetag113">(return)</a><p> Dutertre, <i>op. cit.</i>, tom. i. ch. vi.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote114" name="footnote114"></a><b>Footnote 114: </b><a href="#footnotetag114">(return)</a><p> Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. vii. p. 16.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote115" name="footnote115"></a><b>Footnote 115: </b><a href="#footnotetag115">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. vii. pp. 17-18.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote116" name="footnote116"></a><b>Footnote 116: </b><a href="#footnotetag116">(return)</a><p>According to a Spanish MS., there were in Tortuga in 1653 700 French +inhabitants, more than 200 negroes, and 250 Indians with their wives and +children. The negroes and Indians were all slaves; the former seized on the +coasts of Havana and Cartagena, the latter brought over from Yucatan. In +the harbour the platform had fourteen cannon, and in the fort above were +forty-six cannon, many of them of bronze (Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499 <i>ff.</i>). +The report of the amount of ordnance is doubtless an exaggeration.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote117" name="footnote117"></a><b>Footnote 117: </b><a href="#footnotetag117">(return)</a><p>Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote118" name="footnote118"></a><b>Footnote 118: </b><a href="#footnotetag118">(return)</a><p>According to Dutertre, one vessel was commanded by the assassins, +Martin and Thibault, and contained the women and children. The latter, +when provisions ran low, were marooned on one of the Caymans, north-west +of Jamaica, where they would have perished had not a Dutch ship found and +rescued them. Martin and Thibault were never heard of again.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85"></a>{85}</span> + + + +<center><a name="illus-jamaica" id="illus-jamaica"><img width="600" height="342" src="images/fp085.png" alt="Jamaica"/></a></center> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE CONQUEST OF JAMAICA</h3> + + +<p>The capture of Jamaica by the expedition sent out +by Cromwell in 1655 was the blundering beginning +of a new era in West Indian history. It was +the first permanent annexation by another European +power of an integral part of Spanish America. Before +1655 the island had already been twice visited by English +forces. The first occasion was in January 1597, when +Sir Anthony Shirley, with little opposition, took and +plundered St. Jago de la Vega. The second was in 1643, +when William Jackson repeated the same exploit with +500 men from the Windward Islands. Cromwell's expedition, +consisting of 2500 men and a considerable fleet, set +sail from England in December 1654, with the secret +object of "gaining an interest" in that part of the West +Indies in possession of the Spaniards. Admiral Penn +commanded the fleet, and General Venables the land +forces.<a id="footnotetag119" name="footnotetag119"></a><a href="#footnote119"><sup>119</sup></a> The expedition reached Barbadoes at the end of +January, where some 4000 additional troops were raised, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86"></a>{86}</span> +besides about 1200 from Nevis, St. Kitts, and neighbouring +islands. The commanders having resolved to direct their +first attempt against Hispaniola, on 13th April a landing +was effected at a point to the west of San Domingo, and +the army, suffering terribly from a tropical sun and lack +of water, marched thirty miles through woods and +savannahs to attack the city. The English received two +shameful defeats from a handful of Spaniards on 17th and +25th April, and General Venables, complaining loudly of +the cowardice of his men and of Admiral Penn's failure +to co-operate with him, finally gave up the attempt and +sailed for Jamaica. On 11th May, in the splendid harbour +on which Kingston now stands, the English fleet dropped +anchor. Three small forts on the western side were +battered by the guns from the ships, and as soon as the +troops began to land the garrisons evacuated their posts. +St. Jago, six miles inland, was occupied next day. The +terms offered by Venables to the Spaniards (the same as +those exacted from the English settlers on Providence +Island in 1641—emigration within ten days on pain of +death, and forfeiture of all their property) were accepted on +the 17th; but the Spaniards were soon discovered to have +entered into negotiations merely to gain time and retire +with their families and goods to the woods and mountains, +whence they continued their resistance. Meanwhile the +army, wretchedly equipped with provisions and other +necessities, was decimated by sickness. On the 19th +two long-expected store-ships arrived, but the supplies +brought by them were limited, and an appeal for assistance +was sent to New England. Admiral Penn, disgusted +with the fiasco in Hispaniola and on bad terms with +Venables, sailed for England with part of his fleet on +25th June; and Venables, so ill that his life was despaired +of, and also anxious to clear himself of the responsibility +for the initial failure of the expedition, followed in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>{87}</span> +"Marston Moor" nine days later. On 20th September both +commanders appeared before the Council of State to +answer the charge of having deserted their posts, and together +they shared the disgrace of a month in the Tower.<a id="footnotetag120" name="footnotetag120"></a><a href="#footnote120"><sup>120</sup></a></p> + +<center><a name="illus-san-domingo" id="illus-san-domingo"><img width="735" height="433" src="images/fp086.png" alt="San Domingo"/></a></center> + +<p>The army of General Venables was composed of very +inferior and undisciplined troops, mostly the rejected of +English regiments or the offscourings of the West Indian +colonies; yet the chief reasons for the miscarriage before +San Domingo were the failure of Venables to command +the confidence of his officers and men, his inexcusable +errors in the management of the attack, and the lack of +cordial co-operation between him and the Admiral. The +difficulties with which he had to struggle were, of course, +very great. On the other hand, he seems to have been +deficient both in strength of character and in military +capacity; and his ill-health made still more difficult a +task for which he was fundamentally incompetent. The +comparative failure of this, Cromwell's pet enterprise, was +a bitter blow to the Protector. For a whole day he shut +himself up in his room, brooding over the disaster for +which he, more than any other, was responsible. He had +aimed not merely to plant one more colony in America, +but to make himself master of such parts of the West +Indian islands and Spanish Main as would enable him to +dominate the route of the Spanish-American treasure +fleets. To this end Jamaica contributed few advantages +beyond those possessed by Barbadoes and St. Kitts, and +it was too early for him to realize that island for island +Jamaica was much more suitable than Hispaniola as the +seat of an English colony.<a id="footnotetag121" name="footnotetag121"></a><a href="#footnote121"><sup>121</sup></a></p> + +<p>Religious and economic motives form the key to +Cromwell's foreign policy, and it is difficult to discover +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88"></a>{88}</span> +which, the religious or the economic, was uppermost in +his mind when he planned this expedition. He inherited +from the Puritans of Elizabeth's time the traditional +religious hatred of Spain as the bulwark of Rome, and +in his mind as in theirs the overthrow of the Spaniards +in the West Indies was a blow at antichrist and an +extension of the true religion. The religious ends of +the expedition were fully impressed upon Venables and +his successors in Jamaica.<a id="footnotetag122" name="footnotetag122"></a><a href="#footnote122"><sup>122</sup></a> Second only, however, to +Oliver's desire to protect "the people of God," was his +ambition to extend England's empire beyond the seas. +He desired the unquestioned supremacy of England +over the other nations of Europe, and that supremacy, +as he probably foresaw, was to be commercial and +colonial. Since the discovery of America the world's +commerce had enormously increased, and its control +brought with it national power. America had become +the treasure-house of Europe. If England was to be set +at the head of the world's commerce and navigation, +she must break through Spain's monopoly of the Indies +and gain a control in Spanish America. San Domingo +was to be but a preliminary step, after which the rest +of the Spanish dominions in the New World would be +gradually absorbed.<a id="footnotetag123" name="footnotetag123"></a><a href="#footnote123"><sup>123</sup></a></p> + +<p>The immediate excuse for the attack on Hispaniola +and Jamaica was the Spaniards' practice of seizing +English ships and ill-treating English crews merely because +they were found in some part of the Caribbean +Sea, and even though bound for a plantation actually in +possession of English colonists. It was the old question +of effective occupation <i>versus</i> papal donation, and both +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>{89}</span> +Cromwell and Venables convinced themselves that +Spanish assaults in the past on English ships and +colonies supplied a sufficient <i>casus belli</i>.<a id="footnotetag124" name="footnotetag124"></a><a href="#footnote124"><sup>124</sup></a> There was no +justification, however, for a secret attack upon Spain. +She had been the first to recognize the young republic, +and was willing and even anxious to league herself +with England. There had been actual negotiations for +an alliance, and Cromwell's offers, though rejected, had +never been really withdrawn. Without a declaration +of war or formal notice of any sort, a fleet was fitted +out and sent in utmost secrecy to fall unawares upon +the colonies of a friendly nation. The whole aspect +of the exploit was Elizabethan. It was inspired by +Drake and Raleigh, a reversion to the Elizabethan +gold-hunt. It was the first of the great buccaneering +expeditions.<a id="footnotetag125" name="footnotetag125"></a><a href="#footnote125"><sup>125</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>{90}</span> + +<p>Cromwell was doubtless influenced, too, by the +representations of Thomas Gage. Gage was an Englishman +who had joined the Dominicans and had been +sent by his Order out to Spanish America. In 1641 +he returned to England, announced his conversion to +Protestantism, took the side of Parliament and became +a minister. His experiences in the West Indies and +Mexico he published in 1648 under the name of "The +English-American, or a New Survey of the West +Indies," a most entertaining book, which aimed to +arouse Englishmen against Romish "idolatries," to show +how valuable the Spanish-American provinces might +be to England in trade and bullion and how easily +they might be seized. In the summer of 1654, moreover, +Gage had laid before the Protector a memorial in +which he recapitulated the conclusions of his book, +assuring Cromwell that the Spanish colonies were +sparsely peopled and that the few whites were unwarlike +and scantily provided with arms and ammunition. He +asserted that the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba +would be a matter of no difficulty, and that even Central +America was too weak to oppose a long resistance.<a id="footnotetag126" name="footnotetag126"></a><a href="#footnote126"><sup>126</sup></a> +All this was true, and had Cromwell but sent a respectable +force under an efficient leader the result +would have been different. The exploits of the +buccaneers a few years later proved it.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate, considering the distracted state +of affairs in Jamaica in 1655-56, that the Spaniards were +in no condition to attempt to regain the island. Cuba, +the nearest Spanish territory to Jamaica, was being +ravaged by the most terrible pestilence known there +in years, and the inhabitants, alarmed for their own +safety, instead of trying to dispossess the English, were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>{91}</span> +busy providing for the defence of their own coasts.<a id="footnotetag127" name="footnotetag127"></a><a href="#footnote127"><sup>127</sup></a> In 1657, +however, some troops under command of the old Spanish +governor of Jamaica, D. Christopher Sasi Arnoldo, crossed +from St. Jago de Cuba and entrenched themselves on the +northern shore as the advance post of a greater force expected +from the mainland. Papers of instructions relating to +the enterprise were intercepted by Colonel Doyley, then +acting-governor of Jamaica; and he with 500 picked men +embarked for the north side, attacked the Spaniards in their +entrenchments and utterly routed them.<a id="footnotetag128" name="footnotetag128"></a><a href="#footnote128"><sup>128</sup></a> The next year +about 1000 men, the long-expected corps of regular Spanish +infantry, landed and erected a fort at Rio Nuevo. Doyley, +displaying the same energy, set out again on 11th June +with 750 men, landed under fire on the 22nd, and next +day captured the fort in a brilliant attack in which about +300 Spaniards were killed and 100 more, with many +officers and flags, captured. The English lost about +sixty in killed and wounded.<a id="footnotetag129" name="footnotetag129"></a><a href="#footnote129"><sup>129</sup></a> After the failure of a +similar, though weaker, attempt in 1660, the Spaniards +despaired of regaining Jamaica, and most of those still +upon the island embraced the first opportunity to retire +to Cuba and other Spanish settlements.</p> + +<p>As colonists the troops in Jamaica proved to be +very discouraging material, and the army was soon in +a wretched state. The officers and soldiers plundered +and mutinied instead of working and planting. Their +wastefulness led to scarcity of food, and scarcity of food +brought disease and death.<a id="footnotetag130" name="footnotetag130"></a><a href="#footnote139"><sup>130</sup></a> They wished to force the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>{92}</span> +Protector to recall them, or to employ them in assaulting +the opulent Spanish towns on the Main, an occupation +far more lucrative than that of planting corn and provisions +for sustenance. Cromwell, however, set himself +to develop and strengthen his new colony. He issued +a proclamation encouraging trade and settlement in the +island by exempting the inhabitants from taxes, and +the Council voted that 1000 young men and an equal +number of girls be shipped over from Ireland. The +Scotch government was instructed to apprehend and +transport idlers and vagabonds, and commissioners were +sent into New England and to the Windward and Leeward +Islands to try and attract settlers.<a id="footnotetag131" name="footnotetag131"></a><a href="#footnote131"><sup>131</sup></a> Bermudians, +Jews, Quakers from Barbadoes and criminals from Newgate, +helped to swell the population of the new colony, +and in 1658 the island is said to have contained 4500 +whites, besides 1500 or more negro slaves.<a id="footnotetag132" name="footnotetag132"></a><a href="#footnote132"><sup>132</sup></a></p> + +<p>To dominate the Spanish trade routes was one of the +principal objects of English policy in the West Indies. +This purpose is reflected in all of Cromwell's instructions +to the leaders of the Jamaican design, and it appears again +in his instructions of 10th October 1655 to Major-General +Fortescue and Vice-Admiral Goodson. Fortescue was +given power and authority to land men upon territory +claimed by the Spaniards, to take their forts, castles and +places of strength, and to pursue, kill and destroy all who +opposed him. The Vice-Admiral was to assist him with +his sea-forces, and to use his best endeavours to seize all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>{93}</span> +ships belonging to the King of Spain or his subjects in +America.<a id="footnotetag133" name="footnotetag133"></a><a href="#footnote133"><sup>133</sup></a> The soldiers, as has been said, were more +eager to fight the Spaniards than to plant, and opportunities +were soon given them to try their hand. Admiral +Penn had left twelve ships under Goodson's charge, and +of these, six were at sea picking up a few scattered Spanish +prizes which helped to pay for the victuals supplied out of +New England.<a id="footnotetag134" name="footnotetag134"></a><a href="#footnote134"><sup>134</sup></a> Goodson, however, was after larger prey, +no less than the galleons or a Spanish town upon the +mainland. He did not know where the galleons were, +but at the end of July he seems to have been lying with +eight vessels before Cartagena and Porto Bello, and on +22nd November he sent Captain Blake with nine ships to +the same coast to intercept all vessels going thither from +Spain or elsewhere. The fleet was broken up by foul +weather, however, and part returned on 14th December +to refit, leaving a few small frigates to lie in wait for some +merchantmen reported to be in that region.<a id="footnotetag135" name="footnotetag135"></a><a href="#footnote135"><sup>135</sup></a> The first +town on the Main to feel the presence of this new power +in the Indies was Santa Marta, close to Cartagena on the +shores of what is now the U.S. of Columbia. In the +latter part of October, just a month before the departure +of Blake, Goodson sailed with a fleet of eight vessels to +ravage the Spanish coasts. According to one account his +original design had been against Rio de la Hacha near +the pearl fisheries, "but having missed his aim" he sailed +for Santa Marta. He landed 400 sailors and soldiers +under the protection of his guns, took and demolished the +two forts which barred his way, and entered the town. +Finding that the inhabitants had already fled with as +much of their belongings as they could carry, he pursued +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>{94}</span> +them some twelve miles up into the country; and on his +return plundered and burnt their houses, embarked with +thirty pieces of cannon and other booty, and sailed for +Jamaica.<a id="footnotetag136" name="footnotetag136"></a><a href="#footnote136"><sup>136</sup></a> It was a gallant performance with a handful +of men, but the profits were much less than had been +expected. It had been agreed that the seamen and +soldiers should receive half the spoil, but on counting the +proceeds it was found that their share amounted to no +more than £400, to balance which the State took the +thirty pieces of ordnance and some powder, shot, hides, +salt and Indian corn.<a id="footnotetag137" name="footnotetag137"></a><a href="#footnote137"><sup>137</sup></a> Sedgwick wrote to Thurloe that +"reckoning all got there on the State's share, it did not +pay for the powder and shot spent in that service."<a id="footnotetag138" name="footnotetag138"></a><a href="#footnote138"><sup>138</sup></a> +Sedgwick was one of the civil commissioners appointed +for the government of Jamaica. A brave, pious soldier +with a long experience and honourable military record in +the Massachusetts colony, he did not approve of this type +of warfare against the Spaniards. "This kind of marooning +cruising West India trade of plundering and burning +towns," he writes, "though it hath been long practised in +these parts, yet is not honourable for a princely navy, +neither was it, I think, the work designed, though perhaps +it may be tolerated at present." If Cromwell was to +accomplish his original purpose of blocking up the Spanish +treasure route, he wrote again, permanent foothold must +be gained in some important Spanish fortress, either +Cartagena or Havana, places strongly garrisoned, however, +and requiring for their reduction a considerable army and +fleet, such as Jamaica did not then possess. But to waste +and burn towns of inferior rank without retaining them +merely dragged on the war indefinitely and effected little +advantage or profit to anybody.<a id="footnotetag139" name="footnotetag139"></a><a href="#footnote139"><sup>139</sup></a> Captain Nuberry +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>{95}</span> +visited Santa Marta several weeks after Goodson's descent, +and, going on shore, found that about a hundred people had +made bold to return and rebuild their devastated homes. +Upon sight of the English the poor people again fled +incontinently to the woods, and Nuberry and his men +destroyed their houses a second time.<a id="footnotetag140" name="footnotetag140"></a><a href="#footnote140"><sup>140</sup></a></p> + +<p>On 5th April 1656 Goodson, with ten of his best ships, +set sail again and steered eastward along the coast of +Hispaniola as far as Alta Vela, hoping to meet with some +Spanish ships reported in that region. Encountering +none, he stood for the Main, and landed on 4th May with +about 450 men at Rio de la Hacha. The story of the +exploit is merely a repetition of what happened at Santa +Marta. The people had sight of the English fleet six +hours before it could drop anchor, and fled from the town +to the hills and surrounding woods. Only twelve men +were left behind to hold the fort, which the English stormed +and took within half an hour. Four large brass cannon +were carried to the ships and the fort partly demolished. +The Spaniards pretended to parley for the ransom of their +town, but when after a day's delay they gave no sign of +complying with the admiral's demands, he burned the place +on 8th May and sailed away.<a id="footnotetag141" name="footnotetag141"></a><a href="#footnote141"><sup>141</sup></a> Goodson called again at +Santa Marta on the 11th to get water, and on the 14th +stood before Cartagena to view the harbour. Leaving +three vessels to ply there, he returned to Jamaica, bringing +back with him only two small prizes, one laden with wine, +the other with cocoa.</p> + +<p>The seamen of the fleet, however, were restless and +eager for further enterprises of this nature, and Goodson +by the middle of June had fourteen of his vessels lying off +the Cuban coast near Cape S. Antonio in wait for the +galleons or the Flota, both of which fleets were then +expected at Havana. His ambition to repeat the achievement +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96"></a>{96}</span> +of Piet Heyn was fated never to be realised. The +fleet of Terra-Firma, he soon learned, had sailed into +Havana on 15th May, and on 13th June, three days before +his arrival on that coast, had departed for Spain.<a id="footnotetag142" name="footnotetag142"></a><a href="#footnote142"><sup>142</sup></a> Meanwhile, +one of his own vessels, the "Arms of Holland," was +blown up, with the loss of all on board but three men and +the captain, and two other ships were disabled. Five of +the fleet returned to England on 23rd August, and with +the rest Goodson remained on the Cuban coast until the +end of the month, watching in vain for the fleet from +Vera Cruz which never sailed.<a id="footnotetag143" name="footnotetag143"></a><a href="#footnote143"><sup>143</sup></a></p> + +<p>Colonel Edward Doyley, the officer who so promptly +defeated the attempts of the Spaniards in 1657-58 to +re-conquer Jamaica, was now governor of the island. He +had sailed with the expedition to the West Indies as +lieutenant-colonel in the regiment of General Venables, +and on the death of Major-General Fortescue in November +1655 had been chosen by Cromwell's commissioners in +Jamaica as commander-in-chief of the land forces. In +May 1656 he was superseded by Robert Sedgwick, but +the latter died within a few days, and Doyley petitioned +the Protector to appoint him to the post. William Brayne, +however, arrived from England in December 1656 to take +chief command; and when he, like his two predecessors, +was stricken down by disease nine months later, the place +devolved permanently upon Doyley. Doyley was a very +efficient governor, and although he has been accused of +showing little regard or respect for planting and trade, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>{97}</span> +charge appears to be unjust.<a id="footnotetag144" name="footnotetag144"></a><a href="#footnote144"><sup>144</sup></a> He firmly maintained order +among men disheartened and averse to settlement, and at +the end of his service delivered up the colony a comparatively +well-ordered and thriving community. He was +confirmed in his post by Charles II. at the Restoration, but +superseded by Lord Windsor in August 1661. Doyley's +claim to distinction rests mainly upon his vigorous policy +against the Spaniards, not only in defending Jamaica, but +by encouraging privateers and carrying the war into the +enemies' quarters. In July 1658, on learning from some +prisoners that the galleons were in Porto Bello awaiting +the plate from Panama, Doyley embarked 300 men on a +fleet of five vessels and sent it to lie in an obscure bay +between that port and Cartagena to intercept the Spanish +ships. On 20th October the galleons were espied, twenty-nine +vessels in all, fifteen galleons and fourteen stout +merchantmen. Unfortunately, all the English vessels +except the "Hector" and the "Marston Moor" were at +that moment absent to obtain fresh water. Those two +alone could do nothing, but passing helplessly through the +Spaniards, hung on their rear and tried without success to +scatter them. The English fleet later attacked and burnt +the town of Tolu on the Main, capturing two Spanish +ships in the road; and afterwards paid another visit to +the unfortunate Santa Marta, where they remained three +days, marching several miles into the country and burning +and destroying everything in their path.<a id="footnotetag145" name="footnotetag145"></a><a href="#footnote145"><sup>145</sup></a></p> + +<p>On 23rd April 1659, however, there returned to Port +Royal another expedition whose success realised the +wildest dreams of avarice. Three frigates under command +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98"></a>{98}</span> +of Captain Christopher Myngs,<a id="footnotetag146" name="footnotetag146"></a><a href="#footnote146"><sup>146</sup></a> with 300 soldiers on +board, had been sent by Doyley to harry the South +American coast. They first entered and destroyed +Cumana, and then ranging along the coast westward, +landed again at Puerto Cabello and at Coro. At the +latter town they followed the inhabitants into the woods, +where besides other plunder they came upon twenty-two +chests of royal treasure intended for the King of Spain, +each chest containing 400 pounds of silver.<a id="footnotetag147" name="footnotetag147"></a><a href="#footnote147"><sup>147</sup></a> Embarking +this money and other spoil in the shape of plate, jewels +and cocoa, they returned to Port Royal with the richest +prize that ever entered Jamaica. The whole pillage was +estimated at between £200,000 and £300,000.<a id="footnotetag148" name="footnotetag148"></a><a href="#footnote148"><sup>148</sup></a> The +abundance of new wealth introduced into Jamaica did much +to raise the spirits of the colonists, and set the island well +upon the road to more prosperous times. The sequel to +this brilliant exploit, however, was in some ways unfortunate. +Disputes were engendered between the officers of the +expedition and the governor and other authorities on +shore over the disposal of the booty, and in the early part +of June 1659 Captain Myngs was sent home in the +"Marston Moor," suspended for disobeying orders and +plundering the hold of one of the prizes to the value of +12,000 pieces of eight. Myngs was an active, intrepid +commander, but apparently avaricious and impatient of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>{99}</span> +control. He seems to have endeavoured to divert most +of the prize money into the pockets of his officers and men, +by disposing of the booty on his own initiative before +giving a strict account of it to the governor or steward-general +of the island. Doyley writes that there was a +constant market aboard the "Marston Moor," and that +Myngs and his officers, alleging it to be customary to break +and plunder the holds, permitted the twenty-two chests of +the King of Spain's silver to be divided among the men +without any provision whatever for the claims of the State.<a id="footnotetag149" name="footnotetag149"></a><a href="#footnote149"><sup>149</sup></a> +There was also some friction over the disposal of six Dutch +prizes which Doyley had picked up for illegal trading at +Barbadoes on his way out from England. These, too, had +been plundered before they reached Jamaica, and when +Myngs found that there was no power in the colony to try +and condemn ships taken by virtue of the Navigation Laws, +it only added fuel to his dissatisfaction. When Myngs +reached England he lodged counter-complaints against +Governor Doyley, Burough, the steward-general, and Vice-Admiral +Goodson, alleging that they received more than +their share of the prize money; and a war of mutual +recrimination followed.<a id="footnotetag150" name="footnotetag150"></a><a href="#footnote150"><sup>150</sup></a> Amid the distractions of the +Restoration, however, little seems ever to have been made +of the matter in England. The insubordination of officers +in 1659-60 was a constant source of difficulty and impediment +to the governor in his efforts to establish peace and +order in the colony. In England nobody was sure where +the powers of government actually resided. As Burough +wrote from Jamaica on 19th January 1660, "We are here +just like you at home; when we heard of the Lord-Protector's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>{100}</span> +death we proclaimed his son, and when we +heard of his being turned out we proclaimed a Parliament +and now own a Committee of safety."<a id="footnotetag151" name="footnotetag151"></a><a href="#footnote151"><sup>151</sup></a> The effect of this +uncertainty was bound to be prejudicial in Jamaica, a new +colony filled with adventurers, for it loosened the reins of +authority and encouraged lawless spirits to set the governor +at defiance.</p> + +<p>On 8th May 1660 Charles II. was proclaimed King of +England, and entered London on 29th May. The war +which Cromwell had begun with Spain was essentially a +war of the Commonwealth. The Spanish court was +therefore on friendly terms with the exiled prince, and +when he returned into possession of his kingdom a +cessation of hostilities with Spain naturally followed. +Charles wrote a note to Don Luis de Haro on 2nd June +1660, proposing an armistice in Europe and America +which was to lead to a permanent peace and a re-establishment +of commercial relations between the two kingdoms.<a id="footnotetag152" name="footnotetag152"></a><a href="#footnote152"><sup>152</sup></a> +At the same time Sir Henry Bennett, the English resident +in Madrid, made similar proposals to the Spanish king. +A favourable answer was received in July, and the cessation +of arms, including a revival of the treaty of 1630 +was proclaimed on 10th-20th September 1660. Preliminary +negotiations for a new treaty were entered upon at +Madrid, but the marriage of Charles to Catherine of +Braganza in 1662, and the consequent alliance with +Portugal, with whom Spain was then at war, put a +damper upon all such designs. The armistice with Spain +was not published in Jamaica until 5th February of the +following year. On 4th February Colonel Doyley received +from the governor of St. Jago de Cuba a letter enclosing +an order from Sir Henry Bennett for the cessation of +arms, and this order Doyley immediately made public.<a id="footnotetag153" name="footnotetag153"></a><a href="#footnote153"><sup>153</sup></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>{101}</span> +About thirty English prisoners were also returned by the +Spaniards with the letter. Doyley was confirmed in his +command of Jamaica by Charles II., but his commission +was not issued till 8th February 1661.<a id="footnotetag154" name="footnotetag154"></a><a href="#footnote154"><sup>154</sup></a> He was very +desirous, however, of returning to England to look after +his private affairs, and on 2nd August another commission +was issued to Lord Windsor, appointing him as Doyley's +successor.<a id="footnotetag155" name="footnotetag155"></a><a href="#footnote155"><sup>155</sup></a> Just a year later, in August 1662, Windsor +arrived at Port Royal, fortified with instructions "to +endeavour to obtain and preserve a good correspondence +and free commerce with the plantations belonging to the +King of Spain," even resorting to force if necessary.<a id="footnotetag156" name="footnotetag156"></a><a href="#footnote156"><sup>156</sup></a></p> + +<p>The question of English trade with the Spanish +colonies in the Indies had first come to the surface in the +negotiations for the treaty of 1604, after the long wars +between Elizabeth and Philip II. The endeavour of the +Spaniards to obtain an explicit prohibition of commerce +was met by the English demand for entire freedom. The +Spaniards protested that it had never been granted in +former treaties or to other nations, or even without +restriction to Spanish subjects, and clamoured for at least +a private article on the subject; but the English commissioners +steadfastly refused, and offered to forbid trade +only with ports actually under Spanish authority. Finally +a compromise was reached in the words "in quibus ante +bellum fuit commercium, juxta et secundum usum et +observantiam."<a id="footnotetag157" name="footnotetag157"></a><a href="#footnote157"><sup>157</sup></a> This article was renewed in Cottington's +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>{102}</span> +Treaty of 1630. The Spaniards themselves, indeed, in +1630, were willing to concede a free navigation in the +American seas, and even offered to recognise the English +colony of Virginia if Charles I. would admit articles prohibiting +trade and navigation in certain harbours and +bays. Cottington, however, was too far-sighted, and +wrote to Lord Dorchester: "For my own part, I shall +ever be far from advising His Majesty to think of such +restrictions, for certainly a little more time will open the +navigation to those parts so long as there are no negative +capitulations or articles to hinder it."<a id="footnotetag158" name="footnotetag158"></a><a href="#footnote158"><sup>158</sup></a> The monopolistic +pretensions of the Spanish government were evidently +relaxing, for in 1634 the Conde de Humanes confided to +the English agent, Taylor, that there had been talk in +the Council of the Indies of admitting the English to a +share in the freight of ships sent to the West Indies, and +even of granting them a limited permission to go to those +regions on their own account. And in 1637 the Conde de +Linhares, recently appointed governor of Brazil, told the +English ambassador, Lord Aston, that he was very +anxious that English ships should do the carrying between +Lisbon and Brazilian ports.</p> + +<p>The settlement of the Windward and Leeward Islands +and the conquest of Jamaica had given a new impetus to +contraband trade. The commercial nations were setting +up shop, as it were, at the very doors of the Spanish +Indies. The French and English Antilles, condemned +by the Navigation Laws to confine themselves to agriculture +and a passive trade with the home country, had no recourse +but to traffic with their Spanish neighbours. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>{103}</span> +Factors of the Assiento established at Cartagena, Porto +Bello and Vera Cruz every year supplied European +merchants with detailed news of the nature and quantity +of the goods which might be imported with advantage; +while the buccaneers, by dominating the whole Caribbean +Sea, hindered frequent communication between Spain and +her colonies. It is not surprising, therefore, that the +commerce of Seville, which had hitherto held its own, +decreased with surprising rapidity, that the sailings of the +galleons and the Flota were separated by several years, +and that the fairs of Porto Bello and Vera Cruz were +almost deserted. To put an effective restraint, moreover, +upon this contraband trade was impossible on either side. +The West Indian dependencies were situated far from +the centre of authority, while the home governments +generally had their hands too full of other matters to +adequately control their subjects in America. The +Spanish viceroys, meanwhile, and the governors in the +West Indian Islands, connived at a practice which lined +their own pockets with the gold of bribery, and at the +same time contributed to the public interest and prosperity +of their respective colonies. It was this illicit commerce +with Spanish America which Charles II., by negotiation at +Madrid and by instructions to his governors in the West +Indies, tried to get within his own control. At the +Spanish court, Fanshaw, Sandwich and Godolphin in turn +were instructed to sue for a free trade with the Colonies. +The Assiento of negroes was at this time held by two +Genoese named Grillo and Lomelin, and with them the +English ambassadors several times entered into negotiation +for the privilege of supplying blacks from the English +islands. By the treaty of 1670 the English colonies in +America were for the first time formally recognised by the +Spanish Crown. Freedom of commerce, however, was as +far as ever from realisation, and after this date Charles +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>{104}</span> +seems to have given up hope of ever obtaining it through +diplomatic channels.</p> + +<p>The peace of 1660 between England and Spain was +supposed to extend to both sides of the "Line." The +Council in Jamaica, however, were of the opinion that it +applied only to Europe,<a id="footnotetag159" name="footnotetag159"></a><a href="#footnote159"><sup>159</sup></a> and from the tenor of Lord +Windsor's instructions it may be inferred that the English +Court at that time meant to interpret it with the same +limitations. Windsor, indeed, was not only instructed to +force the Spanish colonies to a free trade, but was empowered +to call upon the governor of Barbadoes for aid +"in case of any considerable attempt by the Spaniards +against Jamaica."<a id="footnotetag160" name="footnotetag160"></a><a href="#footnote160"><sup>160</sup></a> The efforts of the Governor, however, +to come to a good correspondence with the Spanish +colonies were fruitless. In the minutes of the Council of +Jamaica of 20th August 1662, we read: "Resolved that the +letters from the Governors of Porto Rico and San Domingo +are an absolute denial of trade, and that according to His +Majesty's instructions to Lord Windsor a trade by force +or otherwise be endeavoured;"<a id="footnotetag161" name="footnotetag161"></a><a href="#footnote161"><sup>161</sup></a> and under 12th September +we find another resolution "that men be enlisted for +a design by sea with the 'Centurion' and other vessels."<a id="footnotetag162" name="footnotetag162"></a><a href="#footnote162"><sup>162</sup></a> +This "design" was an expedition to capture and destroy +St. Jago de Cuba, the Spanish port nearest to Jamaican +shores. An attack upon St. Jago had been projected by +Goodson as far back as 1655. "The Admiral," wrote +Major Sedgwick to Thurloe just after his arrival in +Jamaica, "was intended before our coming in to have +taken some few soldiers and gone over to St. Jago de +Cuba, a town upon Cuba, but our coming hindered him +without whom we could not well tell how to do anything."<a id="footnotetag163" name="footnotetag163"></a><a href="#footnote163"><sup>163</sup></a> +In January 1656 the plan was definitely abandoned, because +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>{105}</span> +the colony could not spare a sufficient number of +soldiers for the enterprise.<a id="footnotetag164" name="footnotetag164"></a><a href="#footnote164"><sup>164</sup></a> It was to St. Jago that the +Spaniards, driven from Jamaica, mostly betook themselves, +and from St. Jago as a starting-point had come the expedition +of 1658 to reconquer the island. The instructions +of Lord Windsor afforded a convenient opportunity to +avenge past attacks and secure Jamaica from molestation +in that quarter for the future. The command of the expedition +was entrusted to Myngs, who in 1662 was again +in the Indies on the frigate "Centurion." Myngs sailed +from Port Royal on 21st September with eleven ships and +1300 men,<a id="footnotetag165" name="footnotetag165"></a><a href="#footnote165"><sup>165</sup></a> but, kept back by unfavourable winds, did not +sight the castle of St. Jago until 5th October. Although +he had intended to force the entrance of the harbour, he +was prevented by the prevailing land breeze; so he disembarked +his men to windward, on a rocky coast, where the +path up the bluffs was so narrow that but one man could +march at a time. Night had fallen before all were landed, +and "the way (was) soe difficult and the night soe dark +that they were forced to make stands and fires, and their +guides with brands in their hands, to beat the path."<a id="footnotetag166" name="footnotetag166"></a><a href="#footnote166"><sup>166</sup></a> At +daybreak they reached a plantation by a river's side, some +six miles from the place of landing and three from St. +Jago. There they refreshed themselves, and advancing +upon the town surprised the enemy, who knew of the late +landing and the badness of the way and did not expect +them so soon. They found 200 Spaniards at the entrance +to the town, drawn up under their governor, Don Pedro +de Moralis, and supported by Don Christopher de Sasi +Arnoldo, the former Spanish governor of Jamaica, with a +reserve of 500 more. The Spaniards fled before the first +charge of the Jamaicans, and the place was easily mastered.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106"></a>{106}</span> + +<p>The next day parties were despatched into the country +to pursue the enemy, and orders sent to the fleet to attack +the forts at the mouth of the harbour. This was successfully +done, the Spaniards deserting the great castle after +firing but two muskets. Between scouring the country +for hidden riches, most of which had been carried far +inland beyond their reach, and dismantling and demolishing +the forts, the English forces occupied their time until +October 19th. Thirty-four guns were found in the fortifications +and 1000 barrels of powder. Some of the guns were +carried to the ships and the rest flung over the precipice +into the sea; while the powder was used to blow up the +castle and the neighbouring country houses.<a id="footnotetag167" name="footnotetag167"></a><a href="#footnote167"><sup>167</sup></a> The expedition +returned to Jamaica on 22nd October.<a id="footnotetag168" name="footnotetag168"></a><a href="#footnote168"><sup>168</sup></a> Only +six men had been killed by the Spaniards, twenty more +being lost by other "accidents." Of these twenty some +must have been captured by the enemy, for when Sir +Richard Fanshaw was appointed ambassador to Spain in +January 1664, he was instructed among other things to +negotiate for an exchange of prisoners taken in the Indies. +In July we find him treating for the release of Captain +Myngs' men from the prisons of Seville and Cadiz,<a id="footnotetag169" name="footnotetag169"></a><a href="#footnote169"><sup>169</sup></a> and +on 7th November an order to this effect was obtained +from the King of Spain.<a id="footnotetag170" name="footnotetag170"></a><a href="#footnote170"><sup>170</sup></a></p> + +<p>The instructions of Lord Windsor gave him leave, +as soon as he had settled the government in Jamaica, to +appoint a deputy and return to England to confer with the +King on colonial affairs. Windsor sailed for England on +28th October, and on the same day Sir Charles Lyttleton's +commission as deputy-governor was read in the Jamaican +Council.<a id="footnotetag171" name="footnotetag171"></a><a href="#footnote171"><sup>171</sup></a> During his short sojourn of three months the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>{107}</span> +Governor had made considerable progress toward establishing +an ordered constitution in the island. He disbanded +the old army, and reorganised the military under a stricter +discipline and better officers. He systematised legal procedure +and the rules for the conveyance of property. He +erected an Admiralty Court at Port Royal, and above all, +probably in pursuance of the recommendation of Colonel +Doyley,<a id="footnotetag172" name="footnotetag172"></a><a href="#footnote172"><sup>172</sup></a> had called in all the privateering commissions +issued by previous governors, and tried to submit the +captains to orderly rules by giving them new commissions, +with instructions to bring their Spanish prizes to Jamaica +for judicature.<a id="footnotetag173" name="footnotetag173"></a><a href="#footnote173"><sup>173</sup></a></p> + +<p>The departure of Windsor did not put a stop to +the efforts of the Jamaicans to "force a trade" with the +Spanish plantations, and we find the Council, on 11th +December 1662, passing a motion that to this end an +attempt should be made to leeward on the coasts of Cuba, +Honduras and the Gulf of Campeache. On 9th and +10th January between 1500 and 1600 soldiers, many of +them doubtless buccaneers, were embarked on a fleet of +twelve ships and sailed two days later under command +of the redoubtable Myngs. About ninety leagues this +side of Campeache the fleet ran into a great storm, in +which one of the vessels foundered and three others were +separated from their fellows. The English reached the +coast of Campeache, however, in the early morning of +Friday, 9th February, and landing a league and a half +from the town, marched without being seen along an +Indian path with "such speed and good fortune" that +by ten o'clock in the morning they were already masters +of the city and of all the forts save one, the Castle of +Santa Cruz. At the second fort Myngs was wounded by +a gun in three places. The town itself, Myngs reported, +might have been defended like a fortress, for the houses +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>{108}</span> +were contiguous and strongly built of stone with flat roofs.<a id="footnotetag174" name="footnotetag174"></a><a href="#footnote174"><sup>174</sup></a> +The forts were partly demolished, a portion of the town +was destroyed by fire, and the fourteen sail lying in the +harbour were seized by the invaders. Altogether the booty +must have been considerable. The Spanish licentiate, +Maldonado de Aldana, placed it at 150,000 pieces of eight,<a id="footnotetag175" name="footnotetag175"></a><a href="#footnote175"><sup>175</sup></a> +and the general damage to the city in the destruction of +houses and munitions by the enemy, and in the expenditure +of treasure for purposes of defence, at half a million more. +Myngs and his fleet sailed away on 23rd February, but the +"Centurion" did not reach Port Royal until 13th April, +and the rest of the fleet followed a few days later. The +number of casualties on each side was surprisingly small. +The invaders lost only thirty men killed, and the Spaniards +between fifty and sixty, but among the latter were the +two alcaldes and many other officers and prominent +citizens of the town.<a id="footnotetag176" name="footnotetag176"></a><a href="#footnote176"><sup>176</sup></a></p> + +<p>To satisfactorily explain at Madrid these two presumptuous +assaults upon Spanish territory in America +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>{109}</span> +was an embarrassing problem for the English Government, +especially as Myngs' men imprisoned at Seville and +Cadiz were said to have produced commissions to justify +their actions.<a id="footnotetag177" name="footnotetag177"></a><a href="#footnote177"><sup>177</sup></a> The Spanish king instructed his resident +in London to demand whether Charles accepted responsibility +for the attack upon St. Jago, and the proceedings of +English cases in the Spanish courts arising from the depredations +of Galician corsairs were indefinitely suspended.<a id="footnotetag178" name="footnotetag178"></a><a href="#footnote178"><sup>178</sup></a> +When, however, there followed upon this, in May 1663, the +news of the sack and burning of Campeache, it stirred up +the greatest excitement in Madrid.<a id="footnotetag179" name="footnotetag179"></a><a href="#footnote179"><sup>179</sup></a> Orders and, what +was rarer in Spain, money were immediately sent to +Cadiz to the Duke of Albuquerque to hasten the work on +the royal Armada for despatch to the Indies; and efforts +were made to resuscitate the defunct Armada de Barlovento, +a small fleet which had formerly been used to +catch interlopers and protect the coasts of Terra-Firma. +In one way the capture of Campeache had touched Spain +in her most vulnerable spot. The Mexican Flota, which +was scheduled to sail from Havana in June 1663, refused to +stir from its retreat at Vera Cruz until the galleons from +Porto Bello came to convoy it. The arrival of the American +treasure in Spain was thus delayed for two months, and +the bankrupt government put to sore straits for money.</p> + +<p>The activity of the Spaniards, however, was merely a +blind to hide their own impotence, and their clamours +were eventually satisfied by the King of England's writing +to Deputy-Governor Lyttleton a letter forbidding all such +undertakings for the future. The text of the letter is as +follows: "Understanding with what jealousy and offence +the Spaniards look upon our island of Jamaica, and how +disposed they are to make some attempt upon it, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>{110}</span> +knowing how disabled it will remain in its own defence if +encouragement be given to such undertakings as have +lately been set on foot, and are yet pursued, and which +divert the inhabitants from that industry which alone can +render the island considerable, the king signifies his dislike +of all such undertakings, and commands that no such +be pursued for the future, but that they unitedly apply +themselves to the improvement of the plantation and +keeping the force in proper condition."<a id="footnotetag180" name="footnotetag180"></a><a href="#footnote180"><sup>180</sup></a> The original draft +of the letter was much milder in tone, and betrays the real +attitude of Charles II. toward these half-piratical enterprises: +"His Majesty has heard of the success of the +undertaking upon Cuba, in which he cannot choose but +please himself in the vigour and resolution wherein it was +performed ... but because His Majesty cannot foresee any +utility likely to arise thereby ... he has thought fit hereby +to command him to give no encouragement to such undertakings +unless they may be performed by the frigates or +men-of-war attending that place without any addition +from the soldiers or inhabitants."<a id="footnotetag181" name="footnotetag181"></a><a href="#footnote181"><sup>181</sup></a> Other letters were +subsequently sent to Jamaica, which made it clear that the +war of the privateers was not intended to be called off by +the king's instructions; and Sir Charles Lyttleton, therefore, +did not recall their commissions. Nevertheless, in the +early part of 1664, the assembly in Jamaica passed an act +prohibiting public levies of men upon foreign designs, and +forbidding any person to leave the island on any such +design without first obtaining leave from the governor, +council and assembly.<a id="footnotetag182" name="footnotetag182"></a><a href="#footnote182"><sup>182</sup></a></p> + +<p>When the instructions of the authorities at home were +so ambiguous, and the incentives to corsairing so alluring, +it was natural that this game of baiting the Spaniards +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>{111}</span> +should suffer little interruption. English freebooters who +had formerly made Hispaniola and Tortuga their headquarters +now resorted to Jamaica, where they found a +cordial welcome and a better market for their plunder. +Thus in June 1663 a certain Captain Barnard sailed from +Port Royal to the Orinoco, took and plundered the town +of Santo Tomas and returned in the following March.<a id="footnotetag183" name="footnotetag183"></a><a href="#footnote183"><sup>183</sup></a> +On 19th October another privateer named Captain Cooper +brought into Port Royal two Spanish prizes, the larger of +which, the "Maria" of Seville, was a royal azogue and +carried 1000 quintals of quicksilver for the King of Spain's +mines in Mexico, besides oil, wine and olives.<a id="footnotetag184" name="footnotetag184"></a><a href="#footnote184"><sup>184</sup></a> Cooper in +his fight with the smaller vessel so disabled his own ship +that he was forced to abandon it and enter the prize; and +it was while cruising off Hispaniola in this prize that he +fell in with the "Maria," and captured her after a four hours' +combat. There were seventy prisoners, among them a +number of friars going to Campeache and Vera Cruz. +Some of the prize goods were carried to England, and +Don Patricio Moledi, the Spanish resident in London, +importuned the English government for its restoration.<a id="footnotetag185" name="footnotetag185"></a><a href="#footnote185"><sup>185</sup></a> +Sir Charles Lyttleton had sailed for England on +2nd May 1664, leaving the government of Jamaica in the +hands of the Council with Colonel Thomas Lynch as +president;<a id="footnotetag186" name="footnotetag186"></a><a href="#footnote186"><sup>186</sup></a> and on his arrival in England he made formal +answer to the complaints of Moledi. His excuse was that +Captain Cooper's commission had been derived not from +the deputy-governor himself but from Lord Windsor; and +that the deputy-governor had never received any order +from the king for recalling commissions, or for the +cessation of hostilities against the Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag187" name="footnotetag187"></a><a href="#footnote187"><sup>187</sup></a> Lyttleton +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>{112}</span> +and the English government were evidently attempting +the rather difficult circus feat of riding two mounts at the +same time. The instructions from England, as Lyttleton +himself acknowledged in his letter of 15th October 1663, +distinctly forbade further hostilities against the Spanish +plantations; on the other hand, there were no specific +orders that privateers should be recalled. Lyttleton was +from first to last in sympathy with the freebooters, and +probably believed with many others of his time that "the +Spaniard is most pliable when best beaten." In August +1664 he presented to the Lord Chancellor his reasons for +advocating a continuance of the privateers in Jamaica. +They are sufficiently interesting to merit a <i>résumé</i> of the +principal points advanced. 1st. Privateering maintained a +great number of seamen by whom the island was protected +without the immediate necessity of a naval force. +2nd. If privateering were forbidden, the king would lose +many men who, in case of a war in the West Indies, would +be of incalculable service, being acquainted, as they were, +with the coasts, shoals, currents, winds, etc., of the Spanish +dominions. 3rd. Without the privateers, the Jamaicans +would have no intelligence of Spanish designs against them, +or of the size or neighbourhood of their fleets, or of the +strength of their resources. 4th. If prize-goods were no +longer brought into Port Royal, few merchants would resort +to Jamaica and prices would become excessively high. 5th. +To reduce the privateers would require a large number +of frigates at considerable trouble and expense; English +seamen, moreover, generally had the privateering spirit +and would be more ready to join with them than oppose +them, as previous experience had shown. Finally, the +privateers, if denied the freedom of Jamaican ports, would +not take to planting, but would resort to the islands of +other nations, and perhaps prey upon English commerce.<a id="footnotetag188" name="footnotetag188"></a><a href="#footnote188"><sup>188</sup></a></p> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote119" name="footnote119"></a><b>Footnote 119: </b><a href="#footnotetag119">(return)</a><p>Venables was not bound by his instructions to any definite plan. It had +been proposed, he was told, to seize Hispaniola or Porto Rico or both, after +which either Cartagena or Havana might be taken, and the Spanish revenue-fleets +obstructed. An alternative scheme was to make the first attempt on +the mainland at some point between the mouth of the Orinoco and Porto +Bello, with the ultimate object of securing Cartagena. It was left to Venables, +however, to consult with Admiral Penn and three commissioners, Edward +Winslow (former governor of Plymouth colony in New England), Daniel +Searle (governor of Barbadoes), and Gregory Butler, as to which, if any, of +these schemes should be carried out. Not until some time after the arrival of +the fleet at Barbadoes was it resolved to attack Hispaniola. (Narrative of +Gen. Venables, edition 1900, pp. x, 112-3.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote120" name="footnote120"></a><b>Footnote 120: </b><a href="#footnotetag120">(return)</a><p>Gardiner: Hist. of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, vol. iii. +ch. xlv.; Narrative of Gen. Venables.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote121" name="footnote121"></a><b>Footnote 121: </b><a href="#footnotetag121">(return)</a><p>Gardiner: <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. p. 368.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote122" name="footnote122"></a><b>Footnote 122: </b><a href="#footnotetag122">(return)</a><p><i>Cf.</i> the "Commission of the Commissioners for the West Indian +Expedition." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p. 109.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote123" name="footnote123"></a><b>Footnote 123: </b><a href="#footnotetag123">(return)</a><p><i>Cf.</i> American Hist. Review, vol. iv. p. 228; "Instructions unto Gen. +Robt. Venables." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p. 111.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote124" name="footnote124"></a><b>Footnote 124: </b><a href="#footnotetag124">(return)</a><p><i>Cf.</i> Narrative of Gen. Venables, pp. 3, 90; +"Instructions unto Generall Penn," etc., <i>ibid.</i>, p. 107.</p> + +<p>After the outbreak of the Spanish war, Cromwell was anxious to clear his +government of the charges of treachery and violation of international duties. +The task was entrusted to the Latin Secretary, John Milton, who on 26th +October 1655 published a manifesto defending the actions of the Commonwealth. +He gave two principal reasons for the attempt upon the West +Indies:—(1) the cruelties of the Spaniards toward the English in America +and their depredations on English colonies and trade; (2) the outrageous +treatment and extermination of the Indians. He denied the Spanish claims +to all of America, either as a papal gift, or by right of discovery alone, or +even by right of settlement, and insisted upon both the natural and treaty +rights of Englishmen to trade in Spanish seas.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote125" name="footnote125"></a><b>Footnote 125: </b><a href="#footnotetag125">(return)</a><p>The memory of the exploits of Drake and his contemporaries was not +allowed to die in the first half of the seventeenth century. Books like "Sir +Francis Drake Revived," and "The World encompassed by Sir Francis +Drake," were printed time and time again. The former was published in 1626 +and again two years later; "The World Encompassed" first appeared in 1628 +and was reprinted in 1635 and 1653. A quotation from the title-page of the +latter may serve to illustrate the temper of the times:—</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Drake, Sir Francis. The world encompassed. Being his next voyage +to that to Nombre de Dios, formerly imprinted ... offered ... especially +for the stirring up of heroick spirits, to benefit their country and +eternize their names by like bold attempts. Lon. 1628. +</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>Cf.</i> also Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. pp. 343-44.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote126" name="footnote126"></a><b>Footnote 126: </b><a href="#footnotetag126">(return)</a><p>Gardiner, <i>op. cit.</i>, iii. p. 346; <i>cf.</i> also +"Present State of Jamaica, 1683."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote127" name="footnote127"></a><b>Footnote 127: </b><a href="#footnotetag127">(return)</a><p>Long: "History of Jamaica," i. p. 260; C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. +Addenda, No. 274.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote128" name="footnote128"></a><b>Footnote 128: </b><a href="#footnotetag128">(return)</a><p>Long, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 272 <i>ff.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote129" name="footnote129"></a><b>Footnote 129: </b><a href="#footnotetag129">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>; Thurloe Papers, VI. p. 540; vii. p. 260; "Present State of +Jamaica, 1683"; C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 303-308.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote130" name="footnote130"></a><b>Footnote 130: </b><a href="#footnotetag130">(return)</a><p>Long, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 245; C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. +Addenda, Nos. 236, 261, 276, etc.</p> + +<p>The conditions in Jamaica directly after its capture are in remarkable contrast +to what might have been expected after reading the enthusiastic descriptions +of the island, its climate, soil and products, left us by Englishmen who +visited it. Jackson in 1643 compared it with the Arcadian plains and +Thessalien Tempe, and many of his men wanted to remain and live with the +Spaniards. See also the description of Jamaica contained in the Rawlinson +MSS. and written just after the arrival of the English army:—"As for the +country ... more than this." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, pp. 138-9.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote131" name="footnote131"></a><b>Footnote 131: </b><a href="#footnotetag131">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 229, 232; Lucas: Historical +Geography of the British Colonies, ii. p. 101, and note.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote132" name="footnote132"></a><b>Footnote 132: </b><a href="#footnotetag132">(return)</a><p>Lucas, <i>op. cit.</i>, ii. p. 109.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote133" name="footnote133"></a><b>Footnote 133: </b><a href="#footnotetag133">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 230, 231. Fortescue was +Gen. Venables' successor in Jamaica.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote134" name="footnote134"></a><b>Footnote 134: </b><a href="#footnotetag134">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 218; Long, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 262.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote135" name="footnote135"></a><b>Footnote 135: </b><a href="#footnotetag135">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 218, 252; Thurloe Papers, +IV. pp. 451, 457.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote136" name="footnote136"></a><b>Footnote 136: </b><a href="#footnotetag136">(return)</a><p>Thurloe Papers, IV. pp. 152, 493.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote137" name="footnote137"></a><b>Footnote 137: </b><a href="#footnotetag137">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, No. 236.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote138" name="footnote138"></a><b>Footnote 138: </b><a href="#footnotetag138">(return)</a><p>Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 604.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote139" name="footnote139"></a><b>Footnote 139: </b><a href="#footnotetag139">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 454-5, 604.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote140" name="footnote140"></a><b>Footnote 140: </b><a href="#footnotetag140">(return)</a><p>Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 452.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote141" name="footnote141"></a><b>Footnote 141: </b><a href="#footnotetag141">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, v. pp. 96, 151.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote142" name="footnote142"></a><b>Footnote 142: </b><a href="#footnotetag142">(return)</a><p>This was the treasure fleet which Captain Stayner's ship and two other +frigates captured off Cadiz on 9th September. Six galleons were captured, +sunk or burnt, with no less than £600,000 of gold and silver. The galleons +which Blake burnt in the harbour of Santa Cruz, on 20th April 1657, were +doubtless the Mexican fleet for which Admiral Goodson vainly waited before +Havana in the previous summer.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote143" name="footnote143"></a><b>Footnote 143: </b><a href="#footnotetag143">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 260, 263, 266, 270, 275; +Thurloe Papers, V. p. 340.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote144" name="footnote144"></a><b>Footnote 144: </b><a href="#footnotetag144">(return)</a><p><i>Cf.</i> Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 12,430: Journal of Col. Beeston. Col. +Beeston seems to have harboured a peculiar spite against Doyley. For the +contrary view of Doyley, <i>cf.</i> Long, <i>op. cit.</i>, i. p. 284.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote145" name="footnote145"></a><b>Footnote 145: </b><a href="#footnotetag145">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda., Nos. 309, 310. In these letters the +towns are called "Tralo" and "St. Mark." <i>Cf.</i> also Thurloe Papers, VII. +p. 340.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote146" name="footnote146"></a><b>Footnote 146: </b><a href="#footnotetag146">(return)</a><p>Captain Christopher Myngs had been appointed to the "Marston Moor," +a frigate of fifty-four guns, in October 1654, and had seen two years' service in +the West Indies under Goodson in 1656 and 1657. In May 1656 he took +part in the sack of Rio de la Hacha. In July 1657 the "Marston Moor" +returned to England and was ordered to be refitted, but by 20th February +1658 Myngs and his frigate were again at Port Royal (C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, +Addenda, Nos. 295, 297). After Admiral Goodson's return to England +(<i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1202) Myngs seems to have been the chief naval officer in the +West Indies, and greatly distinguished himself in his naval actions against the +Spaniards.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote147" name="footnote147"></a><b>Footnote 147: </b><a href="#footnotetag147">(return)</a><p>Tanner MSS., LI. 82.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote148" name="footnote148"></a><b>Footnote 148: </b><a href="#footnotetag148">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 315, 316. Some figures put it +as high as £500,000.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote149" name="footnote149"></a><b>Footnote 149: </b><a href="#footnotetag149">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 315, 318. Captain Wm. Dalyson +wrote home, on 23rd January 1659/60, that he verily believed if the +General (Doyley) were at home to answer for himself, Captain Myngs would +be found no better than he is, a proud-speaking vain fool, and a knave in +cheating the State and robbing merchants. <i>Ibid.</i>, No. 328.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote150" name="footnote150"></a><b>Footnote 150: </b><a href="#footnotetag150">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 327, 331.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote151" name="footnote151"></a><b>Footnote 151: </b><a href="#footnotetag151">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, No. 326.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote152" name="footnote152"></a><b>Footnote 152: </b><a href="#footnotetag152">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 44, f. 318.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote153" name="footnote153"></a><b>Footnote 153: </b><a href="#footnotetag153">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 17, 61.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote154" name="footnote154"></a><b>Footnote 154: </b><a href="#footnotetag154">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 20.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote155" name="footnote155"></a><b>Footnote 155: </b><a href="#footnotetag155">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 145.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote156" name="footnote156"></a><b>Footnote 156: </b><a href="#footnotetag156">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 259, 278. In Lord Windsor's original +instructions of 21st March 1662 he was empowered to search ships +suspected of trading with the Spaniards and to adjudicate the same in +the Admiralty Court. A fortnight later, however, the King and Council +seem to have completely changed their point of view, and this too in +spite of the Navigation Laws which prohibited the colonies from trading +with any but the mother-country.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote157" name="footnote157"></a><b>Footnote 157: </b><a href="#footnotetag157">(return)</a><p>Art. ix. of the treaty. <i>Cf.</i> Dumont: Corps +diplomatique, T.V., pt. ii. p. 625. <i>Cf.</i> also C.S.P. Venetian, +1604, p. 189:—"I wished to hear from His Majesty's own lips" (wrote the +Venetian ambassador in November 1604), +"how he read the clause about the India navigation, and I said, 'Sire, your +subjects may trade with Spain and Flanders but not with the Indies.' 'Why +not?' said the King. 'Because,' I replied, 'the clause is read in that sense.' +'They are making a great error, whoever they are that hold this view,' said +His Majesty; 'the meaning is quite clear.'"</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote158" name="footnote158"></a><b>Footnote 158: </b><a href="#footnotetag158">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 35.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote159" name="footnote159"></a><b>Footnote 159: </b><a href="#footnotetag159">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 61.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote160" name="footnote160"></a><b>Footnote 160: </b><a href="#footnotetag160">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 259.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote161" name="footnote161"></a><b>Footnote 161: </b><a href="#footnotetag161">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 355.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote162" name="footnote162"></a><b>Footnote 162: </b><a href="#footnotetag162">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 364.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote163" name="footnote163"></a><b>Footnote 163: </b><a href="#footnotetag163">(return)</a><p>Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 154.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote164" name="footnote164"></a><b>Footnote 164: </b><a href="#footnotetag164">(return)</a><p>Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 457.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote165" name="footnote165"></a><b>Footnote 165: </b><a href="#footnotetag165">(return)</a><p>Beeston's Journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote166" name="footnote166"></a><b>Footnote 166: </b><a href="#footnotetag166">(return)</a><p>Calendar of the Heathcote MSS. (pr. by Hist. MSS. Commiss.), +p. 34.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote167" name="footnote167"></a><b>Footnote 167: </b><a href="#footnotetag167">(return)</a><p>Calendar of the Heathcote MSS., p. 34. <i>Cf.</i> also C.S.P. Colon., +1661-68, No. 384:—"An act for the sale of five copper guns taken at St. +Jago de Cuba."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote168" name="footnote168"></a><b>Footnote 168: </b><a href="#footnotetag168">(return)</a><p>Beeston's Journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote169" name="footnote169"></a><b>Footnote 169: </b><a href="#footnotetag169">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 46.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote170" name="footnote170"></a><b>Footnote 170: </b><a href="#footnotetag170">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, vol. 47.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote171" name="footnote171"></a><b>Footnote 171: </b><a href="#footnotetag171">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 294, 375.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote172" name="footnote172"></a><b>Footnote 172: </b><a href="#footnotetag172">(return)</a><p>Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 11,410, f. 16.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote173" name="footnote173"></a><b>Footnote 173: </b><a href="#footnotetag173">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, f. 6.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote174" name="footnote174"></a><b>Footnote 174: </b><a href="#footnotetag174">(return)</a><p>Dampier also says of Campeache that "it makes a fine show, being built +all with good stone ... the roofs flattish after the Spanish fashion, and +covered with pantile."—<i>Ed.</i> 1906, ii. p. 147.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote175" name="footnote175"></a><b>Footnote 175: </b><a href="#footnotetag175">(return)</a><p>However, the writer of the "Present State of Jamaica" says (p. 39) +that Myngs got no great plunder, neither at Campeache nor at St. Jago.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote176" name="footnote176"></a><b>Footnote 176: </b><a href="#footnotetag176">(return)</a><p>Beeston's Journal; Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,964, f. 16:—"Original +letter from the Licentiate Maldonado de Aldana to Don Francisco Calderon +y Romero, giving him an account of the taking of Campeache in 1663"; dated +Campeache, March 1663.</p> + +<p>According to the Spanish relation there were fourteen vessels in the +English fleet, one large ship of forty-four guns (the "Centurion"?) and thirteen +smaller ones. The discrepancy in the numbers of the fleet may be explained +by the probability that other Jamaican privateering vessels joined it after its +departure from Port Royal. Beeston writes in his Journal that the privateer +"Blessing," Captain Mitchell, commander, brought news on 28th February +that the Spaniards in Campeache had notice from St. Jago of the English +design and made elaborate preparations for the defence of the town. This is +contradicted by the Spanish report, in which it appears that the authorities +in Campeache had been culpably negligent in not maintaining the defences +with men, powder or provisions.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote177" name="footnote177"></a><b>Footnote 177: </b><a href="#footnotetag177">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 46. Fanshaw to Sec. Bennet, 13th-23rd July 1664.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote178" name="footnote178"></a><b>Footnote 178: </b><a href="#footnotetag178">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, vol. 45. Letter of Consul Rumbold, 31st March 1663.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote179" name="footnote179"></a><b>Footnote 179: </b><a href="#footnotetag179">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 4th May 1663.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote180" name="footnote180"></a><b>Footnote 180: </b><a href="#footnotetag180">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 443. Dated 28th April 1663.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote181" name="footnote181"></a><b>Footnote 181: </b><a href="#footnotetag181">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 441, 442.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote182" name="footnote182"></a><b>Footnote 182: </b><a href="#footnotetag182">(return)</a><p>Rawlinson MSS., A. 347, f. 62.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote183" name="footnote183"></a><b>Footnote 183: </b><a href="#footnotetag183">(return)</a><p>Beeston's Journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote184" name="footnote184"></a><b>Footnote 184: </b><a href="#footnotetag184">(return)</a><p> C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 571; Beeston's Journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote185" name="footnote185"></a><b>Footnote 185: </b><a href="#footnotetag185">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 46, ff. 94, 96, 108, 121, 123, 127, 309 +(April-August 1664).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote186" name="footnote186"></a><b>Footnote 186: </b><a href="#footnotetag186">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 697, 744, 812.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote187" name="footnote187"></a><b>Footnote 187: </b><a href="#footnotetag187">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 280.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote188" name="footnote188"></a><b>Footnote 188: </b><a href="#footnotetag188">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 311.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>{113}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>TORTUGA—1655-1664</h3> + + +<p>When the Chevalier de Fontenay was driven from +Tortuga in January 1654, the Spaniards left a +small garrison to occupy the fort and prevent +further settlements of French and English buccaneers. +These troops possessed the island for about eighteen +months, but on the approach of the expedition under Penn +and Venables were ordered by the Conde de Penalva, +President of S. Domingo, to demolish the fort, bury the +artillery and other arms, and retire to his aid in Hispaniola.<a id="footnotetag189" name="footnotetag189"></a><a href="#footnote189"><sup>189</sup></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>{114}</span> +Some six months later an Englishman, Elias Watts,<a id="footnotetag190" name="footnotetag190"></a><a href="#footnote190"><sup>190</sup></a> with +his family and ten or twelve others, came from Jamaica +in a shallop, re-settled the island, and raised a battery of +four guns upon the ruins of the larger fort previously +erected by the French. Watts received a commission for +the island from General Brayne, who was then governor +of Jamaica, and in a short time gathered about him a +colony of about 150, both English and French. Among +these new-comers was a "poor distressed gentleman" by +the name of James Arundell, formerly a colonel in the +Royalist army and now banished from England, who +eventually married Watts' daughter and became the head +of the colony.</p> + +<p>It was while Watts was governor of Tortuga, if we are +to believe the Jesuit, Dutertre, that the buccaneers +determined to avenge the treachery of the Spaniards +to a French vessel in that neighbourhood by plundering +the city of St. Jago in Hispaniola. According to this +historian, who from the style of the narrative seems to be +reporting the words of an eye-witness, the buccaneers, +including doubtless both hunters and corsairs, formed a +party of 400 men under the leadership of four captains and +obtained a commission for the enterprise from the English +governor, who was very likely looking forward to a share +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>{115}</span> +of the booty. Compelling the captain of a frigate which +had just arrived from Nantes to lend his ship, they embarked +in it and in two or three other boats found on the +coast for Puerta de Plata, where they landed on Palm +Sunday of 1659.<a id="footnotetag191" name="footnotetag191"></a><a href="#footnote191"><sup>191</sup></a> St. Jago, which lay in a pleasant, fertile +plain some fifteen or twenty leagues in the interior of +Hispaniola, they approached through the woods on the +night of Holy Wednesday, entered before daybreak, and +surprised the governor in his bed. The buccaneers told +him to prepare to die, whereupon he fell on his knees +and prayed to such effect that they finally offered him his +life for a ransom of 60,000 pieces of eight. They pillaged +for twenty-four hours, taking even the bells, ornaments and +sacred vessels of the churches, and after refreshing themselves +with food and drink, retreated with their plunder +and prisoners, including the governor and chief inhabitants. +Meanwhile the alarm had been given for ten or twelve +leagues round about. Men came in from all directions, +and rallying with the inhabitants of the town till they +amounted to about 1000 men, marched through the woods +by a by-route, got ahead of the buccaneers and attacked +them from ambush. The English and French stood their +ground in spite of inferior numbers, for they were all good +marksmen and every shot told. As the Spaniards persisted, +however, they finally threatened to stab the +governor and all the other prisoners, whereupon the +Spaniards took counsel and retired to their homes. The +invaders lost only ten killed and five or six wounded. +They tarried on the coast several days waiting for the rest +of the promised ransom, but as it failed to arrive they +liberated the prisoners and returned to Tortuga, each adventurer +receiving 300 crowns as his share of the pillage.<a id="footnotetag192" name="footnotetag192"></a><a href="#footnote192"><sup>192</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>{116}</span> + +<p>In the latter part of 1659 a French gentleman, Jérémie +Deschamps, seigneur du Rausset, who had been one of the +first inhabitants of Tortuga under Levasseur and de +Fontenay, repaired to England and had sufficient influence +there to obtain an order from the Council of State to +Colonel Doyley to give him a commission as governor of +Tortuga, with such instructions as Doyley might think +requisite.<a id="footnotetag193" name="footnotetag193"></a><a href="#footnote193"><sup>193</sup></a> This same du Rausset, it seems, had received +a French commission from Louis XIV. as early as +November 1656.<a id="footnotetag194" name="footnotetag194"></a><a href="#footnote194"><sup>194</sup></a> At any rate, he came to Jamaica in +1660 and obtained his commission from Doyley on condition +that he held Tortuga in the English interest.<a id="footnotetag195" name="footnotetag195"></a><a href="#footnote195"><sup>195</sup></a> +Watts, it seems, had meanwhile learnt that he was to be +superseded by a Frenchman, whereupon he embarked with +his family and all his goods and sought refuge in New +England. About two months later, according to one +story, Doyley heard that Deschamps had given a commission +to a privateer and committed insolences for which +Doyley feared to be called to account. He sent to +remonstrate with him, but Deschamps answered that he +possessed a French commission and that he had better +interest with the powers in England than had the governor +of Jamaica. As there were more French than English on +the island, Deschamps then proclaimed the King of France +and set up the French colours.<a id="footnotetag196" name="footnotetag196"></a><a href="#footnote196"><sup>196</sup></a> Doyley as yet had +received no authority from the newly-restored king, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>{117}</span> +Charles II., and hesitated to use any force; but he did +give permission to Arundell, Watts' son-in-law, to surprise +Deschamps and carry him to Jamaica for trial. Deschamps +was absent at the time at Santa Cruz, but Arundell, +relying upon the friendship and esteem which the inhabitants +had felt for his father-in-law, surprised the governor's +nephew and deputy, the Sieur de la Place, and possessed +himself of the island. By some mischance or neglect, +however, he was disarmed by the French and sent back to +Jamaica.<a id="footnotetag197" name="footnotetag197"></a><a href="#footnote197"><sup>197</sup></a> This was not the end of his misfortunes. On +the way to Jamaica he and his company were surprised +by Spaniards in the bay of Matanzas in Cuba, +and carried to Puerto Principe. There, after a month's +imprisonment, Arundell and Barth. Cock, his shipmaster, +were taken out by negroes into the bush and murdered, +and their heads brought into the town.<a id="footnotetag198" name="footnotetag198"></a><a href="#footnote198"><sup>198</sup></a> Deschamps later +returned to France because of ill-health, leaving la Place +to govern the island in his stead, and when the property of +the French Antilles was vested in the new French West +India Company in 1664 he was arrested and sent to the +Bastille. The cause of his arrest is obscure, but it seems +that he had been in correspondence with the English +government, to whom he had offered to restore Tortuga on +condition of being reimbursed with £6000 sterling. A +few days in the Bastille made him think better of his +resolution. He ceded his rights to the company for +15,000 livres, and was released from confinement in +November.<a id="footnotetag199" name="footnotetag199"></a><a href="#footnote199"><sup>199</sup></a></p> + +<p>The fiasco of Arundell's attempt was not the only effort +of the English to recover the island. In answer to a +memorial presented by Lord Windsor before his departure +for Jamaica, an Order in Council was delivered to him in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>{118}</span> +February 1662, empowering him to use his utmost endeavours +to reduce Tortuga and its governor to obedience.<a id="footnotetag200" name="footnotetag200"></a><a href="#footnote200"><sup>200</sup></a> +The matter was taken up by the Jamaican Council in +September, shortly after Windsor's arrival;<a id="footnotetag201" name="footnotetag201"></a><a href="#footnote201"><sup>201</sup></a> and on 16th +December an order was issued by deputy-governor Lyttleton +to Captain Robert Munden of the "Charles" frigate +for the transportation of Colonel Samuel Barry and Captain +Langford to Tortuga, where Munden was to receive orders +for reducing the island.<a id="footnotetag202" name="footnotetag202"></a><a href="#footnote202"><sup>202</sup></a> The design miscarried again, +however, probably because of ill-blood between Barry +and Munden. Clement de Plenneville, who accompanied +Barry, writes that "the expedition failed through +treachery";<a id="footnotetag203" name="footnotetag203"></a><a href="#footnote203"><sup>203</sup></a> and Beeston says in his Journal that Barry, +approaching Tortuga on 30th January, found the French +armed and ready to oppose him, whereupon he ordered +Captain Munden to fire. Munden however refused, sailed +away to Corydon in Hispaniola, where he put Barry and +his men on shore, and then "went away about his +merchandize."<a id="footnotetag204" name="footnotetag204"></a><a href="#footnote204"><sup>204</sup></a> Barry made his way in a sloop to Jamaica +where he arrived on 1st March. Langford, however, was +sent to Petit-Goave, an island about the size of Tortuga in +the <i>cul-de-sac</i> at the western end of Hispaniola, where he +was chosen governor by the inhabitants and raised the +first English standard. Petit-Goave had been frequented +by buccaneers since 1659, and after d'Ogeron succeeded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>{119}</span> +du Rausset as governor for the French in those regions, it +became with Tortuga one of their chief resorts. In the +latter part of 1664 we find Langford in England petitioning +the king for a commission as governor of Tortuga and the +coast of Hispaniola, and for two ships to go and seize the +smaller island.<a id="footnotetag205" name="footnotetag205"></a><a href="#footnote205"><sup>205</sup></a> Such a design, however, with the direct +sanction and aid of the English government, might have +endangered a rupture with France. Charles preferred to +leave such irregular warfare to his governor in Jamaica, +whom he could support or disown as best suited the exigencies +of the moment. Langford, moreover, seems not +to have made a brilliant success of his short stay at Petit-Goave, +and was probably distrusted by the authorities both +in England and in the West Indies. When Modyford +came as governor to Jamaica, the possibility of recovering +Tortuga was still discussed, but no effort to effect it was +ever made again.</p> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote189" name="footnote189"></a><b>Footnote 189: </b><a href="#footnotetag189">(return)</a><p>Dutertre, t. iii. p. 126; Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.</p> + +<p>On 26th February 1656 there arrived at Jamaica a small vessel the +master of which, touching at Tortuga, had found upon the deserted island two +papers, one in Spanish, the other in "sorrie English" (Thurloe Papers, IV. +p. 601). These papers were copies of a proclamation forbidding settlement on +the island, and the English paper (Rawl. MSS., A. 29, f. 500) is printed in +Firth's "Venables" as follows:—</p> + +<p>"The Captane and Sarginge Mager Don Baltearsor Calderon and +Spenoso, Nopte to the President that is now in the sity of Santo-domingo, and +Captane of the gones of the sitye, and Governor and Lord Mare of this +Island, and stranch of this Lland of Tortogo, and Chefe Comander of all for +the Khinge of Spaine.</p> + +<p>"Yoo moust understand that all pepell what soever that shall com to this +Iland of the Khinge of Spaine Catholok wich is name is Don Pilep the +Ostere the forth of this name, that with his harmes he hath put of Feleminge +and French men and Englesh with lefee heare from the yeare of 1630 tell the +yeare of thurty fouer and tell the yeare of fifte fouer in wich the Kinge of +Spane uesenge all curtyse and given good quartell to all that was upon this +Iland, after that came and with oute Recepet upon this Iland knowinge that +the Kinge of Spane had planted upon it and fortified in the name of the Kinge +came the forth time the 15th of Augost the last yeare French and Fleminges +to govern this Iland the same Governeore that was heare befor his name was +Themeleon hot man De founttana gentleman of the ourder of Guresalem for +to take this Iland put if fources by se and land and forsed us to beate him oute +of this place with a greate dale of shame, and be caues yoo shall take notes +that wee have puelld doune the Casill and carid all the gonenes and have +puelld doune all the houes and have lefte no thinge, the same Captane and +Sargint-mager in the name of the Kinge wich God blesh hath given yoo notis +that what souer nason souer that shall com to live upon this Iland that thare +shall not a man mother or children cape of the sorde, thare fore I give notiss +to all pepell that they shall have a care with out anye more notis for this is the +order of the Kinge and with out fall you will not want yooer Pamente and this +is the furst and second and thorde time, and this whe leave heare for them that +comes hear to take notis, that when wee com upon you, you shall not pleate +that you dod not know is riten the 25 of August 1656."</p> + +<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> +<p>Baltesar Calderon y Espinosa</p> +<p>Por Mandado de Senor Gou<sup>or</sup>.</p> +<p>Pedro Fran<sup>co</sup> de riva deney xasuss.</p> + </div> </div></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote190" name="footnote190"></a><b>Footnote 190: </b><a href="#footnotetag190">(return)</a><p>In Dutertre's account the name is Eliazouard (Elias Ward).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote191" name="footnote191"></a><b>Footnote 191: </b><a href="#footnotetag191">(return)</a><p>According to a Spanish account of the expedition the date was 1661. +Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote192" name="footnote192"></a><b>Footnote 192: </b><a href="#footnotetag192">(return)</a><p>Dutertre, tom. iii. pp. 130-34.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote193" name="footnote193"></a><b>Footnote 193: </b><a href="#footnotetag193">(return)</a><p>Rawl. MSS., A. 347, ff. 31 and 36; S.P. Spain, vol. 47:—Deposition of +Sir Charles Lyttleton; Margry, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 281.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote194" name="footnote194"></a><b>Footnote 194: </b><a href="#footnotetag194">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. vii. p. 36; Vaissière, +<i>op. cit.</i>, p. 10.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote195" name="footnote195"></a><b>Footnote 195: </b><a href="#footnotetag195">(return)</a><p>According to Dutertre, Deschamps' commission extended only to the +French inhabitants upon Tortuga, the French and English living thereafter +under separate governments as at St. Kitts. Dutertre, t. iii. p. 135.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote196" name="footnote196"></a><b>Footnote 196: </b><a href="#footnotetag196">(return)</a><p>Rawl. MSS., A. 347, f. 36.</p> + +<p>According to Dutertre's version, Watts had scarcely forsaken the island +when Deschamps arrived in the Road, and found that the French inhabitants +had already made themselves masters of the colony and had substituted the +French for the English standard. Dutertre, t. iii. p. 136.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote197" name="footnote197"></a><b>Footnote 197: </b><a href="#footnotetag197">(return)</a><p>Rawl. MSS., A. 347, f. 36.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote198" name="footnote198"></a><b>Footnote 198: </b><a href="#footnotetag198">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 648.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote199" name="footnote199"></a><b>Footnote 199: </b><a href="#footnotetag199">(return)</a><p>Dutertre, t. iii. p. 138; Vaissière, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 11, note 2.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote200" name="footnote200"></a><b>Footnote 200: </b><a href="#footnotetag200">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 233.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote201" name="footnote201"></a><b>Footnote 201: </b><a href="#footnotetag201">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 364.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote202" name="footnote202"></a><b>Footnote 202: </b><a href="#footnotetag202">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 390; <i>cf.</i> also No. 474 (1).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote203" name="footnote203"></a><b>Footnote 203: </b><a href="#footnotetag203">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 475.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote204" name="footnote204"></a><b>Footnote 204: </b><a href="#footnotetag204">(return)</a><p>Beeston's Journal, 1st March 1663.</p> + +<p>According to Dutertre, some inhabitants of Tortuga ran away to Jamaica +and persuaded the governor that they could no longer endure French domination, +and that if an armed force was sent, it would find no obstacle in restoring +the English king's authority. Accordingly Col. Barry was despatched to +receive their allegiance, with orders to use no violence but only to accept +their voluntary submission. When Barry landed on Tortuga, however, with +no other support than a proclamation and a harangue, the French inhabitants +laughed in his face, and he returned to Jamaica in shame and confusion. +Dutertre, t. iii. pp. 137-38.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote205" name="footnote205"></a><b>Footnote 205: </b><a href="#footnotetag205">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 817-21.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>{120}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>PORTO BELLO AND PANAMA</h3> + + +<p>On 4th January 1664, the king wrote to Sir Thomas +Modyford in Barbadoes that he had chosen him +governor of Jamaica.<a id="footnotetag206" name="footnotetag206"></a><a href="#footnote206"><sup>206</sup></a> Modyford, who had lived +as a planter in Barbadoes since 1650, had taken a prominent +share in the struggles between Parliamentarians +and Royalists in the little island. He was a member of +the Council, and had been governor for a short time in +1660. His commission and instructions for Jamaica<a id="footnotetag207" name="footnotetag207"></a><a href="#footnote207"><sup>207</sup></a> were +carried to the West Indies by Colonel Edward Morgan, +who went as Modyford's deputy-governor and landed in +Barbadoes on 21st April.<a id="footnotetag208" name="footnotetag208"></a><a href="#footnote208"><sup>208</sup></a> Modyford was instructed, +among other things, to prohibit the granting of letters of +marque, and particularly to encourage trade and maintain +friendly relations with the Spanish dominions. Sir Richard +Fanshaw had just been appointed to go to Spain and +negotiate a treaty for wider commercial privileges in the +Indies, and Charles saw that the daily complaints of +violence and depredation done by Jamaican ships on the +King of Spain's subjects were scarcely calculated to increase +the good-will and compliance of the Spanish Court. +Nor had the attempt in the Indies to force a trade upon +the Spaniards been brilliantly successful. It was soon +evident that another course of action was demanded. Sir +Thomas Modyford seems at first to have been sincerely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121"></a>{121}</span> +anxious to suppress privateering and conciliate his Spanish +neighbours. On receiving his commission and instructions +he immediately prepared letters to the President of San +Domingo, expressing his fair intentions and requesting the +co-operation of the Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag209" name="footnotetag209"></a><a href="#footnote209"><sup>209</sup></a> Modyford himself arrived +in Jamaica on 1st June,<a id="footnotetag210" name="footnotetag210"></a><a href="#footnote210"><sup>210</sup></a> proclaimed an entire cessation of +hostilities,<a id="footnotetag211" name="footnotetag211"></a><a href="#footnote211"><sup>211</sup></a> and on the 16th sent the "Swallow" ketch to +Cartagena to acquaint the governor with what he had +done. On almost the same day letters were forwarded +from England and from Ambassador Fanshaw in Madrid, +strictly forbidding all violences in the future against the +Spanish nation, and ordering Modyford to inflict condign +punishment on every offender, and make entire restitution +and satisfaction to the sufferers.<a id="footnotetag212" name="footnotetag212"></a><a href="#footnote212"><sup>212</sup></a></p> + +<p>The letters for San Domingo, which had been forwarded +to Jamaica with Colonel Morgan and thence dispatched to +Hispaniola before Modyford's arrival, received a favourable +answer, but that was about as far as the matter ever +got. The buccaneers, moreover, the principal grievance of +the Spaniards, still remained at large. As Thomas Lynch +wrote on 25th May, "It is not in the power of the governor +to have or suffer a commerce, nor will any necessity or +advantage bring private Spaniards to Jamaica, for we and +they have used too many mutual barbarisms to have a +sudden correspondence. When the king was restored, the +Spaniards thought the manners of the English nation +changed too, and adventured twenty or thirty vessels to +Jamaica for blacks, but the surprises and irruptions by C. +Myngs, for whom the governor of San Domingo has upbraided +the commissioners, made the Spaniards redouble +their malice, and nothing but an order from Spain can give +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>{122}</span> +us admittance or trade."<a id="footnotetag213" name="footnotetag213"></a><a href="#footnote213"><sup>213</sup></a> For a short time, however, a +serious effort was made to recall the privateers. Several +prizes which were brought into Port Royal were seized and +returned to their owners, while the captors had their commissions +taken from them. Such was the experience of +one Captain Searles, who in August brought in two +Spanish vessels, both of which were restored to the +Spaniards, and Searles deprived of his rudder and sails as +security against his making further depredations upon the +Dons.<a id="footnotetag214" name="footnotetag214"></a><a href="#footnote214"><sup>214</sup></a> In November Captain Morris Williams sent a +note to Governor Modyford, offering to come in with a rich +prize of logwood, indigo and silver, if security were given +that it should be condemned to him for the payment of his +debts in Jamaica; and although the governor refused to +give any promises the prize was brought in eight days +later. The goods were seized and sold in the interest of +the Spanish owner.<a id="footnotetag215" name="footnotetag215"></a><a href="#footnote215"><sup>215</sup></a> Nevertheless, the effects of the proclamation +were not at all encouraging. In the first month +only three privateers came in with their commissions, and +Modyford wrote to Secretary Bennet on 30th June that he +feared the only effect of the proclamation would be to +drive them to the French in Tortuga. He therefore +thought it prudent, he continued, to dispense somewhat +with the strictness of his instructions, "doing by degrees +and moderation what he had at first resolved to execute +suddenly and severely."<a id="footnotetag216" name="footnotetag216"></a><a href="#footnote216"><sup>216</sup></a></p> + +<p>Tortuga was really the crux of the whole difficulty. +Back in 1662 Colonel Doyley, in his report to the Lord +Chancellor after his return to England, had suggested the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123"></a>{123}</span> +reduction of Tortuga to English obedience as the only +effective way of dealing with the buccaneers;<a id="footnotetag217" name="footnotetag217"></a><a href="#footnote217"><sup>217</sup></a> and Modyford +in 1664 also realized the necessity of this preliminary +step.<a id="footnotetag218" name="footnotetag218"></a><a href="#footnote218"><sup>218</sup></a> The conquest of Tortuga, however, was no longer +the simple task it might have been four or five years +earlier. The inhabitants of the island were now almost +entirely French, and with their companions on the coast +of Hispaniola had no intention of submitting to English +dictation. The buccaneers, who had become numerous +and independent and made Tortuga one of their principal +retreats, would throw all their strength in the balance +against an expedition the avowed object of whose coming +was to make their profession impossible. The colony, +moreover, received an incalculable accession of strength in +the arrival of Bertrand d'Ogeron, the governor sent out in +1665 by the new French West India Company. D'Ogeron +was one of the most remarkable figures in the West Indies +in the second half of the seventeenth century. Of broad +imagination and singular kindness of heart, with an indomitable +will and a mind full of resource, he seems to +have been an ideal man for the task, not only of reducing +to some semblance of law and order a people who had +never given obedience to any authority, but also of making +palatable the <i>régime</i> and exclusive privileges of a private +trading company. D'Ogeron first established himself at +Port Margot on the coast of Hispaniola opposite Tortuga +in the early part of 1665; and here the adventurers at +once gave him to understand that they would never submit +to any mere company, much less suffer an interruption +of their trade with the Dutch, who had supplied +them with necessities at a time when it was not even +known in France that there were Frenchmen in that region. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124"></a>{124}</span> +D'Ogeron pretended to subscribe to these conditions, +passed over to Tortuga where he received the submission +of la Place, and then to Petit-Goave and Leogane, in the +<i>cul-de-sac</i> of Hispaniola. There he made his headquarters, +adopted every means to attract planters and +<i>engagés</i>, and firmly established his authority. He made +advances from his own purse without interest to adventurers +who wished to settle down to planting, bought two +ships to facilitate trade between the colony and France, +and even contrived to have several lots of fifty women +each brought over from France to be sold and distributed +as wives amongst the colonists. The settlements soon put +on a new air of prosperity, and really owed their existence +as a permanent French colony to the efforts of this new +governor.<a id="footnotetag219" name="footnotetag219"></a><a href="#footnote219"><sup>219</sup></a> It was under the administration of d'Ogeron +that l'Olonnais,<a id="footnotetag220" name="footnotetag220"></a><a href="#footnote220"><sup>220</sup></a> Michel le Basque, and most of the French +buccaneers flourished, whose exploits are celebrated in +Exquemelin's history.</p> + +<p>The conquest of Tortuga was not the only measure +necessary for the effectual suppression of the buccaneers. +Five or six swift cruisers were also required to pursue and +bring to bay those corsairs who refused to come in with +their commissions.<a id="footnotetag221" name="footnotetag221"></a><a href="#footnote221"><sup>221</sup></a> Since the Restoration the West +Indies had been entirely denuded of English men-of-war; +while the buccaneers, with the tacit consent or encouragement +of Doyley, had at the same time increased both in +numbers and boldness. Letters written from Jamaica in +1664 placed the number scattered abroad in privateering +at from 1500 to 2000, sailing in fourteen or fifteen ships.<a id="footnotetag222" name="footnotetag222"></a><a href="#footnote222"><sup>222</sup></a> +They were desperate men, accustomed to living at sea, +with no trade but burning and plundering, and unlikely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>{125}</span> +to take orders from any but stronger and faster frigates. +Nor was this condition of affairs surprising when we consider +that, in the seventeenth century, there flowed from +Europe to the West Indies adventurers from every class +of society; men doubtless often endowed with strong +personalities, enterprising and intrepid; but often, too, of +mediocre intelligence or little education, and usually without +either money or scruples. They included many who +had revolted from the narrow social laws of European +countries, and were disinclined to live peaceably within the +bounds of any organized society. Many, too, had belonged +to rebellious political factions at home, men of the better +classes who were banished or who emigrated in order to +keep their heads upon their shoulders. In France the total +exhaustion of public and private fortune at the end of the +religious wars disposed many to seek to recoup themselves +out of the immense colonial riches of the Spaniards; +while the disorders of the Rebellion and the Commonwealth +in England caused successive emigrations of +Puritans and Loyalists to the newer England beyond +the seas. At the close of the Thirty Years' War, too, a +host of French and English adventurers, who had fattened +upon Germany and her misfortunes, were left without a +livelihood, and doubtless many resorted to emigration as +the sole means of continuing their life of freedom and even +of licence. Coming to the West Indies these men, so +various in origin and character, hoped soon to acquire +there the riches which they lost or coveted at home; and +their expectations deceived, they often broke in a formal +and absolute manner the bonds which attached them to their +fellow humanity. Jamaica especially suffered in this +respect, for it had been colonized in the first instance by +a discontented, refractory soldiery, and it was being recruited +largely by transported criminals and vagabonds. +In contrast with the policy of Spain, who placed the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>{126}</span> +most careful restrictions upon the class of emigrants sent +to her American possessions, England from the very +beginning used her colonies, and especially the West +Indian islands, as a dumping-ground for her refuse +population. Within a short time a regular trade +sprang up for furnishing the colonies with servile +labour from the prisons of the mother country. Scots +captured at the battles of Dunbar and Worcester,<a id="footnotetag223" name="footnotetag223"></a><a href="#footnote223"><sup>223</sup></a> +English, French, Irish and Dutch pirates lying in +the gaols of Dorchester and Plymouth,<a id="footnotetag224" name="footnotetag224"></a><a href="#footnote224"><sup>224</sup></a> if "not thought +fit to be tried for their lives," were shipped to Barbadoes, +Jamaica, and the other Antilles. In August 1656 the +Council of State issued an order for the apprehension +of all lewd and dangerous persons, rogues, vagrants +and other idlers who had no way of livelihood and +refused to work, to be transported by contractors to +the English plantations in America;<a id="footnotetag225" name="footnotetag225"></a><a href="#footnote225"><sup>225</sup></a> and in June 1661 +the Council for Foreign Plantations appointed a committee +to consider the same matter.<a id="footnotetag226" name="footnotetag226"></a><a href="#footnote226"><sup>226</sup></a> Complaints were often +made that children and apprentices were "seduced or +spirited away" from their parents and masters and concealed +upon ships sailing for the colonies; and an office of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>{127}</span> +registry was established to prevent this abuse.<a id="footnotetag227" name="footnotetag227"></a><a href="#footnote227"><sup>227</sup></a> In 1664 +Charles granted a licence for five years to Sir James +Modyford, brother of Sir Thomas, to take all felons convicted +in the circuits and at the Old Bailey who were +afterwards reprieved for transportation to foreign plantations, +and to transmit them to the governor of Jamaica;<a id="footnotetag228" name="footnotetag228"></a><a href="#footnote228"><sup>228</sup></a> +and this practice was continued throughout the whole of +the buccaneering period.</p> + +<p>Privateering opened a channel by which these disorderly +spirits, impatient of the sober and laborious life of +the planter, found an employment agreeable to their +tastes. An example had been set by the plundering expeditions +sent out by Fortescue, Brayne and Doyley, and +when these naval excursions ceased, the sailors and others +who had taken part in them fell to robbing on their private +account. Sir Charles Lyttleton, we have seen, zealously +defended and encouraged the freebooters; and Long, the +historian of Jamaica, justified their existence on the +ground that many traders were attracted to the island by +the plunder with which Port Royal was so abundantly +stocked, and that the prosperity of the colony was founded +upon the great demand for provisions for the outfit of the +privateers. These effects, however, were but temporary +and superficial, and did not counterbalance the manifest +evils of the practice, especially the discouragement to +planting, and the element of turbulence and unrest ever +present in the island. Under such conditions Governor +Modyford found it necessary to temporise with the +marauders, and perhaps he did so the more readily because +he felt that they were still needed for the security of the +colony. A war between England and the States-General +then seemed imminent, and the governor considered that +unless he allowed the buccaneers to dispose of their booty +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128"></a>{128}</span> +when they came in to Port Royal, they might, in event of +hostilities breaking out, go to the Dutch at Curaçao and +other islands, and prey upon Jamaican commerce. On +the other hand, if, by adopting a conciliatory attitude, he +retained their allegiance, they would offer the handiest +and most effective instrument for driving the Dutch themselves +out of the Indies.<a id="footnotetag229" name="footnotetag229"></a><a href="#footnote229"><sup>229</sup></a> He privately told one captain, +who brought in a Spanish prize, that he only stopped the +Admiralty proceedings to "give a good relish to the +Spaniard"; and that although the captor should have satisfaction, +the governor could not guarantee him his ship. So +Sir Thomas persuaded some merchants to buy the prize-goods +and contributed one quarter of the money himself, +with the understanding that he should receive nothing if the +Spaniards came to claim their property.<a id="footnotetag230" name="footnotetag230"></a><a href="#footnote230"><sup>230</sup></a> A letter from +Secretary Bennet, on 12th November 1664, confirmed the +governor in this course;<a id="footnotetag231" name="footnotetag231"></a><a href="#footnote231"><sup>231</sup></a> and on 2nd February 1665, three +weeks before the declaration of war against Holland, a +warrant was issued to the Duke of York, High Admiral of +England, to grant, through the colonial governors and +vice-admirals, commissions of reprisal upon the ships and +goods of the Dutch.<a id="footnotetag232" name="footnotetag232"></a><a href="#footnote232"><sup>232</sup></a> Modyford at once took advantage +of this liberty. Some fourteen pirates, who in the +beginning of February had been tried and condemned to +death, were pardoned; and public declaration was made +that commissions would be granted against the Hollanders. +Before nightfall two commissions had been taken out, and +all the rovers were making applications and planning how +to seize Curaçao.<a id="footnotetag233" name="footnotetag233"></a><a href="#footnote233"><sup>233</sup></a> Modyford drew up an elaborate design<a id="footnotetag234" name="footnotetag234"></a><a href="#footnote234"><sup>234</sup></a> +for rooting out at one and the same time the Dutch settlements +and the French buccaneers, and on 20th April he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>{129}</span> +wrote that Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan had sailed with ten +ships and some 500 men, chiefly "reformed prisoners," +resolute fellows, and well armed with fusees and pistols.<a id="footnotetag235" name="footnotetag235"></a><a href="#footnote235"><sup>235</sup></a> +Their plan was to fall upon the Dutch fleet trading at St. +Kitts, capture St. Eustatius, Saba, and perhaps Curaçao, +and on the homeward voyage visit the French settlements +on Hispaniola and Tortuga. "All this is prepared," he wrote, +"by the honest privateer, at the old rate of no purchase no +pay, and it will cost the king nothing considerable, some +powder and mortar-pieces." On the same day, 20th April, +Admiral de Ruyter, who had arrived in the Indies with a +fleet of fourteen sail, attacked the forts and shipping at +Barbadoes, but suffered considerable damage and retired +after a few hours. At Montserrat and Nevis, however, he +was more successful and captured sixteen merchant ships, +after which he sailed for Virginia and New York.<a id="footnotetag236" name="footnotetag236"></a><a href="#footnote236"><sup>236</sup></a></p> + +<p>The buccaneers enrolled in Colonel Morgan's expedition +proved to be troublesome allies. Before their +departure from Jamaica most of them mutinied, and +refused to sail until promised by Morgan that the plunder +should be equally divided.<a id="footnotetag237" name="footnotetag237"></a><a href="#footnote237"><sup>237</sup></a> On 17th July, however, the +expedition made its rendezvous at Montserrat, and on the +23rd arrived before St. Eustatius. Two vessels had been +lost sight of, a third, with the ironical name of the "Olive +Branch," had sailed for Virginia, and many stragglers had +been left behind at Montserrat, so that Morgan could +muster only 326 men for the assault. There was only one +landing-place on the island, with a narrow path accommodating +but two men at a time leading to an eminence +which was crowned with a fort and 450 Dutchmen. +Morgan landed his division first, and Colonel Carey +followed. The enemy, it seems, gave them but one small +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130"></a>{130}</span> +volley and then retreated to the fort. The governor sent +forward three men to parley, and on receiving a summons +to surrender, delivered up the fort with eleven large guns +and considerable ammunition. "It is supposed they were +drunk or mad," was the comment made upon the rather +disgraceful defence.<a id="footnotetag238" name="footnotetag238"></a><a href="#footnote238"><sup>238</sup></a> During the action Colonel Morgan, +who was an old man and very corpulent, was overcome +by the hard marching and extraordinary heat, and died. +Colonel Carey, who succeeded him in command, was +anxious to proceed at once to the capture of the Dutch +forts on Saba, St. Martins and Tortola; but the buccaneers +refused to stir until the booty got at St. Eustatius was +divided—nor were the officers and men able to agree on +the manner of sharing. The plunder, besides guns and +ammunition, included about 900 slaves, negro and Indian, +with a large quantity of live stock and cotton. Meanwhile +a party of seventy had crossed over to the island +of Saba, only four leagues distant, and secured its +surrender on the same terms as St. Eustatius. As the men +had now become very mutinous, and on a muster numbered +scarcely 250, the officers decided that they could not +reasonably proceed any further and sailed for Jamaica, +leaving a small garrison on each of the islands. Most of +the Dutch, about 250 in number, were sent to St. Martins, +but a few others, with some threescore English, Irish and +Scotch, took the oath of allegiance and remained.<a id="footnotetag239" name="footnotetag239"></a><a href="#footnote239"><sup>239</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>{131}</span> + +<p>Encouraged by a letter from the king,<a id="footnotetag240" name="footnotetag240"></a><a href="#footnote240"><sup>240</sup></a> Governor +Modyford continued his exertions against the Dutch. In +January (?) 1666 two buccaneer captains, Searles and +Stedman, with two small ships and only eighty men took +the island of Tobago, near Trinidad, and destroyed everything +they could not carry away. Lord Willoughby, +governor of Barbadoes, had also fitted out an expedition +to take the island, but the Jamaicans were three or four +days before him. The latter were busy with their work of +pillage, when Willoughby arrived and demanded the +island in the name of the king; and the buccaneers condescended +to leave the fort and the governor's house standing +only on condition that Willoughby gave them liberty +to sell their plunder in Barbadoes.<a id="footnotetag241" name="footnotetag241"></a><a href="#footnote241"><sup>241</sup></a> Modyford, meanwhile, +greatly disappointed by the miscarriage of the design +against Curaçao, called in the aid of the "old privateer," +Captain Edward Mansfield, and in the autumn of 1665, +with the hope of sending another armament against the +island, appointed a rendezvous for the buccaneers in +Bluefields Bay.<a id="footnotetag242" name="footnotetag242"></a><a href="#footnote242"><sup>242</sup></a></p> + +<p>In January 1666 war against England was openly +declared by France in support of her Dutch allies, and in +the following month Charles II. sent letters to his governors +in the West Indies and the North American colonies, +apprising them of the war and urging them to attack their +French neighbours.<a id="footnotetag243" name="footnotetag243"></a><a href="#footnote243"><sup>243</sup></a> The news of the outbreak of +hostilities did not reach Jamaica until 2nd July, but +already in December of the previous year warning had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132"></a>{132}</span> +been sent out to the West Indies of the coming rupture.<a id="footnotetag244" name="footnotetag244"></a><a href="#footnote244"><sup>244</sup></a> +Governor Modyford, therefore, seeing the French very +much increased in Hispaniola, concluded that it was high +time to entice the buccaneers from French service and +bind them to himself by issuing commissions against the +Spaniards. The French still permitted the freebooters to +dispose of Spanish prizes in their ports, but the better +market afforded by Jamaica was always a sufficient +consideration to attract not only the English buccaneers, +but the Dutch and French as well. Moreover, the difficulties +of the situation, which Modyford had repeatedly +enlarged upon in his letters, seem to have been appreciated +by the authorities in England, for in the spring of 1665, +following upon Secretary Bennet's letter of 12th November +and shortly after the outbreak of the Dutch war, the Duke +of Albemarle had written to Modyford in the name of the +king, giving him permission to use his own discretion in +granting commissions against the Dons.<a id="footnotetag245" name="footnotetag245"></a><a href="#footnote245"><sup>245</sup></a> Modyford was +convinced that all the circumstances were favourable to +such a course of action, and on 22nd February assembled +the Council. A resolution was passed that it was to the +interest of the island to grant letters of marque against +the Spaniards,<a id="footnotetag246" name="footnotetag246"></a><a href="#footnote246"><sup>246</sup></a> and a proclamation to this effect was +published by the governor at Port Royal and Tortuga. +In the following August Modyford sent home to Bennet, +now become Lord Arlington, an elaborate defence of his +actions. "Your Lordship very well knows," wrote Modyford, +"how great an aversion I had for the privateers while +at Barbadoes, but after I had put His Majesty's orders for +restitution in strict execution, I found my error in the +decay of the forts and wealth of this place, and also the +affections of this people to His Majesty's service; yet I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>{133}</span> +continued discountenancing and punishing those kind of +people till your Lordship's of the 12th November 1664 +arrived, commanding a gentle usage of them; still we +went to decay, which I represented to the Lord General +faithfully the 6th of March following, who upon serious +consideration with His Majesty and the Lord Chancellor, +by letter of 1st June 1665, gave me latitude to +grant or not commissions against the Spaniard, as I +found it for the advantage of His Majesty's service and the +good of this island. I was glad of this power, yet +resolved not to use it unless necessity drove me to it; and +that too when I saw how poor the fleets returning from +Statia were, so that vessels were broken up and the men +disposed of for the coast of Cuba to get a livelihood +and so be wholly alienated from us. Many stayed at the +Windward Isles, having not enough to pay their engagements, +and at Tortuga and among the French buccaneers; +still I forebore to make use of my power, hoping their +hardships and great hazards would in time reclaim them +from that course of life. But about the beginning of +March last I found that the guards of Port Royal, which +under Colonel Morgan were 600, had fallen to 138, so I +assembled the Council to advise how to strengthen that +most important place with some of the inland forces; but +they all agreed that the only way to fill Port Royal with +men was to grant commissions against the Spaniards, +which they were very pressing in ... and looking on our +weak condition, the chief merchants gone from Port Royal, +no credit given to privateers for victualling, etc., and +rumours of war with the French often repeated, I issued +a declaration of my intentions to grant commissions against +the Spaniards. Your Lordship cannot imagine what an +universal change there was on the faces of men and things, +ships repairing, great resort of workmen and labourers to +Port Royal, many returning, many debtors released out of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>{134}</span> +prison, and the ships from the Curaçao voyage, not daring +to come in for fear of creditors, brought in and fitted out +again, so that the regimental forces at Port Royal are near +400. Had it not been for that seasonable action, I could +not have kept my place against the French buccaneers, +who would have ruined all the seaside plantations at least, +whereas I now draw from them mainly, and lately David +Marteen, the best man of Tortuga, that has two frigates at +sea, has promised to bring in both."<a id="footnotetag247" name="footnotetag247"></a><a href="#footnote247"><sup>247</sup></a></p> + +<p>In so far as the buccaneers affected the mutual relations +of England and Spain, it after all could make little difference +whether commissions were issued in Jamaica or not, +for the plundering and burning continued, and the +harassed Spanish-Americans, only too prone to call the +rogues English of whatever origin they might really be, +continued to curse and hate the English nation and make +cruel reprisals whenever possible. Moreover, every expedition +into Spanish territory, finding the Spaniards very +weak and very rich, gave new incentive to such endeavour. +While Modyford had been standing now on one foot, now +on the other, uncertain whether to repulse the buccaneers +or not, secretly anxious to welcome them, but fearing the +authorities at home, the corsairs themselves had entirely +ignored him. The privateers whom Modyford had invited +to rendezvous in Bluefield's Bay in November 1665 had +chosen Captain Mansfield as their admiral, and in the +middle of January sailed from the south cays of Cuba for +Curaçao. In the meantime, however, because they had +been refused provisions which, according to Modyford's +account, they sought to buy from the Spaniards in Cuba, +they had marched forty-two miles into the island, and on +the strength of Portuguese commissions which they held +against the Spaniards, had plundered and burnt the town +of Sancti Spiritus, routed a body of 200 horse, carried +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135"></a>{135}</span> +some prisoners to the coast, and for their ransom extorted +300 head of cattle.<a id="footnotetag248" name="footnotetag248"></a><a href="#footnote248"><sup>248</sup></a> The rich and easy profits to be got by +plundering the Spaniards were almost too much for the +loyalty of the men, and Modyford, hearing of many +defections from their ranks, had despatched Captain +Beeston on 10th November to divert them, if possible, from +Sancti Spiritus, and confirm them in their designs against +Curaçao.<a id="footnotetag249" name="footnotetag249"></a><a href="#footnote249"><sup>249</sup></a> The officers of the expedition, indeed, sent to +the governor a letter expressing their zeal for the enterprise; +but the men still held off, and the fleet, in consequence, +eventually broke up. Two vessels departed for +Tortuga, and four others, joined by two French rovers, +sailed under Mansfield to attempt the recapture of +Providence Island, which, since 1641, had been garrisoned +by the Spaniards and used as a penal settlement.<a id="footnotetag250" name="footnotetag250"></a><a href="#footnote250"><sup>250</sup></a> Being +resolved, as Mansfield afterwards told the governor of +Jamaica, never to see Modyford's face until he had done +some service to the king, he sailed for Providence with +about 200 men,<a id="footnotetag251" name="footnotetag251"></a><a href="#footnote251"><sup>251</sup></a> and approaching the island in the night +by an unusual passage among the reefs, landed early in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136"></a>{136}</span> +the morning, and surprised and captured the Spanish +commander. The garrison of about 200 yielded up the +fort on the promise that they would be carried to the +mainland. Twenty-seven pieces of ordnance were taken, +many of which, it is said, bore the arms of Queen +Elizabeth engraved upon them. Mansfield left thirty-five +men under command of a Captain Hattsell to hold the +island, and sailed with his prisoners for Central America. +After cruising along the shores of the mainland, he +ascended the San Juan River and entered and sacked +Granada, the capital of Nicaragua. From Granada the +buccaneers turned south into Costa Rica, burning plantations, +breaking the images in the churches, ham-stringing +cows and mules, cutting down the fruit trees, and in +general destroying everything they found. The Spanish +governor had only thirty-six soldiers at his disposal and +scarcely any firearms; but he gathered the inhabitants and +some Indians, blocked the roads, laid ambuscades, and did +all that his pitiful means permitted to hinder the progress +of the invaders. The freebooters had designed to visit +Cartago, the chief city of the province, and plunder it as +they had plundered Granada. They penetrated only as +far as Turrialva, however, whence weary and footsore from +their struggle through the Cordillera, and harassed by the +Spaniards, they retired through the province of Veragua in +military order to their ships.<a id="footnotetag252" name="footnotetag252"></a><a href="#footnote252"><sup>252</sup></a> On 12th June the buccaneers, +laden with booty, sailed into Port Royal. There was at +that moment no declared war between England and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>{137}</span> +Spain. Yet the governor, probably because he believed +Mansfield to be justified, <i>ex post facto</i>, by the issue of +commissions against the Spaniards in the previous +February, did no more than mildly reprove him for acting +without his orders; and "considering its good situation +for favouring any design on the rich main," he accepted +the tender of the island in behalf of the king. He +despatched Major Samuel Smith, who had been one of +Mansfield's party, with a few soldiers to reinforce the +English garrison;<a id="footnotetag253" name="footnotetag253"></a><a href="#footnote253"><sup>253</sup></a> and on 10th November the Council +in England set the stamp of their approval upon his +actions by issuing a commission to his brother, Sir +James Modyford, to be lieutenant-governor of the new +acquisition.<a id="footnotetag254" name="footnotetag254"></a><a href="#footnote254"><sup>254</sup></a></p> + +<p>In August 1665, only two months before the departure +of Mansfield from Jamaica, there had returned to Port +Royal from a raid in the same region three privateer +captains named Morris, Jackman and Morgan.<a id="footnotetag255" name="footnotetag255"></a><a href="#footnote255"><sup>255</sup></a> These +men, with their followers, doubtless helped to swell the +ranks of Mansfield's buccaneers, and it was probably their +report of the wealth of Central America which induced +Mansfield to emulate their performance. In the previous +January these three captains, still pretending to sail under +commissions from Lord Windsor, had ascended the river +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a>{138}</span> +Tabasco, in the province of Campeache, with 107 men, and +guided by Indians made a detour of 300 miles, according +to their account, to Villa de Mosa,<a id="footnotetag256" name="footnotetag256"></a><a href="#footnote256"><sup>256</sup></a> which they took and +plundered. When they returned to the mouth of the +river, they found that their ships had been seized by +Spaniards, who, on their approach, attacked them 300 +strong. The Spaniards, softened by the heat and indolent +life of the tropics, were no match for one-third their +number of desperadoes, and the buccaneers beat them off +without the loss of a man. The freebooters then fitted up +two barques and four canoes, sailed to Rio Garta and +stormed the place with only thirty men; crossed the Gulf +of Honduras to the Island of Roatan to rest and obtain +fresh water, and then captured and plundered the port of +Truxillo. Down the Mosquito Coast they passed like a +devouring flame, consuming all in their path. Anchoring +in Monkey Bay, they ascended the San Juan River in +canoes for a distance of 100 miles to Lake Nicaragua. +The basin into which they entered they described as a +veritable paradise, the air cool and wholesome, the shores +of the lake full of green pastures and broad savannahs +dotted with horses and cattle, and round about all a +coronal of azure mountains. Hiding by day among the +numerous islands and rowing all night, on the fifth night +they landed near the city of Granada, just a year before +Mansfield's visit to the place. The buccaneers marched +unobserved to the central square of the city, overturned +eighteen cannon mounted there, seized the magazine, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139"></a>{139}</span> +took and imprisoned in the cathedral 300 of the citizens. +They plundered for sixteen hours, then released their +prisoners, and taking the precaution to scuttle all the +boats, made their way back to the sea coast. The town +was large and pleasant, containing seven churches besides +several colleges and monasteries, and most of the buildings +were constructed of stone. About 1000 Indians, driven to +rebellion by the cruelty and oppression of the Spaniards, +accompanied the marauders and would have massacred the +prisoners, especially the religious, had they not been told +that the English had no intentions of retaining their +conquest. The news of the exploit produced a lively +impression in Jamaica, and the governor suggested Central +America as the "properest place" for an attack from +England on the Spanish Indies.<a id="footnotetag257" name="footnotetag257"></a><a href="#footnote257"><sup>257</sup></a></p> + +<p>Providence Island was now in the hands of an English +garrison, and the Spaniards were not slow to realise that +the possession of this outpost by the buccaneers might +be but the first step to larger conquests on the mainland. +The President of Panama, Don Juan Perez de Guzman, +immediately took steps to recover the island. He transferred +himself to Porto Bello, embargoed an English +ship of thirty guns, the "Concord," lying at anchor there +with licence to trade in negroes, manned it with 350 +Spaniards under command of José Sánchez Jiménez, +and sent it to Cartagena. The governor of Cartagena +contributed several small vessels and a hundred or more +men to the enterprise, and on 10th August 1666 the +united Spanish fleet appeared off the shores of Providence. +On the refusal of Major Smith to surrender, the Spaniards +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a>{140}</span> +landed, and on 15th August, after a three days' siege, +forced the handful of buccaneers, only sixty or seventy +in number, to capitulate. Some of the English defenders +later deposed before Governor Modyford that the +Spaniards had agreed to let them depart in a barque +for Jamaica. However this may be, when the English +came to lay down their arms they were made prisoners +by the Spaniards, carried to Porto Bello, and all except +Sir Thomas Whetstone, Major Smith and Captain +Stanley, the three English captains, submitted to the +most inhuman cruelties. Thirty-three were chained to +the ground in a dungeon 12 feet by 10. They were +forced to work in the water from five in the morning +till seven at night, and at such a rate that the Spaniards +themselves confessed they made one of them do more +work than any three negroes; yet when weak for want +of victuals and sleep, they were knocked down and +beaten with cudgels so that four or five died. "Having +no clothes, their backs were blistered with the sun, +their heads scorched, their necks, shoulders and hands +raw with carrying stones and mortar, their feet chopped +and their legs bruised and battered with the irons, and +their corpses were noisome to one another." The three +English captains were carried to Panama, and there +cast into a dungeon and bound in irons for seventeen +months.<a id="footnotetag258" name="footnotetag258"></a><a href="#footnote258"><sup>258</sup></a></p> + +<p>On 8th January 1664 Sir Richard Fanshaw, formerly +ambassador to Portugal, had arrived in Madrid from +England to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Spain, +and if possible to patch up a peace between the Spanish +and Portuguese crowns. He had renewed the old +demand for a free commerce in the Indies; and the +negotiations had dragged through the years of 1664 and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141"></a>{141}</span> +1665, hampered and crossed by the factions in the +Spanish court, the hostile machinations of the Dutch +resident in Madrid, and the constant rumours of cruelties +and desolations by the freebooters in America.<a id="footnotetag259" name="footnotetag259"></a><a href="#footnote259"><sup>259</sup></a> The +Spanish Government insisted that by sole virtue of the +articles of 1630 there was peace on both sides of the +"Line," and that the violences of the buccaneers in the +West Indies, and even the presence of English colonists +there, was a breach of the articles. In this fashion they +endeavoured to reduce Fanshaw to the position of a +suppliant for favours which they might only out of their +grace and generosity concede. It was a favourite trick +of Spanish diplomacy, which had been worked many times +before. The English ambassador was, in consequence, +compelled strenuously to deny the existence of any +peace in America, although he realised how ambiguous +his position had been rendered by the original orders of +Charles II. to Modyford in 1664.<a id="footnotetag260" name="footnotetag260"></a><a href="#footnote260"><sup>260</sup></a> After the death of +Philip IV. in 1665, negotiations were renewed with the +encouragement of the Queen Regent, and on 17th +December provisional articles were signed by Fanshaw +and the Duke de Medina de los Torres and sent to +England for ratification.<a id="footnotetag261" name="footnotetag261"></a><a href="#footnote261"><sup>261</sup></a> Fanshaw died shortly after, +and Lord Sandwich, his successor, finally succeeded in +concluding a treaty on 23rd May 1667.<a id="footnotetag262" name="footnotetag262"></a><a href="#footnote262"><sup>262</sup></a> The provisions +of the treaty extended to places "where hitherto trade +and commerce hath been accustomed," and the only +privileges obtained in America were those which had +been granted to the Low Countries by the Treaty of +Munster. On 21st July of the same year a general +peace was concluded at Breda between England, Holland +and France.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>{142}</span> + +<p>It was in the very midst of Lord Sandwich's negotiations +that Modyford had, as Beeston expresses it in his +Journal, declared war against the Spaniards by the +re-issue of privateering commissions. He had done it +all in his own name, however, so that the king might +disavow him should the exigencies of diplomacy demand +it.<a id="footnotetag263" name="footnotetag263"></a><a href="#footnote263"><sup>263</sup></a> Moreover, at this same time, in the middle of 1666, +Albemarle was writing to Modyford that notwithstanding +the negotiations, in which, as he said, the West Indies +were not at all concerned, the governor might still employ +the privateers as formerly, if it be for the benefit of +English interests in the Indies.<a id="footnotetag264" name="footnotetag264"></a><a href="#footnote264"><sup>264</sup></a> The news of the +general peace reached Jamaica late in 1667; yet Modyford +did not change his policy. It is true that in February +Secretary Lord Arlington had sent directions to restrain +the buccaneers from further acts of violence against the +Spaniards;<a id="footnotetag265" name="footnotetag265"></a><a href="#footnote265"><sup>265</sup></a> but Modyford drew his own conclusions +from the contradictory orders received from England, +and was conscious, perhaps, that he was only reflecting +the general policy of the home government when he +wrote to Arlington:—"Truly it must be very imprudent +to run the hazard of this place, for obtaining a correspondence +which could not but by orders from Madrid be +had.... The Spaniards look on us as intruders and +trespassers, wheresoever they find us in the Indies, and +use us accordingly; and were it in their power, as it is +fixed in their wills, would soon turn us out of all our +plantations; and is it reasonable that we should quietly let +them grow upon us until they are able to do it? It must be +force alone that can cut in sunder that unneighbourly maxim +of their government to deny all access to strangers."<a id="footnotetag266" name="footnotetag266"></a><a href="#footnote266"><sup>266</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>{143}</span> + +<p>These words were very soon translated into action, for +in June 1668 Henry Morgan, with a fleet of nine or ten +ships and between 400 and 500 men, took and sacked +Porto Bello, one of the strongest cities of Spanish +America, and the emporium for most of the European +trade of the South American continent. Henry Morgan +was a nephew of the Colonel Edward Morgan who died +in the assault of St. Eustatius. He is said to have been +kidnapped at Bristol while he was a mere lad and sold +as a servant in Barbadoes, whence, on the expiration of +his time, he found his way to Jamaica. There he joined +the buccaneers and soon rose to be captain of a ship. +It was probably he who took part in the expedition with +Morris and Jackman to Campeache and Central America. +He afterwards joined the Curaçao armament of Mansfield +and was with the latter when he seized the island of +Providence. After Mansfield's disappearance Morgan +seems to have taken his place as the foremost buccaneer +leader in Jamaica, and during the next twenty years he was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>{144}</span> +one of the most considerable men in the colony. He was +but thirty-three years old when he led the expedition +against Porto Bello.<a id="footnotetag267" name="footnotetag267"></a><a href="#footnote267"><sup>267</sup></a></p> + +<p>In the beginning of 1668 Sir Thomas Modyford, +having had "frequent and strong advice" that the +Spaniards were planning an invasion of Jamaica, had +commissioned Henry Morgan to draw together the +English privateers and take some Spanish prisoners in +order to find out if these rumours were true. The +buccaneers, according to Morgan's own report to the +governor, were driven to the south cays of Cuba, where +being in want of victuals and "like to starve," and meeting +some Frenchmen in a similar plight, they put their men +ashore to forage. They found all the cattle driven up +into the country, however, and the inhabitants fled. So +the freebooters marched twenty leagues to Puerto Principe +on the north side of the island, and after a short encounter, +in which the Spanish governor was killed, possessed +themselves of the place. Nothing of value escaped the +rapacity of the invaders, who resorted to the extremes of +torture to draw from their prisoners confessions of hidden +wealth. On the entreaty of the Spaniards they forebore +to fire the town, and for a ransom of 1000 head of cattle +released all the prisoners; but they compelled the +Spaniards to salt the beef and carry it to the ships.<a id="footnotetag268" name="footnotetag268"></a><a href="#footnote268"><sup>268</sup></a> +Morgan reported, with what degree of truth we have no +means of judging, that seventy men had been impressed in +Puerto Principe to go against Jamaica, and that a similar +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145"></a>{145}</span> +levy had been made throughout the island. Considerable +forces, moreover, were expected from the mainland to +rendezvous at Havana and St. Jago, with the final object +of invading the English colony.</p> + +<p>On returning to the ships from the sack of Puerto +Principe, Morgan unfolded to his men his scheme of +striking at the very heart of Spanish power in the Indies +by capturing Porto Bello. The Frenchmen among his +followers, it seems, wholly refused to join him in this +larger design, full of danger as it was; so Morgan sailed +away with only the English freebooters, some 400 in +number, for the coasts of Darien. Exquemelin has left us +a narrative of this exploit which is more circumstantial +than any other we possess, and agrees so closely with +what we know from other sources that we must accept +the author's statement that he was an eye-witness. He +relates the whole story, moreover, in so entertaining and +picturesque a manner that he deserves quotation.</p> + +<p>"Captain Morgan," he says, "who knew very well all +the avenues of this city, as also all the neighbouring coasts, +arrived in the dusk of the evening at the place called +Puerto de Naos, distant ten leagues towards the west of +Porto Bello.<a id="footnotetag269" name="footnotetag269"></a><a href="#footnote269"><sup>269</sup></a> Being come unto this place, they mounted +the river in their ships, as far as another harbour called +Puerto Pontin, where they came to anchor. Here they +put themselves immediately into boats and canoes, leaving +in the ships only a few men to keep them and conduct +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>{146}</span> +them the next day unto the port. About midnight they +came to a certain place called Estera longa Lemos, where +they all went on shore, and marched by land to the first +posts of the city. They had in their company a certain +Englishman, who had been formerly a prisoner in those +parts, and who now served them for a guide. Unto him, +and three or four more, they gave commission to take the +sentry, if possible, or to kill him upon the place. But they +laid hands on him and apprehended him with such cunning +as he had no time to give warning with his musket, or +make any other noise. Thus they brought him, with his +hands bound, unto Captain Morgan, who asked him: +'How things went in the city, and what forces they had'; +with many other circumstances, which he was desirous to +know. After every question they made him a thousand +menaces to kill him, in case he declared not the truth. +Thus they began to advance towards the city, carrying +always the said sentry bound before them. Having +marched about one quarter of a league, they came to the +castle that is nigh unto the city, which presently they +closely surrounded, so that no person could get either in +or out of the said fortress.</p> + +<p>"Being thus posted under the walls of the castle, +Captain Morgan commanded the sentry, whom they had +taken prisoner, to speak to those that were within, charging +them to surrender, and deliver themselves up to his discretion; +otherwise they should be all cut in pieces, without +giving quarter to any one. But they would hearken to +none of these threats, beginning instantly to fire; which +gave notice unto the city, and this was suddenly alarmed. +Yet, notwithstanding, although the Governor and soldiers +of the said castle made as great resistance as could be +performed, they were constrained to surrender unto the +Pirates. These no sooner had taken the castle, than they +resolved to be as good as their words, in putting the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>{147}</span> +Spaniards to the sword, thereby to strike a terror into +the rest of the city. Hereupon, having shut up all the +soldiers and officers as prisoners into one room, they instantly +set fire to the powder (whereof they found great +quantity), and blew up the whole castle into the air, with +all the Spaniards that were within. This being done, they +pursued the course of their victory, falling upon the city, +which as yet was not in order to receive them. Many of +the inhabitants cast their precious jewels and moneys into +wells and cisterns or hid them in other places underground, +to excuse, as much as were possible, their being totally +robbed. One party of the Pirates being assigned to this +purpose, ran immediately to the cloisters, and took as +many religious men and women as they could find. The +Governor of the city not being able to rally the citizens, +through the huge confusion of the town, retired unto one +of the castles remaining, and from thence began to fire +incessantly at the Pirates. But these were not in the least +negligent either to assault him or defend themselves with +all the courage imaginable. Thus it was observed that, +amidst the horror of the assault, they made very few shot +in vain. For aiming with great dexterity at the mouths +of the guns, the Spaniards were certain to lose one or two +men every time they charged each gun anew.</p> + +<p>"The assault of this castle where the Governor was +continued very furious on both sides, from break of day +until noon. Yea, about this time of the day the case was +very dubious which party should conquer or be conquered. +At last the Pirates, perceiving they had lost many men and +as yet advanced but little towards the gaining either this +or the other castles remaining, thought to make use of fireballs, +which they threw with their hands, designing, if +possible, to burn the doors of the castle. But going about +to put this in execution, the Spaniards from the walls let +fall great quantity of stones and earthen pots full of powder +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>{148}</span> +and other combustible matter, which forced them to desist +from that attempt. Captain Morgan, seeing this generous +defence made by the Spaniards, began to despair of the +whole success of the enterprise. Hereupon many faint +and calm meditations came into his mind; neither could +he determine which way to turn himself in that straitness +of affairs. Being involved in these thoughts, he was +suddenly animated to continue the assault, by seeing the +English colours put forth at one of the lesser castles, then +entered by his men, of whom he presently after spied a +troop that came to meet him proclaiming victory with loud +shouts of joy. This instantly put him upon new resolutions +of making new efforts to take the rest of the castles +that stood out against him; especially seeing the chief +citizens were fled unto them, and had conveyed thither +great part of their riches, with all the plate belonging to +the churches, and other things dedicated to divine service.</p> + +<p>"To this effect, therefore, he ordered ten or twelve +ladders to be made, in all possible haste, so broad that +three or four men at once might ascend by them. These +being finished, he commanded all the religious men and +women whom he had taken prisoners to fix them against +the walls of the castle. Thus much he had beforehand +threatened the Governor to perform, in case he delivered +not the castle. But his answer was: 'He would never +surrender himself alive.' Captain Morgan was much persuaded +that the Governor would not employ his utmost +forces, seeing religious women and ecclesiastical persons +exposed in the front of the soldiers to the greatest dangers. +Thus the ladders, as I have said, were put into the hands +of religious persons of both sexes; and these were forced, +at the head of the companies, to raise and apply them to +the walls. But Captain Morgan was deceived in his judgment +of this design. For the Governor, who acted like a +brave and courageous soldier, refused not, in performance +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149"></a>{149}</span> +of his duty, to use his utmost endeavours to destroy whosoever +came near the walls. The religious men and women +ceased not to cry unto him and beg of him by all the +Saints of Heaven he would deliver the castle, and hereby +spare both his and their own lives. But nothing could +prevail with the obstinacy and fierceness that had possessed +the Governor's mind. Thus many of the religious men +and nuns were killed before they could fix the ladders. +Which at last being done, though with great loss of the +said religious people, the Pirates mounted them in great +numbers, and with no less valour; having fireballs in their +hands, and earthen pots full of powder. All which things, +being now at the top of the walls, they kindled and cast in +among the Spaniards.</p> + +<p>"This effort of the Pirates was very great, insomuch as +the Spaniards could no longer resist nor defend the castle, +which was now entered. Hereupon they all threw down +their arms, and craved quarter for their lives. Only the +Governor of the city would admit or crave no mercy; but +rather killed many of the Pirates with his own hands, and +not a few of his own soldiers, because they did not stand +to their arms. And although the Pirates asked him if he +would have quarter, yet he constantly answered: 'By no +means; I had rather die as a valiant soldier, than be +hanged as a coward.' They endeavoured as much as they +could to take him prisoner. But he defended himself so +obstinately that they were forced to kill him; notwithstanding +all the cries and tears of his own wife and +daughter, who begged of him upon their knees he would +demand quarter and save his life. When the Pirates had +possessed themselves of the castle, which was about night, +they enclosed therein all the prisoners they had taken, +placing the women and men by themselves, with some +guards upon them. All the wounded were put into a +certain apartment by itself, to the intent their own complaints +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150"></a>{150}</span> +might be the cure of their diseases; for no other +was afforded them.</p> + +<p>"This being done, they fell to eating and drinking +after their usual manner; that is to say, committing in +both these things all manner of debauchery and excess.... After +such manner they delivered themselves up +unto all sort of debauchery, that if there had been found +only fifty courageous men, they might easily have re-taken +the city, and killed all the Pirates. The next day, having +plundered all they could find, they began to examine some +of the prisoners (who had been persuaded by their companions +to say they were the richest of the town), charging +them severely to discover where they had hidden their +riches and goods. But not being able to extort anything +out of them, as they were not the right persons that +possessed any wealth, they at last resolved to torture +them. This they performed with such cruelty that many +of them died upon the rack, or presently after. Soon +after, the President of Panama had news brought him of +the pillage and ruin of Porto Bello. This intelligence +caused him to employ all his care and industry to raise +forces, with design to pursue and cast out the Pirates +from thence. But these cared little for what extraordinary +means the President used, as having their ships nigh at +hand, and being determined to set fire unto the city and +retreat. They had now been at Porto Bello fifteen days, +in which space of time they had lost many of their men, +both by the unhealthiness of the country and the extravagant +debaucheries they had committed.<a id="footnotetag270" name="footnotetag270"></a><a href="#footnote270"><sup>270</sup></a></p> + +<p>"Hereupon they prepared for a departure, carrying on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151"></a>{151}</span> +board their ships all the pillage they had gotten. But, +before all, they provided the fleet with sufficient victuals +for the voyage. While these things were getting ready, +Captain Morgan sent an injunction unto the prisoners, +that they should pay him a ransom for the city, or else he +would by fire consume it to ashes, and blow up all the +castles into the air. Withal, he commanded them to send +speedily two persons to seek and procure the sum he +demanded, which amounted to one hundred thousand +pieces of eight. Unto this effect, two men were sent to +the President of Panama, who gave him an account of all +these tragedies. The President, having now a body of +men in readiness, set forth immediately towards Porto +Bello, to encounter the Pirates before their retreat. But +these people, hearing of his coming, instead of flying away, +went out to meet him at a narrow passage through which +of necessity he ought to pass. Here they placed an +hundred men very well armed; the which, at the first +encounter, put to flight a good party of those of Panama. +This accident obliged the President to retire for that time, +as not being yet in a posture of strength to proceed any +farther. Presently after this rencounter he sent a message +unto Captain Morgan to tell him: 'That in case he departed +not suddenly with all his forces from Porto Bello, +he ought to expect no quarter for himself nor his companions, +when he should take them, as he hoped soon to +do.' Captain Morgan, who feared not his threats knowing +he had a secure retreat in his ships which were nigh at +hand, made him answer: 'He would not deliver the castles, +before he had received the contribution money he had +demanded. Which in case it were not paid down, he +would certainly burn the whole city, and then leave it, +demolishing beforehand the castles and killing the +prisoners.'</p> + +<p>"The Governor of Panama perceived by this answer +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id="page152"></a>{152}</span> +that no means would serve to mollify the hearts of the +Pirates, nor reduce them to reason. Hereupon he determined +to leave them; as also those of the city, whom he +came to relieve, involved in the difficulties of making the +best agreement they could with their enemies.<a id="footnotetag271" name="footnotetag271"></a><a href="#footnote271"><sup>271</sup></a> Thus, in +a few days more, the miserable citizens gathered the contribution +wherein they were fined, and brought the entire +sum of one hundred thousand pieces of eight unto the +Pirates, for a ransom of the cruel captivity they were +fallen into. But the President of Panama, by these transactions, +was brought into an extreme admiration, considering +that four hundred men had been able to take such +a great city, with so many strong castles; especially seeing +they had no pieces of cannon, nor other great guns, wherewith +to raise batteries against them. And what was +more, knowing that the citizens of Porto Bello had always +great repute of being good soldiers themselves, and who +had never wanted courage in their own defence. This +astonishment was so great, that it occasioned him, for to +be satisfied therein, to send a messenger unto Captain +Morgan, desiring him to send him some small pattern of +those arms wherewith he had taken with such violence +so great a city. Captain Morgan received this messenger +very kindly, and treated him with great civility. Which +being done, he gave him a pistol and a few small bullets +of lead, to carry back unto the President, his Master, +telling him withal: 'He desired him to accept that slender +pattern of the arms wherewith he had taken Porto Bello +and keep them for a twelvemonth; after which time he +promised to come to Panama and fetch them away.' The +governor of Panama returned the present very soon unto +Captain Morgan, giving him thanks for the favour of lending +him such weapons as he needed not, and withal sent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>{153}</span> +him a ring of gold, with this message: 'That he desired +him not to give himself the labour of coming to Panama, +as he had done to Porto Bello; for he did certify unto +him, he should not speed so well here as he had done +there.'</p> + +<p>"After these transactions, Captain Morgan (having +provided his fleet with all necessaries, and taken with +him the best guns of the castles, nailing the rest which he +could not carry away) set sail from Porto Bello with all +his ships. With these he arrived in a few days unto the +Island of Cuba, where he sought out a place wherein with +all quiet and repose he might make the dividend of the +spoil they had gotten. They found in ready money two +hundred and fifty thousand pieces of eight, besides all +other merchandises, as cloth, linen, silks and other goods. +With this rich purchase they sailed again from thence +unto their common place of rendezvous, Jamaica. Being +arrived, they passed here some time in all sorts of vices +and debauchery, according to their common manner of +doing, spending with huge prodigality what others had +gained with no small labour and toil."<a id="footnotetag272" name="footnotetag272"></a><a href="#footnote272"><sup>272</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>{154}</span> +<center><a name="illus-portobelo" id="illus-portobelo"><img width="572" height="348" src="images/fp154.png" alt="Portobelo"/></a></center> + +<p>Morgan and his officers, on their return to Jamaica in +the middle of August, made an official report which places +their conduct in a peculiarly mild and charitable light,<a id="footnotetag273" name="footnotetag273"></a><a href="#footnote273"><sup>273</sup></a> and +forms a sharp contrast to the account left us by Exquemelin. +According to Morgan the town and castles were restored +"in as good condition as they found them," and the people +were so well treated that "several ladies of great quality +and other prisoners" who were offered "their liberty to +go to the President's camp, refused, saying they were now +prisoners to a person of quality, who was more tender of +their honours than they doubted to find in the president's +camp, and so voluntarily continued with them till the +surrender of the town and castles." This scarcely tallies +with what we know of the manners of the freebooters, and +Exquemelin's evidence is probably nearer the truth. When +Morgan returned to Jamaica Modyford at first received +him somewhat doubtfully, for Morgan's commission, as +the Governor told him, was only against ships, and the +Governor was not at all sure how the exploit would be +taken in England. Morgan, however, had reported that +at Porto Bello, as well as in Cuba, levies were being made +for an attack upon Jamaica, and Modyford laid great stress +upon this point when he forwarded the buccaneer's narrative +to the Duke of Albemarle.</p> + +<p>The sack of Porto Bello was nothing less than an act +of open war against Spain, and Modyford, now that he +had taken the decisive step, was not satisfied with half +measures. Before the end of October 1668 the whole +fleet of privateers, ten sail and 800 men, had gone out +again under Morgan to cruise on the coasts of Caracas, +while Captain Dempster with several other vessels and 300 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155"></a>{155}</span> +followers lay before Havana and along the shores of +Campeache.<a id="footnotetag274" name="footnotetag274"></a><a href="#footnote274"><sup>274</sup></a> Modyford had written home repeatedly +that if the king wished him to exercise any adequate +control over the buccaneers, he must send from England +two or three nimble fifth-rate frigates to command their +obedience and protect the island from hostile attacks. +Charles in reply to these letters sent out the "Oxford," a +frigate of thirty-four guns, which arrived at Port Royal on +14th October. According to Beeston's Journal, it brought +instructions countenancing the war, and empowering the +governor to commission whatever persons he thought good +to be partners with His Majesty in the plunder, "they +finding victuals, wear and tear."<a id="footnotetag275" name="footnotetag275"></a><a href="#footnote275"><sup>275</sup></a> The frigate was +immediately provisioned for a several months' cruise, and +sent under command of Captain Edward Collier to join +Morgan's fleet as a private ship-of-war. Morgan had +appointed the Isle la Vache, or Cow Island, on the south +side of Hispaniola, as the rendezvous for the privateers; +and thither flocked great numbers, both English and +French, for the name of Morgan was, by his exploit at +Porto Bello, rendered famous in all the neighbouring +islands. Here, too, arrived the "Oxford" in December. +Among the French privateers were two men-of-war, one of +which, the "Cour Volant" of La Rochelle, commanded by +M. la Vivon, was seized by Captain Collier for having +robbed an English vessel of provisions. A few days later, +on 2nd January, a council of war was held aboard the +"Oxford," where it was decided that the privateers, now +numbering about 900 men, should attack Cartagena. +While the captains were at dinner on the quarter-deck, +however, the frigate blew up, and about 200 men, including +five captains, were lost.<a id="footnotetag276" name="footnotetag276"></a><a href="#footnote276"><sup>276</sup></a> "I was eating my dinner with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156"></a>{156}</span> +the rest," writes the surgeon, Richard Browne, "when the +mainmasts blew out, and fell upon Captains Aylett, +Bigford, and others, and knocked them on the head; I +saved myself by getting astride the mizzenmast." It +seems that out of the whole ship only Morgan and those +who sat on his side of the table were saved. The accident +was probably caused by the carelessness of a gunner. +Captain Collier sailed in la Vivon's ship for Jamaica, +where the French captain was convicted of piracy in the +Admiralty Court, and reprieved by Governor Modyford, +but his ship confiscated.<a id="footnotetag277" name="footnotetag277"></a><a href="#footnote277"><sup>277</sup></a></p> + +<p>Morgan, from the rendezvous at the Isle la Vache, had +coasted along the southern shores of Hispaniola and made +several inroads upon the island for the purpose of securing +beef and other provisions. Some of his ships, meanwhile, +had been separated from the body of the fleet, and at last +he found himself with but eight vessels and 400 or 500 +men, scarcely more than half his original company. With +these small numbers he changed his resolution to attempt +Cartagena, and set sail for Maracaibo, a town situated on +the great lagoon of that name in Venezuela. This town +had been pillaged in 1667, just before the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, +by 650 buccaneers led by two French captains, +L'Olonnais and Michel le Basque, and had suffered all the +horrors attendant upon such a visit. In March 1669 +Morgan appeared at the entrance to the lake, forced the +passage after a day's hot bombardment, dismantled the +fort which commanded it, and entered Maracaibo, from +which the inhabitants had fled before him. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157"></a>{157}</span> +buccaneers sacked the town, and scoured the woods in +search of the Spaniards and their valuables. Men, women +and children were brought in and cruelly tortured to make +them confess where their treasures were hid. Morgan, at +the end of three weeks, "having now got by degrees into +his hands about 100 of the chief families," resolved to go to +Gibraltar, near the head of the lake, as L'Olonnais had +done before him. Here the scenes of inhuman cruelty, +"the tortures, murders, robberies and such like insolences," +were repeated for five weeks; after which the buccaneers, +gathering up their rich booty, returned to Maracaibo, +carrying with them four hostages for the ransom of the +town and prisoners, which the inhabitants promised to +send after them. At Maracaibo Morgan learnt that three +large Spanish men-of-war were lying off the entrance of +the lake, and that the fort, in the meantime, had been +armed and manned and put into a posture of defence. In +order to gain time he entered into negotiations with the +Spanish admiral, Don Alonso del Campo y Espinosa, +while the privateers carefully made ready a fireship +disguised as a man-of-war. At dawn on 1st May 1669, +according to Exquemelin, they approached the Spanish +ships riding at anchor within the entry of the lake, and +sending the fireship ahead of the rest, steered directly +for them. The fireship fell foul of the "Almirante," a +vessel of forty guns, grappled with her and set her in +flames. The second Spanish ship, when the plight of the +Admiral was discovered, was run aground and burnt by +her own men. The third was captured by the buccaneers. +As no quarter was given or taken, the loss of the Spaniards +must have been considerable, although some of those on the +Admiral, including Don Alonso, succeeded in reaching +shore. From a pilot picked up by the buccaneers, Morgan +learned that in the flagship was a great quantity of plate +to the value of 40,000 pieces of eight. Of this he succeeded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158"></a>{158}</span> +in recovering about half, much of it melted by the force of +the heat. Morgan then returned to Maracaibo to refit his +prize, and opening negotiations again with Don Alonso, +he actually succeeded in obtaining 20,000 pieces of eight +and 500 head of cattle as a ransom for the city. Permission +to pass the fort, however, the Spaniard refused. +So, having first made a division of the spoil,<a id="footnotetag278" name="footnotetag278"></a><a href="#footnote278"><sup>278</sup></a> Morgan +resorted to an ingenious stratagem to effect his egress +from the lake. He led the Spaniards to believe that he +was landing his men for an attack on the fort from the +land side; and while the Spaniards were moving their +guns in that direction, Morgan in the night, by the light of +the moon, let his ships drop gently down with the tide till +they were abreast of the fort, and then suddenly spreading +sail made good his escape. On 17th May the buccaneers +returned to Port Royal.</p> + +<p>These events in the West Indies filled the Spanish +Court with impotent rage, and the Conde de Molina, +ambassador in England, made repeated demands for the +punishment of Modyford, and for the restitution of the +plate and other captured goods which were beginning to +flow into England from Jamaica. The English Council +replied that the treaty of 1667 was not understood to +include the Indies, and Charles II. sent him a long list of +complaints of ill-usage to English ships at the hands of the +Spaniards in America.<a id="footnotetag279" name="footnotetag279"></a><a href="#footnote279"><sup>279</sup></a> Orders seem to have been sent to +Modyford, however, to stop hostilities, for in May 1669 +Modyford again called in all commissions,<a id="footnotetag280" name="footnotetag280"></a><a href="#footnote280"><sup>280</sup></a> and Beeston +writes in his Journal, under 14th June, that peace was +publicly proclaimed with the Spaniards. In November, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159"></a>{159}</span> +moreover, the governor told Albemarle that most of the +buccaneers were turning to trade, hunting or planting, and +that he hoped soon to reduce all to peaceful pursuits.<a id="footnotetag281" name="footnotetag281"></a><a href="#footnote281"><sup>281</sup></a> +The Spanish Council of State, in the meantime, had +determined upon a course of active reprisal. A commission +from the queen-regent, dated 20th April 1669, commanded +her governors in the Indies to make open war +against the English;<a id="footnotetag282" name="footnotetag282"></a><a href="#footnote282"><sup>282</sup></a> and a fleet of six vessels, carrying +from eighteen to forty-eight guns, was sent from Spain to +cruise against the buccaneers. To this fleet belonged the +three ships which tried to bottle up Morgan in Lake +Maracaibo. Port Royal was filled with report and rumour +of English ships captured and plundered, of cruelties to +English prisoners in the dungeons of Cartagena, of commissions +of war issued at Porto Bello and St. Jago de +Cuba, and of intended reprisals upon the settlements in +Jamaica. The privateers became restless and spoke darkly +of revenge, while Modyford, his old supporter the Duke of +Albemarle having just died, wrote home begging for +orders which would give him liberty to retaliate.<a id="footnotetag283" name="footnotetag283"></a><a href="#footnote283"><sup>283</sup></a> The +last straw fell in June 1670, when two Spanish men-of-war +from St. Jago de Cuba, commanded by a Portuguese, +Manuel Rivero Pardal, landed men on the north side of +the island, burnt some houses and carried off a number of +the inhabitants as prisoners.<a id="footnotetag284" name="footnotetag284"></a><a href="#footnote284"><sup>284</sup></a> On 2nd July the governor +and council issued a commission to Henry Morgan, as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>{160}</span> +commander-in-chief of all ships of war belonging to +Jamaica, to get together the privateers for the defence +of the island, to attack, seize and destroy all the enemy's +vessels he could discover, and in case he found it feasible, +"to land and attack St. Jago or any other place where ... are +stores for this war or a rendezvous for their forces." +In the accompanying instructions he was bidden "to advise +his fleet and soldiers that they were upon the old pleasing +account of no purchase, no pay, and therefore that all +which is got, shall be divided amongst them, according to +the accustomed rules."<a id="footnotetag285" name="footnotetag285"></a><a href="#footnote285"><sup>285</sup></a></p> + +<p>Morgan sailed from Jamaica on 14th August 1670 +with eleven vessels and 600 men for the Isle la Vache, the +usual rendezvous, whence during the next three months +squadrons were detailed to the coast of Cuba and the +mainland of South America to collect provisions and +intelligence. Sir William Godolphin was at that moment +in Madrid concluding articles for the establishment of +peace and friendship in America; and on 12th June +Secretary Arlington wrote to Modyford that in view of +these negotiations his Majesty commanded the privateers +to forbear all hostilities on land against the Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag286" name="footnotetag286"></a><a href="#footnote286"><sup>286</sup></a> +These orders reached Jamaica on 13th August, whereupon +the governor recalled Morgan, who had sailed from the +harbour the day before, and communicated them to him, +"strictly charging him to observe the same and behave +with all moderation possible in carrying on the war." +The admiral replied that necessity would compel him to +land in the Spaniards' country for wood, water and provisions, +but unless he was assured that the enemy in their +towns were making hostile preparations against the +Jamaicans, he would not touch any of them.<a id="footnotetag287" name="footnotetag287"></a><a href="#footnote287"><sup>287</sup></a> On 6th +September, however, Vice-Admiral Collier with six sail +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161"></a>{161}</span> +and 400 men was dispatched by Morgan to the Spanish +Main. There on 4th November he seized, in the harbour +of Santa Marta, two frigates laden with provisions for +Maracaibo. Then coasting eastward to Rio de la Hacha, +he attacked and captured the fort with its commander and +all its garrison, sacked the city, held it to ransom for salt, +maize, meat and other provisions, and after occupying it +for almost a month returned on 28th October to the Isle +la Vache.<a id="footnotetag288" name="footnotetag288"></a><a href="#footnote288"><sup>288</sup></a> One of the frigates captured at Santa Marta, +"La Gallardina," had been with Pardal when he burnt the +coast of Jamaica. Pardal's own ship of fourteen guns had +been captured but a short time before by Captain John +Morris at the east end of Cuba, and Pardal himself shot +through the neck and killed.<a id="footnotetag289" name="footnotetag289"></a><a href="#footnote289"><sup>289</sup></a> He was called by the +Jamaicans "the vapouring admiral of St. Jago," for in June +he had nailed a piece of canvas to a tree on the Jamaican +coast, with a curious challenge written both in English +and Spanish:—</p> + +<p>"I, Captain Manuel Rivero Pardal, to the chief of the +squadron of privateers in Jamaica. I am he who this +year have done that which follows. I went on shore at +Caimanos, and burnt 20 houses, and fought with Captain +Ary, and took from him a catch laden with provisions and +a canoe. And I am he who took Captain Baines and did +carry the prize to Cartagena, and now am arrived to this +coast, and have burnt it. And I come to seek General +Morgan, with 2 ships of 20 guns, and having seen this, I +crave he would come out upon the coast and seek me, +that he might see the valour of the Spaniards. And +because I had no time I did not come to the mouth of +Port Royal to speak by word of mouth in the name of my +king, whom God preserve. Dated the 5th of July 1670."<a id="footnotetag290" name="footnotetag290"></a><a href="#footnote290"><sup>290</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162"></a>{162}</span> + +<p>Meanwhile, in the middle of October, there sailed into +Port Royal three privateers, Captains Prince, Harrison +and Ludbury, who six weeks before had ascended the +river San Juan in Nicaragua with 170 men and again +plundered the unfortunate city of Granada. The town +had rapidly decayed, however, under the repeated assaults +of the buccaneers, and the plunderers secured only £20 or +£30 per man. Modyford reproved the captains for acting +without commissions, but "not deeming it prudent to press +the matter too far in this juncture," commanded them to +join Morgan at the Isle la Vache.<a id="footnotetag291" name="footnotetag291"></a><a href="#footnote291"><sup>291</sup></a> There Morgan was +slowly mustering his strength. He negotiated with the +French of Tortuga and Hispaniola who were then in +revolt against the <i>régime</i> of the French Company; and he +added to his forces seven ships and 400 men sent him by +the indefatigable Governor of Jamaica. On 7th October, +indeed, the venture was almost ruined by a violent storm +which cast the whole fleet, except the Admiral's vessel, +upon the shore. All of the ships but three, however, were +eventually got off and repaired, and on 6th December +Morgan was able to write to Modyford that he had 1800 +buccaneers, including several hundred French, and thirty-six +ships under his command.<a id="footnotetag292" name="footnotetag292"></a><a href="#footnote292"><sup>292</sup></a> Upon consideration of +the reports brought from the Main by his own men, and +the testimony of prisoners they had taken, Morgan decided +that it was impossible to attempt what seems to have +been his original design, a descent upon St. Jago de Cuba, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163"></a>{163}</span> +without great loss of men and ships. On 2nd December, +therefore, it was unanimously agreed by a general council +of all the captains, thirty-seven in number, "that it stands +most for the good of Jamaica and safety of us all to take +Panama, the President thereof having granted several +commissions against the English."<a id="footnotetag293" name="footnotetag293"></a><a href="#footnote293"><sup>293</sup></a> Six days later the +fleet put to sea from Cape Tiburon, and on the morning +of the 14th sighted Providence Island. The Spanish +governor capitulated next day, on condition of being transported +with his garrison to the mainland, and four of his +soldiers who had formerly been banditti in the province +of Darien agreed to become guides for the English.<a id="footnotetag294" name="footnotetag294"></a><a href="#footnote294"><sup>294</sup></a> +After a delay of five days more, Lieutenant-Colonel +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id="page164"></a>{164}</span> +Joseph Bradley, with between 400 and 500 men in three +ships, was sent ahead by Morgan to the isthmus to seize +the Castle of San Lorenzo, situated at the mouth of the +Chagre river.</p> +<center><a name="illus-panama" id="illus-panama"><img width="588" height="366" src="images/fp164.png" alt="Panama"/></a></center> + +<p>The President of Panama, meanwhile, on 15th December, +had received a messenger from the governor of Cartagena +with news of the coming of the English.<a id="footnotetag295" name="footnotetag295"></a><a href="#footnote295"><sup>295</sup></a> The president +immediately dispatched reinforcements to the Castle of +Chagre, which arrived fifteen days before the buccaneers +and raised its strength to over 350 men. Two hundred +men were sent to Porto Bello, and 500 more were +stationed at Venta Cruz and in ambuscades along the +Chagre river to oppose the advance of the English. The +president himself rose from a bed of sickness to head a +reserve of 800, but most of his men were raw recruits without +a professional soldier amongst them. This militia in +a few days became so panic-stricken that one-third +deserted in a night, and the president was compelled to +retire to Panama. There the Spaniards managed to load +some of the treasure upon two or three ships lying in the +roadstead; and the nuns and most of the citizens of +importance also embarked with their wives, children and +personal property.<a id="footnotetag296" name="footnotetag296"></a><a href="#footnote296"><sup>296</sup></a></p> + +<p>The fort or castle of San Lorenzo, which stood on a +hill commanding the river Chagre, seems to have been +built of double rows of wooden palisades, the space between +being filled with earth; and it was protected by a ditch +12 feet deep and by several smaller batteries nearer the +water's edge. Lieutenant-Colonel Bradley, who, according +to Exquemelin, had been on these coasts before with +Captain Mansfield, landed near the fort on the 27th of +December. He and his men fought in the trenches from +early afternoon till eight o'clock next morning, when they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165"></a>{165}</span> +stormed and carried the place. The buccaneers suffered +severely, losing about 150 in killed and wounded, including +Bradley himself who died ten days later. Exquemelin +gives a very vivid account of the action. The buccaneers, +he writes, "came to anchor in a small port, at the distance +of a league more or less from the castle. The next morning +very early they went on shore, and marched through +the woods, to attack the castle on that side. This march +continued until two o'clock, afternoon, by reason of the +difficulties of the way, and its mire and dirt. And although +their guides served them exactly, notwithstanding they +came so nigh the castle at first that they lost many of their +men with the shot from the guns, they being in an open place +where nothing could cover nor defend them. This much +perplexed the Pirates ..." (but) "at last after many doubts +and disputes among themselves they resolved to hazard +the assault and their lives after a most desperate manner. +Thus they advanced towards the castle, with their swords +in one hand and fireballs in the other. The Spaniards +defended themselves very briskly, ceasing not to fire at +them with their great guns and muskets continually crying +withal: 'Come on, ye English dogs, enemies to God and +our King; let your other companions that are behind come +on too, ye shall not go to Panama this bout.' After the +Pirates had made some trial to climb up the walls, they +were forced to retreat, which they accordingly did, resting +themselves until night. This being done, they returned to +the assault, to try if by the help of their fireballs they could +overcome and pull down the pales before the wall. This +they attempted to do, and while they were about it there +happened a very remarkable accident, which gave them +the opportunity of the victory. One of the Pirates was +wounded with an arrow in his back, which pierced his body +to the other side. This he instantly pulled out with great +valour at the side of his breast; then taking a little cotton +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" id="page166"></a>{166}</span> +that he had about him, he wound it about the said arrow, +and putting it into his musket, he shot it back into the +castle. But the cotton being kindled by the powder, +occasioned two or three houses that were within the +castle, being thatched with palm-leaves, to take fire, which +the Spaniards perceived not so soon as was necessary. +For this fire meeting with a parcel of powder, blew it up +and thereby caused great ruin, and no less consternation +to the Spaniards, who were not able to account for this +accident, not having seen the beginning thereof.</p> + +<p>"Thus the Pirates perceiving the good effect of the +arrow and the beginning of the misfortune of the Spaniards, +were infinitely gladdened thereat. And while they were +busied in extinguishing the fire, which caused great confusion +in the whole castle, having not sufficient water +wherewithal to do it, the Pirates made use of this opportunity, +setting fire likewise to the palisades. Thus the fire +was seen at the same time in several parts about the castle, +which gave them huge advantage against the Spaniards. +For many breaches were made at once by the fire among +the pales, great heaps of earth falling down into the ditch. +Upon these the Pirates climbed up, and got over into the +castle, notwithstanding that some Spaniards, who were not +busied about the fire, cast down upon them many flaming +pots, full of combustible matter and odious smells, which +occasioned the loss of many of the English.</p> + +<p>"The Spaniards, notwithstanding the great resistance +they made, could not hinder the palisades from being +entirely burnt before midnight. Meanwhile the Pirates +ceased not to persist in their intention of taking the castle. +Unto which effect, although the fire was great, they would +creep upon the ground, as nigh unto it as they could, and +shoot amidst the flames, against the Spaniards they could +perceive on the other side, and thus cause many to fall +dead from the walls. When day was come, they observed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>{167}</span> +all the moveable earth that lay between the pales to be +fallen into the ditch in huge quantity. So that now those +within the castle did in a manner lie equally exposed to +them without, as had been on the contrary before. Whereupon +the Pirates continued shooting very furiously against +them, and killed great numbers of Spaniards. For the +Governor had given them orders not to retire from those +posts which corresponded to the heaps of earth fallen into +the ditch, and caused the artillery to be transported unto +the breaches.</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding, the fire within the castle still continued, +and now the Pirates from abroad used what means +they could to hinder its progress, by shooting incessantly +against it. One party of the Pirates was employed only to +this purpose, and another commanded to watch all the +motions of the Spaniards, and take all opportunities against +them. About noon the English happened to gain a breach, +which the Governor himself defended with twenty-five +soldiers. Here was performed a very courageous and +warlike resistance by the Spaniards, both with muskets, +pikes, stones and swords. Yet notwithstanding, through +all these arms the Pirates forced and fought their way, till +at last they gained the castle. The Spaniards who remained +alive cast themselves down from the castle into the +sea, choosing rather to die precipitated by their own selves +(few or none surviving the fall) than to ask any quarter +for their lives. The Governor himself retreated unto the +corps du garde, before which were placed two pieces of +cannon. Here he intended still to defend himself, neither +would he demand any quarter. But at last he was killed +with a musket shot, which pierced his skull into the brain.</p> + +<p>"The Governor being dead, and the corps du garde +surrendered, they found still remaining in it alive to the +number of thirty men, whereof scarce ten were not +wounded. These informed the Pirates that eight or nine +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168"></a>{168}</span> +of their soldiers had deserted their colours, and were gone +to Panama to carry news of their arrival and invasion. +These thirty men alone were remaining of three hundred +and fourteen, wherewith the castle was garrisoned, among +which number not one officer was found alive. These were +all made prisoners, and compelled to tell whatsoever they +knew of their designs and enterprises."<a id="footnotetag297" name="footnotetag297"></a><a href="#footnote297"><sup>297</sup></a></p> + +<p>Five days after the taking of the castle, Morgan arrived +from Providence Island with the rest of the armament; +but at the entrance to the Chagre river, in passing over the +bar, his flagship and five or six smaller boats were wrecked, +and ten men were drowned. After repairing and provisioning +the castle, and leaving 300 men to guard it and +the ships, Morgan, on 9th January 1671, at the head of +1400 men, began the ascent of the river in seven small +vessels and thirty-six canoes.<a id="footnotetag298" name="footnotetag298"></a><a href="#footnote298"><sup>298</sup></a> The story of this brilliant +march we will again leave to Exquemelin, who took part +in it, to relate. The first day "they sailed only six leagues, +and came to a place called De los Bracos. Here a party +of his men went on shore, only to sleep some few hours +and stretch their limbs, they being almost crippled with +lying too much crowded in the boats. After they had +rested awhile, they went abroad, to see if any victuals +could be found in the neighbouring plantations. But +they could find none, the Spaniards being fled and carrying +with them all the provisions they had. This day, being +the first of their journey, there was amongst them such +scarcity of victuals that the greatest part were forced to +pass with only a pipe of tobacco, without any other +refreshment.</p> + +<p>"The next day, very early in the morning, they continued +their journey, and came about evening to a place +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169"></a>{169}</span> +called Cruz de Juan Gallego. Here they were compelled +to leave their boats and canoes, by reason the river was +very dry for want of rain, and the many obstacles of trees +that were fallen into it. The guides told them that about +two leagues farther on the country would be very good to +continue the journey by land. Hereupon they left some +companies, being in all one hundred and sixty men,<a id="footnotetag299" name="footnotetag299"></a><a href="#footnote299"><sup>299</sup></a> on +board the boats to defend them, with intent they might +serve for a place of refuge in case of necessity.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, being the third day of their +journey, they all went ashore, excepting those above-mentioned +who were to keep the boats. Unto these +Captain Morgan gave very strict orders, under great +penalties, that no man, upon any pretext whatsoever, +should dare to leave the boats and go ashore. This he +did, fearing lest they should be surprised and cut off by an +ambuscade of Spaniards, that might chance to lie thereabouts +in the neighbouring woods, which appeared so +thick as to seem almost impenetrable. Having this +morning begun their march, they found the ways so dirty +and irksome, that Captain Morgan thought it more convenient +to transport some of the men in canoes (though it +could not be done without great labour) to a place farther +up the river, called Cedro Bueno. Thus they re-embarked, +and the canoes returned for the rest that were left behind. +So that about night they found themselves all together at +the said place. The Pirates were extremely desirous to +meet any Spaniards, or Indians, hoping to fill their bellies +with what provisions they should take from them. For +now they were reduced almost to the very extremity of +hunger.</p> + +<p>"On the fourth day, the greatest part of the Pirates +marched by land, being led by one of the guides. The rest +went by water, farther up with the canoes, being conducted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170"></a>{170}</span> +by another guide, who always went before them with two +of the said canoes, to discover on both sides the river the +ambuscades of the Spaniards. These had also spies, who +were very dextrous, and could at any time give notice of +all accidents or of the arrival of the Pirates, six hours at +least before they came to any place. This day about noon +they found themselves nigh unto a post, called Torna +Cavallos. Here the guide of the canoes began to cry +aloud he perceived an ambuscade. His voice caused +infinite joy unto all the Pirates, as persuading themselves +they should find some provisions wherewith to satiate their +hunger, which was very great. Being come unto the place, +they found nobody in it, the Spaniards who were there not +long before being every one fled, and leaving nothing +behind unless it were a small number of leather bags, all +empty, and a few crumbs of bread scattered upon the +ground where they had eaten.<a id="footnotetag300" name="footnotetag300"></a><a href="#footnote300"><sup>300</sup></a> Being angry at this misfortune, +they pulled down a few little huts which the +Spaniards had made, and afterwards fell to eating the +leathern bags, as being desirous to afford something to the +ferment of their stomachs, which now was grown so sharp +that it did gnaw their very bowels, having nothing else to +prey upon. Thus they made a huge banquet upon those +bags of leather, which doubtless had been more grateful +unto them, if divers quarrels had not risen concerning who +should have the greatest share. By the circumference of +the place they conjectured five hundred Spaniards, more +or less, had been there. And these, finding no victuals, +they were now infinitely desirous to meet, intending to +devour some of them rather than perish. Whom +they would certainly in that occasion have roasted or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>{171}</span> +boiled, to satisfy their famine, had they been able to take +them.</p> + +<p>"After they had feasted themselves with those pieces +of leather, they quitted the place, and marched farther on, +till they came about night to another post called Torna +Munni. Here they found another ambuscade, but as +barren and desert as the former. They searched the +neighbouring woods, but could not find the least thing to +eat. The Spaniards having been so provident as not to +leave behind them anywhere the least crumb of sustenance, +whereby the Pirates were now brought to the extremity +aforementioned. Here again he was happy, that had +reserved since noon any small piece of leather whereof to +make his supper, drinking after it a good draught of water +for his greatest comfort. Some persons who never were +out of their mothers' kitchens may ask how these Pirates +could eat, swallow and digest those pieces of leather, so +hard and dry. Unto whom I only answer: That could +they once experiment what hunger, or rather famine, is, +they would certainly find the manner, by their own +necessity, as the Pirates did. For these first took the +leather, and sliced it in pieces. Then did they beat it +between two stones and rub it, often dipping it in the +water of the river, to render it by these means supple and +tender. Lastly they scraped off the hair, and roasted or +broiled it upon the fire. And being thus cooked they cut +it into small morsels, and eat it, helping it down with +frequent gulps of water, which by good fortune they had +nigh at hand.</p> + +<p>"They continued their march the fifth day, and about +noon came unto a place called Barbacoa. Here likewise +they found traces of another ambuscade, but the place +totally as unprovided as the two precedent were. At a +small distance were to be seen several plantations, which +they searched very narrowly, but could not find any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172"></a>{172}</span> +person, animal or other thing that was capable of relieving +their extreme and ravenous hunger. Finally, having +ranged up and down and searched a long time, they found +a certain grotto which seemed to be but lately hewn out of +a rock, in which they found two sacks of meal, wheat and +like things, with two great jars of wine, and certain fruits +called Platanos. Captain Morgan, knowing that some of +his men were now, through hunger, reduced almost to the +extremity of their lives, and fearing lest the major part +should be brought into the same condition, caused all that +was found to be distributed amongst them who were in +greatest necessity. Having refreshed themselves with +these victuals, they began to march anew with greater +courage than ever. Such as could not well go for weakness +were put into the canoes, and those commanded to +land that were in them before. Thus they prosecuted +their journey till late at night, at which time they came +unto a plantation where they took up their rest. But +without eating anything at all; for the Spaniards, as +before, had swept away all manner of provisions, leaving +not behind them the least signs of victuals.</p> + +<p>"On the sixth day they continued their march, part of +them by land through the woods, and part by water in the +canoes. Howbeit they were constrained to rest themselves +very frequently by the way, both for the ruggedness +thereof and the extreme weakness they were under. Unto +this they endeavoured to occur, by eating some leaves of +trees and green herbs, or grass, such as they could pick, +for such was the miserable condition they were in. This +day, at noon, they arrived at a plantation, where they +found a barn full of maize. Immediately they beat down +the doors, and fell to eating of it dry, as much as they +could devour. Afterwards they distributed great quantity, +giving to every man a good allowance thereof. Being thus +provided they prosecuted their journey, which having continued +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173"></a>{173}</span> +for the space of an hour or thereabouts, they met +with an ambuscade of Indians. This they no sooner had +discovered, but they threw away their maize, with the +sudden hopes they conceived of finding all things in +abundance. But after all this haste, they found themselves +much deceived, they meeting neither Indians nor victuals, +nor anything else of what they had imagined. They saw +notwithstanding on the other side of the river a troop of +a hundred Indians more or less, who all escaped away +through the agility of their feet. Some few Pirates there +were who leapt into the river, the sooner to reach the shore +to see if they could take any of the said Indians prisoners. +But all was in vain; for being much more nimble on their +feet than the Pirates they easily baffled their endeavours. +Neither did they only baffle them, but killed also two or +three of the Pirates with their arrows, shooting at them +at a distance, and crying: 'Ha! perros, a la savana, a la +savana. Ha! ye dogs, go to the plain, go to the plain.'</p> + +<p>"This day they could advance no further, by reason +they were necessitated to pass the river hereabouts to +continue their march on the other side. Hereupon they +took up their repose for that night. Howbeit their sleep +was not heavy nor profound, for great murmurings were +heard that night in the camp, many complaining of +Captain Morgan and his conduct in that enterprise, and +being desirous to return home. On the contrary, others +would rather die there than go back one step from what +they had undertaken. But others who had greater courage +than any of these two parties did laugh and joke at all +their discourses. In the meanwhile they had a guide who +much comforted them, saying: 'It would not now be long +before they met with people, from whom they should reap +some considerable advantage.'</p> + +<p>"The seventh day in the morning they all made clean +their arms, and every one discharged his pistol or musket +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174"></a>{174}</span> +without bullet, to examine the security of their firelocks. +This being done, they passed to the other side of the river +in the canoes, leaving the post where they had rested the +night before, called Santa Cruz. Thus they proceeded on +their journey till noon, at which time they arrived at a +village called Cruz.<a id="footnotetag301" name="footnotetag301"></a><a href="#footnote301"><sup>301</sup></a> Being at a great distance as yet from +the place, they perceived much smoke to arise out of the +chimneys. The sight hereof afforded them great joy and +hopes of finding people in the town, and afterwards what +they most desired, which was plenty of good cheer. Thus +they went on with as much haste as they could, making +several arguments to one another upon those external +signs, though all like castles built in the air. 'For,' said +they, 'there is smoke coming out of every house, and +therefore they are making good fires to roast and boil +what we are to eat.' With other things to this purpose.</p> + +<p>"At length they arrived there in great haste, all sweating +and panting, but found no person in the town, nor +anything that was eatable wherewith to refresh themselves, +unless it were good fires to warm themselves, which they +wanted not. For the Spaniards before their departure, +had every one set fire to his own house, excepting only +the storehouses and stables belonging to the King.</p> + +<p>"They had not left behind them any beast whatsoever, +either alive or dead. This occasioned much confusion in +their minds, they not finding the least thing to lay hold +on, unless it were some few cats and dogs, which they +immediately killed and devoured with great appetite. At +last in the King's stables they found by good fortune +fifteen or sixteen jars of Peru wine, and a leather sack full +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>{175}</span> +of bread. But no sooner had they begun to drink of the +said wine when they fell sick, almost every man. This +sudden disaster made them think that the wine was +poisoned, which caused a new consternation in the whole +camp, as judging themselves now to be irrecoverably lost. +But the true reason was, their huge want of sustenance in +that whole voyage, and the manifold sorts of trash which +they had eaten upon that occasion. Their sickness was +so great that day as caused them to remain there till +the next morning, without being able to prosecute their +journey as they used to do, in the afternoon. This village +is seated in the latitude in 9 degrees and 2 minutes, +northern latitude, being distant from the river of Chagre +twenty-six Spanish leagues, and eight from Panama. +Moreover, this is the last place unto which boats or canoes +can come; for which reason they built here store-houses, +wherein to keep all sorts of merchandise, which from hence +to and from Panama are transported upon the backs of +mules.</p> + +<p>"Here therefore Captain Morgan was constrained to +leave his canoes and land all his men, though never so +weak in their bodies. But lest the canoes should be +surprised, or take up too many men for their defence, he +resolved to send them all back to the place where the +boats were, excepting one, which he caused to be hidden, +to the intent it might serve to carry intelligence according +to the exigency of affairs. Many of the Spaniards and +Indians belonging to this village were fled to the plantations +thereabouts. Hereupon Captain Morgan gave +express orders that none should dare to go out of the +village, except in whole companies of a hundred together. +The occasion hereof was his fear lest the enemy should +take an advantage upon his men, by any sudden assault. +Notwithstanding, one party of English soldiers stickled +not to contravene these commands, being thereunto +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id="page176"></a>{176}</span> +tempted with the desire of finding victuals. But these +were soon glad to fly into the town again, being assaulted +with great fury by some Spaniards and Indians, who +snatched up one of the Pirates, and carried him away +prisoner. Thus the vigilance and care of Captain Morgan +was not sufficient to prevent every accident that might +happen.</p> + +<p>"On the eighth day, in the morning, Captain Morgan +sent two hundred men before the body of his army, to +discover the way to Panama, and see if they had laid any +ambuscades therein. Especially considering that the +places by which they were to pass were very fit for that +purpose, the paths being so narrow that only ten or twelve +persons could march in a file, and oftentimes not so many. +Having marched about the space of ten hours, they came +unto a place called Quebrada Obscura. Here, all on a +sudden, three or four thousand arrows were shot at them, +without being able to perceive from whence they came, or +who shot them. The place, from whence it was presumed +they were shot was a high rocky mountain, excavated +from one side to the other, wherein was a grotto that went +through it, only capable of admitting one horse, or other +beast laden. This multitude of arrows caused a huge +alarm among the Pirates, especially because they could +not discover the place from whence they were discharged. +At last, seeing no more arrows to appear, they marched a +little farther, and entered into a wood. Here they perceived +some Indians to fly as fast as they could possible +before them, to take the advantage of another post, and +thence observe the march of the Pirates. There remained, +notwithstanding one troop of Indians upon the place, with +full design to fight and defend themselves. This combat +they performed with huge courage, till such time as their +captain fell to the ground wounded, who although he was +now in despair of life, yet his valour being greater than his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>{177}</span> +strength, would demand no quarter, but, endeavouring to +raise himself, with undaunted mind laid hold of his +azagaya, or javelin, and struck at one of the Pirates. But +before he could second the blow, he was shot to death +with a pistol. This was also the fate of many of his +companions, who like good and courageous soldiers lost +their lives with their captain, for the defence of their +country.</p> + +<p>"The Pirates endeavoured, as much as was possible, to +lay hold on some of the Indians and take them prisoners. +But they being infinitely swifter than the Pirates, every +one escaped, leaving eight Pirates dead upon the place and +ten wounded.<a id="footnotetag302" name="footnotetag302"></a><a href="#footnote302"><sup>302</sup></a> Yea, had the Indians been more dextrous +in military affairs, they might have defended that passage, +and not let one sole man to pass. Within a little while +after they came to a large campaign field open and full of +variegated meadows. From here they could perceive at a +distance before them a parcel of Indians who stood on the +top of a mountain, very nigh unto the way by which the +Pirates were to pass. They sent a troop of fifty men, the +nimblest they could pick out, to see if they could catch +any of them, and afterwards force them to declare whereabouts +their companions had their mansions. But all +their industry was in vain, for they escaped through their +nimbleness, and presently after showed themselves in +another place, hallooing unto the English, and crying: +'A la savana, a la savana, cornudos, perros Ingleses;' +that is, 'To the plain, to the plain, ye cockolds, ye +English dogs!' While these things passed, the ten +Pirates that were wounded a little before were dressed +and plastered up.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178"></a>{178}</span> + +<p>"At this place there was a wood and on each side +thereof a mountain. The Indians had possessed themselves +of the one, and the Pirates took possession of the +other that was opposite unto it. Captain Morgan was +persuaded that in the wood the Spaniards had placed an +ambuscade, as lying so conveniently for that purpose. +Hereupon he sent before two hundred men to search it. +The Spaniards and Indians, perceiving the Pirates to +descend the mountain, did so too, as if they designed to +attack them. But being got into the wood, out of sight +of the Pirates, they disappeared, and were seen no more, +leaving the passage open unto them.</p> + +<p>"About night there fell a great rain, which caused the +Pirates to march the faster and seek everywhere for houses +wherein to preserve their arms from being wet. But the +Indians had set fire to every one thereabouts, and transported +all their cattle unto remote places, to the end that +the Pirates, finding neither houses nor victuals, might be +constrained to return homewards. Notwithstanding, after +diligent search, they found a few little huts belonging to +shepherds, but in them nothing to eat. These not being +capable of holding many men, they placed in them out of +every company a small number, who kept the arms of +the rest of the army. Those who remained in the open +field endured much hardship that night, the rain not +ceasing to fall until the morning.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, about break of day, being the +ninth of this tedious journey, Captain Morgan continued +his march while the fresh air of the morning lasted. For +the clouds then hanging as yet over their heads were much +more favourable unto them than the scorching rays of the +sun, by reason the way was now more difficult and +laborious than all the precedent. After two hours' +march, they discovered a troop of about twenty Spaniards. +who observed the motions of the Pirates. They endeavoured +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179"></a>{179}</span> +to catch some of them, but could lay hold on +none, they suddenly disappearing, and absconding themselves +in caves among the rocks, totally unknown to the +Pirates. At last they came to a high mountain, which, +when they ascended, they discovered from the top thereof +the South Sea. This happy sight, as if it were the end of +their labours, caused infinite joy among the Pirates. +From hence they could descry also one ship and six +boats, which were set forth from Panama, and sailed +towards the islands of Tavoga and Tavogilla. Having +descended this mountain, they came unto a vale, in which +they found great quantity of cattle, whereof they killed +good store. Here while some were employed in killing +and flaying of cows, horses, bulls and chiefly asses, of +which there was greatest number, others busied themselves +in kindling of fires and getting wood wherewith to roast +them. Thus cutting the flesh of these animals into convenient +pieces, or gobbets, they threw them into the fire +and, half carbonadoed or roasted, they devoured them +with incredible haste and appetite. For such was their +hunger that they more resembled cannibals than Europeans +at this banquet, the blood many times running down from +their beards to the middle of their bodies.</p> + +<p>"Having satisfied their hunger with these delicious +meats, Captain Morgan ordered them to continue the +march. Here again he sent before the main body fifty +men, with intent to take some prisoners, if possibly they +could. For he seemed now to be much concerned that in +nine days' time he could not meet one person who might +inform him of the condition and forces of the Spaniards. +About evening they discovered a troop of two hundred +Spaniards, more or less, who hallooed unto the Pirates, +but these could not understand what they said. A little +while after they came the first time within sight of the +highest steeple of Panama. This steeple they no sooner +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180"></a>{180}</span> +had discovered but they began to show signs of extreme +joy, casting up their hats into the air, leaping for mirth, +and shouting, even just as if they had already obtained +the victory and entire accomplishment of their designs. +All their trumpets were sounded and every drum beaten, +in token of this universal acclamation and huge alacrity +of their minds. Thus they pitched their camp for that +night with general content of the whole army, waiting with +impatience for the morning, at which time they intended +to attack the city. This evening there appeared fifty +horse who came out of the city, hearing the noise of the +drums and trumpets of the Pirates, to observe, as it was +thought, their motions. They came almost within musket-shot +of the army, being preceded by a trumpet that sounded +marvellously well. Those on horseback hallooed aloud +unto the Pirates, and threatened them, saying, 'Perros! +nos veremos,' that is, 'Ye dogs! we shall meet ye.' Having +made this menace they returned to the city, excepting only +seven or eight horsemen who remained hovering thereabouts, +to watch what motions the Pirates made. Immediately +after, the city began to fire and ceased not to play +with their biggest guns all night long against the camp, +but with little or no harm unto the Pirates, whom they +could not conveniently reach. About this time also the +two hundred Spaniards whom the Pirates had seen in the +afternoon appeared again within sight, making resemblance +as if they would block up the passages, to the intent no +Pirates might escape the hands of their forces. But the +Pirates, who were now in a manner besieged, instead of +conceiving any fear of their blockades, as soon as they had +placed sentries about their camp, began every one to open +their satchels, and without any preparation of napkins or +plates, fell to eating very heartily the remaining pieces of +bulls' and horses' flesh which they had reserved since noon. +This being done, they laid themselves down to sleep upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181"></a>{181}</span> +the grass with great repose and huge satisfaction, expecting +only with impatience for the dawnings of the next day.</p> + +<p>"On the tenth day, betimes in the morning, they put +all their men in convenient order, and with drums and +trumpets sounding, continued their march directly towards +the city. But one of the guides desired Captain Morgan +not to take the common highway that led thither, fearing +lest they should find in it much resistance and many +ambuscades. He presently took his advice, and chose +another way that went through the wood, although very +irksome and difficult. Thus the Spaniards, perceiving the +Pirates had taken another way, which they scarce had +thought on or believed, were compelled to leave their stops +and batteries, and come out to meet them. The Governor +of Panama put his forces in order, consisting of two +squadrons, four regiments of foot, and a huge number of +wild bulls, which were driven by a great number of Indians, +with some negroes and others to help them.</p> + +<p>"The Pirates being now upon their march, came unto +the top of a little hill, from whence they had a large +prospect of the city and campaign country underneath. +Here they discovered the forces of the people of Panama, +extended in battle array, which, when they perceived to be +so numerous, they were suddenly surprised with great fear, +much doubting the fortune of the day. Yea, few or none +there were but wished themselves at home, or at least free +from the obligation of that engagement, wherein they +perceived their lives must be so narrowly concerned. +Having been some time at a stand, in a wavering condition +of mind, they at last reflected upon the straits they +had brought themselves into, and that now they ought of +necessity either to fight resolutely or die, for no quarter +could be expected from an enemy against whom they had +committed so many cruelties on all occasions. Hereupon +they encouraged one another, and resolved either to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182"></a>{182}</span> +conquer, or spend the very last drop of blood in their +bodies. Afterwards they divided themselves into three +battalions, or troops, sending before them one of two +hundred buccaneers, which sort of people are infinitely +dextrous at shooting with guns.<a id="footnotetag303" name="footnotetag303"></a><a href="#footnote303"><sup>303</sup></a> Thus the Pirates left +the hill and descended, marching directly towards the +Spaniards, who were posted in a spacious field, waiting for +their coming. As soon as they drew nigh unto them, the +Spaniards began to shout and cry, 'Viva el Rey! God +save the King!' and immediately their horse began to +move against the Pirates. But the field being full of +quags and very soft under foot, they could not ply to and +fro and wheel about, as they desired. The two hundred +buccaneers who went before, every one putting one knee +to the ground, gave them a full volley of shot, wherewith +the battle was instantly kindled very hot. The Spaniards +defended themselves very courageously, acting all they +could possibly perform, to disorder the Pirates. Their +foot, in like manner, endeavoured to second the horse, but +were constrained by the Pirates to separate from them. +Thus finding themselves frustrated of their designs, they +attempted to drive the bulls against them at their backs, +and by this means to put them into disorder. But the +greatest part of that wild cattle ran away, being frightened +with the noise of the battle. And some few that broke +through the English companies did no other harm than +to tear the colours in pieces; whereas the buccaneers, +shooting them dead, left not one to trouble them thereabouts.</p> + +<p>"The battle having now continued for the space of two +hours, at the end thereof the greatest part of the Spanish +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>{183}</span> +horse was ruined and almost all killed. The rest fled +away. Which being perceived by the foot, and that they +could not possibly prevail, they discharged the shot they +had in their muskets, and throwing them on the ground, +betook themselves to flight, every one which way he could +run. The Pirates could not possibly follow them, as being +too much harassed and wearied with the long journey they +had lately made. Many of them not being able to fly whither +they desired, hid themselves for that present among the +shrubs of the seaside. But very unfortunately; for most +of them being found out by the Pirates, were instantly +killed, without giving quarter to any.<a id="footnotetag304" name="footnotetag304"></a><a href="#footnote304"><sup>304</sup></a> Some religious +men were brought prisoners before Captain Morgan; but +he being deaf to their cries and lamentations, commanded +them all to be immediately pistoled, which was accordingly +done. Soon after they brought a captain to his +presence, whom he examined very strictly about several +things, particularly wherein consisted the forces of those +of Panama. Unto which he answered: Their whole +strength did consist in four hundred horse, twenty-four +companies of foot, each being of one hundred men complete, +sixty Indians and some negroes, who were to drive +two thousand wild bulls and cause them to run over the +English camp, and thus by breaking their files put them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184"></a>{184}</span> +into a total disorder and confusion.<a id="footnotetag305" name="footnotetag305"></a><a href="#footnote305"><sup>305</sup></a> He discovered more, +that in the city they had made trenches and raised +batteries in several places, in all which they had placed +many guns. And that at the entry of the highway which +led to the city they had built a fort, which was mounted +with eight great guns of brass and defended by fifty men.</p> + +<p>"Captain Morgan, having heard this information, gave +orders instantly they should march another way. But +before setting forth, he made a review of all his men, +whereof he found both killed and wounded a considerable +number, and much greater than he had believed. Of the +Spaniards were found six hundred dead upon the place, +besides the wounded and prisoners.<a id="footnotetag306" name="footnotetag306"></a><a href="#footnote306"><sup>306</sup></a> The Pirates were +nothing discouraged, seeing their number so much diminished, +but rather filled with greater pride than before, +perceiving what huge advantage they had obtained against +their enemies. Thus having rested themselves some while, +they prepared to march courageously towards the city, +plighting their oaths to one another in general they would +fight till never a man was left alive. With this courage +they recommenced their march, either to conquer or be +conquered, carrying with them all the prisoners.</p> + +<p>"They found much difficulty in their approach unto the +city. For within the town the Spaniards had placed +many great guns, at several quarters thereof, some of +which were charged with small pieces of iron, and others +with musket bullets. With all these they saluted the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185"></a>{185}</span> +Pirates, at their drawing nigh unto the place, and gave +them full and frequent broadsides, firing at them incessantly. +Whence it came to pass that unavoidably they +lost, at every step they advanced, great numbers of men. +But neither these manifest dangers of their lives, nor the +sight of so many of their own as dropped down continually +at their sides, could deter them from advancing +farther, and gaining ground every moment upon the +enemy. Thus, although the Spaniards never ceased to +fire and act the best they could for their defence, yet notwithstanding +they were forced to deliver the city after the +space of three hours' combat.<a id="footnotetag307" name="footnotetag307"></a><a href="#footnote307"><sup>307</sup></a> And the Pirates, having +now possessed themselves thereof, both killed and destroyed +as many as attempted to make the least opposition +against them. The inhabitants had caused the best +of their goods to be transported to more remote and +occult places. Howbeit they found within the city as yet +several warehouses, very well stocked with all sorts of +merchandise, as well silks and cloths as linen, and other +things of considerable value. As soon as the first fury of +their entrance into the city was over, Captain Morgan +assembled all his men at a certain place which he assigned, +and there commanded them under very great penalties +that none of them should dare to drink or taste any wine. +The reason he gave for this injunction was, because he +had received private intelligence that it had been all +poisoned by the Spaniards. Howbeit it was the opinion +of many he gave these prudent orders to prevent the debauchery +of his people, which he foresaw would be very +great at the beginning, after so much hunger sustained by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186"></a>{186}</span> +the way. Fearing withal lest the Spaniards, seeing them +in wine, should rally their forces and fall upon the city, +and use them as inhumanly as they had used the inhabitants +before."</p> + +<p>Exquemelin accuses Morgan of setting fire to the city +and endeavouring to make the world believe that it was +done by the Spaniards. Wm. Frogge, however, who was +also present, says distinctly that the Spaniards fired the +town, and Sir William Godolphin, in a letter from Madrid +to Secretary Arlington on 2nd June 1671, giving news of +the exploit which must have come from a Spanish source, +says that the President of Panama left orders that the city +if taken should be burnt.<a id="footnotetag308" name="footnotetag308"></a><a href="#footnote308"><sup>308</sup></a> Moreover the President of +Panama himself, in a letter to Spain describing the event +which was intercepted by the English, admits that not the +buccaneers but the slaves and the owners of the houses set +fire to the city.<a id="footnotetag309" name="footnotetag309"></a><a href="#footnote309"><sup>309</sup></a> The buccaneers tried in vain to extinguish +the flames, and the whole town, which was built +mostly of wood, was consumed by twelve o'clock midnight. +The only edifices which escaped were the government +buildings, a few churches, and about 300 houses +in the suburbs. The freebooters remained at Panama +twenty-eight days seeking plunder and indulging in every +variety of excess. Excursions were made daily into the +country for twenty leagues round about to search for +booty, and 3000 prisoners were brought in. Exquemelin's +story of the sack is probably in the main true. In describing +the city he writes: "There belonged to this city +(which is also the head of a bishopric) eight monasteries, +whereof seven were for men and one for women, two +stately churches and one hospital. The churches and +monasteries were all richly adorned with altar-pieces and +paintings, huge quantity of gold and silver, with other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187"></a>{187}</span> +precious things; all which the ecclesiastics had hidden and +concealed. Besides which ornaments, here were to be +seen two thousand houses of magnificent and prodigious +building, being all or the greatest part inhabited by +merchants of that country, who are vastly rich. For the +rest of the inhabitants of lesser quality and tradesmen, +this city contained five thousand houses more. Here were +also great numbers of stables, which served for the horses +and mules, that carry all the plate, belonging as well unto +the King of Spain as to private men, towards the coast of +the North Sea. The neighbouring fields belonging to this +city are all cultivated with fertile plantations and pleasant +gardens, which afford delicious prospects unto the inhabitants +the whole year long."<a id="footnotetag310" name="footnotetag310"></a><a href="#footnote310"><sup>310</sup></a> The day after the +capture, continues Exquemelin, "Captain Morgan dispatched +away two troops of Pirates of one hundred and +fifty men each, being all very stout soldiers and well +armed with orders to seek for the inhabitants of Panama +who were escaped from the hands of their enemies. +These men, having made several excursions up and down +the campaign fields, woods and mountains, adjoining to +Panama, returned after two days' time bringing with +them above 200 prisoners, between men, women and +slaves. The same day returned also the boat ... which +Captain Morgan had sent into the South Sea, bringing +with her three other boats, which they had taken in a little +while. But all these prizes they could willingly have +given, yea, although they had employed greater labour +into the bargain, for one certain galleon, which miraculously +escaped their industry, being very richly laden with +all the King's plate and great quantity of riches of gold, +pearl, jewels and other most precious goods, of all of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188"></a>{188}</span> +best and richest merchants of Panama. On board of +this galleon were also the religious women, belonging +to the nunnery of the said city, who had embarked +with them all the ornaments of their church, consisting +in great quantity of gold, plate, and other things of great +value....</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding the Pirates found in the ports of the +islands of Tavoga and Tavogilla several boats that were +laden with many sorts of very good merchandise; all +which they took and brought unto Panama; where being +arrived, they made an exact relation of all that had passed +while they were abroad to Captain Morgan. The prisoners +confirmed what the Pirates had said, adding thereto, that +they undoubtedly knew whereabouts the said galleon +might be at that present, but that it was very probable +they had been relieved before now from other places. +These relations stirred up Captain Morgan anew to send +forth all the boats that were in the port of Panama, with +design to seek and pursue the said galleon till they could +find her. The boats aforesaid being in all four, set sail +from Panama, and having spent eight days in cruising to +and fro, and searching several ports and creeks, they lost +all their hopes of finding what they so earnestly sought +for. Hereupon they resolved to return unto the isles of +Tavoga and Tavogilla. Here they found a reasonable +good ship, that was newly come from Payta, being laden +with cloth, soap, sugar and biscuit, with twenty thousand +pieces of eight in ready money. This vessel they instantly +seized, not finding the least resistance from any +person within her. Nigh unto the said ship was also a +boat whereof in like manner they possessed themselves. +Upon the boat they laded great part of the merchandises +they had found in the ship, together with some slaves they +had taken in the said islands. With this purchase they +returned to Panama, something better satisfied of their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189"></a>{189}</span> +voyage, yet withal much discontented they could not meet +with the galleon....</p> + +<p>"Captain Morgan used to send forth daily parties of +two hundred men, to make inroads into all the fields and +country thereabouts, and when one party came back, +another consisting of two hundred more was ready to go +forth. By this means they gathered in a short time huge +quantity of riches, and no lesser number of prisoners. +These being brought into the city, were presently put +unto the most exquisite tortures imaginable, to make them +confess both other people's goods and their own. Here it +happened, that one poor and miserable wretch was found +in the house of a gentleman of great quality, who had put +on, amidst that confusion of things, a pair of taffety +breeches belonging to his master with a little silver key +hanging at the strings thereof. This being perceived by +the Pirates they immediately asked him where was the +cabinet of the said key? His answer was: he knew not +what was become of it, but only that finding those +breeches in his master's house, he had made bold to wear +them. Not being able to extort any other confession out +of him, they first put him upon the rack, wherewith they +inhumanly disjointed his arms. After this they twisted a +cord about his forehead, which they wrung so hard, that +his eyes appeared as big as eggs, and were ready to fall +out of his skull. But neither with these torments could +they obtain any positive answer to their demands. Whereupon +they soon after hung him up, giving him infinite +blows and stripes, while he was under that intolerable pain +and posture of body. Afterwards they cut off his nose +and ears, and singed his face with burning straw, till he +could speak nor lament his misery no longer. Then +losing all hopes of hearing any confession from his mouth, +they commanded a negro to run him through with a +lance, which put an end to his life and a period to their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190"></a>{190}</span> +cruel and inhuman tortures. After this execrable manner +did many others of those miserable prisoners finish their +days, the common sport and recreation of these Pirates +being these and other tragedies not inferior to these.</p> + +<p>"They spared in these their cruelties no sex nor +condition whatsoever. For as to religious persons and +priests, they granted them less quarter than unto others, +unless they could produce a considerable sum of money, +capable of being a sufficient ransom. Women themselves +were no better used ... and Captain Morgan, their leader +and commander, gave them no good example in this +point....<a id="footnotetag311" name="footnotetag311"></a><a href="#footnote311"><sup>311</sup></a></p> + +<p>"Captain Morgan having now been at Panama the +full space of three weeks, commanded all things to be put +in order for his departure. Unto this effect he gave +orders to every company of his men, to seek out for so +many beasts of carriage as might suffice to convey the +whole spoil of the city unto the river where his canoes +lay. About this time a great rumour was spread in the +city, of a considerable number of Pirates who intended to +leave Captain Morgan; and that, by taking a ship which +was in the port, they determined to go and rob upon the +South Sea till they had got as much as they thought +fit, and then return homewards by the way of the East +Indies into Europe. For which purpose they had already +gathered great quantity of provisions which they had +hidden in private places, with sufficient store of powder, +bullets and all other sorts of ammunition; likewise some +great guns belonging to the town, muskets and other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191"></a>{191}</span> +things, wherewith they designed not only to equip the said +vessel but also to fortify themselves and raise batteries in some +island or other, which might serve them for a place of refuge.</p> + +<p>"This design had certainly taken effect as they intended, +had not Captain Morgan had timely advice +thereof given him by one of their comrades. Hereupon +he instantly commanded the mainmast of the said ship +should be cut down and burnt, together with all the +other boats that were in the port. Hereby the intentions +of all or most of his companions were totally frustrated. +After this Captain Morgan sent forth many of the +Spaniards into the adjoining fields and country, to seek +for money wherewith to ransom not only themselves but +also all the rest of the prisoners, as likewise the ecclesiastics, +both secular and regular. Moreover, he commanded all +the artillery of the town to be spoiled, that is to say, +nailed and stopped up. At the same time he sent out +a strong company of men to seek for the Governor of +Panama, of whom intelligence was brought that he had +laid several ambuscades in the way, by which he ought +to pass at his return. But those who were sent upon this +design returned soon after, saying they had not found any +sign or appearance of any such ambuscades. For a confirmation +whereof they brought with them some prisoners they +had taken, who declared how that the said Governor had +had an intention of making some opposition by the way, but +that the men whom he had designed to effect it were unwilling +to undertake any such enterprise; so that for want +of means he could not put his design into execution.<a id="footnotetag312" name="footnotetag312"></a><a href="#footnote312"><sup>312</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192"></a>{192}</span> + +<p>"On the 24th of February of the year 1671,<a id="footnotetag313" name="footnotetag313"></a><a href="#footnote313"><sup>313</sup></a> Captain +Morgan departed from the city of Panama, or rather +from the place where the said city of Panama did stand. +Of the spoils whereof he carried with him one hundred +and seventy-five beasts of carriage, laden with silver, +gold and other precious things, besides 600 prisoners, +more or less, between men, women, children and slaves. +That day they came unto a river that passeth through +a delicious campaign field, at the distance of a league +from Panama. Here Captain Morgan put all his forces +into good order of martial array in such manner that the +prisoners were in the middle of the camp, surrounded on +all sides with Pirates. At which present conjuncture +nothing else was to be heard but lamentations, cries, +shrieks and doleful sighs, of so many women and children, +who were persuaded Captain Morgan designed to transport +them all, and carry them into his own country for +slaves. Besides that, among all those miserable prisoners, +there was extreme hunger and thirst endured at that time. +Which hardship and misery Captain Morgan designedly +caused them to sustain, with intent to excite them more +earnestly to seek for money wherewith to ransom themselves, +according to the tax he had set upon every one. +Many of the women begged of Captain Morgan upon +their knees, with infinite sighs and tears, he would permit +them to return unto Panama, there to live in company of +their dear husbands and children, in little huts of straw +which they would erect, seeing they had no houses until +the rebuilding of the city. But his answer was: he came +not thither to hear lamentations and cries, but rather to +seek money. Therefore, they ought to seek out for that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a>{193}</span> +in the first place, wherever it were to be had, and bring +it to him, otherwise he would assuredly transport them all +to such places whither they cared not to go....</p> + +<p>"As soon as Captain Morgan arrived, upon his march, +at the town called Cruz, seated on the banks of the river +Chagre, as was mentioned before, he commanded an order +to be published among the prisoners, that within the +space of three days every one of them should bring in +their ransom, under the penalty aforementioned, of being +transported unto Jamaica. In the meanwhile he gave +orders for so much rice and maize to be collected thereabouts +as was necessary for the victualling all his ships. +At this place some of the prisoners were ransomed, but +many others could not bring in their moneys in so short +a time. Hereupon he continued his voyage ... carrying +with him all the spoil that ever he could transport. +From this village he likewise led away some new +prisoners, who were inhabitants of the said place. So that +these prisoners were added to those of Panama who had +not as yet paid their ransoms, and all transported.... About +the middle of the way unto the Castle of Chagre, +Captain Morgan commanded them to be placed in due +order, according to their custom, and caused every one +to be sworn, that they had reserved nor concealed nothing +privately to themselves, even not so much as the value +of sixpence. This being done, Captain Morgan having +had some experience that those lewd fellows would not +much stickle to swear falsely in points of interest, he commanded +them every one to be searched very strictly, +both in their clothes and satchels and everywhere it might +be presumed they had reserved anything. Yea, to the +intent this order might not be ill taken by his companions, +he permitted himself to be searched, even to the very +soles of his shoes. To this effect by common consent, +there was assigned one out of every company to be the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" id="page194"></a>{194}</span> +searchers of all the rest. The French Pirates that went +on this expedition with Captain Morgan were not well +satisfied with this new custom of searching. Yet their +number being less than that of the English, they were +forced to submit unto it, as well as the others had done +before them. The search being over, they re-embarked +in their canoes and boats, which attended them on the +river, and arrived at the Castle of Chagre.<a id="footnotetag314" name="footnotetag314"></a><a href="#footnote314"><sup>314</sup></a> ... Here +they found all things in good order, excepting the wounded +men, whom they had left there at the time of their departure. +For of these the greatest number were dead, +through the wounds they had received.</p> + +<p>"From Chagre, Captain Morgan sent presently after +his arrival, a great boat unto Porto Bello, wherein were +all the prisoners he had taken at the Isle of St. Catherine, +demanding by them a considerable ransom for the Castle +of Chagre, where he then was, threatening otherwise to +ruin and demolish it even to the ground. To this +message those of Porto Bello made answer: they would +not give one farthing towards the ransom of the said +castle, and that the English might do with it as they +pleased. This answer being come, the dividend was +made of all the spoil they had purchased in that voyage. +Thus every company and every particular person therein +included received their portion of what was gotten; or +rather what part thereof Captain Morgan was pleased to +give them. For so it was, that the rest of his companions, +even of his own nation, complained of his proceedings in +this particular, and feared not to tell him openly to his +face, that he had reserved the best jewels to himself. +For they judged it impossible that no greater share +should belong unto them than two hundred pieces of +eight per capita, of so many valuable purchases and +robberies as they had obtained. Which small sum they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195"></a>{195}</span> +thought too little reward for so much labour and such +huge and manifest dangers as they had so often exposed +their lives unto. But Captain Morgan was deaf to all +these and many other complaints of this kind, having +designed in his mind to cheat them of as much as he +could."<a id="footnotetag315" name="footnotetag315"></a><a href="#footnote315"><sup>315</sup></a></p> + +<p>On 6th March 1671, Morgan, after demolishing the +fort and other edifices at Chagre and spiking all the guns, +got secretly on board his own ship, if we are to believe +Exquemelin, and followed by only three or four vessels +of the fleet, returned to Port Royal. The rest of the fleet +scattered, most of the ships having "much ado to find +sufficient victuals and provisions for their voyage to +Jamaica." At the end of August not more than ten +vessels of the original thirty-six had made their way +back to the English colony. Morgan, with very inadequate +means, accomplished a feat which had been the dream +of Drake and other English sailors for a century or more, +and which Admiral Vernon in 1741 with a much greater +armament feared even to attempt. For display of remarkable +leadership and reckless bravery the expedition +against Panama has never been surpassed. Its brilliance +was only clouded by the cruelty and rapacity of the +victors—a force levied without pay and little discipline, +and unrestrained, if not encouraged, in brutality by +Morgan himself. Exquemelin's accusation against Morgan, +of avarice and dishonesty in the division of the spoil +amongst his followers, is, unfortunately for the admiral's +reputation, too well substantiated. Richard Browne, the +surgeon-general of the fleet, estimated the plunder at +over £70,000 "besides other rich goods," of which the +soldiers were miserably cheated, each man receiving but +£10 as his share. At Chagre, he writes, the leaders gave +what they pleased "for which ... we must be content +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196"></a>{196}</span> +or else be clapped in irons." The wronged seamen were +loud in their complaints against Morgan, Collier and the +other captains for starving, cheating and deserting them; +but so long as Modyford was governor they could obtain +no redress. The commanders "dared but seldom appear," +writes Browne, "the widows, orphans and injured inhabitants +who had so freely advanced upon the hopes of +a glorious design, being now ruined through fitting out +the privateers."<a id="footnotetag316" name="footnotetag316"></a><a href="#footnote316"><sup>316</sup></a> The Spaniards reckoned their whole +loss at 6,000,000 crowns.<a id="footnotetag317" name="footnotetag317"></a><a href="#footnote317"><sup>317</sup></a></p> + +<p>On 31st May 1671, the Council of Jamaica extended a +vote of thanks to Morgan for the execution of his late +commission, and formally expressed their approval of the +manner in which he had conducted himself.<a id="footnotetag318" name="footnotetag318"></a><a href="#footnote318"><sup>318</sup></a> There can +be no question but that the governor had full knowledge +of Morgan's intentions before the fleet sailed from Cape +Tiburon. After the decision of the council of officers on +2nd December to attack Panama, a boat was dispatched +to Jamaica to inform Modyford, and in a letter written to +Morgan ten days after the arrival of the vessel the +governor gave no countermand to the decision.<a id="footnotetag319" name="footnotetag319"></a><a href="#footnote319"><sup>319</sup></a> Doubtless +the defence made, that the governor and council were +trying to forestall an impending invasion of Jamaica by +the Spaniards, was sincere. But it is also very probable +that they were in part deceived into this belief by Morgan +and his followers, who made it their first object to get +prisoners, and obtain from them by force a confession that +at Cartagena, Porto Bello or some other Spanish maritime +port the Spaniards were mustering men and fitting a +fleet to invade the island.</p> + +<p>By a strange irony of fate, on 8th-18th July 1670 a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197"></a>{197}</span> +treaty was concluded at Madrid by Sir William Godolphin +for "composing differences, restraining depredations and +establishing peace" in America. No trading privileges +in the West Indies were granted by either crown, but the +King of Spain acknowledged the sovereignty of the King +of England over all islands, colonies, etc., in America then +in possession of the English, and the ships of either nation, +in case of distress, were to have entertainment and aid in +the ports of the other. The treaty was to be published in +the West Indies simultaneously by English and Spanish +governors within eight months after its ratification.<a id="footnotetag320" name="footnotetag320"></a><a href="#footnote320"><sup>320</sup></a> In +May of the following year, a messenger from San Domingo +arrived in Port Royal with a copy of the articles of peace, +to propose that a day be fixed for their publication, and +to offer an exchange of prisoners,<a id="footnotetag321" name="footnotetag321"></a><a href="#footnote321"><sup>321</sup></a> Modyford had as yet +received no official notice from England of the treaty, and +might with justice complain to the authorities at home of +their neglect.<a id="footnotetag322" name="footnotetag322"></a><a href="#footnote322"><sup>322</sup></a> Shortly after, however, a new governor +came to relieve him of further responsibility. Charles II. +had probably placated the Spanish ambassador in 1670 by +promising the removal of Modyford and the dispatch of +another governor well-disposed to the Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag323" name="footnotetag323"></a><a href="#footnote323"><sup>323</sup></a> At any +rate, a commission was issued in September 1670, appointing +Colonel Thomas Lynch Lieutenant-Governor of +Jamaica, to command there in the "want, absence or disability" +of the governor;<a id="footnotetag324" name="footnotetag324"></a><a href="#footnote324"><sup>324</sup></a> and on 4th January following, +in spite of a petition of the officers, freeholders and inhabitants +of Jamaica in favour of Modyford,<a id="footnotetag325" name="footnotetag325"></a><a href="#footnote325"><sup>325</sup></a> the commission of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id="page198"></a>{198}</span> +the governor was revoked.<a id="footnotetag326" name="footnotetag326"></a><a href="#footnote326"><sup>326</sup></a> Lynch arrived in Jamaica on +25th June with instructions, as soon as he had possession +of the government and forts, to arrest Sir Thomas Modyford +and send him home under guard to answer charges +laid against him.<a id="footnotetag327" name="footnotetag327"></a><a href="#footnote327"><sup>327</sup></a> Fearing to exasperate the friends of +the old governor, Lynch hesitated to carry out his instructions +until 12th August, when he invited Modyford on +board the frigate "Assistance," with several members of +the council, and produced the royal orders for his arrest. +Lynch assured him, however, that his life and fortune were +not in danger, the proceeding being merely a sop to the +indignant Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag328" name="footnotetag328"></a><a href="#footnote328"><sup>328</sup></a> Modyford arrived in England in +November, and on the 17th of the month was committed +to the Tower.<a id="footnotetag329" name="footnotetag329"></a><a href="#footnote329"><sup>329</sup></a></p> + +<p>The indignation of the Spaniards, when the news of +the sack of Panama reached Spain, rose to a white heat. +"It is impossible for me to paint to your Lordship," wrote +Godolphin to Lord Arlington, "the face of Madrid upon +the news of this action ... nor to what degree of indignation +the queen and ministers of State, the particular +councils and all sorts of people here, have taken it to +heart."<a id="footnotetag330" name="footnotetag330"></a><a href="#footnote330"><sup>330</sup></a> It seems that the ambassador or the Spanish +consul in London had written to Madrid that this last expedition +was made by private intimation, if not orders, +from London, and that Godolphin had been commanded +to provide in the treaty for a long term before publication, +so as to give time for the execution of the design. Against +these falsehoods the English ambassador found it difficult +to make headway, although he assured the queen of the +immediate punishment of the perpetrators, and the arrest +and recall of the Governor of Jamaica. Only by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199"></a>{199}</span> +greatest tact and prudence was he able to stave off, until +an official disavowal of the expedition came from England, +an immediate embargo on all the goods of English +merchants in Spain. The Spanish government decided +to send a fleet of 10,000 men with all speed to the Indies; +and the Dukes of Albuquerque and Medina Coeli vied +with each other in offering to raise the men at their own +charge from among their own vassals. After Godolphin +had presented his official assurance to the queen, however, +nothing more was heard of this armament. "God grant," +wrote the English ambassador, "that Sir Thomas Modyford's +way of defending Jamaica (as he used to call it) by +sending out the forces thereof to pillage, prove an infallible +one; for my own part, I do not think it hath been our +interest to awaken the Spaniards so much as this last +action hath done."<a id="footnotetag331" name="footnotetag331"></a><a href="#footnote331"><sup>331</sup></a></p> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote206" name="footnote206"></a><b>Footnote 206: </b><a href="#footnotetag206">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 635.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote207" name="footnote207"></a><b>Footnote 207: </b><a href="#footnotetag207">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 656 and 664. Dated 15th and 18th +February respectively.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote208" name="footnote208"></a><b>Footnote 208: </b><a href="#footnotetag208">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 739.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote209" name="footnote209"></a><b>Footnote 209: </b><a href="#footnotetag209">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 739 and 744.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote210" name="footnote210"></a><b>Footnote 210: </b><a href="#footnotetag210">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 762 and 767.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote211" name="footnote211"></a><b>Footnote 211: </b><a href="#footnotetag211">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 746; Beeston's Journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote212" name="footnote212"></a><b>Footnote 212: </b><a href="#footnotetag212">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 192; C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 753.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote213" name="footnote213"></a><b>Footnote 213: </b><a href="#footnotetag213">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 744; <i>cf.</i> also No. 811, and Lyttleton's +Report, No. 812.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote214" name="footnote214"></a><b>Footnote 214: </b><a href="#footnotetag214">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 789.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote215" name="footnote215"></a><b>Footnote 215: </b><a href="#footnotetag215">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 859, 964; Beeston's Journal. For disputes over the +cargo of the Spanish prize captured by Williams, <i>cf.</i> C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, +Nos. 1140, 1150, 1177, 1264, 1266.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote216" name="footnote216"></a><b>Footnote 216: </b><a href="#footnotetag216">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 767.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote217" name="footnote217"></a><b>Footnote 217: </b><a href="#footnotetag217">(return)</a><p>Add. MSS., 11,410, pp. 16-25.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote218" name="footnote218"></a><b>Footnote 218: </b><a href="#footnotetag218">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 786; <i>cf.</i> also Add. +MSS., 11,410, f. 303:—"Mr. Worseley's discourse of the Privateers of +Jamaica."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote219" name="footnote219"></a><b>Footnote 219: </b><a href="#footnotetag219">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. vii. pp. 57-65.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote220" name="footnote220"></a><b>Footnote 220: </b><a href="#footnotetag220">(return)</a><p>For the biography of Jean-David Nau, surnamed l'Olonnais, +<i>cf.</i> Nouvelle Biographie Générale, t. xxxviii. p. 654.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote221" name="footnote221"></a><b>Footnote 221: </b><a href="#footnotetag221">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 744, 812.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote222" name="footnote222"></a><b>Footnote 222: </b><a href="#footnotetag222">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 744, 765, 786, 812.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote223" name="footnote223"></a><b>Footnote 223: </b><a href="#footnotetag223">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, pp. 363, 421, 433.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote224" name="footnote224"></a><b>Footnote 224: </b><a href="#footnotetag224">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 419, 427, 428.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote225" name="footnote225"></a><b>Footnote 225: </b><a href="#footnotetag225">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, p. 447; Egerton MSS., 2395, f. 167.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote226" name="footnote226"></a><b>Footnote 226: </b><a href="#footnotetag226">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 101; <i>cf.</i> also Nos. 24, 32, 122. From +orders contained in the MSS. of the Marquis of Ormonde issued on petitions +of convicted prisoners, we find that reprieves were often granted on condition +of their making arrangements for their own transportation for life to the West +Indies, without expense to the government. The condemned were permitted +to leave the gaols in which they were confined and embark immediately, on +showing that they had agreed with a sea-captain to act as his servant, both +during the voyage and after their arrival. The captains were obliged to give +bond for the safe transportation of the criminals, and the latter were also to +find security that they would not return to the British Isles without license, +on pain of receiving the punishment from which they had been originally +reprieved. (Hist. MSS. Comm. Rept. X., pt. 5, pp. 34, 42, 85, 94). <i>Cf.</i> +also C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1268.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote227" name="footnote227"></a><b>Footnote 227: </b><a href="#footnotetag227">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 331, 769-772, 790, 791, 798, +847, 1720.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote228" name="footnote228"></a><b>Footnote 228: </b><a href="#footnotetag228">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 866.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote229" name="footnote229"></a><b>Footnote 229: </b><a href="#footnotetag229">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 839, 843.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote230" name="footnote230"></a><b>Footnote 230: </b><a href="#footnotetag230">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 786.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote231" name="footnote231"></a><b>Footnote 231: </b><a href="#footnotetag231">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 943.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote232" name="footnote232"></a><b>Footnote 232: </b><a href="#footnotetag232">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 910, 919, 926.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote233" name="footnote233"></a><b>Footnote 233: </b><a href="#footnotetag233">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 942, 976.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote234" name="footnote234"></a><b>Footnote 234: </b><a href="#footnotetag234">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 944.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote235" name="footnote235"></a><b>Footnote 235: </b><a href="#footnotetag235">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 979. There were really nine ships and 650 +men. Cf. <i>ibid.</i>, No. 1088.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote236" name="footnote236"></a><b>Footnote 236: </b><a href="#footnotetag236">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 980, 983, 992.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote237" name="footnote237"></a><b>Footnote 237: </b><a href="#footnotetag237">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1088.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote238" name="footnote238"></a><b>Footnote 238: </b><a href="#footnotetag238">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1073, 1088.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote239" name="footnote239"></a><b>Footnote 239: </b><a href="#footnotetag239">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1042, I. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Morgan (not to be +confused with Colonel Edward Morgan), who was left in command of +St. Eustatius and Saba, went in April 1666 with a company of buccaneers +to the assistance of Governor Watts of St. Kitts against the French. In +the rather shameful defence of the English part of the island Morgan's +buccaneers were the only English who displayed any courage or discipline, +and most of them were killed or wounded, Colonel Morgan himself being shot +in both legs. (<i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1204, 1205, 1212, 1220, 1257.) St. Eustatius +was reconquered by a French force from St. Kitts in the early part of 1667. +(<i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1401.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote240" name="footnote240"></a><b>Footnote 240: </b><a href="#footnotetag240">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1082.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote241" name="footnote241"></a><b>Footnote 241: </b><a href="#footnotetag241">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1125. Stedman was later in the year, +after the outbreak of war with France, captured by a French frigate off +Guadeloupe. With a small vessel and only 100 men he found himself +becalmed and unable to escape, so he boldly boarded the Frenchman in +buccaneer fashion and fought for two hours, but was finally overcome. +(<i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1212.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote242" name="footnote242"></a><b>Footnote 242: </b><a href="#footnotetag242">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1085; Beeston's Journal. Mansfield was the buccaneer whom +Exquemelin disguises under the name of "Mansvelt."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote243" name="footnote243"></a><b>Footnote 243: </b><a href="#footnotetag243">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1130, 1132-37.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote244" name="footnote244"></a><b>Footnote 244: </b><a href="#footnotetag244">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1129, 1263.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote245" name="footnote245"></a><b>Footnote 245: </b><a href="#footnotetag245">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1144, 1264.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote246" name="footnote246"></a><b>Footnote 246: </b><a href="#footnotetag246">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1138, 1144.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote247" name="footnote247"></a><b>Footnote 247: </b><a href="#footnotetag247">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1264, slightly condensed from the original.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote248" name="footnote248"></a><b>Footnote 248: </b><a href="#footnotetag248">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1142, 1147. The Governor of Havana +wrote concerning this same exploit, that on Christmas Eve of 1665 the +English entered and sacked the town of Cayo in the jurisdiction of Havana, +and meeting with a vessel having on board twenty-two Spaniards who were +inhabitants of the town, put them all to the sword, cutting them to pieces with +hangers. Afterwards they sailed to the town of Bayamo with thirteen vessels +and 700 men, but altering their plans, went to Sancti Spiritus, landed 300, +plundered the town, cruelly treated both men and women, burnt the best +houses, and wrecked and desecrated the church in which they had made their +quarters. (S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. 50.)</p> + +<p>Col. Beeston says that Mansfield conducted the raid; but according to the +Spanish account to which Duro had access, the leader was Pierre Legrand. +(Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, v. p. 164).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote249" name="footnote249"></a><b>Footnote 249: </b><a href="#footnotetag249">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1147; Beeston's Journal. Beeston reports +that after a six weeks' search for Mansfield and his men he failed to find +them and returned to Jamaica.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote250" name="footnote250"></a><b>Footnote 250: </b><a href="#footnotetag250">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1213.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote251" name="footnote251"></a><b>Footnote 251: </b><a href="#footnotetag251">(return)</a><p>Exquemelin, however, says that he had 500 men. If he attacked +Providence Island with only 200 he must have received reinforcements later.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote252" name="footnote252"></a><b>Footnote 252: </b><a href="#footnotetag252">(return)</a><p>Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, v. p. 167; S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. +50. The accounts that have come down to us of this expedition are +obscure and contradictory. Modyford writes of the exploit merely that +"they landed 600 men at Cape Blanco, in the kingdom of Veragua, and +marched 90 miles into that country to surprise its chief city, Cartago; +but understanding that the inhabitants had carried away their wealth, +returned to their ships without being challenged." (C.S.P. Colon., +1661-68, No. 1213.) According to Exquemelin the original goal of the +buccaneers was the town of Nata, north of Panama. The Spanish accounts +make the numbers of the invaders much greater, from 800 to 1200.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote253" name="footnote253"></a><b>Footnote 253: </b><a href="#footnotetag253">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1263.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote254" name="footnote254"></a><b>Footnote 254: </b><a href="#footnotetag254">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1309, 1349. The capture of Providence +Island was Mansfield's last exploit. According to a deposition found +among the Colonial papers, he and his ship were later captured by the +Spaniards and carried to Havana where the old buccaneer was put in irons +and soon after executed. (<i>Ibid.</i>, No. +1827.) Exquemelin says that Mansfield, having been refused sufficient +aid by Modyford for the defence of Providence, went to seek assistance +at Tortuga, when "death suddenly surprised him and put a period to his +wicked life."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote255" name="footnote255"></a><b>Footnote 255: </b><a href="#footnotetag255">(return)</a><p>Exquemelin refers to a voyage of Henry Morgan to Campeache at about +this time, and says that he afterwards accompanied Mansfield as his "vice-admiral." +There were at least three Morgans then in the West Indies, but +Colonel Edward and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas were at this time doubtless +busy preparing the armament against Curaçao.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote256" name="footnote256"></a><b>Footnote 256: </b><a href="#footnotetag256">(return)</a><p>"Villa de Mosa is a small Town standing on the Starboard side of the +River ... inhabited chiefly by Indians, with some Spaniards.... Thus far +Ships come to bring Goods, especially European Commodities.... They arrive +here in November or December, and stay till June or July, selling their Commodities, +and then load chiefly with Cacao and some Sylvester. All the +Merchants and petty Traders of the country Towns come thither about +Christmas to Traffick, which makes this Town the chiefest in all these Parts, +Campeache excepted."—Dampier, <i>ed.</i> 1906, ii. p. 206. The town was +twelve leagues from the river's mouth.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote257" name="footnote257"></a><b>Footnote 257: </b><a href="#footnotetag257">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1142; Beeston's Journal, 20th August 1665. +The viceroy of New Spain, in a letter of 28th March 1665, reports the coming, +in February, of 150 English in three ships to Tabasco, but gives the name of +the plundered town as Santa Marta de la Vitoria. According to his story, +the buccaneers seized royal treasure amounting to 50,000 pieces of eight, +besides ammunition and slaves. (S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. 122.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote258" name="footnote258"></a><b>Footnote 258: </b><a href="#footnotetag258">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1826, 1827, 1851; +Exquemelin, <i>ed.</i> 1684, Part II. pp. 65-74.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote259" name="footnote259"></a><b>Footnote 259: </b><a href="#footnotetag259">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vols. 46-49. Correspondence of Sir Richard Fanshaw.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote260" name="footnote260"></a><b>Footnote 260: </b><a href="#footnotetag260">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, vol. 46, f. 192.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote261" name="footnote261"></a><b>Footnote 261: </b><a href="#footnotetag261">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, vol. 49, f. 212.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote262" name="footnote262"></a><b>Footnote 262: </b><a href="#footnotetag262">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, vol. 52, f. 138; Record Office, Treaties, etc., 466.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote263" name="footnote263"></a><b>Footnote 263: </b><a href="#footnotetag263">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1276.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote264" name="footnote264"></a><b>Footnote 264: </b><a href="#footnotetag264">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1264.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote265" name="footnote265"></a><b>Footnote 265: </b><a href="#footnotetag265">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1537.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote266" name="footnote266"></a><b>Footnote 266: </b><a href="#footnotetag266">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1264.</p> + +<p>There was probably some disagreement in the Council in England over +the policy to be pursued toward the buccaneers. On 21st August 1666 +Modyford wrote to Albemarle: "Sir James Modyford will present his Grace +with a copy of some orders made at Oxford, in behalf of some Spaniards, +with Lord Arlington's letter thereon; in which are such strong inculcations +of continuing friendship with the Spaniards here, that he doubts he shall be +highly discanted on by some persons for granting commissions against them; +must beg his Grace to bring him off, or at least that the necessity of this proceeding +may be taken into serious debate and then doubts not but true +English judges will confirm what he has done." On the other hand he +writes to Arlington on 30th July 1667: "Had my abilities suited so well with +my wishes as the latter did with your Lordship's, the privateers' attempts had +been only practised on the Dutch and French, and the Spaniards free of them, +but I had no money to pay them nor frigates to force them; the former they +could not get from our declared enemies, nothing could they expect but blows +from them, and (as they have often repeated to me) will that pay for new sails +and rigging?... (but) will, suitable to your Lordship's directions, as far as +I am able, restrain them from further acts of violence towards the Spaniards, +unless provoked by new insolences." Yet in the following December the +governor tells Albemarle that he has not altered his posture, nor does he +intend until further orders. It seems clear that Arlington and Albemarle represented +two opposite sets of opinion in the Council.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote267" name="footnote267"></a><b>Footnote 267: </b><a href="#footnotetag267">(return)</a><p>On 21st December 1671, Morgan in a deposition before the Council of +Jamaica gave his age as thirty-six years. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 705.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote268" name="footnote268"></a><b>Footnote 268: </b><a href="#footnotetag268">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838; Exquemelin, <i>ed.</i> 1684, Part II., +pp. 79-88. According to Exquemelin the first design of the freebooters had +been to cross the island of Cuba in its narrowest part and fall upon Havana. +But on receiving advice that the governor had taken measures to defend +and provision the city, they changed their minds and marched to Puerto +Principe.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote269" name="footnote269"></a><b>Footnote 269: </b><a href="#footnotetag269">(return)</a><p>The city of Porto Bello with its large commodious harbour afforded a +good anchorage and shelter for the annual treasure galleons. The narrow +entrance was secured by the two forts mentioned in the narrative, the St. Jago +on the left entering the harbour, and the San Felipe on the right; and within +the port was a third called the San Miguel. The town lay at the bottom of +the harbour bending round the shore like a half-moon. It was built on low +swampy ground and had no walls or defences on the land side. (<i>Cf.</i> the +descriptions of Wafer and Gage.) The garrison at this time probably did not +exceed 300 men.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote270" name="footnote270"></a><b>Footnote 270: </b><a href="#footnotetag270">(return)</a><p>This statement is confirmed by one of the captains serving under Morgan, +who in his account of the expedition says: "After remaining some days ... sickness +broke out among the troops, of which we lost half by sickness and +fighting." (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1.) And in "The Present State of +Jamaica, 1683," we read that Morgan brought to the island the plague "that +killed my Lady Modyford and others."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote271" name="footnote271"></a><b>Footnote 271: </b><a href="#footnotetag271">(return)</a><p>Morgan reported, however, that the ransom was offered and paid by the +President of Panama. (C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote272" name="footnote272"></a><b>Footnote 272: </b><a href="#footnotetag272">(return)</a><p>Exquemelin, <i>ed.</i> 1684, Part II. pp. 89-103.</p> + +<p>The cruelties of the buccaneers at Porto Bello are confirmed by a letter +from John Style to the Secretary of State, complaining of the disorder and +injustice reigning in Jamaica. He writes: "It is a common thing among +the privateers, besides burning with matches and such like slight torments, to +cut a man in pieces, first some flesh, then a hand, an arm, a leg, sometimes +tying a cord about his head and with a stick twisting it till the eyes shot out, +which is called 'woolding.' Before taking Puerto Bello, thus some were +used, because they refused to discover a way into the town which was not, +and many in the town because they would not discover wealth they knew +not of. A woman there was by some set bare upon a baking stone and +roasted because she did not confess of money which she had only in their +conceit; this he heard some declare with boasting, and one that was sick +confess with sorrow." (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 138.)</p> + +<p>Modyford writes concerning the booty got at Porto Bello, that the business +cleared each privateer £60, and "to himself they gave only £20 for their +commission, which never exceeded £300." (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. +103.) But it is very probable that the buccaneers did not return a full account +of the booty to the governor, for it was a common complaint that they +plundered their prizes and hid the spoil in holes and creeks along the coast +so as to cheat the government of its tenths and fifteenths levied on all condemned +prize-goods.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote273" name="footnote273"></a><b>Footnote 273: </b><a href="#footnotetag273">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote274" name="footnote274"></a><b>Footnote 274: </b><a href="#footnotetag274">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1863, 1867, 1892.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote275" name="footnote275"></a><b>Footnote 275: </b><a href="#footnotetag275">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1867; Beeston's Journal, 15th October 1668.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote276" name="footnote276"></a><b>Footnote 276: </b><a href="#footnotetag276">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, C.S.P. Colon., 1674-76, Addenda, No. 1207.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote277" name="footnote277"></a><b>Footnote 277: </b><a href="#footnotetag277">(return)</a><p>Exquemelin gives a French version of the episode, according to which +the commander of the "Cour Volant" had given bills of exchange upon +Jamaica and Tortuga for the provisions he had taken out of the English ship; +but Morgan, because he could not prevail on the French captain to join his +proposed expedition, used this merely as a pretext to seize the ship for piracy. +The "Cour Volant," turned into a privateer and called the "Satisfaction," +was used by Morgan as his flagship in the expedition against Panama.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote278" name="footnote278"></a><b>Footnote 278: </b><a href="#footnotetag278">(return)</a><p>According to Exquemelin the booty amounted to 250,000 crowns in +money and jewels, besides merchandise and slaves. Modyford, however, +wrote that the buccaneers received only £30 per man.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote279" name="footnote279"></a><b>Footnote 279: </b><a href="#footnotetag279">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1; S.P. Spain, vol. 54, f. 118; vol. 55, f. +177.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote280" name="footnote280"></a><b>Footnote 280: </b><a href="#footnotetag280">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 227, 578.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote281" name="footnote281"></a><b>Footnote 281: </b><a href="#footnotetag281">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 129.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote282" name="footnote282"></a><b>Footnote 282: </b><a href="#footnotetag282">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 149.</p> + +<p>In 1666 the Consejo de Almirantazgo of Flanders had offered the government +to send its frigates to the Indies to pursue and punish the buccaneers, +and protect the coasts of Spanish America; and in 1669 similar proposals +were made by the "armadores" or owners of corsairing vessels in the seaport +towns of Biscay. Both offers were refused, however, because the government +feared that such privileges would lead to commercial abuses infringing on the +monopoly of the Seville merchants. Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, V. p. 169.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote283" name="footnote283"></a><b>Footnote 283: </b><a href="#footnotetag283">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 113, 161, 162, 172, 182, 264, 280.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote284" name="footnote284"></a><b>Footnote 284: </b><a href="#footnotetag284">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 207, 211, 227, 240.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote285" name="footnote285"></a><b>Footnote 285: </b><a href="#footnotetag285">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 207, 209-212, 226.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote286" name="footnote286"></a><b>Footnote 286: </b><a href="#footnotetag286">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 194.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote287" name="footnote287"></a><b>Footnote 287: </b><a href="#footnotetag287">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 237.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote288" name="footnote288"></a><b>Footnote 288: </b><a href="#footnotetag288">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74; Nos. 310, 359, 504; Exquemelin, <i>ed.</i> 1684, +Pt. III. pp. 3-7; Add. MSS., 13,964, f. 24.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote289" name="footnote289"></a><b>Footnote 289: </b><a href="#footnotetag289">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 293, 310.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote290" name="footnote290"></a><b>Footnote 290: </b><a href="#footnotetag290">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 57, ff. 48, 53.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote291" name="footnote291"></a><b>Footnote 291: </b><a href="#footnotetag291">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 293, 310; Add. MSS., 13,964, f. 26. +The Spaniards estimated their loss at 100,000 pieces of eight. (Add. MSS. +11,268, f. 51.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote292" name="footnote292"></a><b>Footnote 292: </b><a href="#footnotetag292">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 310, 359, 504. In a report sent by +Governor Modyford to England (<i>ibid.</i>, No. 704, I.) we find a list of the +vessels under command of Henry Morgan, with the name, captain, tonnage, +guns and crew of each ship. There were twenty-eight English vessels of +from 10 to 140 tons and from zero to 20 guns, carrying from 16 to 140 men; +the French vessels were eight in number, of from 25 to 100 tons, with from +2 to 14 guns, and carrying from 30 to 110 men.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote293" name="footnote293"></a><b>Footnote 293: </b><a href="#footnotetag293">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 504. According to Exquemelin, before +the fleet sailed all the officers signed articles regulating the +disposal of the booty. It was stipulated that Admiral Morgan should have +the hundredth part of all the plunder, "that every captain should draw +the shares of eight men, for the expenses of his ship, besides his own; +that the surgeon besides his ordinary pay should have two hundred pieces +of eight, for his chest of medicaments; and every carpenter above his +ordinary salary, should draw one hundred pieces of eight. As to +recompenses and rewards they were regulated in this voyage much higher +than was expressed in the first part of this book. For the loss of both +legs they assigned one thousand five hundred pieces of eight or fifteen +slaves, the choice being left to the election of the party; for the loss +of both hands, one thousand eight hundred pieces of eight or eighteen +slaves; for one leg, whether the right or left, six hundred pieces of +eight or six slaves; for a hand as much as for a leg, and for the loss +of an eye, one hundred pieces of eight or one slave. Lastly, unto him +that in any battle should signalize himself, either by entering the +first any castle, or taking down the Spanish colours and setting up the +English, they constituted fifty pieces of eight for a reward. In the +head of these articles it was stipulated that all these extraordinary +salaries, recompenses and rewards should be paid out of the first spoil +or purchase they should take, according as every one should then occur +to be either rewarded or paid."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote294" name="footnote294"></a><b>Footnote 294: </b><a href="#footnotetag294">(return)</a><p>Sir James Modyford, who, after the capture of Providence by Mansfield +in 1666, had been commissioned by the king as lieutenant-governor of the +island, now bestirred himself, and in May 1671 appointed Colonel Blodre +Morgan (who commanded the rear-guard at the battle of Panama) to go as +deputy-governor and take possession. Modyford himself intended to follow +with some settlers shortly after, but the attempt at colonization seems to have +failed. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 494, 534, 613.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote295" name="footnote295"></a><b>Footnote 295: </b><a href="#footnotetag295">(return)</a><p>Add. MSS., 11,268, f. 51 <i>ff.</i>; <i>ibid.</i>, 13,964, f. 24-25.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote296" name="footnote296"></a><b>Footnote 296: </b><a href="#footnotetag296">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 11,268, f. 51 <i>ff.</i>; S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote297" name="footnote297"></a><b>Footnote 297: </b><a href="#footnotetag297">(return)</a><p>Exquemelin, <i>ed.</i> 1684, Part III. pp. 23-27.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote298" name="footnote298"></a><b>Footnote 298: </b><a href="#footnotetag298">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504. Exquemelin says that there were +1200 men, five boats with artillery and thirty-two canoes.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote299" name="footnote299"></a><b>Footnote 299: </b><a href="#footnotetag299">(return)</a><p>Morgan's report makes it 200 men. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote300" name="footnote300"></a><b>Footnote 300: </b><a href="#footnotetag300">(return)</a><p>Morgan says: "The enemy had basely quitted the first entrenchment and +set all on fire, as they did all the rest, without striking a stroke." The +President of Panama also writes that the garrisons up the river, on receiving +news of the fall of Chagre, were in a panic, the commanders forsaking their +posts and retiring in all haste to Venta Cruz. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 547.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote301" name="footnote301"></a><b>Footnote 301: </b><a href="#footnotetag301">(return)</a><p>Exquemelin makes the buccaneers arrive at Venta Cruz on the seventh +day. According to Morgan they reached the village on the sixth day, and +according to Frogge on the fifth. Morgan reports that two miles from Venta +Cruz there was "a very narrow and dangerous passage where the enemy +thought to put a stop to our further proceeding but were presently routed by +the Forlorn commanded by Capt. Thomas Rogers."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote302" name="footnote302"></a><b>Footnote 302: </b><a href="#footnotetag302">(return)</a><p>Frogge says that after leaving Venta Cruz they came upon an ambuscade +of 1000 Indians, but put them to flight with the loss of only one killed and +two wounded, the Indians losing their chief and about thirty men. (S.P. +Spain, vol. 58, f. 118.) Morgan reports three killed and six or seven wounded.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote303" name="footnote303"></a><b>Footnote 303: </b><a href="#footnotetag303">(return)</a><p>"Next morning drew up his men in the form of a tertia, the vanguard +led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence Prince and Major John Morris, in +number 300, the main body 600, the right wing led by himself, the left by +Colonel Edw. Collyer, the rearguard of 300 commanded by Colonel Bledry +Morgan."—Morgan's Report. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote304" name="footnote304"></a><b>Footnote 304: </b><a href="#footnotetag304">(return)</a><p>The close agreement between the accounts of the battle given by Morgan +and Exquemelin is remarkable, and leads us to give much greater credence to +those details in Exquemelin's narrative of the expedition which were omitted +from the official report. Morgan says of the battle that as the Spaniards had +the advantage of position and refused to move, the buccaneers made a flanking +movement to the left and secured a hill protected on one side by a bog. +Thereupon "One Francesco de Harro charged with the horse upon the +vanguard so furiously that he could not be stopped till he lost his life; upon +which the horse wheeled off, and the foot advanced, but met with such a +warm welcome and were pursued so close that the enemies' retreat came to +plain running, though they did work such a stratagem as has been seldom +heard of, viz.:—attempting to drive two droves of 1500 cattle into their rear." +(C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote305" name="footnote305"></a><b>Footnote 305: </b><a href="#footnotetag305">(return)</a><p>Morgan gives the number of Spaniards at 2100 foot and 600 horse, and +Frogge reports substantially the same figures. The President of Panama, +however, in his letter to the Queen, writes that he had but 1200 men, mostly +negroes, mulattos and Indians, besides 200 slaves of the Assiento. His +followers, he continues, were armed only with arquebuses and fowling-pieces, +and his artillery consisted of three wooden guns bound with hide.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote306" name="footnote306"></a><b>Footnote 306: </b><a href="#footnotetag306">(return)</a><p>According to Frogge the Spaniards lost 500 men in the battle, the +buccaneers but one Frenchman. Morgan says that the whole day's work only +cost him five men killed and ten wounded, and that the loss of the enemy was +about 400.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote307" name="footnote307"></a><b>Footnote 307: </b><a href="#footnotetag307">(return)</a><p>"In the city they had 200 fresh men, two forts, all the streets barricaded +and great guns in every street, which in all amounted to thirty-two brass guns, +but instead of fighting commanded it to be fired, and blew up the chief fort, +which was done in such haste that forty of their own soldiers were blown up. +In the market-place some resistance was made, but at three o'clock they had +quiet possession of the city...."—Morgan's Report.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote308" name="footnote308"></a><b>Footnote 308: </b><a href="#footnotetag308">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote309" name="footnote309"></a><b>Footnote 309: </b><a href="#footnotetag309">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 547.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote310" name="footnote310"></a><b>Footnote 310: </b><a href="#footnotetag310">(return)</a><p>After the destruction of Panama in 1671, the old city was deserted by +the Spaniards, and the present town raised on a site several miles to the +westward, where there was a better anchorage and landing facilities.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote311" name="footnote311"></a><b>Footnote 311: </b><a href="#footnotetag311">(return)</a><p>The incident of Morgan and the Spanish lady I have omitted because it +is so contrary to the testimony of Richard Browne (who if anything was prejudiced +against Morgan) that "as to their women, I know or ever heard of +anything offered beyond their wills; something I know was cruelly executed +by Captain Collier in killing a friar in the field after quarter given; but for +the Admiral he was noble enough to the vanquished enemy." (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 608.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote312" name="footnote312"></a><b>Footnote 312: </b><a href="#footnotetag312">(return)</a><p>The President had retired north to Nata de los Santos, and thence sent +couriers with an account of what had happened over Darien to Cartagena, +whence the news was forwarded by express boat to Spain. (S.P. Spain, +vol. 58, f. 156). That the president made efforts to raise men to +oppose the retreat of the buccaneers, but received no support from the +inhabitants, is proved by Spanish documents in Add. MSS., 11,268, ff. 33, +37, etc.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote313" name="footnote313"></a><b>Footnote 313: </b><a href="#footnotetag313">(return)</a><p>The President of Panama in his account contained in Add. MSS. 11,268, +gives the date as 25th February. Morgan, however, says that they began the +march for Venta Cruz on 14th February; but this discrepancy may be due to +a confusion of the old and new style of dating.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote314" name="footnote314"></a><b>Footnote 314: </b><a href="#footnotetag314">(return)</a><p>The buccaneers arrived at Chagre on 26th February.—Morgan's account.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote315" name="footnote315"></a><b>Footnote 315: </b><a href="#footnotetag315">(return)</a><p>Exquemelin, <i>ed.</i> 1684, Part III. pp. 31-76.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote316" name="footnote316"></a><b>Footnote 316: </b><a href="#footnotetag316">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 608. Wm. Frogge, too, says that the +share of each man was only £10.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote317" name="footnote317"></a><b>Footnote 317: </b><a href="#footnotetag317">(return)</a><p>Add. MSS., 11,268.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote318" name="footnote318"></a><b>Footnote 318: </b><a href="#footnotetag318">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 542, I.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote319" name="footnote319"></a><b>Footnote 319: </b><a href="#footnotetag319">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 542, II.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote320" name="footnote320"></a><b>Footnote 320: </b><a href="#footnotetag320">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 57, f. 76; vol. 58, f. 27.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote321" name="footnote321"></a><b>Footnote 321: </b><a href="#footnotetag321">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 513, 531, 532, 544; Beeston's journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote322" name="footnote322"></a><b>Footnote 322: </b><a href="#footnotetag322">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 30.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote323" name="footnote323"></a><b>Footnote 323: </b><a href="#footnotetag323">(return)</a><p><i>Cf.</i> Memorial of the Conde de Molina complaining that a new governor +had not been sent to Jamaica, as promised, nor the old governor recalled, +26th Feb. 1671 (S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 62).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote324" name="footnote324"></a><b>Footnote 324: </b><a href="#footnotetag324">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 272.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote325" name="footnote325"></a><b>Footnote 325: </b><a href="#footnotetag325">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 331.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote326" name="footnote326"></a><b>Footnote 326: </b><a href="#footnotetag326">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 377, 424.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote327" name="footnote327"></a><b>Footnote 327: </b><a href="#footnotetag327">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 405, 441, 452, 453, 552, 587.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote328" name="footnote328"></a><b>Footnote 328: </b><a href="#footnotetag328">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 600, 604, 608, 655.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote329" name="footnote329"></a><b>Footnote 329: </b><a href="#footnotetag329">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 653, 654.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote330" name="footnote330"></a><b>Footnote 330: </b><a href="#footnotetag330">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote331" name="footnote331"></a><b>Footnote 331: </b><a href="#footnotetag331">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200"></a>{200}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE GOVERNMENT SUPPRESSES THE BUCCANEERS</h3> + + +<p>The new Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas +Lynch, brought with him instructions to publish +and carefully observe the articles of 1670 with +Spain, and at the same time to revoke all commissions +issued by his predecessor "to the prejudice of the King of +Spain or any of his subjects." When he proclaimed the +peace he was likewise to publish a general pardon to +privateers who came in and submitted within a reasonable +time, of all offences committed since June 1660, assuring +to them the possession of their prize-goods (except the +tenths and the fifteenths which were always reserved to +the crown as a condition of granting commissions), and +offering them inducements to take up planting, trade, or +service in the royal navy. But he was not to insist positively +on the payment of the tenths and fifteenths if it discouraged +their submission; and if this course failed to +bring in the rovers, he was to use every means in his +power "by force or persuasion" to make them submit.<a id="footnotetag332" name="footnotetag332"></a><a href="#footnote332"><sup>332</sup></a> +Lynch immediately set about to secure the good-will of +his Spanish neighbours and to win back the privateers to +more peaceful pursuits. Major Beeston was sent to Cartagena +with the articles of peace, where he was given every +satisfaction and secured the release of thirty-two English +prisoners.<a id="footnotetag333" name="footnotetag333"></a><a href="#footnote333"><sup>333</sup></a> On the 15th August the proclamation of +pardon to privateers was issued at Port Royal;<a id="footnotetag334" name="footnotetag334"></a><a href="#footnote334"><sup>334</sup></a> and those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>{201}</span> +who had railed against their commanders for cheating +them at Panama, were given an opportunity of resorting +to the law-courts.<a id="footnotetag335" name="footnotetag335"></a><a href="#footnote335"><sup>335</sup></a> Similar proclamations were sent by +the governor "to all their haunts," intimating that he had +written to Bermuda, the Caribbees, New England, New +York and Virginia for their apprehension, had sent notices +to all Spanish ports declaring them pirates, and intended +to send to Tortuga to prevent their reception there.<a id="footnotetag336" name="footnotetag336"></a><a href="#footnote336"><sup>336</sup></a> However, +although the governor wrote home in the latter part +of the month that the privateers were entirely suppressed, +he soon found that the task was by no means a simple +one. Two buccaneers with a commission from Modyford, +an Englishman named Thurston and a mulatto named +Diego, flouted his offer of pardon, continued to prey upon +Spanish shipping, and carried their prizes to Tortuga.<a id="footnotetag337" name="footnotetag337"></a><a href="#footnote337"><sup>337</sup></a> A +Dutchman named Captain Yallahs (or Yellowes) fled to +Campeache, sold his frigate for 7000 pieces of eight to the +Spanish governor, and entered into Spanish service to +cruise against the English logwood-cutters. The Governor +of Jamaica sent Captain Wilgress in pursuit, but Wilgress +devoted his time to chasing a Spanish vessel ashore, stealing +logwood and burning Spanish houses on the coast.<a id="footnotetag338" name="footnotetag338"></a><a href="#footnote338"><sup>338</sup></a> +A party of buccaneers, English and French, landed upon +the north side of Cuba and burnt two towns, carrying +away women and inflicting many cruelties on the inhabitants; +and when the governors of Havana and St. Jago +complained to Lynch, the latter could only disavow the +English in the marauding party as rebels and pirates, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202"></a>{202}</span> +bid the Spanish governors hang all who fell into their +power.<a id="footnotetag339" name="footnotetag339"></a><a href="#footnote339"><sup>339</sup></a> The governor, in fact, was having his hands full, +and wrote in January 1672 that "this cursed trade has +been so long followed, and there is so many of it, that like +weeds or hydras, they spring up as fast as we can cut them +down."<a id="footnotetag340" name="footnotetag340"></a><a href="#footnote340"><sup>340</sup></a></p> + +<p>Some of the recalcitrant freebooters, however, were +captured and brought to justice. Major Beeston, sent by +the governor in January 1672, with a frigate and four +smaller vessels, to seize and burn some pirate ships careening +on the south cays of Cuba, fell in instead with two +other vessels, one English and one French, which had +taken part in the raids upon Cuba, and carried them to +Jamaica. The French captain was offered to the Governor +of St. Jago, but the latter refused to punish him for fear of +his comrades in Tortuga and Hispaniola. Both captains +were therefore tried and condemned to death at Port +Royal. As the Spaniards, however, had refused to punish +them, and as there was no reason why the Jamaicans +should be the executioners, the captains of the port and +some of the council begged for a reprieve, and the English +prisoner, Francis Witherborn, was sent to England.<a id="footnotetag341" name="footnotetag341"></a><a href="#footnote341"><sup>341</sup></a> +Captain Johnson, one of the pirates after whom Beeston +had originally been sent, was later in the year shipwrecked +by a hurricane upon the coast of Jamaica. Johnson, immediately +after the publication of the peace by Sir +Thomas Lynch, had fled from Port Royal with about ten +followers, and falling in with a Spanish ship of eighteen +guns, had seized it and killed the captain and twelve or +fourteen of the crew. Then gathering about him a party +of a hundred or more, English and French, he had robbed +Spanish vessels round Havana and the Cuban coast. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203"></a>{203}</span> +Finally, however, he grew weary of his French companions, +and sailed for Jamaica to make terms with the governor, +when on coming to anchor in Morant Bay he was blown +ashore by the hurricane. The governor had him arrested, +and gave a commission to Colonel Modyford, the son of +Sir Thomas, to assemble the justices and proceed to trial +and immediate execution. He adjured him, moreover, to +see to it that the pirate was not acquitted. Colonel Modyford, +nevertheless, sharing perhaps his father's sympathy +with the sea-rovers, deferred the trial, acquainted none of +the justices with his orders, and although Johnson and +two of his men "confessed enough to hang a hundred +honester persons," told the jury they could not find against +the prisoner. Half an hour after the dismissal of the +court, Johnson "came to drink with his judges." The +baffled governor thereupon placed Johnson a second time +under arrest, called a meeting of the council, from which +he dismissed Colonel Modyford, and "finding material +errors," reversed the judgment. The pirate was again +tried—Lynch himself this time presiding over the court—and +upon making a full confession, was condemned and +executed, though "as much regretted," writes Lynch, "as +if he had been as pious and as innocent as one of the +primitive martyrs." The second trial was contrary to the +fundamental principles of English law, howsoever guilty +the culprit may have been, and the king sent a letter to +Lynch reproving him for his rashness. He commanded +the governor to try all pirates thereafter by maritime law, +and if a disagreement arose to remit the case to the king +for re-judgment. Nevertheless he ordered Lynch to suspend +from all public employments in the island, whether +civil or military, both Colonel Modyford and all others +guilty with him of designedly acquitting Johnson.<a id="footnotetag342" name="footnotetag342"></a><a href="#footnote342"><sup>342</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Spaniards in the West Indies, notwithstanding the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204"></a>{204}</span> +endeavours of Sir Thomas Lynch to clear their coasts of +pirates, made little effort to co-operate with him. The +governors of Cartagena and St. Jago de Cuba, pretending +that they feared being punished for allowing trade, had +forbidden English frigates to come into their ports, and +refused them provisions and water; and the Governor of +Campeache had detained money, plate and negroes taken +out of an English trading-vessel, to the value of 12,000 +pieces of eight. When Lynch sent to demand satisfaction, +the governor referred him to Madrid for justice, "which to +me that have been there," writes Lynch, "seems worse +than the taking it away."<a id="footnotetag343" name="footnotetag343"></a><a href="#footnote343"><sup>343</sup></a> The news also of the imposing +armament, which the Spanish grandees made signs of preparing +to send to the Indies on learning of the capture of +Panama, was in November 1671 just beginning to filter +into Jamaica; and the governor and council, fearing that +the fleet was directed against them, made vigorous efforts, +by repairing the forts, collecting stores and marshalling +the militia, to put the island in a state of defence. The +Spanish fleet never appeared, however, and life on the +island soon subsided into its customary channels.<a id="footnotetag344" name="footnotetag344"></a><a href="#footnote344"><sup>344</sup></a> Sir +Thomas Lynch, meanwhile, was all the more careful to +observe the peace with Spain and yet refrain from alienating +the more troublesome elements of the population. It +had been decided in England that Morgan, too, like Modyford, +was to be sacrificed, formally at least, to the remonstrances +of the Spanish Government; yet Lynch, because +Morgan himself was ill, and fearing perhaps that two such +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205"></a>{205}</span> +arrests might create a disturbance among the friends of +the culprits, or at least deter the buccaneers from coming +in under the declaration of amnesty, did not send the +admiral to England until the following spring. On 6th +April 1672 Morgan sailed from Jamaica a prisoner in the +frigate "Welcome."<a id="footnotetag345" name="footnotetag345"></a><a href="#footnote345"><sup>345</sup></a> He sailed, however, with the +universal respect and sympathy of all parties in the +colony. Lynch himself calls him "an honest, brave +fellow," and Major James Banister in a letter to the +Secretary of State recommends him to the esteem of +Arlington as "a very well deserving person, and one of +great courage and conduct, who may, with his Majesty's +pleasure, perform good service at home, and be very +advantageous to the island if war should break forth with +the Spaniard."<a id="footnotetag346" name="footnotetag346"></a><a href="#footnote346"><sup>346</sup></a></p> + +<p>Indeed Morgan, the buccaneer, was soon in high favour +at the dissolute court of Charles II., and when in January +1674 the Earl of Carlisle was chosen Governor of Jamaica, +Morgan was selected as his deputy<a id="footnotetag347" name="footnotetag347"></a><a href="#footnote347"><sup>347</sup></a>—an act which must +have entirely neutralized in Spanish Councils the effect of +his arrest a year and a half earlier. Lord Carlisle, however, +did not go out to Jamaica until 1678, and meanwhile +in April a commission to be governor was issued to Lord +Vaughan,<a id="footnotetag348" name="footnotetag348"></a><a href="#footnote348"><sup>348</sup></a> and several months later another to Morgan as +lieutenant-governor.<a id="footnotetag349" name="footnotetag349"></a><a href="#footnote349"><sup>349</sup></a> Vaughan arrived in Jamaica in the +middle of March 1675; but Morgan, whom the king in +the meantime had knighted, sailed ahead of Vaughan, +apparently in defiance of the governor's orders, and although +shipwrecked on the Isle la Vache, reached Jamaica a week +before his superior.<a id="footnotetag350" name="footnotetag350"></a><a href="#footnote350"><sup>350</sup></a> It seems that Sir Thomas Modyford +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206"></a>{206}</span> +sailed for Jamaica with Morgan, and the return of these +two arch-offenders to the West Indies filled the Spanish +Court with new alarms. The Spanish ambassador in +London presented a memorial of protest to the English +king,<a id="footnotetag351" name="footnotetag351"></a><a href="#footnote351"><sup>351</sup></a> and in Spain the Council of War blossomed into +fresh activity to secure the defence of the West Indies and +the coasts of the South Sea.<a id="footnotetag352" name="footnotetag352"></a><a href="#footnote352"><sup>352</sup></a> Ever since 1672, indeed, the +Spaniards moved by some strange infatuation, had persisted +in a course of active hostility to the English in the +West Indies. Could the Spanish Government have realized +the inherent weakness of its American possessions, could +it have been informed of the scantiness of the population +in proportion to the large extent of territory and coast-line +to be defended, could it have known how in the midst of +such rich, unpeopled countries abounding with cattle, hogs +and other provisions, the buccaneers could be extirpated +only by co-operation with its English and French neighbours, +it would have soon fallen back upon a policy of +peace and good understanding with England. But the +news of the sack of Panama, following so close upon the +conclusion of the treaty of 1670, and the continued depredations +of the buccaneers of Tortuga and the declared +pirates of Jamaica, had shattered irrevocably the reliance +of the Spaniards upon the good faith of the English +Government. And when Morgan was knighted and sent +back to Jamaica as lieutenant-governor, their suspicions +seemed to be confirmed. A ketch, sent to Cartagena in +1672 by Sir Thomas Lynch to trade in negroes, was seized +by the general of the galleons, the goods burnt in the +market-place, and the negroes sold for the Spanish King's +account.<a id="footnotetag353" name="footnotetag353"></a><a href="#footnote353"><sup>353</sup></a> An Irish papist, named Philip Fitzgerald, commanding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207"></a>{207}</span> +a Spanish man-of-war of twelve guns belonging +to Havana, and a Spaniard called Don Francisco with a +commission from the Governor of Campeache, roamed the +West Indian seas and captured English vessels sailing +from Jamaica to London, Virginia and the Windward +Islands, barbarously ill-treating and sometimes massacring +the English mariners who fell into their hands.<a id="footnotetag354" name="footnotetag354"></a><a href="#footnote354"><sup>354</sup></a> The +Spanish governors, in spite of the treaty and doubtless in +conformity with orders from home,<a id="footnotetag355" name="footnotetag355"></a><a href="#footnote355"><sup>355</sup></a> did nothing to restrain +the cruelties of these privateers. At one time eight English +sailors who had been captured in a barque off Port Royal +and carried to Havana, on attempting to escape from the +city were pursued by a party of soldiers, and all of them +murdered, the head of the master being set on a pole +before the governor's door.<a id="footnotetag356" name="footnotetag356"></a><a href="#footnote356"><sup>356</sup></a> At another time Fitzgerald +sailed into the harbour of Havana with five Englishmen +tied ready to hang, two at the main-yard arms, two at the +fore-yard arms, and one at the mizzen peak, and as he +approached the castle he had the wretches swung off, +while he and his men shot at the dangling corpses from +the decks of the vessel.<a id="footnotetag357" name="footnotetag357"></a><a href="#footnote357"><sup>357</sup></a> The repeated complaints and +demands for reparation made to the Spanish ambassador +in London, and by Sir William Godolphin to the Spanish +Court, were answered by counter-complaints of outrages +committed by buccaneers who, though long ago disavowed +and declared pirates by the Governor of Jamaica, were +still charged by the Spaniards to the account of the English.<a id="footnotetag358" name="footnotetag358"></a><a href="#footnote358"><sup>358</sup></a> +Each return of the fleet from Porto Bello or Vera Cruz +brought with it English prisoners from Cartagena and +other Spanish fortresses, who were lodged in the dungeons +of Seville and often condemned to the galleys or to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208"></a>{208}</span> +quicksilver mines. The English ambassador sometimes +secured their release, but his efforts to obtain redress for +the loss of ships and goods received no satisfaction. The +Spanish Government, believing that Parliament was solicitous +of Spanish trade and would not supply Charles II. +with the necessary funds for a war,<a id="footnotetag359" name="footnotetag359"></a><a href="#footnote359"><sup>359</sup></a> would disburse nothing +in damages. It merely granted to the injured parties +despatches directed to the Governor of Havana, which +ordered him to restore the property in dispute unless it +was contraband goods. Godolphin realized that these +delays and excuses were only the prelude to an ultimate +denial of any reparation whatever, and wrote home to the +Secretary of State that "England ought rather to provide +against future injuries than to depend on satisfaction +here, till they have taught the Spaniards their own interest +in the West Indies by more efficient means than friendship."<a id="footnotetag360" name="footnotetag360"></a><a href="#footnote360"><sup>360</sup></a> +The aggrieved merchants and shipowners, often only +too well acquainted with the dilatory Spanish forms of procedure, +saw that redress at Havana was hopeless, and +petitioned Charles II. for letters of reprisal.<a id="footnotetag361" name="footnotetag361"></a><a href="#footnote361"><sup>361</sup></a> Sir Leoline +Jenkins, Judge of the Admiralty, however, in a report to +the king gave his opinion that although he saw little hope +of real reparation, the granting of reprisals was not justified +by law until the cases had been prosecuted at Havana +according to the queen-regent's orders.<a id="footnotetag362" name="footnotetag362"></a><a href="#footnote362"><sup>362</sup></a> This apparently +was never done, and some of the cases dragged on for +years without the petitioners ever receiving satisfaction.</p> + +<p>The excuse of the Spaniards for most of these seizures +was that the vessels contained logwood, a dyewood found +upon the coasts of Campeache, Honduras and Yucatan, +the cutting and removal of which was forbidden to any +but Spanish subjects. The occupation of cutting logwood +had sprung up among the English about ten years after +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>{209}</span> +the seizure of Jamaica. In 1670 Modyford writes that a +dozen vessels belonging to Port Royal were concerned in +this trade alone, and six months later he furnished a list +of thirty-two ships employed in logwood cutting, equipped +with seventy-four guns and 424 men.<a id="footnotetag363" name="footnotetag363"></a><a href="#footnote363"><sup>363</sup></a> The men engaged +in the business had most of them been privateers, and as +the regions in which they sought the precious wood were +entirely uninhabited by Spaniards, Modyford suggested +that the trade be encouraged as an outlet for the energies +of the buccaneers. By such means, he thought, these +"soldiery men" might be kept within peaceable bounds, +and yet be always ready to serve His Majesty in event of +any new rupture. When Sir Thomas Lynch replaced +Modyford, he realized that this logwood-cutting would +be resented by the Spaniards and might neutralize all +his efforts to effect a peace. He begged repeatedly for +directions from the council in England. "For God's sake," +he writes, "give your commands about the logwood."<a id="footnotetag364" name="footnotetag364"></a><a href="#footnote364"><sup>364</sup></a> In +the meantime, after consulting with Modyford, he decided +to connive at the business, but he compelled all who +brought the wood into Port Royal to swear that they +had not stolen it or done any violence to the Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag365" name="footnotetag365"></a><a href="#footnote365"><sup>365</sup></a> +Secretary Arlington wrote to the governor, in November +1671, to hold the matter over until he obtained the opinion +of the English ambassador at Madrid, especially as some +colour was lent to the pretensions of the logwood cutters +by the article of the peace of 1670 which confirmed the +English King in the possession and sovereignty of all +territory in America occupied by his subjects at that +date.<a id="footnotetag366" name="footnotetag366"></a><a href="#footnote366"><sup>366</sup></a> In May 1672 Ambassador Godolphin returned +his answer. "The wood," he writes, "is brought from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210"></a>{210}</span> +Yucatan, a large province of New Spain, about 100 leagues +in length, sufficiently peopled, having several great towns, +as Merida, Valladolid, San Francisco de Campeache, etc., +and the government one of the most considerable next to +Peru and Mexico.... So that Spain has as well too +much right as advantage not to assert the propriety of +these woods, for though not all inhabited, these people +may as justly pretend to make use of our rivers, mountains +and commons, as we can to enjoy any benefit to those +woods." So much for the strict justice of the matter. +But when the ambassador came to give his own opinion +on the trade, he advised that if the English confined +themselves to cutting wood alone, and in places remote +from Spanish settlements, the king might connive at, +although not authorize, their so doing.<a id="footnotetag367" name="footnotetag367"></a><a href="#footnote367"><sup>367</sup></a> Here was the +kernel of the whole matter. Spain was too weak and +impotent to take any serious revenge. So let us rob her +quietly but decently, keeping the theft out of her sight +and so sparing her feelings as much as possible. It was +the same piratical motive which animated Drake and +Hawkins, which impelled Morgan to sack Maracaibo and +Panama, and which, transferred to the dignified council +chambers of England, took on a more humane but less +romantic guise. On 8th October 1672, the Council for +the Plantations dispatched to Governor Lynch their +approval of his connivance at the business, but they +urged him to observe every care and prudence, to +countenance the cutting only in desolate and uninhabited +places, and to use every endeavour to prevent any just +complaints by the Spaniards of violence and depredation.<a id="footnotetag368" name="footnotetag368"></a><a href="#footnote368"><sup>368</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Spaniards nevertheless did, as we have seen, +engage in active reprisal, especially as they knew the +cutting of logwood to be but the preliminary step to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>{211}</span> +growth of English settlements upon the coasts of Yucatan +and Honduras, settlements, indeed, which later crystallized +into a British colony. The Queen-Regent of Spain sent +orders and instructions to her governors in the West Indies +to encourage privateers to take and punish as pirates all +English and French who robbed and carried away wood +within their jurisdictions; and three small frigates from +Biscay were sent to clear out the intruders.<a id="footnotetag369" name="footnotetag369"></a><a href="#footnote369"><sup>369</sup></a> The +buccaneer Yallahs, we have seen, was employed by the +Governor of Campeache to seize the logwood-cutters; and +although he surprised twelve or more vessels, the Governor +of Jamaica, not daring openly to avow the business, could +enter no complaint. On 3rd November 1672, however, +he was compelled to issue a proclamation ordering all +vessels sailing from Port Royal for the purpose of cutting +dye-wood to go in fleets of at least four as security against +surprise and capture. Under the governorship of Lord +Vaughan, and after him of Lord Carlisle, matters continued +in this same uncertain course, the English settlements +in Honduras gradually increasing in numbers and +vitality, and the Spaniards maintaining their right to take +all ships they found at sea laden with logwood, and +indeed, all English and French ships found upon their +coasts. Each of the English governors in turn had urged +that some equitable adjustment of the trade be made with +the Spanish Crown, if peace was to be preserved in the +Indies and the buccaneers finally suppressed; but the +Spaniards would agree to no accommodation, and in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212"></a>{212}</span> +March 1679 the king wrote to Lord Carlisle bidding him +discourage, as far as possible, the logwood-cutting in +Campeache or any other of the Spanish dominions, and +to try and induce the buccaneers to apply themselves to +planting instead.<a id="footnotetag370" name="footnotetag370"></a><a href="#footnote370"><sup>370</sup></a></p> + +<p>The reprisals of the Spaniards on the score of logwood-cutting +were not the only difficulties with which Lord +Vaughan as governor had to contend. From the day +of his landing in Jamaica he seems to have conceived a +violent dislike of his lieutenant, Sir Henry Morgan, and +this antagonism was embittered by Morgan's open or +secret sympathy with the privateers, a race with whom +Vaughan had nothing in common. The ship on which +Morgan had sailed from England, and which was cast +away upon the Isle la Vache, had contained the military +stores for Jamaica, most of which were lost in the wreck. +Morgan, contrary to Lord Vaughan's positive and written +orders, had sailed before him, and assumed the authority +in Jamaica a week before the arrival of the governor at +Port Royal. This the governor seems to have been unable +to forgive. He openly blamed Morgan for the +wreck and the loss of the stores; and only two months +after his coming to Jamaica, in May 1675, he wrote to +England that for the good of His Majesty's service he +thought Morgan ought to be removed, and the charge of +so useless an officer saved.<a id="footnotetag371" name="footnotetag371"></a><a href="#footnote371"><sup>371</sup></a> In September he wrote that +he was "every day more convinced of (Morgan's) imprudence +and unfitness to have anything to do in the Civil +Government, and of what hazards the island may run by +so dangerous a succession." Sir Henry, he continued, +had made himself and his authority so cheap at the Port, +drinking and gaming in the taverns, that the governor +intended to remove thither speedily himself for the reputation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213"></a>{213}</span> +of the island and the security of the place.<a id="footnotetag372" name="footnotetag372"></a><a href="#footnote372"><sup>372</sup></a> He recommended +that his predecessor, Sir Thomas Lynch, +whom he praises for "his prudent government and +conduct of affairs," be appointed his deputy instead of +Morgan in the event of the governor's death or absence.<a id="footnotetag373" name="footnotetag373"></a><a href="#footnote373"><sup>373</sup></a> +Lord Vaughan's chief grievance, however, was the +lieutenant-governor's secret encouragement of the +buccaneers. "What I most resent," he writes again, +"is ... that I find Sir Henry, contrary to his duty +and trust, endeavours to set up privateering, and has +obstructed all my designs and purposes for the reducing +of those that do use this course of life."<a id="footnotetag374" name="footnotetag374"></a><a href="#footnote374"><sup>374</sup></a> When he had +issued proclamations, the governor continued, declaring +as pirates all the buccaneers who refused to submit, Sir +Henry had encouraged the English freebooters to take +French commissions, had himself fitted them out for sea, +and had received authority from the French Governor of +Tortuga to collect the tenths on prize goods brought into +Jamaica under cover of these commissions. The quarrel +came to a head over the arrest and trial of a buccaneer +named John Deane, commander of the ship "St. David." +Deane was accused of having stopped a ship called the +"John Adventure," taken out several pipes of wine and +a cable worth £100, and forcibly carried the vessel to +Jamaica. He was also reported to be wearing Dutch, +French and Spanish colours without commission.<a id="footnotetag375" name="footnotetag375"></a><a href="#footnote375"><sup>375</sup></a> When +the "John Adventure" entered Port Royal it was seized +by the governor for landing goods without entry, contrary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214"></a>{214}</span> +to the Acts of Navigation, and on complaint of the +master of the vessel that he had been robbed by +Deane and other privateers, Sir Henry Morgan was +ordered to imprison the offenders. The lieutenant-governor, +however, seems rather to have encouraged them +to escape,<a id="footnotetag376" name="footnotetag376"></a><a href="#footnote376"><sup>376</sup></a> until Deane made so bold as to accuse the +governor of illegal seizure. Deane was in consequence +arrested by the governor, and on 27th April 1676, in a +Court of Admiralty presided over by Lord Vaughan as +vice-admiral, was tried and condemned to suffer death +as a pirate.<a id="footnotetag377" name="footnotetag377"></a><a href="#footnote377"><sup>377</sup></a> The proceedings, however, were not warranted +by legal practice, for according to statutes of the twenty-seventh +and twenty-eighth years of Henry VIII., pirates +might not be tried in an Admiralty Court, but only under +the Common Law of England by a Commission of Oyer +and Terminer under the great seal.<a id="footnotetag378" name="footnotetag378"></a><a href="#footnote378"><sup>378</sup></a> After obtaining an +opinion to this effect from the Judge of the Admiralty, +the English Council wrote to Lord Vaughan staying the +execution of Deane, and ordering a new trial to be held +under a proper commission about to be forwarded to him.<a id="footnotetag379" name="footnotetag379"></a><a href="#footnote379"><sup>379</sup></a> +The Governor of Jamaica, however, upon receiving a confession +from Deane and frequent petitions for pardon, +had reprieved the pirate a month before the letter from +the council reached him.<a id="footnotetag380" name="footnotetag380"></a><a href="#footnote380"><sup>380</sup></a> The incident had good effect +in persuading the freebooters to come in, and that result +assured, the governor could afford to bend to popular +clamour in favour of the culprit. In the latter part of +1677 a standing commission of Oyer and Terminer for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215"></a>{215}</span> +trial of pirates in Jamaica was prepared by the attorney-general +and sent to the colony.<a id="footnotetag381" name="footnotetag381"></a><a href="#footnote381"><sup>381</sup></a></p> + +<p>After the trial of Deane, the lieutenant-governor, +according to Lord Vaughan, had openly expressed himself, +both in the taverns and in his own house, in vindication of +the condemned man and in disparagement of Vaughan +himself.<a id="footnotetag382" name="footnotetag382"></a><a href="#footnote382"><sup>382</sup></a> The quarrel hung fire, however, until on 24th +July when the governor, in obedience to orders from +England,<a id="footnotetag383" name="footnotetag383"></a><a href="#footnote383"><sup>383</sup></a> cited Morgan and his brother-in-law, Colonel +Byndloss, to appear before the council. Against Morgan +he brought formal charges of using the governor's name +and authority without his orders in letters written to the +captains of the privateers, and Byndloss he accused of +unlawfully holding a commission from a foreign governor +to collect the tenths on condemned prize goods.<a id="footnotetag384" name="footnotetag384"></a><a href="#footnote384"><sup>384</sup></a> Morgan +in his defence to Secretary Coventry flatly denied the +charges, and denounced the letters written to the privateers +as forgeries; and Byndloss declared his readiness "to go in +this frigate with a tender of six or eight guns and so to +deal with the privateers at sea, and in their holes (<i>sic</i>) +bring in the chief of them to His Majesty's obedience or +bring in their heads and destroy their ships."<a id="footnotetag385" name="footnotetag385"></a><a href="#footnote385"><sup>385</sup></a> There +seems to be little doubt that letters were written by +Morgan to certain privateers soon after his arrival in +Jamaica, offering them, in the name of the governor, favour +and protection in Port Royal. Copies of these letters, +indeed, still exist;<a id="footnotetag386" name="footnotetag386"></a><a href="#footnote386"><sup>386</sup></a> but whether they were actually used +is not so certain. Charles Barre, secretary to Sir Henry +Morgan, confessed that such letters had been written, but +with the understanding that the governor lent them his +approval, and that when this was denied Sir Henry +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216"></a>{216}</span> +refused to send them.<a id="footnotetag387" name="footnotetag387"></a><a href="#footnote387"><sup>387</sup></a> It is natural to suppose that +Morgan should feel a bond of sympathy with his old companions +in the buccaneer trade, and it is probable that in +1675, in the first enthusiasm of his return to Jamaica, +having behind him the openly-expressed approbation of +the English Court for what he had done in the past, and +feeling uncertain, perhaps, as to Lord Vaughan's real +attitude toward the sea-rovers, Morgan should have done +some things inconsistent with the policy of stern suppression +pursued by the government. It is even likely that he +was indiscreet in some of his expressions regarding the +governor and his actions. His bluff, unconventional, easygoing +manners, natural to men brought up in new countries +and intensified by his early association with the buccaneers, +may have been distasteful to a courtier accustomed to the +urbanities of Whitehall. It is also clear, however, that +Lord Vaughan from the first conceived a violent prejudice +against his lieutenant, and allowed this prejudice to colour +the interpretation he put upon all of Sir Henry's actions. +And it is rather significant that although the particulars of +the dispute and of the examination before the Council of +Jamaica were sent to the Privy Council in England, the +latter body did not see fit to remove Morgan from his post +until six years later.</p> + +<p>As in the case of Modyford and Lynch, so with Lord +Vaughan, the thorn in his side was the French colony on +Hispaniola and Tortuga. The English buccaneers who +would not come in under the proclamation of pardon +published at Port Royal, still continued to range the seas +with French commissions, and carried their prizes into +French ports. The governor protested to M. d'Ogeron +and to his successor, M. de Pouançay, declaring that any +English vessels or subjects caught with commissions +against the Spaniards would be treated as pirates and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217"></a>{217}</span> +rebels; and in December 1675, in compliance with the +king's orders of the previous August, he issued a public +proclamation to that effect.<a id="footnotetag388" name="footnotetag388"></a><a href="#footnote388"><sup>388</sup></a> In April 1677 an act was +passed by the assembly, declaring it felony for any +English subject belonging to the island to serve under a +foreign prince or state without licence under the hand and +seal of the governor;<a id="footnotetag389" name="footnotetag389"></a><a href="#footnote389"><sup>389</sup></a> and in the following July the +council ordered another proclamation to be issued, offering +ample pardon to all men in foreign service who should +come in within twelve months to claim the benefit of the +act.<a id="footnotetag390" name="footnotetag390"></a><a href="#footnote390"><sup>390</sup></a> These measures seem to have been fairly successful, +for on 1st August Peter Beckford, Clerk of the Council in +Jamaica, wrote to Secretary Williamson that since the +passing of the law at least 300 privateers had come in and +submitted, and that few men would now venture their +lives to serve the French.<a id="footnotetag391" name="footnotetag391"></a><a href="#footnote391"><sup>391</sup></a></p> + +<p>Even with the success of this act, however, the path of +the governor was not all roses. Buccaneering had always +been so much a part of the life of the colony that it was +difficult to stamp it out entirely. Runaway servants and +others from the island frequently recruited the ranks of the +freebooters; members of the assembly, and even of the +council, were interested in privateering ventures; and as +the governor was without a sufficient naval force to deal +with the offenders independently of the council and +assembly, he often found his efforts fruitless. In the +early part of 1677 a Scotchman, named James Browne, +with a commission from M. d'Ogeron and a mixed crew of +English, Dutch and French, seized a Dutch ship trading in +negroes off the coast of Cartagena, killed the Dutch +captain and several of his men, and landed the negroes, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218"></a>{218}</span> +about 150 in number, in a remote bay of Jamaica. Lord +Vaughan sent a frigate which seized about 100 of the +negroes, and when Browne and his crew fell into the +governor's hands he had them all tried and condemned for +piracy. Browne was ordered to be executed, but his men, +eight in number, were pardoned. The captain petitioned +the assembly to have the benefit of the Act of Privateers, +and the House twice sent a committee to the governor to +endeavour to obtain a reprieve. Lord Vaughan, however, +refused to listen and gave orders for immediate execution. +Half an hour after the hanging, the provost-marshal +appeared with an order signed by the speaker to observe +the Chief-Justice's writ of Habeas Corpus, whereupon +Vaughan, resenting the action, immediately dissolved the +Assembly.<a id="footnotetag392" name="footnotetag392"></a><a href="#footnote392"><sup>392</sup></a></p> + +<p>The French colony on Hispaniola was an object of +concern to the Jamaicans, not only because it served as a +refuge for privateers from Port Royal, but also because it +threatened soon to overwhelm the old Spanish colony and +absorb the whole island. Under the conciliatory, opportunist +regime of M. d'Ogeron, the French settlements in +the west of the island had grown steadily in number and +size;<a id="footnotetag393" name="footnotetag393"></a><a href="#footnote393"><sup>393</sup></a> while the old Spanish towns seemed every year to +become weaker and more open to attack. D'Ogeron, who +died in France in 1675, had kept always before him the +project of capturing the Spanish capital, San Domingo; +but he was too weak to accomplish so great a design +without aid from home, and this was never vouchsafed +him. His policy, however, was continued by his nephew +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219"></a>{219}</span> +and successor, M. de Pouançay, and every defection from +Jamaica seemed so much assistance to the French to +accomplish their ambition. Yet it was manifestly to the +English interest in the West Indies not to permit the +French to obtain a pre-eminence there. The Spanish +colonies were large in area, thinly populated, and ill-supported +by the home government, so that they were not +likely to be a serious menace to the English islands. +With their great wealth and resources, moreover, they had +few manufactures and offered a tempting field for exploitation +by English merchants. The French colonies, on the +other hand, were easily supplied with merchandise from +France, and in event of a war would prove more dangerous +as neighbours than the Spaniards. To allow the French to +become lords of San Domingo would have been to give +them an undisputed predominance in the West Indies and +make them masters of the neighbouring seas.</p> + +<p>In the second war of conquest waged by Louis XIV. +against Holland, the French in the West Indies found the +buccaneers to be useful allies, but as usually happened at +such times, the Spaniards paid the bill. In the spring of +1677 five or six English privateers surprised the town of +Santa Marta on the Spanish Main. According to the +reports brought to Jamaica, the governor and the bishop, +in order to save the town from being burnt, agreed with +the marauders for a ransom; but the Governor of +Cartagena, instead of contributing with pieces of eight, +despatched a force of 500 men by land and three vessels by +sea to drive out the invaders. The Spanish troops, however, +were easily defeated, and the ships, seeing the French +colours waving over the fort and the town, sailed back to +Cartagena. The privateers carried away the governor and +the bishop and came to Jamaica in July. The plunder +amounted to only £20 per man. The English in the +party, about 100 in number and led by Captains Barnes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220"></a>{220}</span> +and Coxon, submitted at Port Royal under the terms of +the Act against Privateers, and delivered up the Bishop of +Santa Marta to Lord Vaughan. Vaughan took care to +lodge the bishop well, and hired a vessel to send him to +Cartagena, at which "the good old man was exceedingly +pleased." He also endeavoured to obtain the custody of +the Spanish governor and other prisoners, but without +success, "the French being obstinate and damnably +enraged the English had left them" and submitted to +Lord Vaughan.<a id="footnotetag394" name="footnotetag394"></a><a href="#footnote394"><sup>394</sup></a></p> + +<p>In the beginning of the following year, 1678, Count +d'Estrées, Vice-Admiral of the French fleet in the West +Indies, was preparing a powerful armament to go against +the Dutch on Curaçao, and sent two frigates to Hispaniola +with an order from the king to M. de Pouançay to join him +with 1200 buccaneers. De Pouançay assembled the men at +Cap François, and embarking on the frigates and on some +filibustering ships in the road, sailed for St. Kitts. There +he was joined by a squadron of fifteen or more men-of-war +from Martinique under command of Count d'Estrées. The +united fleet of over thirty vessels sailed for Curaçao on 7th +May, but on the fourth day following, at about eight +o'clock in the evening, was wrecked upon some coral reefs +near the Isle d'Aves.<a id="footnotetag395" name="footnotetag395"></a><a href="#footnote395"><sup>395</sup></a> As the French pilots had been at +odds among themselves as to the exact position of the +fleet, the admiral had taken the precaution to send a +fire-ship and three buccaneering vessels several miles in +advance of the rest of the squadron. Unfortunately these +scouts drew too little water and passed over the reefs +without touching them. A buccaneer was the first to +strike and fired three shots to warn the admiral, who at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221"></a>{221}</span> +once lighted fires and discharged cannon to keep off the +rest of the ships. The latter, however, mistaking the +signals, crowded on sail, and soon most of the fleet were on +the reefs. Those of the left wing, warned in time by a +shallop from the flag-ship, succeeded in veering off. The +rescue of the crews was slow, for the seas were heavy and +the boats approached the doomed ships with difficulty. +Many sailors and marines were drowned, and seven men-of-war, +besides several buccaneering ships, were lost on the +rocks. Count d'Estrées himself escaped, and sailed with +the remnant of his squadron to Petit Goave and Cap +François in Hispaniola, whence on 18th June he departed +for France.<a id="footnotetag396" name="footnotetag396"></a><a href="#footnote396"><sup>396</sup></a></p> + +<p>The buccaneers were accused in the reports which +reached Barbadoes of deserting the admiral after the +accident, and thus preventing the reduction of Curaçao, +which d'Estrées would have undertaken in spite of the +shipwreck.<a id="footnotetag397" name="footnotetag397"></a><a href="#footnote397"><sup>397</sup></a> However this may be, one of the principal +buccaneer leaders, named de Grammont, was left by de +Pouançay at the Isle d'Aves to recover what he could from +the wreck, and to repair some of the privateering vessels.<a id="footnotetag398" name="footnotetag398"></a><a href="#footnote398"><sup>398</sup></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222"></a>{222}</span> +When he had accomplished this, finding himself short of +provisions, he sailed with about 700 men to make a descent +on Maracaibo; and after spending six months in the lake, +seizing the shipping and plundering all the settlements in +that region, he re-embarked in the middle of December. +The booty is said to have been very small.<a id="footnotetag399" name="footnotetag399"></a><a href="#footnote399"><sup>399</sup></a> Early in the +same year the Marquis de Maintenon, commanding the +frigate "La Sorcière," and aided by some French +filibusters from Tortuga, was on the coast of Caracas, +where he ravaged the islands of Margarita and Trinidad. +He had arrived in the West Indies from France in the +latter part of 1676, and when he sailed from Tortuga +was at the head of 700 or 800 men. His squadron met +with little success, however, and soon scattered.<a id="footnotetag400" name="footnotetag400"></a><a href="#footnote400"><sup>400</sup></a> Other +bands of filibusters pillaged Campeache, Puerto Principe in +Cuba, Santo Tomas on the Orinoco, and Truxillo in the +province of Honduras; and de Pouançay, to console the +buccaneers for their losses at the Isle d'Aves, sent 800 men +under the Sieur de Franquesnay to make a descent upon +St. Jago de Cuba, but the expedition seems to have been a +failure.<a id="footnotetag401" name="footnotetag401"></a><a href="#footnote401"><sup>401</sup></a></p> + +<p>On 1st March 1678 a commission was again issued to +the Earl of Carlisle, appointing him governor of Jamaica.<a id="footnotetag402" name="footnotetag402"></a><a href="#footnote402"><sup>402</sup></a> +Carlisle arrived in his new government on 18th July,<a id="footnotetag403" name="footnotetag403"></a><a href="#footnote403"><sup>403</sup></a> but +Lord Vaughan, apparently because of ill-health, had +already sailed for England at the end of March, leaving +Sir Henry Morgan, who retained his place under the new +governor, deputy in his absence.<a id="footnotetag404" name="footnotetag404"></a><a href="#footnote404"><sup>404</sup></a> Lord Carlisle, immediately +upon his arrival, invited the privateers to come in +and encouraged them to stay, hoping, according to his own +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223"></a>{223}</span> +account, to be able to wean them from their familiar +courses, and perhaps to use them in the threatened war +with France, for the island then had "not above 4000 +whites able to bear arms, a secret not fit to be made +public."<a id="footnotetag405" name="footnotetag405"></a><a href="#footnote405"><sup>405</sup></a> If the governor was sincere in his intentions, +the results must have been a bitter disappointment. +Some of the buccaneers came in, others +persevered in the old trade, and even those who returned +abused the pardon they had received. In the autumn +of 1679, several privateering vessels under command of +Captains Coxon, Sharp and others who had come back +to Jamaica, made a raid in the Gulf of Honduras, +plundered the royal storehouses there, carried off 500 +chests of indigo,<a id="footnotetag406" name="footnotetag406"></a><a href="#footnote406"><sup>406</sup></a> besides cocoa, cochineal, tortoiseshell, +money and plate, and returned with their plunder to +Jamaica. Not knowing what their reception might be, one +of the vessels landed her cargo of indigo in an unfrequented +spot on the coast, and the rest sent word that unless they +were allowed to bring their booty to Port Royal and pay +the customs duty, they would sail to Rhode Island or to +one of the Dutch plantations. The governor had taken +security for good behaviour from some of the captains +before they sailed from Jamaica; yet in spite of this they +were permitted to enter the indigo at the custom house +and divide it in broad daylight; and the frigate "Success" +was ordered to coast round Jamaica in search of other +privateers who failed to come in and pay duty on their +plunder at Port Royal. The glut of indigo in Jamaica disturbed +trade considerably, and for a time the imported +product took the place of native sugar and indigo as a +medium of exchange. Manufacture on the island was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id="page224"></a>{224}</span> +hindered, prices were lowered, and only the king's +customs received any actual benefit.<a id="footnotetag407" name="footnotetag407"></a><a href="#footnote407"><sup>407</sup></a></p> + +<p>These same privateers, however, were soon out upon a +much larger design. Six captains, Sharp, Coxon, Essex, +Allison, Row, and Maggott, in four barques and two +sloops, met at Point Morant in December 1679, and on +7th January set sail for Porto Bello. They were scattered +by a terrible storm, but all eventually reached their +rendezvous in safety. There they picked up another +barque commanded by Captain Cooke, who had sailed +from Jamaica on the same design, and likewise a French +privateering vessel commanded by Captain Lessone. They +set out for Porto Bello in canoes with over 300 men, and +landing twenty leagues from the town, marched for four days +along the seaside toward the city. Coming to an Indian +village about three miles from Porto Bello, they were discovered +by the natives, and one of the Indians ran to the +city, crying, "Ladrones! ladrones!" The buccaneers, +although "many of them were weak, being three days +without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for +want of shoes," made all speed for the town, which they +entered without difficulty on 17th February 1680. Most +of the inhabitants sought refuge in the castle, whence they +made a counter-attack without success upon the invaders. +On the evening of the following day, the buccaneers retreated +with their prisoners and booty down to a cay or +small island about three and a half leagues from Porto +Bello, where they were joined by their ships. They had +just left in time to avoid a force of some 700 Spanish +troops who were sent from Panama and arrived the day +after the buccaneers departed. After capturing two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225"></a>{225}</span> +Spanish vessels bound for Porto Bello with provisions from +Cartagena, they divided the plunder, of which each man +received 100 pieces of eight, and departed for Boca del +Toro some fifty leagues to the north. There they careened +and provisioned, and being joined by two other Jamaican +privateers commanded by Sawkins and Harris, sailed for +Golden Island, whence on 5th April 1680, with 334 men, +they began their march across the Isthmus of Darien to the +coasts of Panama and the South Seas.<a id="footnotetag408" name="footnotetag408"></a><a href="#footnote408"><sup>408</sup></a></p> + +<p>Lord Carlisle cannot escape the charge of culpable +negligence for having permitted these vessels in the first +place to leave Jamaica. All the leaders in the expedition +were notorious privateers, men who had repeatedly been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226"></a>{226}</span> +concerned in piratical outrages against the Dutch and +Spaniards. Coxon and Harris had both come in after +taking part in the expedition against Santa Marta; +Sawkins had been caught with his vessel by the frigate +"Success" and sent to Port Royal, where on 1st December +1679 he seems to have been in prison awaiting trial;<a id="footnotetag410" name="footnotetag410"></a><a href="#footnote410"><sup>410</sup></a> +while Essex had been brought in by another frigate, the +"Hunter," in November, and tried with twenty of his crew +for plundering on the Jamaican coast, two of his men +being sentenced to death.<a id="footnotetag411" name="footnotetag411"></a><a href="#footnote411"><sup>411</sup></a> The buccaneers themselves +declared that they had sailed with permission from Lord +Carlisle to cut logwood.<a id="footnotetag412" name="footnotetag412"></a><a href="#footnote412"><sup>412</sup></a> This was very likely true; yet +after the exactly similar ruse of these men when they +went to Honduras, the governor could not have failed to +suspect their real intentions.</p> + +<p>At the end of May 1680 Lord Carlisle suddenly +departed for England in the frigate "Hunter," leaving +Morgan again in charge as lieutenant-governor.<a id="footnotetag413" name="footnotetag413"></a><a href="#footnote413"><sup>413</sup></a> On his +passage home the governor met with Captain Coxon, who, +having quarrelled with his companions in the Pacific, had +returned across Darien to the West Indies and was again +hanging about the shores of Jamaica. The "Hunter" +gave chase for twenty-four hours, but being outsailed was +content to take two small vessels in the company of Coxon +which had been deserted by their crews.<a id="footnotetag414" name="footnotetag414"></a><a href="#footnote414"><sup>414</sup></a> In England +Samuel Long, whom the governor had suspended from +the council and dismissed from his post as chief justice +of the colony for his opposition to the new Constitution, +accused the governor before the Privy Council of collusion +with pirates and encouraging them to bring their plunder +to Jamaica. The charges were doubtless conceived in a +spirit of revenge; nevertheless the two years during +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227"></a>{227}</span> +which Carlisle was in Jamaica were marked by an increased +activity among the freebooters, and by a lukewarmness +and negligence on the part of the government, for +which Carlisle alone must be held responsible. To accuse +him of deliberately supporting and encouraging the +buccaneers, however, may be going too far. Sir Henry +Morgan, during his tenure of the chief command of the +island, showed himself very zealous in the pursuit of the +pirates, and sincerely anxious to bring them to justice; +and as Carlisle and Morgan always worked together in +perfect harmony, we may be justified in believing that +Carlisle's mistakes were those of negligence rather than +of connivance. The freebooters who brought goods into +Jamaica increased the revenues of the island, and a +governor whose income was small and tastes extravagant, +was not apt to be too inquisitive about the source of the +articles which entered through the customs. There is +evidence, moreover, that French privateers, being unable to +obtain from the merchants on the coast of San Domingo +the cables, anchors, tar and other naval stores necessary for +their armaments, were compelled to resort to other islands +to buy them, and that Jamaica came in for a share of this +trade. Provisions, too, were more plentiful at Port Royal +than in the <i>cul-de-sac</i> of Hispaniola, and the French governors +complained to the king that the filibusters carried +most of their money to foreign plantations to exchange for +these commodities. Such French vessels if they came to +Jamaica were not strictly within the scope of the laws +against piracy which had been passed by the assembly, +and their visits were the more welcome as they paid +for their goods promptly and liberally in good Spanish +doubloons.<a id="footnotetag415" name="footnotetag415"></a><a href="#footnote415"><sup>415</sup></a></p> + +<p>A general warrant for the apprehension of Coxon, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228"></a>{228}</span> +Sharp and the other men who had plundered Porto Bello +had been issued by Lord Carlisle in May 1680, just before +his departure for England. On 1st July a similar warrant +was issued by Morgan, and five days later a proclamation +was published against all persons who should hold any +correspondence whatever with the outlawed crews.<a id="footnotetag416" name="footnotetag416"></a><a href="#footnote416"><sup>416</sup></a> Three +men who had taken part in the expedition were captured +and clapped into prison until the next meeting of the +court. The friends of Coxon, however, including, it seems, +almost all the members of the council, offered to give +£2000 security, if he was allowed to come to Port Royal, +that he would never take another commission except from +the King of England; and Morgan wrote to Carlisle seeking +his approbation.<a id="footnotetag417" name="footnotetag417"></a><a href="#footnote417"><sup>417</sup></a> At the end of the following January +Morgan received word that a notorious Dutch privateer, +named Jacob Everson, commanding an armed sloop, was +anchored on the coast with a brigantine which he had +lately captured. The lieutenant-governor manned a small +vessel with fifty picked men and sent it secretly at midnight +to seize the pirate. Everson's sloop was boarded and +captured with twenty-six prisoners, but Everson himself +and several others escaped by jumping overboard and +swimming to the shore. The prisoners, most of whom +were English, were tried six weeks later, convicted of +piracy and sentenced to death; but the lieutenant-governor +suspended the execution and wrote to the king for instructions. +On 16th June 1681, the king in council ordered +the execution of the condemned men.<a id="footnotetag418" name="footnotetag418"></a><a href="#footnote418"><sup>418</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229"></a>{229}</span> + +<p>The buccaneers who, after plundering Porto Bello, +crossed the Isthmus of Darien to the South Seas, had a +remarkable history. For eighteen months they cruised up +and down the Pacific coast of South America, burning and +plundering Spanish towns, giving and taking hard blows +with equal courage, keeping the Spanish provinces of +Equador, Peru and Chili in a fever of apprehension, finally +sailing the difficult passage round Cape Horn, and returning +to the Windward Islands in January of 1682. Touching +at the island of Barbadoes, they learned that the English +frigate "Richmond" was lying in the road, and fearing +seizure they sailed on to Antigua. There the governor, +Colonel Codrington, refused to give them leave to enter +the harbour. So the party, impatient of their dangerous +situation, determined to separate, some landing on Antigua, +and Sharp and sixteen others going to Nevis where they +obtained passage to England. On their arrival in England +several, including Sharp, were arrested at the instance of +the Spanish ambassador, and tried for committing piracy +in the South Seas; but from the defectiveness of the +evidence produced they escaped conviction.<a id="footnotetag419" name="footnotetag419"></a><a href="#footnote419"><sup>419</sup></a> Four of the +party came to Jamaica, where they were apprehended, +tried and condemned. One of the four, who had given +himself up voluntarily, turned State's evidence; two were +represented by the judges as fit objects of the king's +mercy; and the other, "a bloody and notorious villein," +was recommended to be executed as an example to the +rest.<a id="footnotetag420" name="footnotetag420"></a><a href="#footnote420"><sup>420</sup></a></p> + +<p>The recrudescence of piratical activity between the +years 1679 and 1682 had, through its evil effects, been +strongly felt in Jamaica; and public opinion was now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230"></a>{230}</span> +gradually changing from one of encouragement and +welcome to the privateers and of secret or open opposition +to the efforts of the governors who tried to suppress them, +to one of distinct hostility to the old freebooters. The +inhabitants were beginning to realize that in the encouragement +of planting, and not of buccaneering, lay the permanent +welfare of the island. Planting and buccaneering, side by +side, were inconsistent and incompatible, and the colonists +chose the better course of the two. In spite of the frequent +trials and executions at Port Royal, the marauders seemed +to be as numerous as ever, and even more troublesome. +Private trade with the Spaniards was hindered; runaway +servants, debtors and other men of unfortunate or desperate +condition were still, by every new success of the buccaneers, +drawn from the island to swell their ranks; and most of +all, men who were now outlawed in Jamaica, driven to +desperation turned pirate altogether, and began to wage +war indiscriminately on the ships of all nationalities, +including those of the English. Morgan repeatedly wrote +home urging the dispatch of small frigates of light draught +to coast round the island and surprise the freebooters, and +he begged for orders for himself to go on board and command +them, for "then I shall not much question," he +concludes, "to reduce them or in some time to leave them +shipless."<a id="footnotetag421" name="footnotetag421"></a><a href="#footnote421"><sup>421</sup></a> "The governor," wrote the Council of Jamaica +to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in May 1680, "can +do little from want of ships to reduce the privateers, and of +plain laws to punish them"; and they urged the ratification +of the Act passed by the assembly two years before, +making it felony for any British subject in the West +Indies to serve under a foreign prince without leave from +the governor.<a id="footnotetag422" name="footnotetag422"></a><a href="#footnote422"><sup>422</sup></a> This Act, and another for the more effectual +punishment of pirates, had been under consideration in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231"></a>{231}</span> +Privy Council in February 1678, and both were returned +to Jamaica with certain slight amendments. They were +again passed by the assembly as one Act in 1681, and +were finally incorporated into the Jamaica Act of 1683 +"for the restraining and punishing of privateers and +pirates."<a id="footnotetag423" name="footnotetag423"></a><a href="#footnote423"><sup>423</sup></a></p> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote332" name="footnote332"></a><b>Footnote 332: </b><a href="#footnotetag332">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 367.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote333" name="footnote333"></a><b>Footnote 333: </b><a href="#footnotetag333">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 604, 608, 729; Beeston's Journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote334" name="footnote334"></a><b>Footnote 334: </b><a href="#footnotetag334">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 552, 602.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote335" name="footnote335"></a><b>Footnote 335: </b><a href="#footnotetag335">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 608, 633.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote336" name="footnote336"></a><b>Footnote 336: </b><a href="#footnotetag336">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 604.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote337" name="footnote337"></a><b>Footnote 337: </b><a href="#footnotetag337">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 638, 640, 663, 697. This may be the +Diego Grillo to whom Duro (<i>op. cit.</i>, V. p. 180) refers—a native +of Havana commanding a vessel of fifteen guns. He defeated successively +in the Bahama Channel three armed ships sent out to take him, and in all +of them he massacred without exception the Spaniards of European birth. +He was captured in 1673 and suffered the fate he had meted out to his +victims.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote338" name="footnote338"></a><b>Footnote 338: </b><a href="#footnotetag338">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 697, 709, 742, 883, 944.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote339" name="footnote339"></a><b>Footnote 339: </b><a href="#footnotetag339">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 733, 742, 796.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote340" name="footnote340"></a><b>Footnote 340: </b><a href="#footnotetag340">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 729.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote341" name="footnote341"></a><b>Footnote 341: </b><a href="#footnotetag341">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 742, 777, 785, 789, 794, 796.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote342" name="footnote342"></a><b>Footnote 342: </b><a href="#footnotetag342">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 742, 945, 1042.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote343" name="footnote343"></a><b>Footnote 343: </b><a href="#footnotetag343">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 733, 742, 779, 796, 820, 1022.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote344" name="footnote344"></a><b>Footnote 344: </b><a href="#footnotetag344">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 650, 663, 697. Seventeen months later, +after the outbreak of the Dutch war, the Jamaicans had a similar scare +over an expected invasion of the Dutch and Spaniards, but this, too, was +dissolved by time into thin air. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 887, +1047, 1055, 1062). In this connection, <i>cf.</i> Egerton MSS., 2375, f. +491:—Letter written by the Governor of Cumana to the Duke of Veragua, +1673, seeking his influence with the Council of the Indies to have the +Governor of Margarita send against Jamaica 1500 or 2000 Indians, "guay +quies," as they are valient bowmen, seamen and +divers.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote345" name="footnote345"></a><b>Footnote 345: </b><a href="#footnotetag345">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 697, 789, 794, 900, 911; Beeston's +Journal.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote346" name="footnote346"></a><b>Footnote 346: </b><a href="#footnotetag346">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 697, 789.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote347" name="footnote347"></a><b>Footnote 347: </b><a href="#footnotetag347">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1212, 1251-5.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote348" name="footnote348"></a><b>Footnote 348: </b><a href="#footnotetag348">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1259, <i>cf.</i> also 1374, 1385, 1394.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote349" name="footnote349"></a><b>Footnote 349: </b><a href="#footnotetag349">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1379.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote350" name="footnote350"></a><b>Footnote 350: </b><a href="#footnotetag350">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1675-76, Nos. 458, 467, 484, 521, 525, 566.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote351" name="footnote351"></a><b>Footnote 351: </b><a href="#footnotetag351">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 63, f. 56.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote352" name="footnote352"></a><b>Footnote 352: </b><a href="#footnotetag352">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1389; <i>ibid.</i> 1675-76, +No. 564; Add. MSS., 36,330, No. 28.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote353" name="footnote353"></a><b>Footnote 353: </b><a href="#footnotetag353">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 888, 940.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote354" name="footnote354"></a><b>Footnote 354: </b><a href="#footnotetag354">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 1178, 1180, 1226; +<i>ibid.</i>, 1675-76, No. 579.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote355" name="footnote355"></a><b>Footnote 355: </b><a href="#footnotetag355">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1669-74, No. 1423; <i>ibid.</i>, 1675-76, No. 707.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote356" name="footnote356"></a><b>Footnote 356: </b><a href="#footnotetag356">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1675-76, No. 520.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote357" name="footnote357"></a><b>Footnote 357: </b><a href="#footnotetag357">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote358" name="footnote358"></a><b>Footnote 358: </b><a href="#footnotetag358">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1669-74, Nos. 1335, 1351, 1424; S.P. Spain, +vols. 60, 62, 63.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote359" name="footnote359"></a><b>Footnote 359: </b><a href="#footnotetag359">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 643.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote360" name="footnote360"></a><b>Footnote 360: </b><a href="#footnotetag360">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 639-643.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote361" name="footnote361"></a><b>Footnote 361: </b><a href="#footnotetag361">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 633-635, 729.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote362" name="footnote362"></a><b>Footnote 362: </b><a href="#footnotetag362">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 693, 719, 720.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote363" name="footnote363"></a><b>Footnote 363: </b><a href="#footnotetag363">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 310, 704, iv. It was a very profitable +business for the wood then sold at £25 or £30 a ton. For a description of +the life of the logwood-cutters <i>cf.</i> Dampier, Voyages, <i>ed.</i> 1906, ii. pp. +155-56. 178-79, 181 <i>ff.</i></p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote364" name="footnote364"></a><b>Footnote 364: </b><a href="#footnotetag364">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 580.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote365" name="footnote365"></a><b>Footnote 365: </b><a href="#footnotetag365">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 587, 638.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote366" name="footnote366"></a><b>Footnote 366: </b><a href="#footnotetag366">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 777, 786.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote367" name="footnote367"></a><b>Footnote 367: </b><a href="#footnotetag367">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74. No. 825.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote368" name="footnote368"></a><b>Footnote 368: </b><a href="#footnotetag368">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 819, 943.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote369" name="footnote369"></a><b>Footnote 369: </b><a href="#footnotetag369">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 954, 1389. Fernandez Duro (t.v., p. 181) mentions a +Spanish ordinance of 22nd February 1674, which authorized Spanish corsairs +to go out in the pursuit and punishment of pirates. Periaguas, or large flat-bottomed +canoes, were to be constructed for use in shoal waters. They were +to be 90 feet long and from 16 to 18 feet wide, with a draught of only 4 or 5 +feet, and were to be provided with a long gun in the bow and four smaller +pieces in the stern. They were to be propelled by both oars and sails, and +were to carry 120 men.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote370" name="footnote370"></a><b>Footnote 370: </b><a href="#footnotetag370">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 950, 1094; Beeston's Journal, Aug. 1679.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote371" name="footnote371"></a><b>Footnote 371: </b><a href="#footnotetag371">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1675-76, No. 566.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote372" name="footnote372"></a><b>Footnote 372: </b><a href="#footnotetag372">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 673.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote373" name="footnote373"></a><b>Footnote 373: </b><a href="#footnotetag373">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 526. In significant contrast to Lord Vaughan's praise of +Lynch, Sir Henry Morgan, who could have little love for the man who had +shipped him and Modyford as prisoners to England, filled the ears of Secretary +Williamson with veiled accusations against Lynch of having tampered with +the revenues and neglected the defences of the island. (<i>Ibid.</i>, No. 521.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote374" name="footnote374"></a><b>Footnote 374: </b><a href="#footnotetag374">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 912. In testimony of Lord Vaughan's +straightforward policy toward buccaneering, <i>cf.</i> Beeston's +Journal, June 1676.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote375" name="footnote375"></a><b>Footnote 375: </b><a href="#footnotetag375">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 988.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote376" name="footnote376"></a><b>Footnote 376: </b><a href="#footnotetag376">(return)</a><p>Leeds MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm., XI. pt. 7, p. 13)—Depositions in which +Sir Henry Morgan is represented as endeavouring to hush up the matter, +saying "the privateers were poore, honest fellows," to which the plundered +captain replied "that he had not found them soe."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote377" name="footnote377"></a><b>Footnote 377: </b><a href="#footnotetag377">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76; Nos. 860, 913.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote378" name="footnote378"></a><b>Footnote 378: </b><a href="#footnotetag378">(return)</a><p>Statutes at Large, vol. ii. (Lond. 1786), pp. 210, 247.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote379" name="footnote379"></a><b>Footnote 379: </b><a href="#footnotetag379">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76; Nos. 993-995, 1001.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote380" name="footnote380"></a><b>Footnote 380: </b><a href="#footnotetag380">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1093.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote381" name="footnote381"></a><b>Footnote 381: </b><a href="#footnotetag381">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 500, 508.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote382" name="footnote382"></a><b>Footnote 382: </b><a href="#footnotetag382">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1675-76, No. 916.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote383" name="footnote383"></a><b>Footnote 383: </b><a href="#footnotetag383">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1126.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote384" name="footnote384"></a><b>Footnote 384: </b><a href="#footnotetag384">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 998, 1006.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote385" name="footnote385"></a><b>Footnote 385: </b><a href="#footnotetag385">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1129.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote386" name="footnote386"></a><b>Footnote 386: </b><a href="#footnotetag386">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1129 (vii., viii.); <i>cf.</i> also No. 657.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote387" name="footnote387"></a><b>Footnote 387: </b><a href="#footnotetag387">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 1129 (xiv., xvii.).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote388" name="footnote388"></a><b>Footnote 388: </b><a href="#footnotetag388">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Nos. 656, 741.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote389" name="footnote389"></a><b>Footnote 389: </b><a href="#footnotetag389">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1677-80, No. 313; <i>cf.</i> also Nos. 478, 486.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote390" name="footnote390"></a><b>Footnote 390: </b><a href="#footnotetag390">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 368. A similar proclamation was issued +in May 1681; <i>cf.</i> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1681-85, No. 102.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote391" name="footnote391"></a><b>Footnote 391: </b><a href="#footnotetag391">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 375.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote392" name="footnote392"></a><b>Footnote 392: </b><a href="#footnotetag392">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 243, 365, 383; Egerton MSS., 2395, f. +591.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote393" name="footnote393"></a><b>Footnote 393: </b><a href="#footnotetag393">(return)</a><p>In a memoir to Mme. de Montespan, dated 8th July 1677, the population +of French San Domingo is given as between four and five thousand, white +and black. The colony embraced a strip of coast 80 leagues in length and 9 +or 10 miles wide, and it produced 2,000,000 lbs. of tobacco annually. (Bibl. +Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 258).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote394" name="footnote394"></a><b>Footnote 394: </b><a href="#footnotetag394">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 347, 375, 383, 1497; S.P. Spain, vol. 65, +f. 102.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote395" name="footnote395"></a><b>Footnote 395: </b><a href="#footnotetag395">(return)</a><p>A small island east of Curaçao, in latitude 12° north, longitude 67° 41' +west.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote396" name="footnote396"></a><b>Footnote 396: </b><a href="#footnotetag396">(return)</a><p>Saint Yves, G. Les campagnes de Jean d'Estrées dans la +mer des Antilles, 1676-78; <i>cf.</i> also C.S.P. Colon., +1677-80, Nos. 604, 642, 665, 687-90, 718, 741 (xiv., xv.), 1646-47.</p> + +<p>According to one story, the Dutch governor of Curaçao sent out three +privateers with orders to attend the French fleet, but to run no risk of capture. +The French, discovering them, gave chase, but being unacquainted with those +waters were decoyed among the reefs.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote397" name="footnote397"></a><b>Footnote 397: </b><a href="#footnotetag397">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1646-47.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote398" name="footnote398"></a><b>Footnote 398: </b><a href="#footnotetag398">(return)</a><p>Dampier says of this occasion: "The privateers ... told me that if +they had gone to Jamaica with £30 a man in their Pockets, they could not +have enjoyed themselves more. For they kept in a Gang by themselves, and +watched when the Ships broke, to get the Goods that came from them; and +though much was staved against the Rocks, yet abundance of Wine and Brandy +floated over the Riff, where the Privateers waited to take it up. They lived +here about three Weeks, waiting an Opportunity to transport themselves back +again to Hispaniola; in all which Time they were never without two or three +Hogsheads of Wine and Brandy in their Tents, and Barrels of Beef and Pork."—Dampier, +<i>ed.</i> 1906, i. p. 81.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote399" name="footnote399"></a><b>Footnote 399: </b><a href="#footnotetag399">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. viii. p. 120.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote400" name="footnote400"></a><b>Footnote 400: </b><a href="#footnotetag400">(return)</a><p>Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 260; Charlevoix, <i>op. +cit.</i>, liv. viii. p. 122.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote401" name="footnote401"></a><b>Footnote 401: </b><a href="#footnotetag401">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, p. 119; C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 815, 869; Beeston's +Journal, 18th October 1678.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote402" name="footnote402"></a><b>Footnote 402: </b><a href="#footnotetag402">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 569, 575, 618.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote403" name="footnote403"></a><b>Footnote 403: </b><a href="#footnotetag403">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 770.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote404" name="footnote404"></a><b>Footnote 404: </b><a href="#footnotetag404">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 622, 646.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote405" name="footnote405"></a><b>Footnote 405: </b><a href="#footnotetag405">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 770, 815, 1516: Beeston's Journal, 18th +October 1678.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote406" name="footnote406"></a><b>Footnote 406: </b><a href="#footnotetag406">(return)</a><p>The Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro Ronquillo, in his complaint to +Charles II. in September 1680, placed the number at 1000. (C.S.P. Colon., +1677-80, No. 1498.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote407" name="footnote407"></a><b>Footnote 407: </b><a href="#footnotetag407">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1150, 1188, 1199, 1516; Beeston's +Journal, 29th September and 6th October 1678. Lord Carlisle, in answer +to the complaints of the Spanish ambassador, pretended ignorance of the +source of the indigo thus admitted through the customs, and maintained that +it was brought into Port Royal "in lawful ships by lawful men."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote408" name="footnote408"></a><b>Footnote 408: </b><a href="#footnotetag408">(return)</a><p>Sloane MSS., 2752, f. 29; S.P. Spain, vol. 65, f. 121. According to +the latter account, which seems to be derived from a Spanish source, the loss +suffered by the city amounted to about 100,000 pieces of eight, over half of +which was plunder carried away by the freebooters. Thirteen of the inhabitants +were killed and four wounded, and of the buccaneers thirty were killed.</p> + +<p>Dampier writes concerning this first irruption of the buccaneers into the +Pacific:—"Before my first going over into the South Seas with Captain Sharp ... I +being then on Board Captain Coxon, in company with 3 or 4 more +Privateers, about 4 leagues to the East of Portobel, we took the Pacquets +bound thither from Cartagena. We open'd a great quantity of the Merchants +Letters, and found ... the Merchants of several parts of Old Spain thereby +informing their Correspondents of Panama and elsewhere of a certain Prophecy +that went about Spain that year, the Tenour of which was, That there would be +English Privateers that Year in the West Indies, who would ... open a +Door into the South Seas; which they supposed was fastest shut: and the +Letters were accordingly full of Cautions to their Friends to be very watchful +and careful of their Coasts.</p> + +<p>"This Door they spake of we all concluded must be the Passage over Land +through the Country of the Indians of Darien, who were a little before this +become our Friends, and had lately fallen out with the Spaniards, ... and +upon calling to mind the frequent Invitations we had from these Indians a +little before this time, to pass through their Country, and fall upon the +Spaniards in the South Seas, we from henceforward began to entertain such +thoughts in earnest, and soon came to a Resolution to make those Attempts +which we afterwards did, ... so that the taking these Letters gave the first +life to those bold undertakings: and we took the advantage of the fears the +Spaniards were in from that Prophecy ... for we sealed up most of the +Letters again, and sent them ashore to Portobel."—<i>Ed.</i> 1906, I. pp. 200-201.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote410" name="footnote410"></a><b>Footnote 410: </b><a href="#footnotetag410">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, No. 1199.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote411" name="footnote411"></a><b>Footnote 411: </b><a href="#footnotetag411">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1188.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote412" name="footnote412"></a><b>Footnote 412: </b><a href="#footnotetag412">(return)</a><p>Sloane MSS., 2572, f. 29.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote413" name="footnote413"></a><b>Footnote 413: </b><a href="#footnotetag413">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1344, 1370.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote414" name="footnote414"></a><b>Footnote 414: </b><a href="#footnotetag414">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1516.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote415" name="footnote415"></a><b>Footnote 415: </b><a href="#footnotetag415">(return)</a><p><i>Cf.</i> Archives Coloniales—Correspondance générale de St Domingue, +vol. i.; Martinique, vol. iv.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote416" name="footnote416"></a><b>Footnote 416: </b><a href="#footnotetag416">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1420, 1425; Sloane MSS., 2724, f. 3.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote417" name="footnote417"></a><b>Footnote 417: </b><a href="#footnotetag417">(return)</a><p>Sloane MSS., 2724, f. 198.</p> + +<p>Coxon probably did not submit, for Dampier tells us that at the end of May +1681, Coxon was lying with seven or eight other privateers at the Samballas, islands +on the coast of Darien, with a ship of ten guns and 100 men.—<i>Ed.</i> 1906, i. p. 57.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote418" name="footnote418"></a><b>Footnote 418: </b><a href="#footnotetag418">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, f. 200; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 16, +51, 144, 431. Everson was not shot and killed in the water, as Morgan's +account implies, for he flourished for many years afterwards as one of +the most notorious of the buccaneer captains.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote419" name="footnote419"></a><b>Footnote 419: </b><a href="#footnotetag419">(return)</a><p>Ringrose's Journal. <i>Cf.</i> also S.P. Spain, vol. 67, +f. 169; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 872.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote420" name="footnote420"></a><b>Footnote 420: </b><a href="#footnotetag420">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 431, 632, 713; Hist. MSS. Commiss., +VII., 405 b.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote421" name="footnote421"></a><b>Footnote 421: </b><a href="#footnotetag421">(return)</a><p>C.S.P Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1425, 1462.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote422" name="footnote422"></a><b>Footnote 422: </b><a href="#footnotetag422">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1361.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote423" name="footnote423"></a><b>Footnote 423: </b><a href="#footnotetag423">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 601, 606, 607, 611; <i>ibid.</i>, 1681-85, No. +160; Add. MSS., 22, 676; Acts of Privy Council, Colonial Series I. +No. 1203.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id="page232"></a>{232}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE BUCCANEERS TURN PIRATE</h3> + + +<p>On 25th May 1682, Sir Thomas Lynch returned to +Jamaica as governor of the colony.<a id="footnotetag424" name="footnotetag424"></a><a href="#footnote424"><sup>424</sup></a> Of the four +acting governors since 1671, Lynch stood apart as +the one who had endeavoured with singleness and tenacity +of purpose to clear away the evils of buccaneering. Lord +Vaughan had displayed little sympathy for the corsairs, +but he was hampered by an irascible temper, and according +to some reports by an avarice which dimmed the lustre +of his name. The Earl of Carlisle, if he did not directly +encourage the freebooters, had been grossly negligent in +the performance of his duty of suppressing them; while +Morgan, although in the years 1680 and 1681 he showed +himself very zealous in punishing his old associates, cannot +escape the suspicion of having secretly aided them under +the governorship of Lord Vaughan. The task of Sir +Thomas Lynch in 1671 had been a very difficult one. +Buccaneering was then at flood-tide; three wealthy +Spanish cities on the mainland had in turn been plundered, +and the stolen riches carried to Jamaica; the air was alive +with the exploits of these irregular warriors, and the +pockets of the merchants and tavern-keepers of Port Royal +were filled with Spanish doubloons, with emeralds and +pearls from New Granada and the coasts of Rio de la +Hacha, and with gold and silver plate from the Spanish +churches and cathedrals of Porto Bello and Panama. The +old governor, Sir Thomas Modyford, had been popular in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233"></a>{233}</span> +his person, and his policy had been more popular still. +Yet Lynch, by a combination of tact and firmness, and by +an untiring activity with the small means at his disposal, +had inaugurated a new and revolutionary policy in the +island, which it was the duty of his successors merely to +continue. In 1682 the problem before him, although +difficult, was much simpler. Buccaneering was now rapidly +being transformed into pure piracy. By laws and repeated +proclamations, the freebooters had been offered an opportunity +of returning to civilized pursuits, or of remaining +ever thereafter outlawed. Many had come in, some to +remain, others to take the first opportunity of escaping +again. But many entirely refused to obey the summons, +trusting to the protection of the French in Hispaniola, or +so hardened to their cruel, remorseless mode of livelihood +that they preferred the dangerous risks of outlawry. The +temper of the inhabitants of the island, too, had changed. +The planters saw more clearly the social and economic +evils which the buccaneers had brought upon the island. +The presence of these freebooters, they now began to +realize, had discouraged planting, frightened away capital, +reduced the number of labourers, and increased drunkenness, +debauchery and every sort of moral disorder. The +assembly and council were now at one with the governor +as to the necessity of curing this running sore, and Lynch +could act with the assurance which came of the knowledge +that he was backed by the conscience of his people.</p> + +<p>One of the earliest and most remarkable cases of +buccaneer turning pirate was that of "La Trompeuse." +In June 1682, before Governor Lynch's arrival in Jamaica, +a French captain named Peter Paine (or Le Pain), commander +of a merchant ship called "La Trompeuse" +belonging to the French King, came to Port Royal from +Cayenne in Guiana. He told Sir Henry Morgan and the +council that, having heard of the inhuman treatment of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>{234}</span> +his fellow Protestants in France, he had resolved to send +back his ship and pay what was due under his contract; +and he petitioned for leave to reside with the English and +have English protection. The Council, without much inquiry +as to the petitioner's antecedents, allowed him to take the +oath of allegiance and settle at St. Jago, while his cargo +was unloaded and entered customs-free. The ship was +then hired by two Jamaican merchants and sent to +Honduras to load logwood, with orders to sail eventually +for Hamburg and be delivered to the French agent.<a id="footnotetag425" name="footnotetag425"></a><a href="#footnote425"><sup>425</sup></a> The +action of the Council had been very hasty and ill-considered, +and as it turned out, led to endless trouble. It soon +transpired that Paine did not own the cargo, but had run +away with it from Cayenne, and had disposed of both ship +and goods in his own interest. The French ambassador +in London made complaints to the English King, and +letters were sent out to Sir Thomas Lynch and to Governor +Stapleton of the Leeward Isles to arrest Paine and endeavour +to have the vessel lade only for her right owners.<a id="footnotetag426" name="footnotetag426"></a><a href="#footnote426"><sup>426</sup></a> +Meanwhile a French pirate named Jean Hamlin, with +120 desperadoes at his back, set out in a sloop in pursuit +of "La Trompeuse," and coming up with her invited the +master and mate aboard his own vessel, and then seized +the ship. Carrying the prize to some creek or bay to careen +her and fit her up as a man-of-war, he then started out +on a mad piratical cruise, took sixteen or eighteen Jamaican +vessels, barbarously ill-treated the crews, and demoralized +the whole trade of the island.<a id="footnotetag427" name="footnotetag427"></a><a href="#footnote427"><sup>427</sup></a> Captain Johnson was +dispatched by Lynch in a frigate in October 1682 to find +and destroy the pirate; but after a fruitless search of two +months round Porto Rico and Hispaniola, he returned to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235"></a>{235}</span> +Port Royal. In December Lynch learned that "La +Trompeuse" was careening in the neighbourhood of the +Isle la Vache, and sent out another frigate, the "Guernsey," +to seize her; but the wary pirate had in the meantime +sailed away. On 15th February the "Guernsey" was +again dispatched with positive orders not to stir from the +coast of Hispaniola until the pirate was gone or destroyed; +and Coxon, who seems to have been in good odour at Port +Royal, was sent to offer to a privateer named "Yankey," +men, victuals, pardon and naturalization, besides £200 in +money for himself and Coxon, if he would go after "La +Trompeuse."<a id="footnotetag428" name="footnotetag428"></a><a href="#footnote428"><sup>428</sup></a> The next news of Hamlin was from the +Virgin Islands, where he was received and entertained by +the Governor of St. Thomas, a small island belonging to +the King of Denmark.<a id="footnotetag429" name="footnotetag429"></a><a href="#footnote429"><sup>429</sup></a> Making St. Thomas his headquarters, +he robbed several English vessels that came into +his way, and after first obtaining from the Danish governor +a promise that he would find shelter at St. Thomas on his +return, stood across for the Gulf of Guinea. In May 1683 +Hamlin arrived on the west side of Africa disguised as an +English man-of-war, and sailing up and down the coast of +Sierra Leone captured or destroyed within several weeks +seventeen ships, Dutch and English, robbing them of gold-dust +and negroes.<a id="footnotetag430" name="footnotetag430"></a><a href="#footnote430"><sup>430</sup></a> The pirates then quarrelled over the +division of their plunder and separated into two companies, +most of the English following a Captain Morgan in one +of the prizes, and the rest returning in "La Trompeuse" +to the West Indies. The latter arrived at Dominica in +July, where forty of the crew deserted the ship, leaving but +sixteen white men and twenty-two negroes on board. +Finally on the 27th the pirates dropped anchor at St. +Thomas. They were admitted and kindly received by the +governor, and allowed to bring their plunder ashore.<a id="footnotetag431" name="footnotetag431"></a><a href="#footnote431"><sup>431</sup></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id="page236"></a>{236}</span> +Three days later Captain Carlile of H.M.S. "Francis," who +had been sent out by Governor Stapleton to hunt for +pirates, sailed into the harbour, and on being assured +by the pilot and by an English sloop lying at anchor +there that the ship before him was the pirate "La +Trompeuse," in the night of the following day he set +her on fire and blew her up. Hamlin and some of +the crew were on board, but after firing a few shots, +escaped to the shore. The pirate ship carried thirty-two +guns, and if she had not been under-manned +Carlile might have encountered a formidable resistance. +The Governor of St. Thomas sent a note of protest +to Carlile for having, as he said, secretly set fire to +a frigate which had been confiscated to the King of +Denmark.<a id="footnotetag432" name="footnotetag432"></a><a href="#footnote432"><sup>432</sup></a> Nevertheless he sent Hamlin and his men +for safety in a boat to another part of the island, and later +selling him a sloop, let him sail away to join the French +buccaneers in Hispaniola.<a id="footnotetag433" name="footnotetag433"></a><a href="#footnote433"><sup>433</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Danish governor of St. Thomas, whose name was +Adolf Esmit, had formerly been himself a privateer, and +had used his popularity on the island to eject from authority +his brother Nicholas Esmit, the lawful governor. By protecting +and encouraging pirates—for a consideration, of +course—he proved a bad neighbour to the surrounding +English islands. Although he had but 300 or 350 people +on St. Thomas, and most of these British subjects, he laid +claim to all the Virgin Islands, harboured runaway servants, +seamen and debtors, fitted out pirate vessels with arms and +provisions, and refused to restore captured ships and crews +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237"></a>{237}</span> +which the pirates brought into his port.<a id="footnotetag434" name="footnotetag434"></a><a href="#footnote434"><sup>434</sup></a> The King of +Denmark had sent out a new governor, named Everson, to +dispossess Esmit, but he did not arrive in the West Indies +until October 1684, when with the assistance of an armed +sloop which Sir William Stapleton had been ordered by +the English Council to lend him, he took possession of +St. Thomas and its pirate governor.<a id="footnotetag435" name="footnotetag435"></a><a href="#footnote435"><sup>435</sup></a></p> + +<p>A second difficulty encountered by Sir Thomas Lynch, +in the first year of his return, was the privateering activity +of Robert Clarke, Governor of New Providence, one of +the Bahama Islands. Governor Clarke, on the plea +of retaliating Spanish outrages, gave letters of marque +to several privateers, including Coxon, the same famous +chief who in 1680 had led the buccaneers into the South +Seas. Coxon carried his commission to Jamaica and +showed it to Governor Lynch, who was greatly incensed +and wrote to Clarke a vigorous note of reproof.<a id="footnotetag436" name="footnotetag436"></a><a href="#footnote436"><sup>436</sup></a> To grant +such letters of marque was, of course, contrary to the +Treaty of Madrid, and by giving the pirates only another +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238"></a>{238}</span> +excuse for their actions, greatly complicated the task of +the Governor of Jamaica. Lynch forwarded Coxon's commission +to England, where in August 1682 the proprietors +of the Bahama Islands were ordered to attend the council +and answer for the misdeeds of their governor.<a id="footnotetag437" name="footnotetag437"></a><a href="#footnote437"><sup>437</sup></a> The +proprietors, however, had already acted on their own +initiative, for on 29th July they issued instructions to a new +governor, Robert Lilburne, to arrest Clarke and keep him +in custody till he should give security to answer accusations +in England, and to recall all commissions against the +Spaniards.<a id="footnotetag438" name="footnotetag438"></a><a href="#footnote438"><sup>438</sup></a> The whole trouble, it seems, had arisen over +the wreck of a Spanish galleon in the Bahamas, to which +Spaniards from St. Augustine and Havana were accustomed +to resort to fish for ingots of silver, and from which they +had been driven away by the governor and inhabitants of +New Providence. The Spaniards had retaliated by robbing +vessels sailing to and from the Bahamas, whereupon +Clarke, without considering the illegality of his action, had +issued commissions of war to privateers.</p> + +<p>The Bahamas, however, were a favourite resort for +pirates and other men of desperate character, and Lilburne +soon discovered that his place was no sinecure. He found +it difficult moreover to refrain from hostilities against a +neighbour who used every opportunity to harm and plunder +his colony. In March 1683, a former privateer named +Thomas Pain<a id="footnotetag439" name="footnotetag439"></a><a href="#footnote439"><sup>439</sup></a> had entered into a conspiracy with four +other captains, who were then fishing for silver at the wreck, +to seize St. Augustine in Florida. They landed before the +city under French colours, but finding the Spaniards +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239"></a>{239}</span> +prepared for them, gave up the project and looted some +small neighbouring settlements. On the return of Pain +and two others to New Providence, Governor Lilburne +tried to apprehend them, but he failed for lack of +means to enforce his authority. The Spaniards, however, +were not slow to take their revenge. In the following +January they sent 250 men from Havana, who in the early +morning surprised and plundered the town and shipping +at New Providence, killed three men, and carried away +money and provisions to the value of £14,000.<a id="footnotetag440" name="footnotetag440"></a><a href="#footnote440"><sup>440</sup></a> When +Lilburne in February sent to ask the Governor of Havana +whether the plunderers had acted under his orders, the +Spaniard not only acknowledged it but threatened further +hostilities against the English settlement. Indeed, later +in the same year the Spaniards returned, this time, it +seems, without a commission, and according to report burnt +all the houses, murdered the governor in cold blood, and +carried many of the women, children and negroes to +Havana.<a id="footnotetag441" name="footnotetag441"></a><a href="#footnote441"><sup>441</sup></a> About 200 of the inhabitants made their way to +Jamaica, and a number of the men, thirsting for vengeance, +joined the English pirates in the Carolinas.<a id="footnotetag442" name="footnotetag442"></a><a href="#footnote442"><sup>442</sup></a></p> + +<p>In French Hispaniola corsairing had been forbidden +for several years, yet the French governor found the problem +of suppressing the evil even more difficult than it was +in Jamaica. M. de Pouançay, the successor of d'Ogeron, +died toward the end of 1682 or the beginning of 1683, and +in spite of his efforts to establish order in the colony he +left it in a deplorable condition. The old fraternity of +hunters or cow-killers had almost disappeared; but the +corsairs and the planters were strongly united, and galled +by the oppression of the West India Company, displayed +their strength in a spirit of indocility which caused great +embarrassment to the governor. Although in time of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>{240}</span> +peace the freebooters kept the French settlements in continual +danger of ruin by reprisal, in time of war they were +the mainstay of the colony. As the governor, therefore, +was dependent upon them for protection against the +English, Spanish and Dutch, although he withdrew their +commissions he dared not punish them for their crimes. +The French buccaneers, indeed, occupied a curious and +anomalous position. They were not ordinary privateers, +for they waged war without authority; and they were still +less pirates, for they had never been declared outlaws, and +they confined their attentions to the Spaniards. They +served under conditions which they themselves imposed, +or which they deigned to accept, and were always ready +to turn against the representatives of authority if they +believed they had aught of which to complain.<a id="footnotetag443" name="footnotetag443"></a><a href="#footnote443"><sup>443</sup></a></p> + +<p>The buccaneers almost invariably carried commissions +from the governors of French Hispaniola, but they did +not scruple to alter the wording of their papers, so that a +permission to privateer for three months was easily transformed +into a licence to plunder for three years. These +papers, moreover, were passed about from one corsair to +another, until long after the occasion for their issue had +ceased to exist. Thus in May or June of 1680, de Grammont, +on the strength of an old commission granted him +by de Pouançay before the treaty of Nimuegen, had made +a brilliant night assault upon La Guayra, the seaport of +Caracas. Of his 180 followers only forty-seven took part +in the actual seizure of the town, which was amply protected +by two forts and by cannon upon the walls. On +the following day, however, he received word that 2000 +men were approaching from Caracas, and as the enemy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id="page241"></a>{241}</span> +were also rallying in force in the vicinity of the town he +was compelled to retire to the ships. This movement was +executed with difficulty, and for two hours de Grammont +with a handful of his bravest companions covered the +embarkation from the assaults of the Spaniards. Although +he himself was dangerously wounded in the throat, he lost +only eight or nine men in the whole action. He carried +away with him the Governor of La Guayra and many other +prisoners, but the booty was small. De Grammont retired +to the Isle d'Aves to nurse his wound, and after a long +convalescence returned to Petit Goave.<a id="footnotetag444" name="footnotetag444"></a><a href="#footnote444"><sup>444</sup></a></p> + +<p>In 1683, however, these filibusters of Hispaniola +carried out a much larger design upon the coasts of New +Spain. In April of that year eight buccaneer captains +made a rendezvous in the Gulf of Honduras for the +purpose of attacking Vera Cruz. The leaders of the party +were two Dutchmen named Vanhorn and Laurens de +Graff. Of the other six captains, three were Dutch, one +was French, and two were English. Vanhorn himself had +sailed from England in the autumn of 1681 in command +of a merchant ship called the "Mary and Martha," <i>alias</i> +the "St. Nicholas." He soon, however, revealed the rogue +he was by turning two of his merchants ashore at Cadiz +and stealing four Spanish guns. He then sailed to the +Canaries and to the coast of Guinea, plundering ships and +stealing negroes, and finally, in November 1682, arrived at +the city of San Domingo, where he tried to dispose of his +black cargo. From San Domingo he made for Petit Goave +picked up 300 men, and sailed to join Laurens in the Gulf +of Honduras.<a id="footnotetag445" name="footnotetag445"></a><a href="#footnote445"><sup>445</sup></a> Laurens, too, had distinguished himself but +a short time before by capturing a Spanish ship bound +from Havana for San Domingo and Porto Rico with about +120,000 pieces of eight to pay off the soldiers. The freebooters +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242"></a>{242}</span> +had shared 700 pieces of eight per man, and carrying +their prize to Petit Goave had compounded with the +French governor for a part of the booty.<a id="footnotetag446" name="footnotetag446"></a><a href="#footnote446"><sup>446</sup></a></p> +<center><a name="illus-vera-cruz" id="illus-vera-cruz"><img width="380" height="518" src="images/fp242.png" alt="Vera-Cruz"/></a></center> + +<p>The buccaneers assembled near Cape Catoche to the +number of about 1000 men, and sailed in the middle of +May for Vera Cruz. Learning from some prisoners that +the Spaniards on shore were expecting two ships from +Caracas, they crowded the landing party of about 800 +upon two of their vessels, displayed the Spanish +colours, and stood in for the city. The unfortunate inhabitants +mistook them for their own people, and even +lighted fires to pilot them in. The pirates landed at midnight +on 17th May about two miles from the town, and by +daybreak had possession of the city and its forts. They +found the soldiers and sentinels asleep, and "all the people +in the houses as quiet and still as if in their graves." For +four days they held the place, plundering the churches, +houses and convents; and not finding enough plate and +jewels to meet their expectations, they threatened to burn +the cathedral and all the prisoners within it, unless a +ransom was brought in from the surrounding country. +The governor, Don Luis de Cordova, was on the third +day discovered by an Englishman hidden in the hay in a +stable, and was ransomed for 70,000 pieces of eight. Meanwhile +the Spanish Flota of twelve or fourteen ships from +Cadiz had for two days been lying outside the harbour +and within sight of the city; yet it did not venture to land +or to attack the empty buccaneer vessels. The proximity +of such an armament, however, made the freebooters uneasy, +especially as the Spanish viceroy was approaching +with an army from the direction of Mexico. On the fourth +day, therefore, they sailed away in the very face of the +Flota to a neighbouring cay, where they divided the pillage +into a thousand or more shares of 800 pieces of eight each. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243"></a>{243}</span> +Vanhorn alone is said to have received thirty shares for +himself and his two ships. He and Laurens, who had +never been on good terms, quarrelled and fought over the +division, and Vanhorn was wounded in the wrist. The +wound seemed very slight, however, and he proposed to +return and attack the Spanish fleet, offering to board the +"Admiral" himself; but Laurens refused, and the buccaneers +sailed away, carrying with them over 1000 slaves. The +invaders, according to report, had lost but four men in the +action. About a fortnight later Vanhorn died of gangrene +in his wound, and de Grammont, who was then acting as +his lieutenant, carried his ship back to Petit Goave, where +Laurens and most of the other captains had already +arrived.<a id="footnotetag447" name="footnotetag447"></a><a href="#footnote447"><sup>447</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Mexican fleet, which returned to Cadiz on 18th +December, was only half its usual size because of the lack +of a market after the visit of the corsairs; and the Governor +of Vera Cruz was sentenced to lose his head for his remissness +in defending the city.<a id="footnotetag448" name="footnotetag448"></a><a href="#footnote448"><sup>448</sup></a> The Spanish ambassador in +London, Ronquillo, requested Charles II. to command Sir +Thomas Lynch to co-operate with a commissioner whom +the Spanish Government was sending to the West Indies +to inquire into this latest outrage of the buccaneers, and +such orders were dispatched to Lynch in April 1684.<a id="footnotetag449" name="footnotetag449"></a><a href="#footnote449"><sup>449</sup></a></p> + +<p>M. de Cussy, who had been appointed by the French +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244"></a>{244}</span> +King to succeed his former colleague, de Pouançay, arrived +at Petit Goave in April 1684, and found the buccaneers on +the point of open revolt because of the efforts of de +Franquesnay, the temporary governor, to enforce the strict +orders from France for their suppression.<a id="footnotetag450" name="footnotetag450"></a><a href="#footnote450"><sup>450</sup></a> De Cussy +visited all parts of the colony, and by tact, patience and +politic concessions succeeded in restoring order. He +knew that in spite of the instructions from France, so long +as he was surrounded by jealous neighbours, and so long +as the peace in Europe remained precarious, the safety of +French Hispaniola depended on his retaining the presence +and good-will of the sea-rovers; and when de Grammont +and several other captains demanded commissions against +the Spaniards, the governor finally consented on condition +that they persuade all the freebooters driven away by +de Franquesnay to return to the colony. Two commissioners, +named Begon and St. Laurent, arrived in +August 1684 to aid him in reforming this dissolute +society, but they soon came to the same conclusions as +the governor, and sent a memoir to the French King +advising less severe measures. The king did not agree +with their suggestion of compromise, and de Cussy, compelled +to deal harshly with the buccaneers, found his task +by no means an easy one.<a id="footnotetag451" name="footnotetag451"></a><a href="#footnote451"><sup>451</sup></a> Meanwhile, however, many of +the freebooters, seeing the determined attitude of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id="page245"></a>{245}</span> +established authorities, decided to transfer their activities +to the Pacific coasts of America, where they would be +safe from interference on the part of the English or French +Governments. The expedition of Harris, Coxon, Sharp and +their associates across the isthmus in 1680 had kindled +the imaginations of the buccaneers with the possibilities of +greater plunder and adventure in these more distant +regions. Other parties, both English and French, speedily +followed in their tracks, and after 1683 it became the prevailing +practice for buccaneers to make an excursion into +the South Seas. The Darien Indians and their fiercer +neighbours, the natives of the Mosquito Coast, who were +usually at enmity with the Spaniards, allied themselves +with the freebooters, and the latter, in their painful marches +through the dense tropical wilderness of these regions, +often owed it to the timely aid and friendly offices of the +natives that they finally succeeded in reaching their goal.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1685, a year after the arrival of de +Cussy in Hispaniola, de Grammont and Laurens de +Graff united their forces again at the Isle la Vache, and in +spite of the efforts of the governor to persuade them to +renounce their project, sailed with 1100 men for the coasts +of Campeache. An attempt on Merida was frustrated by +the Spaniards, but Campeache itself was occupied after a +feeble resistance, and remained in possession of the French +for six weeks. After reducing the city to ashes and blowing +up the fortress, the invaders retired to Hispaniola.<a id="footnotetag452" name="footnotetag452"></a><a href="#footnote452"><sup>452</sup></a> +According to Charlevoix, before the buccaneers sailed +away they celebrated the festival of St. Louis by a huge +bonfire in honour of the king, in which they burnt logwood +to the value of 200,000 crowns, representing the +greater part of their booty. The Spaniards of Hispaniola, +who kept up a constant desultory warfare with their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>{246}</span> +French neighbours, were incited by the ravages of the +buccaneers in the South Seas, and by the sack of Vera +Cruz and Campeache, to renewed hostilities; and de Cussy, +anxious to attach to himself so enterprising and daring a +leader as de Grammont, obtained for him, in September +1686, the commission of "Lieutenant de Roi" of the coast +of San Domingo. Grammont, however, on learning of his +new honour, wished to have a last fling at the Spaniards +before he settled down to respectability. He armed a +ship, sailed away with 180 men, and was never heard of +again.<a id="footnotetag453" name="footnotetag453"></a><a href="#footnote453"><sup>453</sup></a> At the same time Laurens de Graff was given +the title of "Major," and he lived to take an active part in +the war against the English between 1689 and 1697.<a id="footnotetag454" name="footnotetag454"></a><a href="#footnote454"><sup>454</sup></a></p> + +<p>These semi-pirates, whom the French governor dared +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id="page247"></a>{247}</span> +not openly support yet feared to disavow, were a constant +source of trouble to the Governor of Jamaica. They did +not scruple to attack English traders and fishing sloops, +and when pursued took refuge in Petit Goave, the port in +the <i>cul-de-sac</i> at the west end of Hispaniola which had long +been a sanctuary of the freebooters, and which paid little +respect to the authority of the royal governor.<a id="footnotetag455" name="footnotetag455"></a><a href="#footnote455"><sup>455</sup></a> In +Jamaica they believed that the corsairs acted under regular +commissions from the French authorities, and Sir Thomas +Lynch sent repeated complaints to de Pouançay and to +his successor. He also wrote to England begging the +Council to ascertain from the French ambassador whether +these governors had authority to issue commissions of +war, so that his frigates might be able to distinguish between +the pirate and the lawful privateer.<a id="footnotetag456" name="footnotetag456"></a><a href="#footnote456"><sup>456</sup></a> Except at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" id="page248"></a>{248}</span> +Petit Goave, however, the French were really desirous of +preserving peace with Jamaica, and did what they could +to satisfy the demands of the English without unduly +irritating the buccaneers. They were in the same position +as Lynch in 1671, who, while anxious to do justice to the +Spaniards, dared not immediately alienate the freebooters +who plundered them, and who might, if driven away, turn +their arms against Jamaica. Vanhorn himself, it seems, +when he left Hispaniola to join Laurens in the Gulf of +Honduras, had been sent out by de Pouançay really to +pursue "La Trompeuse" and other pirates, and his +lieutenant, de Grammont, delivered letters to Governor +Lynch to that effect; but once out of sight he steered +directly for Central America, where he anticipated a more +profitable game than pirate-hunting.<a id="footnotetag457" name="footnotetag457"></a><a href="#footnote457"><sup>457</sup></a></p> + +<p>On the 24th of August 1684 Sir Thomas Lynch died +in Jamaica, and Colonel Hender Molesworth, by virtue +of his commission as lieutenant-governor, assumed the +authority.<a id="footnotetag458" name="footnotetag458"></a><a href="#footnote458"><sup>458</sup></a> Sir Henry Morgan, who had remained +lieutenant-governor when Lynch returned to Jamaica, had +afterwards been suspended from the council and from all +other public employments on charges of drunkenness, disorder, +and encouraging disloyalty to the government. His +brother-in-law, Byndloss, was dismissed for similar reasons, +and Roger Elletson, who belonged to the same faction, +was removed from his office as attorney-general of the +island. Lynch had had the support of both the assembly +and the council, and his actions were at once confirmed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id="page249"></a>{249}</span> +in England.<a id="footnotetag459" name="footnotetag459"></a><a href="#footnote459"><sup>459</sup></a> The governor, however, although he had +enjoyed the confidence of most of the inhabitants, who +looked upon him as the saviour of the island, left behind +in the persons of Morgan, Elletson and their roystering +companions, a group of implacable enemies, who did all +in their power to vilify his memory to the authorities in +England. Several of these men, with Elletson at their +head, accused the dead governor of embezzling piratical +goods which had been confiscated to the use of the king; +but when inquiry was made by Lieutenant-Governor +Molesworth, the charges fell to the ground. Elletson's +information was found to be second-hand and defective, +and Lynch's name was more than vindicated. Indeed, the +governor at his death had so little ready means that his +widow was compelled to borrow £500 to pay for his +funeral.<a id="footnotetag460" name="footnotetag460"></a><a href="#footnote460"><sup>460</sup></a></p> + +<p>The last years of Sir Thomas Lynch's life had been +troublous ones. Not only had the peace of the island +been disturbed by "La Trompeuse" and other French +corsairs which hovered about Hispaniola; not only had +his days been embittered by strife with a small, drunken, +insolent faction which tried to belittle his attempts to +introduce order and sobriety into the colony; but the +hostility of the Spanish governors in the West Indies +still continued to neutralize his efforts to root out +buccaneering. Lynch had in reality been the best friend +of the Spaniards in America. He had strictly forbidden +the cutting of logwood in Campeache and Honduras, +when the Spaniards were outraging and enslaving every +Englishman they found upon those coasts;<a id="footnotetag461" name="footnotetag461"></a><a href="#footnote461"><sup>461</sup></a> he had sent +word to the Spanish governors of the intended sack of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" id="page250"></a>{250}</span> +Vera Cruz;<a id="footnotetag462" name="footnotetag462"></a><a href="#footnote462"><sup>462</sup></a> he had protected Spanish merchant ships +with his own men-of-war and hospitably received them +in Jamaican ports. Yet Spanish corsairs continued to +rob English vessels, and Spanish governors refused to +surrender English ships and goods which were carried into +their ports.<a id="footnotetag463" name="footnotetag463"></a><a href="#footnote463"><sup>463</sup></a> On the plea of punishing interlopers they +armed small galleys and ordered them to take all ships +which had on board any products of the Indies.<a id="footnotetag464" name="footnotetag464"></a><a href="#footnote464"><sup>464</sup></a> Letters +to the governors at Havana and St. Jago de Cuba were of +no avail. English trade routes were interrupted and +dangerous, the turtling, trading and fishing sloops, which +supplied a great part of the food of Jamaica, were robbed +and seized, and Lynch was compelled to construct a galley +of fifty oars for their protection.<a id="footnotetag465" name="footnotetag465"></a><a href="#footnote465"><sup>465</sup></a> Pirates, it is true, were +frequently brought into Port Royal by the small frigates +employed by the governor, and there were numerous +executions;<a id="footnotetag466" name="footnotetag466"></a><a href="#footnote466"><sup>466</sup></a> yet the outlaws seemed to increase daily. +Some black vessel was generally found hovering about the +island ready to pick up any who wished to join it, and +when the runaways were prevented from returning by the +statute against piracy, they retired to the Carolinas or to +New England to dispose of their loot and refit their +ships.<a id="footnotetag467" name="footnotetag467"></a><a href="#footnote467"><sup>467</sup></a> When such retreats were available the laws +against piracy did not reduce buccaneering so much as +they depopulated Jamaica of its white inhabitants.</p> + +<p>After 1680, indeed, the North American colonies +became more and more the resort of the pirates who were +being driven from West Indian waters by the stern +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251"></a>{251}</span> +measures of the English governors. Michel Landresson, +<i>alias</i> Breha, who had accompanied Pain in his expedition +against St. Augustine in 1683, and who had been a constant +source of worriment to the Jamaicans because of his +attacks on the fishing sloops, sailed to Boston and disposed +of his booty of gold, silver, jewels and cocoa to the +godly New England merchants, who were only too ready +to take advantage of so profitable a trade and gladly fitted +him out for another cruise.<a id="footnotetag468" name="footnotetag468"></a><a href="#footnote468"><sup>468</sup></a> Pain himself appeared in +Rhode Island, displayed the old commission to hunt for +pirates given him by Sir Thomas Lynch, and was protected +by the governor against the deputy-collector of +customs, who endeavoured to seize him and his ship.<a id="footnotetag469" name="footnotetag469"></a><a href="#footnote469"><sup>469</sup></a> +The chief resort of the pirates, however, was the colony of +Carolina. Indented by numerous harbours and inlets, the +shores of Carolina had always afforded a safe refuge for +refitting and repairing after a cruise, and from 1670 +onwards, when the region began to be settled by colonists +from England, the pirates found in the new communities a +second Jamaica, where they could sell their cargoes and +often recruit their forces. In the latter part of 1683 Sir +Thomas Lynch complained to the Lords of the Committee +for Trade and Plantations;<a id="footnotetag470" name="footnotetag470"></a><a href="#footnote470"><sup>470</sup></a> and in February of +the following year the king, at the suggestion of the +committee, ordered that a draft of the Jamaican law +against pirates be sent to all the plantations in America, +to be passed and enforced in each as a statute of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252"></a>{252}</span> +province.<a id="footnotetag471" name="footnotetag471"></a><a href="#footnote471"><sup>471</sup></a> On 12th March 1684 a general proclamation +was issued by the king against pirates in America, and a +copy forwarded to all the colonial governors for publication +and execution.<a id="footnotetag472" name="footnotetag472"></a><a href="#footnote472"><sup>472</sup></a> Nevertheless in Massachusetts, in +spite of these measures and of a letter from the king +warning the governors to give no succour or aid to any +of the outlaws, Michel had been received with open arms, +the proclamation of 12th March was torn down in the +streets, and the Jamaica Act, though passed, was never +enforced.<a id="footnotetag473" name="footnotetag473"></a><a href="#footnote473"><sup>473</sup></a> In the Carolinas, although the Lords +Proprietors wrote urging the governors to take every +care that no pirates were entertained in the colony, the +Act was not passed until November 1685.<a id="footnotetag474" name="footnotetag474"></a><a href="#footnote474"><sup>474</sup></a> There were +few, if any, convictions, and the freebooters plied their +trade with the same security as before. Toward the end +of 1686 three galleys from St. Augustine landed about +150 men, Spaniards, Indians and mulattos, a few leagues +below Charleston, and laid waste several plantations, +including that of Governor Moreton. The enemy pushed +on to Port Royal, completely destroyed the Scotch colony +there, and retired before a force could be raised to oppose +them. To avenge this inroad the inhabitants immediately +began preparations for a descent upon St. Augustine; and +an expedition consisting of two French privateering +vessels and about 500 men was organized and about to +sail, when a new governor, James Colleton, arrived and +ordered it to disband.<a id="footnotetag475" name="footnotetag475"></a><a href="#footnote475"><sup>475</sup></a> Colleton was instructed to arrest +Governor Moreton on the charge of encouraging piracy, +and to punish those who entertained and abetted the +freebooters;<a id="footnotetag476" name="footnotetag476"></a><a href="#footnote476"><sup>476</sup></a> and on 12th February 1687 he had a new +and more explicit law to suppress the evil enacted by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id="page253"></a>{253}</span> +the assembly.<a id="footnotetag477" name="footnotetag477"></a><a href="#footnote477"><sup>477</sup></a> On 22nd May of the same year James +II. renewed the proclamation for the suppression of +pirates, and offered pardon to all who surrendered within +a limited time and gave security for future good +behaviour.<a id="footnotetag478" name="footnotetag478"></a><a href="#footnote478"><sup>478</sup></a> The situation was so serious, however, that +in August the king commissioned Sir Robert Holmes to +proceed with a squadron to the West Indies and make +short work of the outlaws;<a id="footnotetag479" name="footnotetag479"></a><a href="#footnote479"><sup>479</sup></a> and in October he issued a +circular to all the governors in the colonies, directing +the most stringent enforcement of the laws, "a +practice having grown up of bringing pirates to trial +before the evidence was ready, and of using other +evasions to insure their acquittal."<a id="footnotetag480" name="footnotetag480"></a><a href="#footnote480"><sup>480</sup></a> On the following +20th January another proclamation was issued by James +to insure the co-operation of the governors with Sir +Robert Holmes and his agents.<a id="footnotetag481" name="footnotetag481"></a><a href="#footnote481"><sup>481</sup></a> The problem, however, +was more difficult than the king had anticipated. The +presence of the fleet upon the coast stopped the evil for a +time, but a few years later, especially in the Carolinas +under the administration of Governor Ludwell (1691-1693), +the pirates again increased in numbers and in +boldness, and Charleston was completely overrun with the +freebooters, who, with the connivance of the merchants +and a free display of gold, set the law at defiance.</p> + +<p>In Jamaica Lieutenant-Governor Molesworth continued +in the policy and spirit of his predecessor. He +sent a frigate to the Bay of Darien to visit Golden Isle +and the Isle of Pines (where the buccaneers were +accustomed to make their rendezvous when they crossed +over to the South Seas), with orders to destroy any piratical +craft in that vicinity, and he made every exertion to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" id="page254"></a>{254}</span> +prevent recruits from leaving Jamaica.<a id="footnotetag482" name="footnotetag482"></a><a href="#footnote482"><sup>482</sup></a> The stragglers +who returned from the South Seas he arrested and +executed, and he dealt severely with those who received +and entertained them.<a id="footnotetag483" name="footnotetag483"></a><a href="#footnote483"><sup>483</sup></a> By virtue of the king's proclamation +of 1684, he had the property in Port Royal belonging +to men then in the South Seas forfeited to the crown.<a id="footnotetag484" name="footnotetag484"></a><a href="#footnote484"><sup>484</sup></a> A +Captain Bannister, who in June 1684 had run away from +Port Royal on a privateering venture with a ship of thirty +guns, had been caught and brought back by the frigate +"Ruby," but when put on trial for piracy was released by +the grand jury on a technicality. Six months later +Bannister managed to elude the forts a second time, and +for two years kept dodging the frigates which Molesworth +sent in pursuit of him. Finally, in January 1687, Captain +Spragge sailed into Port Royal with the buccaneer and +three of his companions hanging at the yard-arms, "a +spectacle of great satisfaction to all good people, and of +terror to the favourers of pirates."<a id="footnotetag485" name="footnotetag485"></a><a href="#footnote485"><sup>485</sup></a> It was during the +government of Molesworth that the "Biscayners" began +to appear in American waters. These privateers from the +Bay of Biscay seem to have been taken into the King of +Spain's service to hunt pirates, but they interrupted +English trade more than the pirates did. They captured +and plundered English merchantmen right and left, and +carried them to Cartagena, Vera Cruz, San Domingo and +other Spanish ports, where the governors took charge of +their prisoners and allowed them to dispose of their +captured goods. They held their commissions, it seems, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" id="page255"></a>{255}</span> +directly from the Crown, and so pretended to be outside +the pale of the authority of the Spanish governors. The +latter, at any rate, declared that they could give no +redress, and themselves complained to the authorities in +Jamaica of the independence of these marauders.<a id="footnotetag486" name="footnotetag486"></a><a href="#footnote486"><sup>486</sup></a> In +December 1688 the king issued a warrant to the +Governor of Jamaica authorizing him to suppress the +Biscayans with the royal frigates.<a id="footnotetag487" name="footnotetag487"></a><a href="#footnote487"><sup>487</sup></a></p> + +<p>On 28th October 1685 the governorship of the island +was assigned to Sir Philip Howard,<a id="footnotetag488" name="footnotetag488"></a><a href="#footnote488"><sup>488</sup></a> but Howard died +shortly after, and the Duke of Albemarle was appointed +in his stead.<a id="footnotetag489" name="footnotetag489"></a><a href="#footnote489"><sup>489</sup></a> Albemarle, who arrived at Port Royal in +December 1687,<a id="footnotetag490" name="footnotetag490"></a><a href="#footnote490"><sup>490</sup></a> completely reversed the policy of his +predecessors, Lynch and Molesworth. Even before he +left England he had undermined his health by his intemperate +habits, and when he came to Jamaica he leagued +himself with the most unruly and debauched men in the +colony. He seems to have had no object but to increase +his fortune at the expense of the island. Before he sailed +he had boldly petitioned for powers to dispose of money +without the advice and consent of his council, and, if he +saw fit, to reinstate into office Sir Henry Morgan and +Robert Byndloss. The king, however, decided that the +suspension of Morgan and Byndloss should remain until +Albemarle had reported on their case from Jamaica.<a id="footnotetag491" name="footnotetag491"></a><a href="#footnote491"><sup>491</sup></a> +When the Duke entered upon his new government, he +immediately appointed Roger Elletson to be Chief Justice +of the island in the place of Samuel Bernard. Three +assistant-judges of the Supreme Court thereupon resigned +their positions on the bench, and one was, in revenge, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256"></a>{256}</span> +dismissed by the governor from the council. Several other +councillors were also suspended, contrary to the governor's +instructions against arbitrary dismissal of such officers, and +on 18th January 1688 Sir Henry Morgan, upon the king's +approval of the Duke's recommendation, was re-admitted +to the council-chamber.<a id="footnotetag492" name="footnotetag492"></a><a href="#footnote492"><sup>492</sup></a> The old buccaneer, however, did +not long enjoy his restored dignity. About a month later +he succumbed to a sharp illness, and on 26th August was +buried in St. Catherine's Church in Port Royal.<a id="footnotetag493" name="footnotetag493"></a><a href="#footnote493"><sup>493</sup></a></p> + +<p>In November 1688 a petition was presented to the +king by the planters and merchants trading to Jamaica +protesting against the new régime introduced by Lord +Albemarle:—"The once flourishing island of Jamaica is +likely to be utterly undone by the irregularities of some +needy persons lately set in power. Many of the most +considerable inhabitants are deserting it, others are under +severe fines and imprisonments from little or no cause.... +The provost-marshal has been dismissed and an indebted +person put in his place; and all the most substantial +officers, civil and military, have been turned out and +necessitous persons set up in their room. The like has been +done in the judicial offices, whereby the benefit of appeals +and prohibitions is rendered useless. Councillors are +suspended without royal order and without a hearing. +Several persons have been forced to give security not to +leave the island lest they should seek redress; others have +been brought before the council for trifling offences and +innumerable fees taken from them; money has been +raised twenty per cent. over its value to defend creditors. +Lastly, the elections have been tampered with by the +indebted provost-marshal, and since the Duke of +Albemarle's death are continued without your royal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>{257}</span> +authority."<a id="footnotetag494" name="footnotetag494"></a><a href="#footnote494"><sup>494</sup></a> The death of Albemarle, indeed, at this +opportune time was the greatest service he rendered to +the colony. Molesworth was immediately commanded to +return to Jamaica and resume authority. The duke's +system was entirely reversed, and the government restored +as it had been under the administration of Sir Thomas +Lynch. Elletson was removed from the council and from +his position as chief justice, and Bernard returned in his +former place. All of the rest of Albemarle's creatures were +dismissed from their posts, and the supporters of Lynch's +régime again put in control of a majority in the council.<a id="footnotetag495" name="footnotetag495"></a><a href="#footnote495"><sup>495</sup></a> +This measure of plain justice was one of the last acts of +James II. as King of England. On 5th November 1688 +William of Orange landed in England at Torbay, and on +22nd December James escaped to France to live as a +pensioner of Louis XIV. The new king almost immediately +wrote to Jamaica confirming the reappointment of +Molesworth, and a commission to the latter was issued on +25th July 1689.<a id="footnotetag496" name="footnotetag496"></a><a href="#footnote496"><sup>496</sup></a> Molesworth, unfortunately for the colony, +died within a few days,<a id="footnotetag497" name="footnotetag497"></a><a href="#footnote497"><sup>497</sup></a> and the Earl of Inchiquin was +appointed on 19th September to succeed him.<a id="footnotetag498" name="footnotetag498"></a><a href="#footnote498"><sup>498</sup></a> Sir Francis +Watson, President of the Council in Jamaica, obeyed the +instructions of William III., although he was a partizan of +Albemarle; yet so high was the feeling between the two +factions that the greatest confusion reigned in the government +of the island until the arrival of Inchiquin in May +1690.<a id="footnotetag499" name="footnotetag499"></a><a href="#footnote499"><sup>499</sup></a></p> + +<p>The Revolution of 1688, by placing William of Orange +on the English throne, added a powerful kingdom to the +European coalition which in 1689 attacked Louis XIV. +over the question of the succession of the Palatinate. That +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258"></a>{258}</span> +James II. should accept the hospitality of the French +monarch and use France as a basis for attack on England +and Ireland was, quite apart from William's sympathy +with the Protestants on the Continent, sufficient cause for +hostilities against France. War broke out in May 1689, +and was soon reflected in the English and French colonies +in the West Indies. De Cussy, in Hispaniola, led an +expedition of 1000 men, many of them filibusters, against +St. Jago de los Cavalleros in the interior of the island, and +took and burnt the town. In revenge the Spaniards, +supported by an English fleet which had just driven the +French from St. Kitts, appeared in January 1691 before +Cap François, defeated and killed de Cussy in an engagement +near the town, and burned and sacked the settlement. +Three hundred French filibusters were killed in the battle. +The English fleet visited Leogane and Petit Goave in the +<i>cul-de-sac</i> of Hispaniola, and then sailed to Jamaica. De +Cussy before his death had seized the opportunity to +provide the freebooters with new commissions for privateering, +and English shipping suffered severely.<a id="footnotetag500" name="footnotetag500"></a><a href="#footnote500"><sup>500</sup></a> Laurens +with 200 men touched at Montego Bay on the north coast +in October, and threatened to return and plunder the +whole north side of the island. The people were so +frightened that they sent their wives and children to Port +Royal; and the council armed several vessels to go in +pursuit of the Frenchmen.<a id="footnotetag501" name="footnotetag501"></a><a href="#footnote501"><sup>501</sup></a> It was a new experience to +feel the danger of invasion by a foreign foe. The Jamaicans +had an insight into the terror which their Spanish neighbours +felt for the buccaneers, whom the English islanders +had always been so ready to fit out, or to shield from the +arm of the law. Laurens in the meantime was as good as +his word. He returned to Jamaica in the beginning of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>{259}</span> +December with several vessels, seized eight or ten English +trading sloops, landed on the north shore and plundered a +plantation.<a id="footnotetag502" name="footnotetag502"></a><a href="#footnote502"><sup>502</sup></a> War with France was formally proclaimed in +Jamaica on the 13th of January 1690.<a id="footnotetag503" name="footnotetag503"></a><a href="#footnote503"><sup>503</sup></a></p> + +<p>Two years later, in January 1692, Lord Inchiquin +also succumbed to disease in Jamaica, and in the following +June Colonel William Beeston was chosen by the +queen to act as lieutenant-governor.<a id="footnotetag504" name="footnotetag504"></a><a href="#footnote504"><sup>504</sup></a> Inchiquin before +he left England had solicited for the power to call in and +pardon pirates, so as to strengthen the island during the +war by adding to its forces men who would make good +fighters on both land and sea. The Committee on Trade +and Plantations reported favourably on the proposal, but +the power seems never to have been granted.<a id="footnotetag505" name="footnotetag505"></a><a href="#footnote505"><sup>505</sup></a> In January +1692, however, the President of the Council of Jamaica +began to issue commissions to privateers, and in a few +months the surrounding seas were full of armed Jamaican +sloops.<a id="footnotetag506" name="footnotetag506"></a><a href="#footnote506"><sup>506</sup></a> On 7th June of the same year the colony +suffered a disaster which almost proved its destruction. +A terrible earthquake overwhelmed Port Royal and "in +ten minutes threw down all the churches, dwelling-houses +and sugar-works in the island. Two-thirds of Port Royal +were swallowed up by the sea, all the forts and fortifications +demolished and great part of its inhabitants miserably +knocked on the head or drowned."<a id="footnotetag507" name="footnotetag507"></a><a href="#footnote507"><sup>507</sup></a> The French in +Hispaniola took advantage of the distress caused by the +earthquake to invade the island, and nearly every week +hostile bands landed and plundered the coast of negroes +and other property.<a id="footnotetag508" name="footnotetag508"></a><a href="#footnote508"><sup>508</sup></a> In December 1693 a party of 170 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260"></a>{260}</span> +swooped down in the night upon St. Davids, only seven +leagues from Port Royal, plundered the whole parish, and +got away again with 370 slaves.<a id="footnotetag509" name="footnotetag509"></a><a href="#footnote509"><sup>509</sup></a> In the following April +Ducasse, the new French governor of Hispaniola, sent +400 buccaneers in six small vessels to repeat the exploit, +but the marauders met an English man-of-war guarding +the coast, and concluding "that they would only get +broken bones and spoil their men for any other design," +they retired whence they had come.<a id="footnotetag510" name="footnotetag510"></a><a href="#footnote510"><sup>510</sup></a> Two months later, +however, a much more serious incursion was made. An +expedition of twenty-two vessels and 1500 men, recruited in +France and instigated, it is said, by Irish and Jacobite refugees, +set sail under Ducasse on 8th June with the intention +of conquering the whole of Jamaica. The French +landed at Point Morant and Cow Bay, and for a month +cruelly desolated the whole south-eastern portion of the +island. Then coasting along the southern shore they made +a feint on Port Royal, and landed in Carlisle Bay to the +west of the capital. After driving from their breastworks +the English force of 250 men, they again fell to ravaging +and burning, but finding they could make no headway +against the Jamaican militia, who were now increased to +700 men, in the latter part of July they set sail with their +plunder for Hispaniola.<a id="footnotetag511" name="footnotetag511"></a><a href="#footnote511"><sup>511</sup></a> Jamaica had been denuded of +men by the earthquake and by sickness, and Lieutenant-Governor +Beeston had wisely abandoned the forts in the +east of the island and concentrated all his strength at +Port Royal.<a id="footnotetag512" name="footnotetag512"></a><a href="#footnote512"><sup>512</sup></a> It was this expedient which doubtless +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>{261}</span> +saved the island from capture, for Ducasse feared to attack +the united Jamaican forces behind strong intrenchments. +The harm done to Jamaica by the invasion, however, was +very great. The French wholly destroyed fifty sugar +works and many plantations, burnt and plundered about +200 houses, and killed every living thing they found. +Thirteen hundred negroes were carried off besides other +spoil. In fighting the Jamaicans lost about 100 killed and +wounded, but the loss of the French seems to have been +several times that number. After the French returned +home Ducasse reserved all the negroes for himself, and +many of the freebooters who had taken part in the expedition, +exasperated by such a division of the spoil, deserted +the governor and resorted to buccaneering on their +own account.<a id="footnotetag513" name="footnotetag513"></a><a href="#footnote513"><sup>513</sup></a></p> + +<p>Colonel, now become Sir William, Beeston, from his +first arrival in Jamaica as lieutenant-governor, had fixed +his hopes upon a joint expedition with the Spaniards +against the French at Petit Goave; but the inertia of the +Spaniards, and the loss of men and money caused by the +earthquake, had prevented his plans from being realized.<a id="footnotetag514" name="footnotetag514"></a><a href="#footnote514"><sup>514</sup></a> +In the early part of 1695, however, an army of 1700 +soldiers on a fleet of twenty-three ships sailed from +England under command of Commodore Wilmot for the +West Indies. Uniting with 1500 Spaniards from San +Domingo and the Barlovento fleet of three sail, they +captured and sacked Cap François and Port de Paix in +the French end of the island. It had been the intention +of the allies to proceed to the <i>cul-de-sac</i> and destroy +Petit Goave and Leogane, but they had lost many men by +sickness and bad management, and the Spaniards, satisfied +with the booty already obtained, were anxious to +return home. So the English fleet sailed away to Port +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>{262}</span> +Royal.<a id="footnotetag515" name="footnotetag515"></a><a href="#footnote515"><sup>515</sup></a> These hostilities so exhausted both the French +in Hispaniola and the English in Jamaica that for a time +the combatants lay back to recover their strength.</p> + +<p>The last great expedition of this war in the West +Indies serves as a fitting close to the history of the +buccaneers. On 26th September 1696 Ducasse received +from the French Minister of Marine, Pontchartrain, a +letter informing him that the king had agreed to the +project of a large armament which the Sieur de Pointis, +aided by private capital, was preparing for an enterprise in +the Mexican Gulf.<a id="footnotetag516" name="footnotetag516"></a><a href="#footnote516"><sup>516</sup></a> Ducasse, although six years earlier he +had written home urging just such an enterprise against +Vera Cruz or Cartagena, now expressed his strong disapproval +of the project, and dwelt rather on the advantages +to be gained by the capture of Spanish Hispaniola, a +conquest which would give the French the key to the +Indies. A second letter from Pontchartrain in January +1697, however, ordered him to aid de Pointis by uniting +all the freebooters and keeping them in the colony till +15th February. It was a difficult task to maintain the +buccaneers in idleness for two months and prohibit all +cruising, especially as de Pointis, who sailed from Brest in +the beginning of January, did not reach Petit Goave till +about 1st March.<a id="footnotetag517" name="footnotetag517"></a><a href="#footnote517"><sup>517</sup></a> The buccaneers murmured and +threatened to disband, and it required all the personal ascendancy +of Ducasse to hold them together. The Sieur +de Pointis, although a man of experience and resource, +capable of forming a large design and sparing nothing to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>{263}</span> +its success, suffered from two very common faults—vanity +and avarice. He sometimes allowed the sense of his own +merits to blind him to the merits of others, and considerations +of self-interest to dim the brilliance of his achievements. +Of Ducasse he was insanely jealous, and during +the whole expedition he tried in every way to humiliate +him. Unable to bring himself to conciliate the unruly +spirit of the buccaneers, he told them plainly that he would +lead them not as a companion in fortune but as a military +superior, and that they must submit themselves to the +same rules as the men on the king's ships. The freebooters +rebelled under the haughtiness of their commander, +and only Ducasse's influence was able to bring +them to obedience.<a id="footnotetag518" name="footnotetag518"></a><a href="#footnote518"><sup>518</sup></a> On 18th March the ships were all +gathered at the rendezvous at Cape Tiburon, and on the +13th of the following month anchored two leagues to the +east of Cartagena.<a id="footnotetag519" name="footnotetag519"></a><a href="#footnote519"><sup>519</sup></a> De Pointis had under his command +about 4000 men, half of them seamen, the rest soldiers. +The reinforcements he had received from Ducasse +numbered 1100, and of these 650 were buccaneers commanded +by Ducasse himself. He had nine frigates, +besides seven vessels belonging to the buccaneers, and +numerous smaller boats.<a id="footnotetag520" name="footnotetag520"></a><a href="#footnote520"><sup>520</sup></a> The appearance of so formidable +an armament in the West Indies caused a great deal +of concern both in England and in Jamaica. Martial law +was proclaimed in the colony and every means taken to +put Port Royal in a state of defence.<a id="footnotetag521" name="footnotetag521"></a><a href="#footnote521"><sup>521</sup></a> Governor Beeston, +at the first news of de Pointis' fleet, sent advice to the +governors of Porto Bello and Havana, against whom he +suspected that the expedition was intended.<a id="footnotetag522" name="footnotetag522"></a><a href="#footnote522"><sup>522</sup></a> A squadron +of thirteen vessels was sent out from England under +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264"></a>{264}</span> +command of Admiral Nevill to protect the British islands +and the Spanish treasure fleets, for both the galleons and +the Flota were then in the Indies.<a id="footnotetag523" name="footnotetag523"></a><a href="#footnote523"><sup>523</sup></a> Nevill touched at +Barbadoes on 17th April,<a id="footnotetag524" name="footnotetag524"></a><a href="#footnote524"><sup>524</sup></a> and then sailed up through the +Leeward Islands towards Hispaniola in search of de +Pointis. The Frenchman, however, had eluded him and +was already before Cartagena.</p> +<center><a name="illus-cartagena" id="illus-cartagena"><img width="600" height="306" src="images/fp264.png" alt="Cartagena"/></a></center> + +<p>Cartagena, situated at the eastward end of a large +double lagoon, was perhaps the strongest fortress in the +Indies, and the Spaniards within opposed a courageous +defence.<a id="footnotetag525" name="footnotetag525"></a><a href="#footnote525"><sup>525</sup></a> After a fortnight of fighting and bombardment, +however, on the last day of April the outworks were +carried by a brilliant assault, and on 6th May the small +Spanish garrison, followed by the <i>Cabildo</i> or municipal +corporation, and by many of the citizens of the town, in all +about 2800 persons, marched out with the honours of war. +Although the Spaniards had been warned of the coming of +the French, and before their arrival had succeeded in +withdrawing the women and some of their riches to +Mompos in the interior, the treasure which fell into the +hands of the invaders was enormous, and has been variously +estimated at from six million crowns to twenty +millions sterling. Trouble soon broke out between de +Pointis and the buccaneers, for the latter wanted the +whole of the plunder to be divided equally among the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id="page265"></a>{265}</span> +men, as had always been their custom, and they expected, +according to this arrangement, says de Pointis in his +narrative, about a quarter of all the booty. De Pointis, +however, insisted upon the order which he had published +before the expedition sailed from Petit Goave, that the +buccaneers should be subject to the same rule in the +division of the spoil as the sailors in the fleet, <i>i.e.</i>, they +should receive one-tenth of the first million and one-thirtieth +of the rest. Moreover, fearing that the buccaneers +would take matters into their own hands, he had +excluded them from the city while his officers gathered +the plunder and carried it to the ships. On the repeated +remonstrances of Ducasse, de Pointis finally announced +that the share allotted to the men from Hispaniola was +40,000 crowns. The buccaneers, finding themselves so +miserably cheated, broke out into open mutiny, but were +restrained by the influence of their leader and the presence +of the king's frigates. De Pointis, meanwhile, seeing his +own men decimated by sickness, put all the captured +guns on board the fleet and made haste to get under sail +for France. South of Jamaica he fell in with the squadron +of Admiral Nevill, to which in the meantime had been +joined some eight Dutch men-of-war; but de Pointis, +although inferior in numbers, outsailed the English ships +and lost but one or two of his smaller vessels. He then +manœuvred past Cape S. Antonio, round the north of +Cuba and through the Bahama Channel to Newfoundland, +where he stopped for fresh wood and water, and after a brush +with a small English squadron under Commodore Norris, +sailed into the harbour of Brest on 19th August 1697.<a id="footnotetag526" name="footnotetag526"></a><a href="#footnote526"><sup>526</sup></a></p> + +<p>The buccaneers, even before de Pointis sailed for +France, had turned their ships back toward Cartagena to +reimburse themselves by again plundering the city. De +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266"></a>{266}</span> +Pointis, indeed, was then very ill, and his officers were in +no condition to oppose them. After the fleet had departed +the freebooters re-entered Cartagena, and for four days put +it to the sack, extorting from the unfortunate citizens, and +from the churches and monasteries, several million more +in gold and silver. Embarking for the Isle la Vache, +they had covered but thirty leagues when they met with +the same allied fleet which had pursued de Pointis. Of +the nine buccaneer vessels, the two which carried most of +the booty were captured, two more were driven ashore, and +the rest succeeded in escaping to Hispaniola. Ducasse, +who had returned to Petit Goave when de Pointis sailed +for France, sent one of his lieutenants on a mission to the +French Court to complain of the ill-treatment he had +received from de Pointis, and to demand his own recall; +but the king pacified him by making him a Chevalier of +St. Louis, and allotting 1,400,000 francs to the French +colonists who had aided in the expedition. The money, +however, was slow in reaching the hands of those to whom +it was due, and much was lost through the malversations +of the men charged with its distribution.<a id="footnotetag527" name="footnotetag527"></a><a href="#footnote527"><sup>527</sup></a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p>With the capture of Cartagena in 1697 the history of +the buccaneers may be said to end. More and more +during the previous twenty years they had degenerated +into mere pirates, or had left their libertine life for more +civilised pursuits. Since 1671 the English government +had been consistent in its policy of suppressing the freebooters, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>{267}</span> +and with few exceptions the governors sent to +Jamaica had done their best to uphold and enforce the will +of the councils at home. Ten years or more had to elapse +before the French Court saw the situation in a similar light, +and even then the exigencies of war and defence in French +Hispaniola prevented the governors from taking any +effective measures toward suppression. The problem, +indeed, had not been an easy one. The buccaneers, +whatever their origin, were intrepid men, not without a +sense of honour among themselves, wedded to a life of +constant danger which they met and overcame with +surprising hardiness. When an expedition was projected +against their traditional foes, the Spaniards, they calculated +the chances of profit, and taking little account of the perils +to be run, or indeed of the flag under which they sailed, +English, French and Dutch alike became brothers under +a chief whose courage they perfectly recognised and whom +they servilely obeyed. They lived at a time when they +were in no danger of being overhauled by ubiquitous +cruisers with rifled guns, and so long as they confined +themselves to His Catholic Majesty's ships and settlements, +they had trusted in the immunity arising from the +traditional hostility existing between the English and the +Spaniards of that era. And for the Spaniards the record of +the buccaneers had been a terrible one. Between the +years 1655 and 1671 alone, the corsairs had sacked +eighteen cities, four towns and more than thirty-five +villages—Cumana once, Cumanagote twice, Maracaibo +and Gibraltar twice, Rio de la Hacha five times, Santa +Marta three times, Tolu eight times, Porto Bello once, +Chagre twice, Panama once, Santa Catalina twice, Granada +in Nicaragua twice, Campeache three times, St. Jago de +Cuba once, and other towns and villages in Cuba and +Hispaniola for thirty leagues inland innumerable times. +And this fearful tale of robbery and outrage does not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268"></a>{268}</span> +embrace the various expeditions against Porto Bello, +Campeache, Cartagena and other Spanish ports made +after 1670. The Marquis de Barinas in 1685 estimated +the losses of the Spaniards at the hands of the buccaneers +since the accession of Charles II. to be sixty million crowns; +and these figures covered merely the destruction of towns +and treasure, without including the loss of more than 250 +merchant ships and frigates.<a id="footnotetag528" name="footnotetag528"></a><a href="#footnote528"><sup>528</sup></a> If the losses and suffering +of the Spaniards had been terrible, the advantages accruing +to the invaders, or to the colonies which received and +supported them, scarcely compensated for the effort it cost +them. Buccaneering had denuded Jamaica of its bravest +men, lowered the moral tone of the island, and retarded +the development of its natural resources. It was estimated +that there were lost to the island between 1668 and 1671, +in the designs against Tobago, Curaçao, Porto Bello, +Granada and Panama, about 2600 men,<a id="footnotetag529" name="footnotetag529"></a><a href="#footnote529"><sup>529</sup></a> which was a large +number for a new and very weak colony surrounded by +powerful foes. Says the same writer later on: "People +have not married, built or settled as they would in time of +peace—some for fear of being destroyed, others have got +much suddenly by privateers bargains and are gone. +War carries away all freemen, labourers and planters of +provisions, which makes work and victuals dear and scarce. +Privateering encourages all manner of disorder and dissoluteness; +and if it succeed, does but enrich the worst +sort of people and provoke and alarm the Spaniards."<a id="footnotetag530" name="footnotetag530"></a><a href="#footnote530"><sup>530</sup></a></p> + +<p>The privateers, moreover, really injured English trade +as much as they injured Spanish navigation; and if the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269"></a>{269}</span> +English in the second half of the seventeenth century had +given the Spaniards as little cause for enmity in the West +Indies as the Dutch had done, they perhaps rather than +the Dutch would have been the convoys and sharers in the +rich Flotas. The Spaniards, moreover, if not in the court +at home, at least in the colonies, would have readily lent +themselves to a trade, illicit though it be, with the English +islands, a trade, moreover, which it was the constant aim +of English diplomacy to encourage and maintain, had they +been able to assure themselves that their English neighbours +were their friends. But when outrage succeeded +upon outrage, and the English Governors seemed, in spite +of their protestations of innocence, to make no progress +toward stopping them, the Spaniards naturally concluded +that the English government was the best of liars and the +worst of friends. From another point of view, too, the +activity of the buccaneers was directly opposed to the +commercial interests of Great Britain. Of all the nations +of Europe the Spaniards were those who profited least from +their American possessions. It was the English, the +French and the Dutch who carried their merchandize to +Cadiz and freighted the Spanish-American fleets, and who +at the return of these fleets from Porto Bello and Vera +Cruz appropriated the greater part of the gold, silver and +precious stuffs which composed their cargoes. And when +the buccaneers cut off a Spanish galleon, or wrecked the +Spanish cities on the Main, it was not so much the +Spaniards who suffered as the foreign merchants interested +in the trade between Spain and her colonies. If the policy +of the English and French Governments toward the +buccaneers gradually changed from one of connivance or +encouragement to one of hostility and suppression, it was +because they came to realise that it was easier and more +profitable to absorb the trade and riches of Spanish +America through the peaceful agencies of treaty and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270"></a>{270}</span> +concession, than by endeavouring to enforce a trade in the +old-fashioned way inaugurated by Drake and his Elizabethan +contemporaries.</p> + +<p>The pirate successors of the buccaneers were distinguished +from their predecessors mainly by the fact that +they preyed on the commerce of all flags indiscriminately, +and were outlawed and hunted down by all nations alike. +They, moreover, widely extended their field of operations. +No longer content with the West Indies and the shores of +the Caribbean Sea, they sailed east to the coast of Guinea +and around Africa to the Indian Ocean. They haunted +the shores of Madagascar, the Red Sea and the Persian +Gulf, and ventured even as far as the Malabar Coast, +intercepting the rich trade with the East, the great ships +from Bengal and the Islands of Spice. And not only did +the outlaws of all nations from America and the West +Indies flock to these regions, but sailors from England +were fired by reports of the rich spoils obtained to imitate +their example. One of the most remarkable instances was +that of Captain Henry Avery, <i>alias</i> Bridgman. In May +1694 Avery was on an English merchantman, the +"Charles II.," lying near Corunna. He persuaded the crew +to mutiny, set the captain on shore, re-christened the ship +the "Fancy," and sailed to the East Indies. Among other +prizes he captured, in September 1695, a large vessel called +the "Gunsway," belonging to the Great Mogul—an exploit +which led to reprisals and the seizure of the English +factories in India. On application of the East India +Company, proclamations were issued on 17th July, +10th and 21st August 1696, by the Lords Justices of +England, declaring Avery and his crew pirates and +offering a reward for their apprehension.<a id="footnotetag531" name="footnotetag531"></a><a href="#footnote531"><sup>531</sup></a> Five of the +crew were seized on their return to England in the +autumn of the same year, were tried at the Old Bailey +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id="page271"></a>{271}</span> +and hanged, and several of their companions were arrested +later.<a id="footnotetag532" name="footnotetag532"></a><a href="#footnote532"><sup>532</sup></a></p> + +<p>In the North American colonies these new pirates still +continued to find encouragement and protection. Carolina +had long had an evil reputation as a hot-bed of piracy, and +deservedly so. The proprietors had removed one governor +after another for harbouring the freebooters, but with little +result. In the Bahamas, which belonged to the same +proprietors, the evil was even more flagrant. Governor +Markham of the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania allowed +the pirates to dispose of their goods and to refit upon the +banks of the Delaware, and William Penn, the proprietor, +showed little disposition to reprimand or remove him. +Governor Fletcher of New York was in open alliance with +the outlaws, accepted their gifts and allowed them to +parade the streets in broad daylight. The merchants of +New York, as well as those of Rhode Island and +Massachusetts, who were prevented by the Navigation +Laws from engaging in legitimate trade with other +nations, welcomed the appearance of the pirate ships laden +with goods from the East, provided a ready market for +their cargoes, and encouraged them to repeat their +voyages.</p> + +<p>In 1699 an Act was passed through Parliament of such +severity as to drive many of the outlaws from American +waters. It was largely a revival of the Act of 28, Henry +VIII., was in force for seven years, and was twice renewed. +The war of the Spanish Succession, moreover, gave many +men of piratical inclinations an opportunity of sailing +under lawful commissions as privateers against the French +and Spaniards. In this long war, too, the French +filibusters were especially numerous and active. In 1706 +there were 1200 or 1300 who made their headquarters in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" id="page272"></a>{272}</span> +Martinique alone.<a id="footnotetag533" name="footnotetag533"></a><a href="#footnote533"><sup>533</sup></a> While keeping the French islands +supplied with provisions and merchandise captured in +their prizes, they were a serious discouragement to English +commerce in those regions, especially to the trade with the +North American colonies. Occasionally they threatened +the coasts of Virginia and New England, and some +combined with their West Indian cruises a foray along the +coasts of Guinea and into the Red Sea. These corsairs +were not all commissioned privateers, however, for some of +them seized French shipping with as little compunction as +English or Dutch. Especially after the Treaty of Utrecht +there was a recrudescence of piracy both in the West +Indies and in the East, and it was ten years or more +thereafter before the freebooters were finally suppressed.</p> + + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote424" name="footnote424"></a><b>Footnote 424: </b><a href="#footnotetag424">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 501, 552. <i>Cf.</i> also Nos. 197, 227.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote425" name="footnote425"></a><b>Footnote 425: </b><a href="#footnotetag425">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 364-366, 431, 668.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote426" name="footnote426"></a><b>Footnote 426: </b><a href="#footnotetag426">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 476, 609, 668. Paine was sent from Jamaica under arrest +to Governor de Cussy in 1684, and thence was shipped on a frigate to France. +(Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 334.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote427" name="footnote427"></a><b>Footnote 427: </b><a href="#footnotetag427">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 668, 769, 963.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote428" name="footnote428"></a><b>Footnote 428: </b><a href="#footnotetag428">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 769, 963, 993.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote429" name="footnote429"></a><b>Footnote 429: </b><a href="#footnotetag429">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1065, 1313.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote430" name="footnote430"></a><b>Footnote 430: </b><a href="#footnotetag430">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1313.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote431" name="footnote431"></a><b>Footnote 431: </b><a href="#footnotetag431">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1190, 1216.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote432" name="footnote432"></a><b>Footnote 432: </b><a href="#footnotetag432">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1173.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote433" name="footnote433"></a><b>Footnote 433: </b><a href="#footnotetag433">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1168, 1190, 1223, 1344; <i>cf.</i> +also Nos. 1381, 1464, 1803.</p> + +<p>In June 1684 we learn that "Hamlin, captain of La Trompeuse, got into +a ship of thirty-six guns on the coast of the Main last month, with sixty of his +old crew and as many new men. They call themselves pirates, and their ship +La Nouvelle Trompeuse, and talk of their old station at Isle de Vaches." +(<i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1759.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote434" name="footnote434"></a><b>Footnote 434: </b><a href="#footnotetag434">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 777, 1188, 1189, 1223, 1376, 1471-1474, +1504, 1535, 1537, 1731.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote435" name="footnote435"></a><b>Footnote 435: </b><a href="#footnotetag435">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1222, 1223, 1676, 1678, 1686, 1909; +<i>cf.</i> also Nos. 1382, 1547, 1665.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote436" name="footnote436"></a><b>Footnote 436: </b><a href="#footnotetag436">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 552, 599, 668, 712.</p> + +<p>Coxon continued to vacillate between submission to the Governor of Jamaica +and open rebellion. In October 1682 he was sent by Sir Thos. Lynch with +three vessels to the Gulf of Honduras to fetch away the English logwood-cutters. +"His men plotted to take the ship and go privateering, but he +valiently resisted, killed one or two with his own hand, forced eleven overboard, +and brought three here (Port Royal) who were condemned last Friday." +(<i>Ibid.</i>, No. 769. Letter of Sir Thos. Lynch, 6th Nov. 1682.) A year later, +in November 1683, he had again reverted to piracy (<i>ibid.</i>, No. 1348), but in +January 1686 surrendered to Lieut.-Governor Molesworth and was ordered +to be arrested and tried at St. Jago de la Vega (<i>ibid.</i>, 1685-88, No. 548). +He probably in the meantime succeeded in escaping from the island, for in the +following November he was reported to be cutting logwood in the Gulf of +Campeache, and Molesworth was issuing a proclamation declaring him an +outlaw (<i>ibid.</i>, No. 965). He remained abroad until September 1688 when he +again surrendered to the Governor of Jamaica (<i>ibid.</i>, No. 1890), and again by +some hook or crook obtained his freedom.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote437" name="footnote437"></a><b>Footnote 437: </b><a href="#footnotetag437">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 660, 673.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote438" name="footnote438"></a><b>Footnote 438: </b><a href="#footnotetag438">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 627, 769.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote439" name="footnote439"></a><b>Footnote 439: </b><a href="#footnotetag439">(return)</a><p>He is not to be confused with the Peter Paine who brought "La +Trompeuse" to Port Royal. Thomas Pain, a few months before he arrived +in the Bahamas, had come in and submitted to Sir Thomas Lynch, and had been +sent out again by the governor to cruise after pirates. (C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, +Nos. 769, 1707.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote440" name="footnote440"></a><b>Footnote 440: </b><a href="#footnotetag440">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1509, 1540, 1590, 1924, 1926.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote441" name="footnote441"></a><b>Footnote 441: </b><a href="#footnotetag441">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1927, 1938.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote442" name="footnote442"></a><b>Footnote 442: </b><a href="#footnotetag442">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1540, 1833.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote443" name="footnote443"></a><b>Footnote 443: </b><a href="#footnotetag443">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. viii. p. 130. In 1684 +there were between 2000 and 3000 filibusters who made their headquarters +in French Hispaniola. They had seventeen vessels at sea with batteries +ranging from four to fifty guns. (C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 668; Bibl. +Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 336.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote444" name="footnote444"></a><b>Footnote 444: </b><a href="#footnotetag444">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. viii. pp. 128-30.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote445" name="footnote445"></a><b>Footnote 445: </b><a href="#footnotetag445">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 963, 998, 1065.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote446" name="footnote446"></a><b>Footnote 446: </b><a href="#footnotetag446">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 709, 712.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote447" name="footnote447"></a><b>Footnote 447: </b><a href="#footnotetag447">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1163; Charlevoix, liv. viii. +p. 133; Narrative contained in "The Voyages and Adventures of Captain +Barth, Sharpe and others in the South Sea." Lon. 1684.</p> + +<p>Governor Lynch wrote in July 1683: "All the governors in America +have known of this very design for four or five months." Duro, quoting from +a Spanish MS. in the Coleccion Navarrete, t. x. No. 33, says that the booty +at Vera Cruz amounted to more than three million reales de plata in jewels +and merchandise, for which the invaders demanded a ransom of 150,000 +pieces of eight. They also carried away, according to the account, 1300 +slaves. (<i>Op. cit.</i>, v. p. 271.) A real de plata was one-eighth of a peso or +piece of eight.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote448" name="footnote448"></a><b>Footnote 448: </b><a href="#footnotetag448">(return)</a><p>S.P. Spain, vol. 69, f. 339.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote449" name="footnote449"></a><b>Footnote 449: </b><a href="#footnotetag449">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, vol. 70, f. 57; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1633.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote450" name="footnote450"></a><b>Footnote 450: </b><a href="#footnotetag450">(return)</a><p>During de Franquesnay's short tenure of authority, +Laurens, driven from Hispaniola by the stern measures of the governor +against privateers, made it understood that he desired to enter the +service of the Governor of Jamaica. The Privy Council empowered Lynch to +treat with him, offering pardon and permission to settle on the island +on giving security for his future good behaviour. But de Cussy arrived +in the meantime, reversed the policy of de Franquesnay, received Laurens +with all the honour due to a military hero, and endeavoured to engage +him in the services of the government (Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. +viii. pp. 141, 202; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1210, 1249, 1424, 1461, +1649, 1718 and 1839).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote451" name="footnote451"></a><b>Footnote 451: </b><a href="#footnotetag451">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. viii. pp. 139-145; +C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, No. 378.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote452" name="footnote452"></a><b>Footnote 452: </b><a href="#footnotetag452">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. ix. pp. 197-99; Duro., +<i>op. cit.</i>, v. pp. 273-74; C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 193, 339, +378, 778.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote453" name="footnote453"></a><b>Footnote 453: </b><a href="#footnotetag453">(return)</a><p>According to Charlevoix, de Grammont was a native of Paris, entered +the Royal Marine, and distinguished himself in several naval engagements. +Finally he appeared in the West Indies as the commander of a frigate armed +for privateering, and captured near Martinique a Dutch vessel worth 400,000 +livres. He carried his prize to Hispaniola, where he lost at the gaming +table and consumed in debauchery the whole value of his capture; and not +daring to return to France he joined the buccaneers.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote454" name="footnote454"></a><b>Footnote 454: </b><a href="#footnotetag454">(return)</a><p>"Laurens-Cornille Baldran, sieur de Graff, lieutenant du roi en l'isle de +Saint Domingue, capitaine de frégate légère, chevalier de Saint Louis"—so he +was styled after entering the service of the French king (Vaissière, <i>op cit.</i>, p. +70, note). According to Charlevoix he was a native of Holland, became a +gunner in the Spanish navy, and for his skill and bravery was advanced to +the post of commander of a vessel. He was sent to American waters, captured +by the buccaneers, and joined their ranks. Such was the terror inspired by +his name throughout all the Spanish coasts that in the public prayers in the +churches Heaven was invoked to shield the inhabitants from his fury. +Divorced from his first wife, whom he had married at Teneriffe in 1674, he +was married again in March 1693 to a Norman or Breton woman named +Marie-Anne Dieu-le-veult, the widow of one of the first inhabitants of Tortuga +(<i>ibid.</i>). The story goes that Marie-Anne, thinking one day that she had been +grievously insulted by Laurens, went in search of the buccaneer, pistol in +hand, to demand an apology for the outrage. De Graff, judging this Amazon +to be worthy of him, turned about and married her (Ducéré, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 113, +note). In October 1698 Laurens de Graff, in company with Iberville, sailed +from Rochefort with two ships, and in Mobile and at the mouths of the +Mississippi laid the foundations of Louisiana (Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, v. p. 306). De +Graff died in May 1704. <i>Cf.</i> also Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325 f. 311.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote455" name="footnote455"></a><b>Footnote 455: </b><a href="#footnotetag455">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1958, 1962, 1964, 1991, 2000.</p> + +<p>Dampier writes (1685) that "it hath been usual for many years past for +the Governor of Petit Guaves to send blank Commissions to Sea by many of his +Captains, with orders to dispose of them to whom they saw convenient.... I +never read any of these French Commissions ... but I have learnt since +that the Tenor of them is to give a Liberty to Fish, Fowl and Hunt. The +Occasion of this is, that ... in time of Peace these Commissions are given +as a Warrant to those of each side (<i>i.e.</i>, French and Spanish in Hispaniola) +to protect them from the adverse Party: But in effect the French do not +restrain them to Hispaniola, but make them a pretence for a general ravage +in any part of America, by Sea or Land."—Edition 1906, I. pp. 212-13.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote456" name="footnote456"></a><b>Footnote 456: </b><a href="#footnotetag456">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 668, 769, 942, 948, 1281, +1562, 1759; <i>ibid.</i>, 1685-88, No. 558.</p> + +<p>In a memoir of MM. de St. Laurent and Begon to the French King in +February 1684, they report that in the previous year some French filibusters +discovered in a patache captured from the Spaniards a letter from the Governor +of Jamaica exhorting the Spaniards to make war on the French in Hispaniola, +and promising them vessels and other means for entirely destroying the colony. +This letter caused a furious outburst of resentment among the French settlers +against the English (<i>cf.</i> also C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1348). Shortly +after, according to the memoir, an English ship of 30 guns appeared for several +days cruising in the channel between Tortuga and Port de Paix. The sieur +de Franquesnay, on sending to ask for an explanation of this conduct, received +a curt reply to the effect that the sea was free to everyone. The French +governor thereupon sent a barque with 30 filibusters to attack the Englishman, +but the filibusters returned well beaten. In despair de Franquesnay +asked Captain de Grammont, who had just returned from a cruise in a ship of +50 guns, to go out against the intruder. With 300 of the corsairs at his back +de Grammont attacked the English frigate. The reception accorded by the +latter was as vigorous as before, but the result was different, for de Grammont +at once grappled with his antagonist, boarded her and put all the English +except the captain to the sword.—Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325 f. 332.</p> + +<p>No reference to this incident is found in the English colonial records.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote457" name="footnote457"></a><b>Footnote 457: </b><a href="#footnotetag457">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 963.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote458" name="footnote458"></a><b>Footnote 458: </b><a href="#footnotetag458">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1844, 1852.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote459" name="footnote459"></a><b>Footnote 459: </b><a href="#footnotetag459">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1246, 1249, 1250, 1294, 1295, 1302, 1311, +1348, 1489, 1502, 1503, 1510, 1562, 1563, 1565.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote460" name="footnote460"></a><b>Footnote 460: </b><a href="#footnotetag460">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1938; <i>ibid.</i>, 1685-88, Nos. 33, +53, 57, 68, 128, 129, 157.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote461" name="footnote461"></a><b>Footnote 461: </b><a href="#footnotetag461">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1681-85, Nos. 668, 769; <i>ibid.</i>, 1685-88, No. 986.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote462" name="footnote462"></a><b>Footnote 462: </b><a href="#footnotetag462">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1163, 1198; Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., +9325, f. 332.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote463" name="footnote463"></a><b>Footnote 463: </b><a href="#footnotetag463">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1796, 1854, 1855, 1943; <i>ibid.</i>, 1685-88, +Nos. 218, 269, 569, 591, 609, 706, 739.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote464" name="footnote464"></a><b>Footnote 464: </b><a href="#footnotetag464">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1681-85, Nos. 1163, 1198, 1249, 1630.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote465" name="footnote465"></a><b>Footnote 465: </b><a href="#footnotetag465">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 963, 992, 1938, 1949, 2025, 2067.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote466" name="footnote466"></a><b>Footnote 466: </b><a href="#footnotetag466">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 963, 992, 1759.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote467" name="footnote467"></a><b>Footnote 467: </b><a href="#footnotetag467">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1259, 1563.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote468" name="footnote468"></a><b>Footnote 468: </b><a href="#footnotetag468">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1845, 1851, 1862, 2042.</p> + +<p>His ship is called in these letters "La Trompeuse." Unless this is a +confusion with Hamlin's vessel, there must have been more than one "La +Trompeuse" in the West Indies. Very likely the fame or ill-fame of the +original "La Trompeuse" led other pirate captains to flatter themselves by +adopting the same name. Breha was captured in 1686 by the Armada de +Barlovento and hung with nine or ten of his companions (Charlevoix, +<i>op. cit.</i>, liv. ix. p. 207).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote469" name="footnote469"></a><b>Footnote 469: </b><a href="#footnotetag469">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1299, 1862.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote470" name="footnote470"></a><b>Footnote 470: </b><a href="#footnotetag470">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1249.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote471" name="footnote471"></a><b>Footnote 471: </b><a href="#footnotetag471">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1560, 1561.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote472" name="footnote472"></a><b>Footnote 472: </b><a href="#footnotetag472">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1605, 1862.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote473" name="footnote473"></a><b>Footnote 473: </b><a href="#footnotetag473">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1634, 1845, 1851, 1862.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote474" name="footnote474"></a><b>Footnote 474: </b><a href="#footnotetag474">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1685-88, Nos. 363, 364, 639, 1164.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote475" name="footnote475"></a><b>Footnote 475: </b><a href="#footnotetag475">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1029, 1161; Hughson: Carolina Pirates, p. 24.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote476" name="footnote476"></a><b>Footnote 476: </b><a href="#footnotetag476">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1681-85, No. 1165.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote477" name="footnote477"></a><b>Footnote 477: </b><a href="#footnotetag477">(return)</a><p>Hughson, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 22.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote478" name="footnote478"></a><b>Footnote 478: </b><a href="#footnotetag478">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1277, 1278.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote479" name="footnote479"></a><b>Footnote 479: </b><a href="#footnotetag479">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1411.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote480" name="footnote480"></a><b>Footnote 480: </b><a href="#footnotetag480">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1463.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote481" name="footnote481"></a><b>Footnote 481: </b><a href="#footnotetag481">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1602; <i>cf.</i> also <i>ibid.</i>, 1693-96, No. 2243.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote482" name="footnote482"></a><b>Footnote 482: </b><a href="#footnotetag482">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 116, 269, 805.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote483" name="footnote483"></a><b>Footnote 483: </b><a href="#footnotetag483">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1066, 1212.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote484" name="footnote484"></a><b>Footnote 484: </b><a href="#footnotetag484">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 965, 1066, 1128.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote485" name="footnote485"></a><b>Footnote 485: </b><a href="#footnotetag485">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1681-85, Nos. 1759, 1852, 2067; +<i>ibid.</i>, 1685-88, No. 1127 and <i>cf.</i> Index.</p> + +<p>For the careers of John Williams (<i>alias</i> Yankey) and Jacob Everson +(<i>alias</i> Jacobs) during these years <i>cf.</i> C.S.P. Colon., +1685-88, Nos. 259, 348, 897, 1449, 1476-7, 1624, 1705, 1877; Hist. MSS. +Comm., xi. pt. 5, p. 136 (Earl of Dartmouth's MSS.).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote486" name="footnote486"></a><b>Footnote 486: </b><a href="#footnotetag486">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1406, 1656, 1670, 1705, +1723, 1733; <i>ibid.</i>, 1689-92, Nos. 52, 515; Hist. MSS. Commiss., +xi. pt. 5, p. 136.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote487" name="footnote487"></a><b>Footnote 487: </b><a href="#footnotetag487">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, No. 1959.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote488" name="footnote488"></a><b>Footnote 488: </b><a href="#footnotetag488">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 433.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote489" name="footnote489"></a><b>Footnote 489: </b><a href="#footnotetag489">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 706, 1026.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote490" name="footnote490"></a><b>Footnote 490: </b><a href="#footnotetag490">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1567.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote491" name="footnote491"></a><b>Footnote 491: </b><a href="#footnotetag491">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 758, 920, 927, 930, 1001, 1187, 1210.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote492" name="footnote492"></a><b>Footnote 492: </b><a href="#footnotetag492">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1567, 1646, 1655, 1656, 1659, 1663, 1721, +1838, 1858.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote493" name="footnote493"></a><b>Footnote 493: </b><a href="#footnotetag493">(return)</a><p>Dict. of Nat. Biog.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote494" name="footnote494"></a><b>Footnote 494: </b><a href="#footnotetag494">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, No. 1941; <i>cf.</i> also 1906.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote495" name="footnote495"></a><b>Footnote 495: </b><a href="#footnotetag495">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 1940.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote496" name="footnote496"></a><b>Footnote 496: </b><a href="#footnotetag496">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1689-92, Nos. 6, 29, 292.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote497" name="footnote497"></a><b>Footnote 497: </b><a href="#footnotetag497">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 299.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote498" name="footnote498"></a><b>Footnote 498: </b><a href="#footnotetag498">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 493.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote499" name="footnote499"></a><b>Footnote 499: </b><a href="#footnotetag499">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 7, 50, 52, 54, 85, 120, 176-178, 293, +296-299, 514, 515, 874, 880, 980, 1041.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote500" name="footnote500"></a><b>Footnote 500: </b><a href="#footnotetag500">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1689-92, Nos. 293, 467; <i>Ibid.</i>, +1693-96, Nos. 1931, vii., 1934.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote501" name="footnote501"></a><b>Footnote 501: </b><a href="#footnotetag501">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1689-92, Nos. 515, 616, 635, 769.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote502" name="footnote502"></a><b>Footnote 502: </b><a href="#footnotetag502">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1689-92, Nos. 873, 980, 1021, 1041.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote503" name="footnote503"></a><b>Footnote 503: </b><a href="#footnotetag503">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, No. 714.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote504" name="footnote504"></a><b>Footnote 504: </b><a href="#footnotetag504">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 2034, 2043, 2269, 2496, 2498, 2641, 2643.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote505" name="footnote505"></a><b>Footnote 505: </b><a href="#footnotetag505">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 72-76, 2034.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote506" name="footnote506"></a><b>Footnote 506: </b><a href="#footnotetag506">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 2034, 2044, 2047, 2052, 2103.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote507" name="footnote507"></a><b>Footnote 507: </b><a href="#footnotetag507">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 2278, 2398, 2416, 2500.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote508" name="footnote508"></a><b>Footnote 508: </b><a href="#footnotetag508">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 1693-96, Nos. 634, 635, 1009, 1236.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote509" name="footnote509"></a><b>Footnote 509: </b><a href="#footnotetag509">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 778, 876; Archives Coloniales, Corresp. +Gen. de St. Dom. III. Letter of Ducasse, 30 March 1694.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote510" name="footnote510"></a><b>Footnote 510: </b><a href="#footnotetag510">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 1109, 1236 (i.).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote511" name="footnote511"></a><b>Footnote 511: </b><a href="#footnotetag511">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 1074, 1083, 1106, 1109, 1114, 1121, 1131, 1194, 1236; +Charlevoix, I. x. p. 256 <i>ff.</i>; Stowe MSS., 305 f., 205 b; Ducéré: Les +corsaires sous l'ancien regime, p. 142.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote512" name="footnote512"></a><b>Footnote 512: </b><a href="#footnotetag512">(return)</a><p>The number of white men on the island at this time was variously +estimated from 2000 to 2400 men. (C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 1109 +and 1258.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote513" name="footnote513"></a><b>Footnote 513: </b><a href="#footnotetag513">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon, 1693-96, No. 1516.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote514" name="footnote514"></a><b>Footnote 514: </b><a href="#footnotetag514">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 207, 876, 1004.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote515" name="footnote515"></a><b>Footnote 515: </b><a href="#footnotetag515">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 1946, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1983, 2022. According +to Charlevoix, it was the dalliance and cowardice of Laurens de Graff, who +was in command at Cap François, and feared falling into the hands of his old +enemies the English and Spaniards, which had much to do with the success +of the invasion. After the departure of the allies Laurens was deprived of +his post and made captain of a light corvette. (Charlevoix, I. x. p. 266 <i>ff.</i>)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote516" name="footnote516"></a><b>Footnote 516: </b><a href="#footnotetag516">(return)</a><p>Ducéré, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 148.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote517" name="footnote517"></a><b>Footnote 517: </b><a href="#footnotetag517">(return)</a><p>Narrative of de Pointis.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote518" name="footnote518"></a><b>Footnote 518: </b><a href="#footnotetag518">(return)</a><p>Narrative of de Pointis; C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, No. 824.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote519" name="footnote519"></a><b>Footnote 519: </b><a href="#footnotetag519">(return)</a><p>Narrative of de Pointis; C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, No. 868.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote520" name="footnote520"></a><b>Footnote 520: </b><a href="#footnotetag520">(return)</a><p>Narrative of de Pointis.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote521" name="footnote521"></a><b>Footnote 521: </b><a href="#footnotetag521">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, Nos. 373-376, 413, 661, 769.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote522" name="footnote522"></a><b>Footnote 522: </b><a href="#footnotetag522">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, Nos. 715, 868.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote523" name="footnote523"></a><b>Footnote 523: </b><a href="#footnotetag523">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, Nos. 375, 453.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote524" name="footnote524"></a><b>Footnote 524: </b><a href="#footnotetag524">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>, 944. 978.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote525" name="footnote525"></a><b>Footnote 525: </b><a href="#footnotetag525">(return)</a><p>The mouth of the harbour, called Boca Chica, was defended by a fort +with 4 bastions and 33 guns; but the guns were badly mounted on flimsy +carriages of cedar, and were manned by only 15 soldiers. Inside the harbour +was another fort called Santa Cruz, well-built with 4 bastions and a moat, but +provided with only a few iron guns and without a garrison. Two other +forts formed part of the exterior works of the town, but they had neither +garrison nor guns. The city itself was surrounded by solid walls of stone, +with 12 bastions and 84 brass cannon, to man which there was a company of +40 soldiers. Such was the war footing on which the Spanish Government +maintained the "Key of the Indies." (Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, v. p. 287.)</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote526" name="footnote526"></a><b>Footnote 526: </b><a href="#footnotetag526">(return)</a><p>Narrative of de Pointis. <i>Cf.</i> Charlevoix, <i>op +cit.</i>, liv. xi., for the best account of the whole expedition.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote527" name="footnote527"></a><b>Footnote 527: </b><a href="#footnotetag527">(return)</a><p>Charlevoix, <i>op. cit.</i>, liv. xi. p. 352.</p> + +<p>In one of the articles of capitulation which the Governor of Cartagena +obtained from de Pointis, the latter promised to leave untouched the plate, +jewels and other treasure of the churches and convents. This article was not +observed by the French. On the return of the expedition to France, however, +Louis XIV. ordered the ecclesiastical plate to be sequestered, and after the +conclusion of the Peace of Ryswick sent it back to San Domingo to be +delivered to the governor and clergy of the Spanish part of the island. (Duro, +<i>op. cit.</i>, v. pp. 291, 296-97).</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote528" name="footnote528"></a><b>Footnote 528: </b><a href="#footnotetag528">(return)</a><p>Duro, <i>op. cit.</i>, v. p. 310.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote529" name="footnote529"></a><b>Footnote 529: </b><a href="#footnotetag529">(return)</a><p>C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 697.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote530" name="footnote530"></a><b>Footnote 530: </b><a href="#footnotetag530">(return)</a><p><i>Ibid.</i>; <i>cf.</i> C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 138: +"The number of tippling houses is now doubly increased, so that there is +not now resident upon the place ten men to every house that selleth +strong liquors. There are more than 100 licensed houses, besides sugar +and rum works that sell without licence."</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote531" name="footnote531"></a><b>Footnote 531: </b><a href="#footnotetag531">(return)</a><p>Crawford: Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Handlist of Proclamations.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote532" name="footnote532"></a><b>Footnote 532: </b><a href="#footnotetag532">(return)</a><p>Firth: Naval Songs and Ballads, pp. l.-lii.; <i>cf.</i> +also Archives Coloniales, Corresp. Gén. de St Dom., vols. iii.-ix.; +<i>Ibid.</i>, Martinique, vols. viii.-xix.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote533" name="footnote533"></a><b>Footnote 533: </b><a href="#footnotetag533">(return)</a><p>Archives Coloniales, Corresp. Gén. de Martinique, vol. xvi.</p></blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273"></a>{273}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_I" id="APPENDIX_I"></a>APPENDIX I</h2> + + +<p>An account of the English buccaneers belonging to +Jamaica and Tortuga in 1663, found among the Rawlinson +MSS., makes the number of privateering ships fifteen, +and the men engaged in the business nearly a thousand. +The list is as follows:—</p> + +<table summary="English Captains"> +<tr><td><i>Captain</i></td><td><i>Ship</i></td><td><i>Men</i></td><td><i>Guns</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>Sir Thomas Whetstone</td><td>a Spanish prize</td><td>60</td><td>7</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Smart</td><td>Griffon, frigate</td><td>100</td><td>14</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Guy</td><td>James, frigate</td><td>90</td><td>14</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain James</td><td>American, frigate</td><td>70</td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Cooper</td><td>his frigate</td><td>80</td><td>10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Morris</td><td>a brigantine</td><td>60</td><td>7</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Brenningham</td><td>his frigate</td><td>70</td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Mansfield</td><td>a brigantine</td><td>60</td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Goodly</td><td>a pink</td><td>60</td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Blewfield, belonging to Cape Gratia de Dios</td><td>a barque</td><td>50</td><td>3</td></tr> +<tr><td>Captain Herdue</td><td>a frigate</td><td>40</td><td>4</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>There were four more belonging to Jamaica, of which +no account was available. The crews were mixed of +English, French and Dutch.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274"></a>{274}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX_II" id="APPENDIX_II"></a>APPENDIX II</h2> + + +<p>List of filibusters and their vessels on the coasts of +French San Domingo in 1684:—</p> + +<table summary="French Captains"> +<tr><td><i>Captain</i></td><td><i>Ship</i></td><td><i>Men</i></td><td><i>Guns</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>Le sieur Grammont</td><td>le Hardy</td><td>300</td><td>52</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Laurens de Graff</td><td>Le Neptune</td><td>210</td><td>54</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Michel</td><td>la Mutine</td><td>200</td><td>44</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Janquais</td><td>la Dauphine</td><td>180</td><td>30</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine le Sage</td><td>le Tigre</td><td>130</td><td>30</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Dedran</td><td>le Chasseur</td><td>120</td><td>20</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le sieur du Mesnil</td><td>la Trompeuse</td><td>100</td><td>14</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Jocard</td><td>l'Irondelle</td><td>120</td><td>18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Brea</td><td>la Fortune</td><td>100</td><td>14</td></tr> +<tr><td>La prise du cap<sup>ne</sup>. Laurens</td><td>—</td><td>80</td><td>18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le sieur de Bernanos</td><td>la Schitie</td><td>60</td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Cachemarée</td><td>le St Joseph</td><td>70</td><td>6</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Blot</td><td>la Quagone</td><td>90</td><td>8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Vigeron</td><td>la Louse (barque)</td><td>30</td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Petit</td><td>le Ruzé (bateau)</td><td>40</td><td>4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Lagarde</td><td>la Subtille</td><td>30</td><td>2</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le capitaine Verpre</td><td>le Postilion</td><td>25</td><td>2</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>(Paris, Archives Coloniales, Corresp. gén. de St. Dom., +vol. i.—Mémoire sur l'estat de Saint Domingue à M. de +Seignelay par M. de Cussy.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id="page275"></a>{275}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="SOURCES" id="SOURCES"></a>SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> + + +<p><span class="sc">Manuscript Sources in England</span></p> + +<p><i>Public Record Office:</i></p> + +<p>State Papers. Foreign. Spain. Vols. 34-72. +(Abbreviated in the footnotes as S.P. Spain.)</p> + +<p><i>British Museum:</i></p> + +<p>Additional MSS. Vols. 11,268; 11,410-11; 12,410; +12,423; 12,429-30; 13,964; 13,975; 13,977; 13,992; +18,273; 22,676; 36,314-53.</p> + +<p>Egerton MSS. Vol. 2395.</p> + +<p>Sloane MSS. Vols. 793 or 894; 2724; 2752; 4020.</p> + +<p>Stowe MSS. Vols. 305f; 205b.</p> + +<p><i>Bodleian Library:</i></p> + +<p>Rawlinson MSS. Vols. a. 26, 31, 32, 175, 347. +Tanner MSS. Vols. xlvii.; li.</p> + + +<p><span class="sc">Manuscript Sources in France</span></p> + +<p><i>Archives du ministère des Colonies:</i></p> + +<p>Correspondance générale de Saint-Domingue. Vols. i.-ix.</p> + +<p>Historique de Saint-Domingue. Vols. i.-iii.</p> + +<p>Correspondance générale de Martinique. Vols. i.-xix.</p> + +<p><i>Archives du ministère des affaires étrangères:</i></p> + +<p>Mémoires et documents. Fonds divers. Amérique. +Vols. v., xiii., xlix., li.</p> + +<p>Correspondance politique. Angleterre.</p> + +<p><i>Bibliothèque nationale:</i></p> + +<p>Manuscrits, nouvelles acquisitions. Vols. 9325; 9334.</p> + +<p>Renaudat MSS.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" id="page276"></a>{276}</span> + +<p><span class="sc">Printed Sources</span></p> + +<p>Calendar of State Papers. Colonial series. America +and the West Indies. 1574-1699. (Abbreviated in the +footnotes as C.S.P. Colon.)</p> + +<p>Calendar of State Papers. Venetian. 1603-1617. +(Abbreviated in the footnotes as C.S.P. Ven.)</p> + +<p>Dampier, William: Voyages. Edited by J. Masefield. +2 vols. London, 1906.</p> + +<p>Gage, Thomas: The English American ... or a new +survey of the West Indies, etc. London, 1648.</p> + +<p>Historical Manuscripts Commission: Reports. +London, 1870 (in progress).</p> + +<p>Margry, Pierre: Relations et mémoires inédits pour +servir à l'histoire de la France dans les pays d'outremer. +Paris, 1867.</p> + +<p>Pacheco, Cardenas, y Torres de Mendoza: Coleccion +de documentos relativos al describrimiento, conquista y +colonizacion de las posesiones españoles en América y +Oceania. 42 vols. Madrid, 1864-83; <i>continued as</i> +Coleccion de documentos ineditos ... de ultramar. 13 +vols. Madrid, 1885-1900.</p> + +<p>Pointis, Jean Bernard Desjeans, sieur de: Relation de +l'expedition de Carthagène faite par les François en 1697. +Amsterdam, 1698.</p> + +<p>Present state of Jamaica ... to which is added an +exact account of Sir Henry Morgan's voyage to ... Panama, +etc. London, 1683.</p> + +<p>Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, +mandadas imprimir y publicar por rey Carlos II. 4 vols. +Madrid, 1681.</p> + +<p>Sharp, Bartholomew: The voyages and adventures of +Captain B. Sharp ... in the South Sea ... Also +Captain Van Horn with his buccanieres surprising of la +Vera Cruz, etc. London, 1684.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277"></a>{277}</span> + +<p>Thurloe, John. A collection of the State papers of, +etc. Edited by Thomas Birch. 7 vols. London, 1742.</p> + +<p>Venables, General. The narrative of, etc. Edited by +C.H. Firth. London, 1900.</p> + +<p>Wafer, Lionel: A new voyage and description of the +Isthmus of America, etc. London, 1699.</p> + +<p>Winwood, Sir Ralph. Memorials of affairs of State ... +collected from the original papers of, etc. Edited by +Edmund Sawyer. London, 1725.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Among the printed sources one of the earliest and most +important is the well-known history of the buccaneers +written by Alexander Olivier Exquemelin (corrupted by +the English into Esquemeling, by the French into +Oexmelin). Of the author himself very little is known. +Though sometimes claimed as a native of France, he +was probably a Fleming or a Hollander, for the first +edition of his works was written in the Dutch language. +He came to Tortuga in 1666 as an <i>engagé</i> of the +French West India Company, and after serving three +years under a cruel master was rescued by the governor, +M. d'Ogeron, joined the filibusters, and remained with +them till 1674, taking part in most of their exploits. He +seems to have exercised among them the profession of +barber-surgeon. Returning to Europe in 1674, he +published a narrative of the exploits in which he had +taken part, or of which he at least had a first-hand +knowledge. This "history" is the oldest and most +elaborate chronicle we possess of the extraordinary deeds +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page278" id="page278"></a>{278}</span> +and customs of these freebooters who played so large a +part in the history of the West Indies in the seventeenth +century, and it forms the basis of all the popular modern +accounts of Morgan and other buccaneer captains. +Exquemelin, although he sadly confuses his dates, seems +to be a perfectly honest witness, and his accounts of such +transactions as fell within his own experience are closely +corroborated by the official narratives.</p> + +<p>(Biographies of Exquemelin are contained in the "Biographie Universelle" +of Michaud, vol. xxxi. p. 201, and in the "Nouvelle Biographie +Générale" of Hoefer, vol. xxxviii. p. 544. But both are very unsatisfactory +and display a lamentable ignorance of the bibliography of his history of the +buccaneers. According to the preface of a French edition of the work +published at Lyons in 1774 and cited in the "Nouvelle Biographie," +Exquemelin was born about 1645 and died after 1707.)</p> + +<p>The first edition of the book, now very rare, is +entitled:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +De Americaensche Zee-Roovers. Behelsende eene +pertinente en waerachtige Beschrijving van alle +de voornaemste Roveryen en onmenschliycke +wreend heden die Englese en France Rovers +tegens de Spanjaerden in America gepleeght +hebben; Verdeelt in drie deelen ... Beschreven +door A. O. Exquemelin ... t'Amsterdam, by +Jan ten Hoorn, anno 1678, in 4º. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>(Brit. Mus., 1061. <i>Cf.</i> 20 (2). The date, 1674, of the first Dutch edition +cited by Dampierre ("Essai sur les sources de l'histoire des Antilles +Françaises," p. 151) is doubtless a misprint.)</p> + +<p>(Both Dampierre (<i>op. cit.</i>, p. 152) and Sabin ("Dict. of Books relating to +America," vi. p. 310) cite, as the earliest separate account of the +buccaneers, Claes G. Campaen's "Zee-Roover," Amsterdam, 1659. This +little volume, however, does not deal with the buccaneers in the West +Indies, but with privateering along the coasts of Europe and Africa.)</p> + +<p>This book was reprinted several times and numerous +translations were made, one on the top of the other. +What appears to be a German translation of Exquemelin +appeared in 1679 with the title:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Americanische Seeräuber. Beschreibung der grössesten +durch die Französische und Englische Meer-Beuter +wider die Spanier in Amerika verübten Raubery +Grausamheit ... Durch A. O. Nürnberg, 1679. 12º. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>("Historie der Boecaniers of Vrybuyters van America ... Met +Figuuren, 3 Deel. t'Amsterdam, 1700," 4º.—Brit. Mus., 9555. c. 19.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279"></a>{279}</span> + +<p>This was followed two years later by a Spanish edition, +also taken from the Dutch original:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Piratas de la America y luz a la defensa de las +costas de Indias Occidentales. Dedicado a Don +Bernadino Antonio de Pardinas Villar de +Francos ... por el zelo y cuidado de Don +Antonio Freyre ... Traducido de la lingua +Flamenca en Espanola por el Dor. de Buena-Maison ... +Colonia Agrippina, en casa de +Lorenzo Struickman. Ano de 1681. 12º. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>(Brit. Mus., G. 7179. The appended description of the Spanish Government +in America was omitted and a few Spanish verses were added in one or +two places, but otherwise the translation seems to be trustworthy. The +portraits and the map of the isthmus of Panama are the same as in the Dutch +edition, but the other plates are different and better. In the Bibl. Nat. +there is another Spanish edition of 1681 in quarto.)</p> + +<p>This Spanish text, which seems to be a faithful +rendering of the Dutch, was reprinted with a different +dedication in 1682 and in 1684, and again in +Madrid in 1793. It is the version on which the first +English edition was based. The English translation +is entitled:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Bucaniers of America; or a true account of the ... assaults +committed ... upon the coasts of +the West Indies, by the Bucaniers of Jamaica and +Tortuga ... especially the ... exploits of Sir +Henry Morgan ... written originally in Dutch +by J. Esquemeling ... now ... rendered into +English. W. Crooke; London, 1684. 4º. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>(Brit. Mus., 1198, a. 12 (or) 1197, h. 2.; G. 7198.)</p> + +<p>The first English edition of Exquemelin was so well +received that within three months a second was published, +to which was added the account of a voyage +by Captain Cook and a brief chapter on the exploits of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" id="page280"></a>{280}</span> +Barth. Sharp in the Pacific Ocean. In the same year, +moreover, there appeared an entirely different English +version, with the object of vindicating the character of +Morgan from the charges of brutality and lust which +had appeared in the first translation and in the Dutch +original. It was entitled:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +The History of the Bucaniers; being an impartial +relation of all the battels, sieges, and +other most eminent assaults committed for several +years upon the coasts of the West Indies by +the pirates of Jamaica and Tortuga. More +especially the unparalleled achievements of Sir +Henry Morgan ... very much corrected from +the errors of the original, by the relations of +some English gentlemen, that then resided in +those parts. <i>Den Engelseman is een Duyvil voor +een Mensch.</i> London, printed for Thomas Malthus +at the Sun in the Poultry. 1684. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>(Brit. Mus., G. 13,674.)</p> + +<p>The first edition of 1684 was reprinted with a new title-page +in 1695, and again in 1699. The latter included, +in addition to the text of Exquemelin, the journals of +Basil Ringrose and Raveneau de Lussan, both describing +voyages in the South Seas, and the voyage +of the Sieur de Montauban to Guinea in 1695. This +was the earliest of the composite histories of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>{281}</span> +buccaneers and became the model for the Dutch +edition of 1700 and the French editions published at +Trevoux in 1744 and 1775.</p> + +<p>The first French translation of Exquemelin appeared +two years after the English edition of 1684. +It is entitled:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Histoire des Aventuriers qui se sont signalez +dans les Indes contenant ce qu'ils ont fait de +plus remarquable depuis vingt années. Avec la +vie, les Moeurs, les Coutumes des Habitans de +Saint Domingue et de la Tortuë et une Description +exacte de ces lieux; ... Le tout enrichi +de Cartes Geographiques et de Figures en Taille-douce. +Par Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin. A Paris, +chez Jacques Le Febre. MDCLXXXVI., 2 vols. +12º. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>(Brit. Mus., 9555, aa. 4.)</p> + +<p>This version may have been based on the Dutch +original; although the only indication we have of this +is the fact that the work includes at the end a description +of the government and revenues of the Spanish +Indies, a description which is found in none of the +earlier editions of Exquemelin, except in the Dutch +original of 1678. The French text, however, while +following the outline of Exquemelin's narrative, is +greatly altered and enlarged. The history of Tortuga +and French Hispaniola is elaborated with details from +another source, as are also the descriptions of the +manners and customs of the cattle-hunters and the +freebooters. Accounts of two other buccaneers, Montbars +and Alexandre Bras-le-Fer, are inserted, but +d'Ogeron's shipwreck on Porto Rico and the achievements +of Admiral d'Estrees against the Dutch are +omitted. In general the French editor, the Sieur de +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282"></a>{282}</span> +Frontignières, has re-cast the whole story. A similar +French edition appeared in Paris in 1688, (Brit. Mus., 278, a. 13, 14.) and in 1713 +a facsimile of this last was published at Brussels by +Serstevens (Dampierre, p. 153). Sabin (<i>op. cit.</i>, vi. 312) mentions an edition +of 1699 in three volumes which included the journal +of Raveneau de Lussan. In 1744, and again in 1775, +another French edition was published in four volumes +at Trevoux, to which was added the voyage of Montauban +to the Guinea Coast, and the expeditions against Vera +Cruz in 1683, Campeache in 1685, and Cartagena in 1697. +The third volume contained the journal of R. de Lussan, +and the fourth a translation of Johnson's "History of +the Pirates." (Brit. Mus., 9555, aa. 1.) A similar edition appeared at Lyons in +1774, but I have had no opportunity of examining +a copy. +(Nouvelle Biographie Générale, tom. xxxviii. 544. The best bibliography +of Exquemelin is in Sabin, <i>op. cit.</i>, vi. 309.)</p> + + +<p><span class="sc">Secondary Works</span></p> + +<p>Of the secondary works concerned with the history of +the buccaneers, the oldest are the writings of the French +Jesuit historians of the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries. Dutertre (Histoire générale des Antilles. Paris, +1667-71), a chronicler of events within his +own experience as well as a reliable historian, unfortunately +brings his narrative to a close in 1667, but up to that year +he is the safest guide to the history of the French Antilles. +Labat, in his "Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l'Amerique" +(Paris, 1722), gives an account of eleven years, between +1694 and 1705, spent in Martinique and Guadeloupe, and +although of little value as an historian, he supplies us with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283"></a>{283}</span> +a fund of the most picturesque and curious details about +the life and manners of the people in the West Indies +at the end of the seventeenth century. A much more +important and accurate work is Charlevoix's "Histoire de +l'Isle Espagnole ou de S. Domingue" (Paris, 1732), and +this I have used as a general introduction to the history +of the French buccaneers. Raynal's "Histoire philosophique +et politique des établissements et du commerce +européen dans les deux Indes" (Amsterdam, 1770) is +based for the origin of the French Antilles upon Dutertre +and Labat and is therefore negligible for the period of the +buccaneers. Adrien Dessalles, who in 1847 published his +"Histoire générale des Antilles," preferred, like Labat +and Raynal, to depend on the historians who had preceded +him rather than endeavour to gain an intimate knowledge +of the sources.</p> + +<p>In the English histories of Jamaica written by Long, +Bridges, and Gardner, whatever notice is taken of the +buccaneers is meagre and superficial, and the same is true +of Bryan Edwards' "History, civil and commercial, of the +British colonies in the West Indies." Thomas Southey, +in his "Chronological History of the West Indies" +(Lond. 1827), devotes considerable space to their achievements, +but depends entirely upon the traditional sources. +In 1803 J.W. von Archenholz published "Die Geschichte +der Flibustier," a superficial, diffuse and even puerile +narrative, giving no references whatever to authorities. +(It was translated into French (Paris, 1804), and into English by Geo. +Mason (London, 1807).) +In 1816 a "History of the Buccaneers in America" was +published by James Burney as the fourth volume of +"A chronological History of the Discoveries in the South +Seas or Pacific Ocean." Burney casts but a rapid glance +over the West Indies, devoting most of the volume to an +account of the voyages of the freebooters along the coast +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284"></a>{284}</span> +of South America and in the East Indies. Walter +Thornbury in 1858 wrote "The Buccaneers, or the +Monarchs of the Main," a hasty compilation, florid and +overdrawn, and without historical judgment or accuracy. +In 1895 M. Henri Lorin presented a Latin thesis to the +Faculty of History in Paris, entitled:—"De praedonibus +Insulam Santi Dominici celebrantibus saeculo septimo +decimo," but he seems to have confined himself to +Exquemelin, Le Pers, Labat, Dutertre and a few documents +drawn from the French colonial archives. The +best summary account in English of the history and +significance of the buccaneers in the West Indies is contained +in Hubert H. Bancroft's "History of Central +America" (ii. chs. 26, 28-30). Within the past year +there has appeared an excellent volume by M. Pierre de +Vaissière describing creole life and manners in the French +colony of San Domingo in the century and a half preceding +the Revolution. +(Vaissière, Pierre de: Saint Dominigue. (1629-1789). Paris, 1909.) +It is a reliable monograph, and +like his earlier volume, "Gentilshommes campagnards de +l'ancienne France," is written in a most entertaining style. +De Vaissière contributes much valuable information, +especially in the first chapter, about the origins and +customs of the French "flibustiers."</p> + +<p>I have been able to find only two Spanish works which +refer at all to the buccaneers. One is entitled:</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Piraterias y agresiones de los ingleses y de otros +pueblos de Europa en la America espanola desde el +siglo XVI. al XVIII., deducidas de las obras de D. +Dionisio de Alcedo y Herrera. Madrid, 1883. 4º. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>Except for a long introduction by Don Justo Zaragoza +based upon Exquemelin and Alcedo, it consists of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id="page285"></a>{285}</span> +collection of extracts referring to freebooters on the coasts +of Peru and Chili, and deals chiefly with the eighteenth +century. The other Spanish work is an elaborate history +of the Spanish navy lately published in nine volumes by +Cesareo Fernandez Duro, and entitled:—</p> + +<blockquote><p> +Armada espanola desde la union de los reinos de +Castilla y de Aragon. Madrid, 1895. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>There are numerous chapters dealing with the outrages +of the French and English freebooters in the West Indies, +some of them based upon Spanish sources to which I have +had no access. But upon comparison of Duro's narrative, +which in so far as it relates to the buccaneers is often meagre, +with the sources available to me, I find that he adds little +to what may be learned on the subject here in England.</p> + +<p>One of the best English descriptions of the Spanish +colonial administration and commercial system is still +that contained in book viii. of Robertson's "History of +America" (Lond. 1777). The latest and best summary +account, however, is in French, in the introduction to vol. i. +of "La traite négrière aux Indes de Castille" (Paris, 1906), +by Georges Scelle. Weiss, in vol. ii. of his history of +"L'Espagne depuis Philippe II. jusqu'aux Bourbons" +(Paris, 1844), treats of the causes of the economic decadence +of Spain, and gives an account of the contraband trade in +Spanish America, drawn largely from Labat. On this +general subject Leroy-Beaulieu, "De la colonization +chez les peuples modernes" (Paris, 1874), has been +especially consulted.</p> + +<p>The best account of the French privateers of the +sixteenth century in America is in an essay entitled: "Les +corsairs français au XVI<sup>e</sup> siècle dans les Antilles" (Paris, +1902), by Gabriel Marcel. It is a short monograph based +on the collections of Spanish documents brought together +by Pacheco and Navarrete. The volume by E. Ducéré +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286"></a>{286}</span> +entitled, "Les corsairs sous l'ancien regîme" (Bayonne, 1895), +is also valuable for the history of privateering. For the +history of the Elizabethan mariners I have made use of the +two works by J. S. Corbett: "Drake and the Tudor Navy" +(Lond. 1898), and "The successors of Drake" (Lond. 1900). +Other works consulted were:</p> + +<p>Arias de Miranda, José: Examen critico-historico +del influyo que tuvo en el comercio, industria y +poblacion de Espana su dominacion en America. +Madrid, 1854.</p> + +<p>Blok, Pieter Johan: History of the people of the +Netherlands. Translated by C. A. Bierstadt and +Ruth Putnam. 4 vols. New York, 1898.</p> + +<p>Brown, Alex.: The Genesis of the United States. +2 vols. Lond., 1890.</p> + +<p>Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of: +Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Handlist of proclamations. +3 vols. Aberdeen, 1893-1901.</p> + +<p>Dumont, Jean: Corps universel diplomatique. 13 +vols. Hague, 1726-39.</p> + +<p>Froude, James Anthony: History of England from +the fall of Wolsey to the defeat of the Spanish +armada. 12 vols. 1870-75. English seamen in +the sixteenth century. Lond., 1901.</p> + +<p>Gardiner, Samuel Rawson: History of the Commonwealth +and Protectorate, 1649-1660. 3 vols. Lond., +1894-1903.</p> + +<p>Geographical and historical description of ... +Cartagena, Porto Bello, La Vera Cruz, the Havana +and San Augustin. Lond., 1741.</p> + +<p>Gibbs, Archibald R.: British Honduras ... from ... 1670. Lond., 1883.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>{287}</span> + +<p>Hakluyt, Richard: The principal navigations ... of +the English nation, etc. 3 vols. Lond., 1598-1600.</p> + +<p>Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio: Historia general de +las Indias. 4 vols. Madrid, 1601-15.</p> + +<p>Hughson, Shirley C.: The Carolina pirates and +colonial commerce. Baltimore, 1894.</p> + +<p>Lucas, C. P.: A historical geography of the British +colonies. 4 vols. Oxford, 1905. Vol. ii. The +West Indies.</p> + +<p>Monson, Sir William: The naval tracts of ... +Edited ... by M. Oppenheim. Vols. i. and ii. +Lond., 1902—(in progress).</p> + +<p>Oviedo y Valdes, Gonzalo Fernandez de: Historia +general de las Indias. Salamanca, 1547.</p> + +<p>Peytraud, Lucien: L'Esclavage aux Antilles +françaises avant 1789, etc. Paris, 1897.</p> + +<p>Saint-Yves, G.: Les compagnes de Jean d'Estrées +dans la mer des Antilles, 1676-78. Paris, 1900.</p> + +<p>Strong, Frank: Causes of Cromwell's West Indian +expedition. (Amer. Hist. Review. Jan. 1899).</p> + +<p>Veitia Linaje, Josef de: Norte de la Contratacion +de las Indias Occidentales. Sevilla, 1672.</p> + +<p>Vignols, Leon: La piraterie sur l'Atlantique au +XVIII<sup>e</sup> siècle. Rennes, 1891.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>{289}</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + + +<p>Acapulco, <a href="#page21">21</a></p> + +<p>Aix-la-Chapelle, peace of, <a href="#page156">156</a></p> + +<p><i>Ajoupa</i>, <a href="#page68">68</a>, <a href="#page79">79</a></p> + +<p>Albemarle, first duke of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-monck-george">Monck, George</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" second duke of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-monck-christopher">Monck, Christopher</a></p> + +<p>Albuquerque, Duke of, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page199">199</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-alexander-vi" id="index-alexander-vi"></a>Alexander VI., Bull of Pope, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page30">30</a></p> + +<p>Allison, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page224">224</a></p> + +<p>Antigua, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a></p> + +<p>Araya salt-mine, <a href="#page53">53-54</a></p> + +<p>Archenholz, J.W. von, <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p>Arlington, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-henry-bennett">Bennett, Sir Henry</a></p> + +<p>Arundell, James, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-assiento" id="index-assiento"></a>Assiento of negroes, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page36">36-7</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page184">184</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Association, Island, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-tortuga">Tortuga</a></p> + +<p>Aston, Lord of Forfar, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p>Avery, Captain Henry, <a href="#page270">270-71</a></p> + +<p>Aves, Isle d', <i>see</i> <a href="#index-isle-daves">Isle d'Aves</a></p> + +<p>Aylett, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page156">156</a></p> + +<p><i>Azogues</i>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-azores" id="index-azores"></a>Azores, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page84">84</a></p> + + +<p>Bahama Islands, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page237">237</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p>Bahia, <a href="#page49">49</a></p> + +<p>Bancroft, Hubert H., <a href="#page284">284</a></p> + +<p>Banister, Major James, <a href="#page205">205</a></p> + +<p>Bannister, Captain (buccaneer) <a href="#page254">254</a></p> + +<p><i>Barbacoa</i>, <a href="#page68">68</a></p> + +<p>Barbadoes, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page74">74</a>, <a href="#page85">85</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page87">87</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page99">99</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page120">120</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Barbuda, <a href="#page48">48</a></p> + +<p>Barinas, Marques de, <a href="#page268">268</a></p> + +<p>Barker, Andrew, <a href="#page40">40</a></p> + +<p>Barlovento, Armada de, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page251">251</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page261">261</a></p> + +<p>Barnard, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page111">111</a></p> + +<p>Barnes, Captain ( " ), <a href="#page219">219</a></p> + +<p>Barre, Charles, <a href="#page215">215</a></p> + +<p>Barry, Colonel Samuel, <a href="#page118">118</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Beckford, Peter, <a href="#page217">217</a></p> + +<p>Beeston, Captain (afterwards Sir), William, <a href="#page97">97</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page108">108</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page135">135</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page155">155</a>, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page202">202</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Begon, M. Michel (Intendant of the French Islands), <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Benavides, Don Juan de, <a href="#page50">50</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-henry-bennett" id="index-henry-bennett"></a>Bennett, Sir Henry (afterwards Earl of Arlington), <a href="#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page122">122</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page198">198</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Berkeley, Sir Thomas, <a href="#page41">41</a></p> + +<p>Bermuda, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page75">75</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page201">201</a></p> + +<p>Bernanos, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Bernard, Samuel, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page257">257</a></p> + +<p>Bigford, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page156">156</a></p> + +<p>"Biscayners," <a href="#page254">254-5</a></p> + +<p>Blake, Captain, R.N., <a href="#page93">93</a></p> + +<p>Blewfield, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Blot, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Boston (Mass.), <a href="#page251">251</a></p> + +<p>Bradley, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph (buccaneer), <a href="#page164">164-5</a></p> + +<p>Brayne, Lieutenant-General William, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a></p> + +<p>Brazil, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page49">49</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p>Breda, treaties of, <a href="#page141">141</a></p> + +<p>Breha, Captain, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-michel-landresson">Landresson, Michel</a></p> + +<p>Brenningham, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Brest, corsairs of, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page262">262</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a></p> + +<p>Bridges, George W., <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p>Browne, Captain James (buccaneer), <a href="#page217">217-18</a></p> + +<p>Browne, Richard (buccaneer), <a href="#page156">156</a>, <a href="#page190">190</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page195">195</a>, <a href="#page196">196</a></p> + +<p>Buccaneers, cruelties of, <a href="#page147">147-50</a>, <a href="#page153">153</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page185">185</a> <i>ff.</i></p> + +<p class="i4">" customs of, <a href="#page70">70-78</a>, <a href="#page163">163</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i4">" <a name="index-buccaneers-derivation" id="index-buccaneers-derivation"></a>derivation of the word, <a href="#page66">66</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id="page290"></a>{290}</span> + +<p>Buccaneers, laws against, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-laws-against">Laws against privateers and pirates</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" numbers of, <a href="#page124">124</a>, <a href="#page240">240</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" origins of, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page78">78-80</a>, <a href="#page125">125-27</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" suppression of, <a href="#page200">200</a> <i>ff.</i></p> + +<p class="i4">" vessels of, <a href="#page75">75</a></p> + +<p>Buenos Ayres, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a></p> + +<p>Bull of Pope Alexander VI., <i>see</i> <a href="#index-alexander-vi">Alexander VI.</a></p> + +<p>Burney, James, <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p>Burough, Cornelius, <a href="#page99">99</a></p> + +<p>Butler, Gregory (Commissioner of Jamaica), <a href="#page85">85</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Byndloss, Colonel Robert, <a href="#page215">215</a>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a></p> + + +<p>Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, <a href="#page3">3</a></p> + +<p>Cachemarée, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Cadiz, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page12">12</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page13">13</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a> <i>n.</i>, etc.</p> + +<p>Campeache, city of, <a href="#page12">12</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page107">107-8</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" province of, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page107">107</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page138">138</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page155">155</a>, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page204">204</a>, <a href="#page207">207</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Campo y Espinosa, Don Alonso del, <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page158">158</a></p> + +<p>Canary Islands, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page241">241</a></p> + +<p>Cap François, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a>, <a href="#page261">261</a>, <a href="#page262">262</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Caracas, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page154">154</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page240">240</a>, <a href="#page242">242</a></p> + +<p>Cardenas, Alonso de, <a href="#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page53">53</a></p> + +<p>Carey, Colonel Theod., <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a></p> + +<p>Carleill, General Christopher, <a href="#page39">39</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-dudley-carleton" id="index-dudley-carleton"></a>Carleton, Sir Dudley, Viscount Dorchester, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p>Carlile, Captain Charles, R.N., <a href="#page236">236</a></p> + +<p>Carlisle, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-charles-howard">Howard, Charles</a></p> + +<p>Carolinas, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page239">239</a>, <a href="#page250">250</a>, <a href="#page251">251</a>, <a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page253">253</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p>Cartagena (New Granada), <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page14">14</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page262">262</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Cartago (Costa Rica), <a href="#page136">136</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p><i>Casa de Contratacion</i>, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page13">13</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page42">42</a></p> + +<p>Catherine of Braganza, <a href="#page100">100</a></p> + +<p>Cattle-hunters, <a href="#page57">57-58</a>, <a href="#page62">62</a>, <a href="#page65">65</a>, <a href="#page66">66-69</a></p> + +<p>Cavallos (Honduras), <a href="#page21">21</a></p> + +<p>Cayenne (Guiana), <a href="#page233">233</a>, <a href="#page234">234</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-robert-cecil" id="index-robert-cecil"></a>Cecil, Robert, Viscount Cranborne and Earl of Salisbury, <a href="#page32">32</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page51">51</a></p> + +<p>"Centurion," <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page108">108</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Chagre, port of, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page195">195</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " river, <a href="#page17">17</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page168">168</a>, <a href="#page175">175</a>, <a href="#page193">193</a></p> + +<p>Chaloner, Captain, <a href="#page54">54</a></p> + +<p>Charles I., King of England, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " II., King of England, <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page110">110</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page120">120</a>, <a href="#page121">121</a>, etc.</p> + +<p class="i2"> " II., King of Spain, <a href="#page268">268</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " V., Emperor, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page13">13</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page45">45</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a></p> + +<p>Charleston (Carolina), <a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page253">253</a></p> + +<p>Charlevoix, Pierre-François-Xavier, <a href="#page58">58</a>, <a href="#page62">62</a>, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page78">78</a>, <a href="#page81">81</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page262">262</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page283">283</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p><i>Chasse-partie</i>, <a href="#page73">73</a></p> + +<p>Chili, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a></p> + +<p><i><a name="index-cinquantaines" id="index-cinquantaines"></a>Cinquantaines</i>, <a href="#page63">63</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-clandestine-trade" id="index-clandestine-trade"></a>Clandestine trade, <a href="#page8">8</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page25">25-27</a>, <a href="#page36">36-38</a>, <a href="#page102">102-104</a></p> + +<p>Clarke, Robert (Governor of the Bahamas), <a href="#page237">237-8</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-george-clifford" id="index-george-clifford"></a>Clifford, George, Earl of Cumberland, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page41">41</a></p> + +<p>Codrington, Christopher (Deputy-Governor of Nevis), <a href="#page229">229</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-colbert" id="index-colbert"></a>Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, Marquis de Seignelay, <a href="#page8">8</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Coligny, Admiral Gaspard de, <a href="#page47">47</a></p> + +<p>Colleton, James (Governor of Carolina), <a href="#page252">252</a></p> + +<p>Collier, Edward (buccaneer), <a href="#page155">155</a>, <a href="#page156">156</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page190">190</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page196">196</a></p> + +<p>Colombia, U.S. of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-new-granada">New Granada</a></p> + +<p>Columbus, Christopher, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a></p> + +<p><i>Consulado</i>, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page13">13</a></p> + +<p>Contraband trade, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-clandestine-trade">Clandestine trade</a></p> + +<p>Cooke, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page224">224</a></p> + +<p>Cooper, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Corbett, Julian S., <a href="#page286">286</a></p> + +<p>Cordova, Don Luis de, <a href="#page242">242</a></p> + +<p>Cornwallis, Sir Charles, <a href="#page51">51</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a></p> + +<p>Coro (Venezuela), <a href="#page98">98</a></p> + +<p>Cortez, Hernando, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a></p> + +<p>Costa Rico, <a href="#page136">136</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Cottington, Francis, Lord, <a href="#page101">101-2</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291"></a>{291}</span> + +<p><a name="index-indies-council" id="index-indies-council"></a>Council of the Indies, <a href="#page13">13</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p>"Cour Volant," <a href="#page155">155-6</a>, and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Coventry, Sir Henry (Secretary of State), <a href="#page215">215</a></p> + +<p>Coxon, Captain John (buccaneer), <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page224">224</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page227">227-8</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page235">235</a>, <a href="#page237">237</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Cranborne, Viscount, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-robert-cecil">Cecil, Robert</a></p> + +<p>Criminals transported to the colonies, <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page125">125-6</a></p> + +<p>Cromwell, Oliver, <a href="#page85">85</a>, <a href="#page87">87-90</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page100">100</a></p> + +<p>Cuba, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page49">49</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Cumana (Venezuela), <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page53">53</a>, <a href="#page98">98</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + +<p>Cumanagote (Venezuela), <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + +<p>Cumberland, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-george-clifford">Clifford, George</a></p> + +<p>Curaçao, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page134">134</a>, <a href="#page135">135</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Cussy, Sieur Tarin de (Governor of French Hispaniola), <a href="#page243">243-4</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a></p> + + +<p>Dalyson, Captain William, <a href="#page99">99</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Dampier, William, <a href="#page73">73</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page108">108</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page221">221</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page225">225</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page228">228</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page247">247</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Daniel, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page74">74</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-darien" id="index-darien"></a>Darien, Isthmus of, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page145">145</a>, <a href="#page163">163</a>, <a href="#page191">191</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page225">225</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Deane, John (buccaneer), <a href="#page213">213-14</a></p> + +<p>Dedran, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Dempster, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page154">154</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-deschamps" id="index-deschamps"></a>Deschamps, Jérémie, Seigneur de Rausset (Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page116">116</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page119">119</a></p> + +<p>Deseada, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-desjeans" id="index-desjeans"></a>Desjeans, Jean-Bernard, Sieur de Pointis, <a href="#page262">262</a> <i>ff.</i></p> + +<p>Dessalles, Adrien, <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p>Diaz Pimienta, Don Francisco, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page56">56</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Diego Grillo (buccaneer), <a href="#page201">201</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Dieppe, corsairs of, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page48">48</a></p> + +<p>Dominica, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page74">74</a>, <a href="#page235">235</a></p> + +<p>"Don Francisco," <a href="#page207">207</a></p> + +<p>"Don Juan Morf," <a href="#page60">60</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page61">61</a></p> + +<p>Dorchester, Viscount <i>see</i> <a href="#index-dudley-carleton">Carleton, Sir Dudley</a></p> + +<p>Doyley, Colonel Edward (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page96">96-97</a>, <a href="#page98">98</a>, <a href="#page99">99</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a>, <a href="#page107">107</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a>, <a href="#page122">122</a>, <a href="#page124">124</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Drake, Sir Francis, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page41">41</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page89">89</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page195">195</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (Governor of French Hispaniola), <a href="#page260">260-61</a>, <a href="#page262">262</a>, <a href="#page263">263</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a>, <a href="#page266">266</a></p> + +<p>Ducéré, Eduard, <a href="#page285">285-6</a></p> + +<p>Duro, Cesario Fernandez, <a href="#page135">135</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page211">211</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page243">243</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page285">285</a></p> + +<p>Dutch wars, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-war">War</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" West India Company, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page49">49</a></p> + +<p>Dutertre, Jean-Baptiste, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page118">118</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page282">282</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a></p> + + +<p>East Indies, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-east-indies">Indies, East</a></p> + +<p>Edmondes, Sir Thomas, <a href="#page54">54</a></p> + +<p>Edwards, Bryan, <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p>Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a></p> + +<p>Elletson, Robert, <a href="#page248">248</a>, <a href="#page249">249</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page257">257</a></p> + +<p><i>Engagés</i>, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href="#page79">79-80</a>, <a href="#page124">124</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-equador" id="index-equador"></a>Equador, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a></p> + +<p>Esmit, Adolf (Governor of St. Thomas), <a href="#page234">234-37</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" Nicholas (Governor of St. Thomas), <a href="#page236">236</a></p> + +<p>Esnambuc, Mons. d', <a href="#page63">63</a></p> + +<p>Essex, Captain Cornelius (buccaneer), <a href="#page224">224</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a></p> + +<p>Estrées, Jean, Comte d', <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page220">220-221</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-jacob-everson" id="index-jacob-everson"></a>Everson, Captain Jacob (buccaneer), <a href="#page228">228</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page254">254</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Everson, Jory (Governor of St. Thomas), <a href="#page237">237</a></p> + +<p>Exquemelin, Alexander Olivier, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page78">78</a>, <a href="#page79">79</a>, <a href="#page124">124</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page135">135</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page136">136</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page137">137</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page277">277-82</a></p> + + +<p>Fanshaw, Sir Richard, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>, <a href="#page120">120</a>, <a href="#page121">121</a>, <a href="#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-ferdinand-isabella" id="index-ferdinand-isabella"></a>Ferdinand and Isabella, Kings of Spain, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page10">10</a></p> + +<p>Fitzgerald, Philip, <a href="#page206">206-7</a></p> + +<p>Fletcher, Benjamin (Governor of New York), <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p><i>Flibustiers</i>, derivation of the word, <a href="#page66">66</a>; <i>see</i> <a href="#index-buccaneers-derivation">Buccaneers</a></p> + +<p>Fload, Captain (Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page64">64</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Flores, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-azores">Azores</a>.</p> + +<p>Florida, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a>.</p> + +<p><a name="index-flota" id="index-flota"></a>Flota, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page38">38-9</a>, <a href="#page49">49</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page95">95</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page242">242</a>; + <i>cf. also</i> <a href="#index-treasure-fleets">Treasure fleets</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292"></a>{292}</span> + +<p>Fontenay, Chevalier de (Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page81">81-84</a>, <a href="#page113">113</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a></p> + +<p>Fortescue, Major-General Richard, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a></p> + +<p>Franquesnay, Sieur de (Governor of French Hispaniola), <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page247">247</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>French wars, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-war">War</a></p> + +<p>French West India Company, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + +<p>Frobisher, Martin, <a href="#page39">39</a></p> + +<p>Frogge, William, <a href="#page174">174</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page177">177</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page184">184</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page196">196</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Fuemayor, Rui Fernandez de, <a href="#page61">61</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + + +<p>Gage, Thomas, <a href="#page16">16</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page55">55</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page90">90</a></p> + +<p>Galicia, Company of, <a href="#page12">12</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p><a name="index-galleons" id="index-galleons"></a>Galleons, <a href="#page14">14-20</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page56">56</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page62">62</a>, <a href="#page76">76</a>; + <i>cf. also</i> <a href="#index-treasure-fleets">Treasure fleets</a>.</p> + +<p>Galleons' passage, <a href="#page15">15</a></p> + +<p>Gardner, William J., <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p>Gautemala, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a></p> + +<p>Gaves, Don Gabriel de, <a href="#page60">60</a></p> + +<p>"Gens de la côte," <a href="#page69">69</a></p> + +<p>Gibraltar (Venezuela), <a href="#page157">157</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + +<p>Godolphin, Sir William, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a>, <a href="#page198">198</a>, <a href="#page199">199</a>, <a href="#page207">207</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href="#page209">209-10</a></p> + +<p>"Golden Hind," <a href="#page39">39</a></p> + +<p>Golden Island, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href="#page253">253</a></p> + +<p>Goodly, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Goodson, Vice-Admiral William, <a href="#page92">92-96</a>, <a href="#page98">98</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page99">99</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-graff" id="index-graff"></a>Graff, Laurens-Cornille Baldran, Sieur de, <a href="#page241">241-43</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, <a href="#page258">258-59</a>, <a href="#page262">262</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Grammont, Sieur de (buccaneer), <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page221">221-2</a>, <a href="#page240">240-1</a>, <a href="#page243">243</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page248">248</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Granada (Nicaragua), <a href="#page16">16</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page136">136</a>, <a href="#page138">138-9</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a>, <a href="#page268">268</a></p> + +<p>Granjeria de las Perlas (New Granada), <a href="#page44">44</a></p> + +<p>Grenville, Sir Richard, <a href="#page40">40</a></p> + +<p>Guadaloupe, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a></p> + +<p>"Guanahani," <a href="#page2">2</a></p> + +<p>Guiana, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page41">41</a>, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a></p> + +<p>Guinea, coast of, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page235">235</a>, <a href="#page241">241</a>, <a href="#page270">270</a>, <a href="#page272">272</a></p> + +<p>Guipuzcoa, Company of, <a href="#page12">12</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>"Gunsway," <a href="#page270">270</a></p> + +<p>Guy, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Guzman, Gonzalo de, <a href="#page43">43</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " Don Juan Perez de, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-perez-de-guzman">Perez de Guzman</a>.</p> + + +<p>Hamlin, Captain Jean (buccaneer), <a href="#page234">234-6</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page251">251</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Hampton, Thomas, <a href="#page37">37-38</a></p> + +<p>Haro, Don Francisco de, <a href="#page183">183</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p> " Don Luis de, <a href="#page100">100</a></p> + +<p>Harris, Captain Peter (buccaneer), <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a></p> + +<p>Harrison, Captain, (buccaneer), <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + +<p>Hattsell, Captain, ( " ), <a href="#page136">136</a></p> + +<p>Havana, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page45">45</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Havre, corsairs, of, <a href="#page48">48</a></p> + +<p>Hawkins, Sir John, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page36">36</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>.</p> + +<p class="i2"> " William, <a href="#page36">36</a></p> + +<p>Heath, Attorney-General Sir Robert, <a href="#page52">52</a></p> + +<p>Henrietta Island, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page59">59</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Henry II., King of France, <a href="#page53">53</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" IV., " <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page48">48</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" VIII. King of England, <a href="#page36">36</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Herdue, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-piet-heyn" id="index-piet-heyn"></a>Heyn, Admiral Piet, <a href="#page49">49</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a></p> + +<p>Hilton, Captain (Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href="#page60">60</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-hispaniola" id="index-hispaniola"></a>Hispaniola, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a> and <i>n.</i> <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page57">57</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Holland, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-henry-rich">Rich, Henry</a></p> + +<p>Holmes, Admiral Sir Robert, <a href="#page253">253</a></p> + +<p>Honduras, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page107">107</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href="#page211">211</a>, <a href="#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page249">249</a></p> + +<p>Hopton, Sir Arthur, <a href="#page53">53</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-charles-howard" id="index-charles-howard"></a>Howard, Charles, Earl of Carlisle (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page211">211</a>, <a href="#page212">212</a>, <a href="#page222">222-28</a>, <a href="#page232">232</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " Sir Philip, <a href="#page255">255</a></p> + +<p>Humanes, Conde de, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + + +<p>Ibarra, Don Carlos, <a href="#page62">62</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Inchiquin, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-william-obrien">O'Brien, William</a></p> + +<p>Indian Ocean, pirates in, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-pirates">Pirates</a></p> + +<p>Indians, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-spain-indian-cruelties">Spain, cruelties to Indians</a></p> + +<p>Indies, Council of the, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-indies-council">Council</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " exclusion of foreigners from, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-spain">Spain</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293"></a>{293}</span> + +<p><a name="index-east-indies" id="index-east-indies"></a>Indies, East, pirates in, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-pirates">Pirates</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " <a name="index-west-indies" id="index-west-indies"></a>West, colonisation of, <a href="#page45">45-48</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " " first English ship in, <a href="#page34">34-35</a></p> + +<p>"Indults," <a href="#page25">25</a></p> + +<p>Interlopers, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-clandestine-trade">Clandestine trade</a></p> + +<p>Isabella, Queen, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-ferdinand-isabella">Ferdinand and Isabella</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-isle-daves" id="index-isle-daves"></a>Isle d'Aves, <a href="#page220">220</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page221">221</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page241">241</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" <a name="index-isle-de-vache" id="index-isle-de-vache"></a>la Vache, <a href="#page155">155</a>, <a href="#page156">156</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page212">212</a>, <a href="#page235">235</a>, <a href="#page236">236</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, etc.</p> + + +<p>Jackman, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a></p> + +<p>Jackson, Captain William, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page85">85</a></p> + +<p>Jacobs, Captain (buccaneer), <i>see</i> <a href="#index-jacob-everson">Everson</a></p> + +<p>Jamaica, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page57">57</a>, <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page85">85</a>, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, etc.</p> + +<p class="i2"> " assembly of, <a href="#page110">110</a>, <a href="#page217">217</a>, <a href="#page218">218</a>, <a href="#page227">227</a>, <a href="#page230">230</a>, <a href="#page231">231</a>, <a href="#page233">233</a>, <a href="#page248">248</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " Council of, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>, <a href="#page107">107</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page196">196</a>, <a href="#page202">202</a>, <a href="#page203">203</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>James, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p class="i6">" ("President of Tortuga"), <a href="#page64">64</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>James I., King of England, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page51">51</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i2">" II., King of England, <a href="#page253">253</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a></p> + +<p>Jamestown (Virginia), <a href="#page47">47</a></p> + +<p>Jenkins, Sir Leoline, <a href="#page208">208</a></p> + +<p>Jiménez, Don José Sánchez, <a href="#page139">139</a></p> + +<p>Jocard, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Johnson, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page202">202-3</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " " R.N., <a href="#page234">234</a></p> + +<p>"Judith," <a href="#page39">39</a></p> + +<p><i>Juzgado de Indias</i>, <a href="#page13">13</a> <i>n.</i></p> + + +<p>Kingston (Jamaica), <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page86">86</a></p> + +<p>Knollys, Francis, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a></p> + + +<p>Labat, Jean-Baptiste, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page73">73-5</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a></p> + +<p>Lagarde, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>La Guayra (Venezuela), <a href="#page240">240-41</a></p> + +<p>Lancers, <i>see <a href="#index-cinquantaines">Cinquantaines</a></i></p> + +<p><a name="index-michel-landresson" id="index-michel-landresson"></a>Landresson, Captain Michel, <i>alias</i> Breha (buccaneer), <a href="#page251">251</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Langford, Captain Abraham, <a href="#page118">118-19</a></p> + +<p>Las Casas, Bartolomé de, Bishop of Chiapa, <a href="#page32">32</a></p> + +<p>Laurens de Graff, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-graff">Graff</a>.</p> + +<p>La Vivon, Mons., <a href="#page155">155-6</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p><a name="index-laws-against" id="index-laws-against"></a>Laws against privateers and pirates, <a href="#page110">110</a>, <a href="#page217">217</a>, <a href="#page218">218</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page227">227</a>, <a href="#page230">230-31</a>, <a href="#page251">251-53</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-francois-le-clerc" id="index-francois-le-clerc"></a>Le Clerc, Captain François, <a href="#page42">42</a></p> + +<p>Legane (Hispaniola), <a href="#page124">124</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a>, <a href="#page261">261</a></p> + +<p>Legrand, Pierre (buccaneer), <a href="#page135">135</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>"Le Pain," <i>see</i> <a href="#index-peter-paine">Paine, Peter</a></p> + +<p>Le Pers (Jesuit writer), <a href="#page284">284</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Lerma, Duque de, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Leroy-Beaulieu, Pierre-Paul, <a href="#page1">1</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a></p> + +<p>Le Sage, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Lessone, " ( " ), <a href="#page224">224</a></p> + +<p>Levasseur, Mons., <a href="#page63">63-66</a>, <a href="#page78">78</a>, <a href="#page80">80-82</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-james-ley" id="index-james-ley"></a>Ley, James, Earl of Marlborough, <a href="#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page53">53</a></p> + +<p>Lilburne, Robert (Governor of Bahamas), <a href="#page238">238-39</a></p> + +<p>Lima (Peru), <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a></p> + +<p>Linhares, Conde de, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p>Logwood, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page208">208-12</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page249">249</a></p> + +<p>Long, Edward, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" Samuel, <a href="#page226">226</a></p> + +<p>Lonvilliers, Mons. de, <a href="#page81">81</a></p> + +<p>Lorin, Henri, <a href="#page284">284</a></p> + +<p>Louis XIV., King of France, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page116">116</a>, <a href="#page219">219</a>, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a>, <a href="#page266">266</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Ludbury, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + +<p>Ludwell, Philip (Governor of Carolina), <a href="#page253">253</a></p> + +<p>Lynch, Sir Thomas (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page121">121</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a>, <a href="#page198">198</a>, <a href="#page200">200-205</a>, <a href="#page209">209</a>, <a href="#page213">213</a>, <a href="#page216">216</a>, <a href="#page232">232-38</a>, <a href="#page243">243</a>, and <i>n.</i>, etc.</p> + +<p>Lyttleton, Sir Charles (Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page106">106</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page110">110</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a></p> + + +<p>Madeira, <a href="#page42">42</a></p> + +<p>Maggott, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page224">224</a></p> + +<p>Maintenon, Marquis de, <a href="#page222">222</a></p> + +<p>Maldonado de Aldana, <a href="#page108">108</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-mansfield" id="index-mansfield"></a>Mansfield, Captain Edward (buccaneer), <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page134">134-36</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page163">163</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>"Mansvelt," <i>see</i> <a href="#index-mansfield">Mansfield</a></p> + +<p>Maracaibo (Venezuela), <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page156">156-8</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>{294}</span> + +<p>Marcel, Gabriel, <a href="#page285">285</a></p> + +<p>Margarita Island, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" patache, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Margot, Port (Hispaniola), <a href="#page64">64</a>, <a href="#page65">65</a>, <a href="#page83">83</a>, <a href="#page84">84</a>, <a href="#page123">123</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-marie-anne" id="index-marie-anne"></a>Marie-Anne of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain, <a href="#page141">141</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page184">184</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page198">198</a>, <a href="#page199">199</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href="#page211">211</a></p> + +<p>Markham, William (Governor of Pennsylvania), <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p>Marlborough, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-james-ley">Ley, James</a></p> + +<p>"Marston Moor," <a href="#page87">87</a>, <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page98">98</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page99">99</a></p> + +<p>Marteen, Captain David (buccaneer), <a href="#page134">134</a></p> + +<p>Martin, <a href="#page81">81-82</a>, <a href="#page83">83</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Martinique, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page74">74</a>, <a href="#page75">75</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page272">272</a>, <a href="#page282">282</a></p> + +<p>"Mary of Guildford," <a href="#page36">36</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Mary, Queen of England, <a href="#page259">259</a></p> + +<p>Massachusetts, <a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p><i>Matelotage</i>, <a href="#page69">69</a></p> + +<p>Medina Coeli, Duque de, <a href="#page199">199</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" de los Torres, Duque de, <a href="#page141">141</a></p> + +<p>Merida (Yucatan), <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a></p> + +<p>Mesnil, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Mexico, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-new-spain">New Spain</a></p> + +<p>Michel, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " le Basque (buccaneer), <a href="#page124">124</a>, <a href="#page156">156</a></p> + +<p>Milton, John (Latin Secretary of State), <a href="#page89">89</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Mitchell, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page108">108</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Modyford, Colonel Charles, <a href="#page203">203</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" Sir James, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page163">163</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i4">" Sir Thomas (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page119">119-23</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page131">131-35</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page137">137</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page144">144</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Moledi, Don Patricio, <a href="#page111">111</a></p> + +<p>Molesworth, Hender (Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page237">237</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, <a href="#page249">249</a>, <a href="#page253">253-54</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page257">257</a></p> + +<p>Molina, Conde de, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Mompos (New Granada), <a href="#page264">264</a></p> + +<p>Mona, Island of, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-monck-christopher" id="index-monck-christopher"></a>Monck, Christopher, second Duke of Albemarle (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page255">255-57</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" <a name="index-monck-george" id="index-monck-george"></a>George, first Duke of Albemarle, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page154">154</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-montagu" id="index-montagu"></a>Montagu, Edward, Earl of Sandwich, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a></p> + +<p>Montemayor, Don Juan Francisco de, <a href="#page82">82</a></p> + +<p>Montespan, Marquise de, <a href="#page218">218</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Montserrat, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a></p> + +<p>Moralis, Don Pedro de, <a href="#page105">105</a></p> + +<p>Moreton, Joseph (Governor of Carolina), <a href="#page252">252</a></p> + +<p>Morgan, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page235">235</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " Colonel Blodre (buccaneer), <a href="#page163">163</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page182">182</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i2"> " Colonel Edward, <a href="#page120">120</a>, <a href="#page121">121</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page143">143</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " Sir Henry (buccaneer and Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page143">143-96</a>, <a href="#page204">204-6</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page212">212-16</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page227">227</a>, <a href="#page228">228</a>, etc.</p> + +<p class="i2"> " Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas, <a href="#page130">130</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page137">137</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Morris, Captain John (buccaneer), <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Mosquito Coast, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a></p> + +<p>Munden, Captain Robert, <a href="#page118">118</a></p> + +<p>Myngs, Captain Christopher, R.N., <a href="#page98">98</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page99">99</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>, <a href="#page107">107</a>, <a href="#page108">108</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page121">121</a></p> + + +<p>Nata de los Santos (Darien), <a href="#page136">136</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page191">191</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p><a name="index-jean-david-nau" id="index-jean-david-nau"></a>Nau, Jean-David (buccaneer), <a href="#page124">124</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page156">156</a>, <a href="#page157">157</a></p> + +<p>Navigation Laws, <a href="#page99">99</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page102">102</a>, <a href="#page214">214</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p>"Navio del Oro," <a href="#page17">17</a></p> + +<p>Negro slave-trade, <a href="#page36">36-38</a>; + <i>cf. also</i> <a href="#index-clandestine-trade">Clandestine trade</a></p> + +<p>Negroes, Assiento of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-assiento">Assiento</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-netherlands" id="index-netherlands"></a>Netherlands, truce of 1609, <a href="#page52">52</a></p> + +<p class="i4"> " wars of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-war">War</a></p> + +<p>Nevill, Vice-Admiral John, <a href="#page264">264</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a></p> + +<p>Nevis, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page63">63</a>, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a></p> + +<p>New England, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page93">93</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a>, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page250">250</a>, <a href="#page272">272</a></p> + +<p>Newfoundland, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-new-granada" id="index-new-granada"></a>New Granada, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page232">232</a></p> + +<p>New Providence Island (Bahamas), <a href="#page237">237-39</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-new-spain" id="index-new-spain"></a>New Spain, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page33">33</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>New York, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id="page295"></a>{295}</span> + +<p>Nicaragua, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" Lake, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a></p> + +<p>Nimuegen, peace of, <a href="#page240">240</a></p> + +<p>Nombre de Dios (Darien), <a href="#page14">14</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page17">17</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page40">40</a></p> + +<p>Norris, Commodore Sir John, <a href="#page265">265</a></p> + + +<p><a name="index-william-obrien" id="index-william-obrien"></a>O'Brien, William, Earl of Inchiquin (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a></p> + +<p>Ogeron, Bertrand d' (Governor of French Hispaniola), <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page123">123-4</a>, <a href="#page216">216</a>, <a href="#page217">217</a>, <a href="#page218">218</a>, <a href="#page239">239</a></p> + +<p>Olivares, Conde de, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Olonnais (buccaneer), <i>see</i> <a href="#index-jean-david-nau">Nau, Jean-David</a></p> + +<p>Orinoco River, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page85">85</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page111">111</a></p> + +<p>Oxenham, John, <a href="#page40">40</a></p> + +<p>"Oxford," <a href="#page155">155</a></p> + + +<p>Pain, Captain Thomas (buccaneer), <a href="#page238">238</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page239">239</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-peter-paine" id="index-peter-paine"></a>Paine, Peter, <a href="#page233">233-34</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page238">238</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Panama, city of, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page120">120</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page139">139</a>, <a href="#page140">140</a>, etc.</p> + +<p class="i2"> " Isthmus of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-darien">Darien</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " President of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-perez-de-guzman">Perez de Guzman</a></p> + +<p>Payta (Peru), <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a></p> + +<p>Penalva, Conde de, <a href="#page113">113</a></p> + +<p>Penn, Admiral William, <a href="#page85">85</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page87">87</a>, <a href="#page93">93</a>, <a href="#page113">113</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" William (proprietor of Penns.), <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p>Pennsylvania, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-perez-de-guzman" id="index-perez-de-guzman"></a>Perez de Guzman, Don Juan (President of Panama), <a href="#page139">139</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page184">184</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page191">191</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page192">192</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i2">" Diego, <a href="#page44">44</a></p> + +<p>Pernambuco, <a href="#page49">49</a></p> + +<p>Perry, Mr. <a href="#page61">61</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Peru, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Petit, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Petit-Goave (Hispaniola), <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page124">124</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>, <a href="#page241">241</a>, <a href="#page242">242</a>, <a href="#page243">243</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Philip II., King of Spain, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page30">30</a>, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a></p> + +<p>Philip III., King of Spain, <a href="#page51">51</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " IV., King of Spain, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a></p> + +<p>Philippine Islands, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a></p> + +<p>"Piece of eight," value of, <a href="#page77">77</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>"Pie de Palo," <i>see</i> <a href="#index-piet-heyn">Heyn, Admiral Piet</a> <i>and</i> <a href="#index-francois-le-clerc">Le Clerc, François</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-pirates" id="index-pirates"></a>Pirates, depredations in the East, <a href="#page270">270</a>, <a href="#page272">272</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " laws against, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-laws-against">Laws</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " trials of, <a href="#page202">202</a>, <a href="#page203">203</a>, <a href="#page213">213-15</a>, <a href="#page218">218</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page228">228</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a></p> + +<p>Pizarro, Francisco, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a></p> + +<p>Place, Sieur de la (Deputy-Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page124">124</a></p> + +<p>Plenneville, Clement de, <a href="#page118">118</a></p> + +<p>Poincy, Mons. de (Governor of the French West Indies), <a href="#page63">63</a>, <a href="#page64">64</a>, <a href="#page80">80</a>, <a href="#page81">81</a></p> + +<p>Pointis, Sieur de, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-desjeans">Desjeans</a></p> + +<p>Pontchartrain, Louis Phelypeaux, Comte de, <a href="#page262">262</a></p> + +<p>Port de Paix (Hispaniola), <a href="#page65">65</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page261">261</a></p> + +<p>Porto Bello, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page17">17</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page143">143-54</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Porto Rico, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page31">31</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page41">41</a>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page56">56</a>, <a href="#page57">57</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Port Royal (Carolina), <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page252">252</a></p> + +<p class="i4"> " (Jamaica), <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page98">98</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page101">101</a>, <a href="#page107">107</a>, <a href="#page108">108</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href="#page121">121</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Pouançay, Mons. de (Governor of French Hispaniola), <a href="#page216">216</a>, <a href="#page219">219</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href="#page239">239</a>, <a href="#page240">240</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Prince, Captain Lawrence (buccaneer), <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Privateers, laws against, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-laws-against">Laws</a></p> + +<p>Providence Company, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page59">59</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page61">61</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page62">62</a>, <a href="#page64">64</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p><a name="index-providence-island" id="index-providence-island"></a>Providence Island, <a href="#page55">55</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page56">56</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page64">64</a>, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page135">135-7</a>, <a href="#page139">139-40</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a>, <a href="#page163">163</a> and <i>n.</i>, etc.</p> + +<p>Puerta de Plata (Hispaniola), <a href="#page115">115</a></p> + +<p>Puerto Cabello (Venezuela), <a href="#page98">98</a></p> + +<p class="i2"> " Principe (Cuba), <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page144">144</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page145">145</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a></p> + + +<p>Queen Regent of Spain, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-marie-anne">Marie-Anne of Austria</a></p> + +<p>Quito, province of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-equador">Equador</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>{296}</span> + + +<p>Raleigh, Sir Walter, <a href="#page34">34</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page41">41</a>, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page89">89</a></p> + +<p>Rancherias (New Granada), <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a></p> + +<p>Rausset, Sieur de, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-deschamps">Deschamps</a></p> + +<p>Raynal, Guillaume, Thomas-François, <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p>Red Sea, pirates in, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-pirates">Pirates</a></p> + +<p>Rhode Island, <a href="#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page251">251</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-henry-rich" id="index-henry-rich"></a>Rich, Henry, Earl of Holland, <a href="#page59">59</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" Robert, Earl of Warwick, <a href="#page50">50</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page52">52</a></p> + +<p>Rio Garta, <a href="#page138">138</a></p> + +<p>Rio de la Hacha (New Granada), <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href="#page93">93</a>, <a href="#page98">98</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page232">232</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + +<p>Rio Nuevo (Jamaica), <a href="#page91">91</a></p> + +<p>Riskinner, Captain Nicholas (Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page62">62</a></p> + +<p>Rivero Pardal, Manuel, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a></p> + +<p>Roanoke Island (Carolina), <a href="#page47">47</a></p> + +<p>Roatan Island, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a></p> + +<p>Robertson, William, <a href="#page285">285</a></p> + +<p>Rogers, Captain Thomas (buccaneer), <a href="#page174">174</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Ronquillo, Don Pedro, <a href="#page223">223</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page243">243</a></p> + +<p>Row, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page224">224</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-don-gabriel" id="index-don-gabriel"></a>Roxas de Valle-Figueroa, Don Gabriel, <a href="#page82">82-83</a></p> + +<p>Ruyter, Admiral Michel-Adriaanszoon van, <a href="#page129">129</a></p> + +<p>Ryswick, treaty of, <a href="#page266">266</a> <i>n.</i></p> + + +<p>Saba, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>St. Augustine (Florida), <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href="#page251">251</a>, <a href="#page252">252</a></p> + +<p>St. Christopher, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-st-kitts">St. Kitts</a></p> + +<p>St. Eustatius, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href="#page143">143</a></p> + +<p>St. Jago de Cuba, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page100">100</a>, <a href="#page104">104-6</a>, <a href="#page108">108</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page145">145</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a>, etc.</p> + +<p class="i4"> " de la Vega (Jamaica), <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page85">85</a>, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page237">237</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i4"> " de los Cavalleros (Hispaniola), <a href="#page114">114-15</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-st-kitts" id="index-st-kitts"></a>St. Kitts, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a>, <a href="#page56">56</a>, <a href="#page58">58</a>, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page63">63</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page80">80</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>St. Laurent, Mons. de, <a href="#page244">244</a>, <a href="#page247">247</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>St. Malo, corsairs of, <a href="#page48">48</a></p> + +<p>St. Martins, <a href="#page130">130</a></p> + +<p>St. Thomas, <a href="#page235">235-7</a></p> + +<p>Salisbury, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-robert-cecil">Cecil, Robert</a></p> + +<p>Samana, <a href="#page77">77</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Samballas Islands, <a href="#page228">228</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>"Samson," <a href="#page36">36</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Sancti Spiritus (Cuba), <a href="#page134">134</a>, <a href="#page135">135</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>San Domingo, city of, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page43">43</a>, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page86">86</a>, etc.</p> + +<p class="i4"> " French, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-hispaniola">Hispaniola</a></p> + +<p>Sandwich, Earl of, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-montagu">Montagu, Edward</a></p> + +<p>San Juan de Porto Rico, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page41">41</a>, <a href="#page49">49</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" d'Ulloa, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-vera-cruz">Vera Cruz</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" River (Nicaragua), <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a></p> + +<p>San Lorenzo, castle of (Chagre), <a href="#page164">164-8</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page193">193</a>, <a href="#page194">194</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>San Lucar, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page13">13</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a></p> + +<p>Santa Catalina, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-providence-island">Providence Island</a></p> + +<p>Santa Cruz, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page56">56</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a></p> + +<p>Santa Marta (New Granada), <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href="#page93">93</a>, <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page219">219-20</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + +<p>Santa Marta de la Vitoria (Tabasco), <a href="#page139">139</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i2">" Tomas (Orinoco), <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a></p> + +<p>Sasi Arnoldo, Don Christopher, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a></p> + +<p>"Satisfaction," <a href="#page156">156</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Sawkins, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href="#page226">226</a></p> + +<p>Scaliger, Joseph-Juste, <a href="#page28">28</a></p> + +<p>Scelle, Georges, <a href="#page3">3</a>, <a href="#page285">285</a></p> + +<p>Searle, Daniel (Governor of Barbadoes), <a href="#page85">85</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Searles, Captain Robert (buccaneer), <a href="#page122">122</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a></p> + +<p>Sedgwick, Major-General Robert, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a></p> + +<p>Seignelay, Marquis de, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-colbert">Colbert</a></p> + +<p>Seville, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page159">159</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page207">207</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Sharp, Captain Bartholomew (buccaneer), <a href="#page223">223</a>, <a href="#page224">224</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page228">228</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a></p> + +<p>Shirley, Sir Anthony, <a href="#page85">85</a></p> + +<p>"Sloop-trade," <a href="#page27">27</a></p> + +<p>Smart, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Smith, Major Samuel, <a href="#page137">137</a>, <a href="#page139">139</a>, <a href="#page140">140</a></p> + +<p>Sore, Jacques, <a href="#page42">42</a>, <a href="#page45">45</a></p> + +<p>Southey, Thomas, <a href="#page283">283</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-spain" id="index-spain"></a>Spain, colonial laws, <a href="#page5">5</a>, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page13">13</a>, <a href="#page24">24</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" colonial system, <a href="#page1">1</a> <i>ff.</i></p> + +<p class="i2">" commercial system, <a href="#page6">6-13</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" cruelties to English mariners, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page53">53-54</a>, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page89">89</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page207">207</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297"></a>{297}</span> + +<p class="i2">" <a name="index-spain-indian-cruelties" id="index-spain-indian-cruelties"></a>cruelties to Indians, <a href="#page4">4</a>, <a href="#page9">9</a>, <a href="#page10">10</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page33">33</a>, <a href="#page89">89</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i2">" decline of, <a href="#page1">1</a> <i>ff.</i>, <a href="#page46">46</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" discovery and exploration in South America, <a href="#page2">2-3</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" exclusion of foreigners from Spanish Indies, <a href="#page24">24</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" privateers of, <a href="#page207">207</a>, <a href="#page211">211</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i2">" trade relations with England, <a href="#page101">101-104</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" treaty of 1667 with England, <a href="#page141">141</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" " 1670 with England, <a href="#page196">196-7</a>, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page209">209</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" truce of 1609 with the Netherlands, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-netherlands">Netherlands</a></p> + +<p class="i2">" venality of Spanish colonial governors, <a href="#page26">26</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i2">" weakness of Spanish ships, <a href="#page23">23</a></p> + +<p>Spragge, Captain, R.N., <a href="#page254">254</a></p> + +<p>Stanley, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page140">140</a></p> + +<p>Stapleton, Sir William (Governor of Leeward Islands), <a href="#page234">234</a>, <a href="#page236">236</a>, <a href="#page237">237</a></p> + +<p>Stedman, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page131">131</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Style, John, <a href="#page153">153</a> <i>n.</i></p> + + +<p>Tabasco River, <a href="#page138">138</a>, <a href="#page139">139</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Tavoga Island, <a href="#page179">179</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a></p> + +<p>Tavogilla Island, <a href="#page179">179</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a></p> + +<p>Taylor, John, <a href="#page102">102</a></p> + +<p>Terrier, Jean, <a href="#page42">42</a></p> + +<p>Thibault, <a href="#page81">81-82</a>, <a href="#page83">83</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Thomas, Dalby, <a href="#page33">33</a></p> + +<p>Thornbury, Walter, <a href="#page284">284</a></p> + +<p>Thurloe, John (Secretary of State), <a href="#page104">104</a></p> + +<p>Thurston, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page201">201</a></p> + +<p>Tobago, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href="#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page268">268</a></p> + +<p>Toledo, Don Federico de, <a href="#page54">54</a>, <a href="#page58">58</a></p> + +<p>Tolu (New Granada), <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a></p> + +<p>Tortola, <a href="#page130">130</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-tortuga" id="index-tortuga"></a>Tortuga, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page58">58-66</a>, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page73">73</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page80">80</a>, <a href="#page81">81</a>, <a href="#page113">113</a>, etc.</p> + +<p>Trade, clandestine, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-clandestine-trade">Clandestine trade</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-treasure-fleets" id="index-treasure-fleets"></a>Treasure fleets, <a href="#page13">13-24</a>, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page85">85</a>; + <i>cf. also</i> <a href="#index-flota">Flota</a> <i>and</i> <a href="#index-galleons">Galleons</a></p> + +<p>Treval, Mons. de, <a href="#page82">82</a></p> + +<p>Trinidad, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page15">15</a>, <a href="#page32">32</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a></p> + +<p>"Trompense, La," <a href="#page233">233-36</a>, <a href="#page238">238</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, <a href="#page249">249</a>, <a href="#page251">251</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p class="i4"> " La Nouvelle," <a href="#page236">236</a> <i>n</i>.</p> + +<p>Truxillo (Honduras), <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page138">138</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a></p> + +<p>Turrialva (Costa Rica), <a href="#page136">136</a></p> + + +<p>Utrecht, Treaty of, <a href="#page272">272</a></p> + + +<p>Vache, Isle la, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-isle-de-vache">Isle la Vache</a></p> + +<p><i>Vaisseaux de registre</i>, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Vaissière, Pierre de, <a href="#page284">284</a></p> + +<p>Valladolid (Yucatan), <a href="#page210">210</a></p> + +<p>Valle-Figueroa, Don Gabriel Roxas de, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-don-gabriel">Roxas de Valle-Figueroa</a></p> + +<p>Van Horn, Captain Nicholas (buccaneer), <a href="#page241">241-43</a>, <a href="#page248">248</a></p> + +<p>Vaughan, John, Lord (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href="#page211">211</a>, <a href="#page212">212-22</a>, <a href="#page232">232</a></p> + +<p>Venables, General Robert, <a href="#page85">85</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page87">87</a>, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page89">89</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page113">113</a></p> + +<p>Venezuela, <a href="#page16">16</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page156">156</a></p> + +<p>Venta Cruz (Darien), <a href="#page17">17</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page174">174</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page177">177</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page192">192</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page193">193</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-vera-cruz" id="index-vera-cruz"></a>Vera Cruz (New Spain), <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href="#page22">22</a>, <a href="#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page49">49</a>, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, etc., <a href="#page241">241</a></p> + +<p>Veragua, <a href="#page136">136</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Vernon, Admiral Edward, <a href="#page195">195</a></p> + +<p>Verpre, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Vervins, Treaty of, <a href="#page48">48</a></p> + +<p><i>Viande boucannée</i>, <a href="#page66">66</a></p> + +<p>Vigneron, Captain (buccaneer), <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p>Villa de Mosa (Tabasco), <a href="#page138">138</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Villalba y Toledo, Don Francisco de, <a href="#page77">77</a></p> + +<p>Villars, Marquis de, <a href="#page9">9</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Virgin Islands, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href="#page235">235</a>, <a href="#page236">236</a></p> + +<p>Virginia, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href="#page51">51</a>, <a href="#page54">54</a>, <a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href="#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page207">207</a>, <a href="#page272">272</a></p> + + +<p><a name="index-war" id="index-war"></a>War between England and France, 1666-67, <a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a></p> + +<p>War between England and Netherlands, 1665-67, <a href="#page127">127-41</a></p> + +<p>War between France and Netherlands, 1674-78, <a href="#page219">219</a> <i>ff.</i></p> + +<p>War of the Spanish Succession, <a href="#page271">271-72</a></p> + +<p class="i4"> " Succession of the Palatinate, <a href="#page258">258</a> <i>ff.</i></p> + +<p>Watson, Sir Francis, <a href="#page257">257</a></p> + +<p>Watts, Elias (Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page117">117</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298"></a>{298}</span> + +<p>Watts, Colonel William (Governor of St. Kitts), <a href="#page130">130</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Weiss, Charles, <a href="#page285">285</a></p> + +<p>West Indies, <i>see</i> <a href="#index-west-indies">Indies, West</a></p> + +<p>Whitstone, Sir Thomas (buccaneer), <a href="#page140">140</a>, <a href="#page273">273</a></p> + +<p>Wilgress, Captain, <a href="#page201">201</a></p> + +<p>William III., King of England, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a></p> + +<p><a name="index-john-wiliams" id="index-john-williams"></a>Williams, Captain John, <i>alias</i> Yankey (buccaneer), <a href="#page235">235</a>, <a href="#page254">254</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page274">274</a></p> + +<p class="i4">" Captain Morris (buccaneer), <a href="#page122">122</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Williamson, Sir Joseph (Secretary of State), <a href="#page213">213</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page217">217</a></p> + +<p>Willoughby, William, Lord (Governor of Barbadoes), <a href="#page131">131</a></p> + +<p>Wilmot, Commodore Robert, <a href="#page261">261</a></p> + +<p>Windebank, Sir Francis (Secretary of State), <a href="#page53">53</a></p> + +<p>Windsor, Thomas, Lord (Governor of Jamaica), <a href="#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page101">101</a> and <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page106">106-7</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href="#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page137">137</a></p> + +<p>Winslow, Edward (Commissioner of Jamaica), <a href="#page85">85</a> <i>n.</i></p> + +<p>Winter, Sir William, <a href="#page40">40</a></p> + +<p>Witherborn, Captain Francis (buccaneer), <a href="#page202">202</a></p> + +<p>Wormeley, Captain Christopher (Governor of Tortuga), <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href="#page62">62</a> and <i>n.</i></p> + + +<p>Yallahs, Captain (buccaneer) <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page211">211</a></p> + +<p>"Yankey," <i>see</i> <a href="#index-john-williams">Williams, Captain John</a></p> + +<p>Yucatan, <a href="#page2">2</a>, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href="#page82">82</a> <i>n.</i>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href="#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page211">211</a></p> + + +<p>Zuniga, Don Pedro de, <a href="#page51">51</a></p> +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Buccaneers in the West Indies in +the XVII Century, by Clarence Henry Haring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST *** + +***** This file should be named 19139-h.htm or 19139-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/3/19139/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, David King, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century + +Author: Clarence Henry Haring + +Release Date: August 29, 2006 [EBook #19139] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, David King, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE BUCCANEERS IN THE +WEST INDIES IN THE +XVII CENTURY + +BY + +C.H. HARING + +WITH TEN MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + +METHUEN & CO. LTD. +36 ESSEX STREET W.C. +LONDON + +_First Published in 1910_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +The principal facts about the exploits of the English and French +buccaneers of the seventeenth century in the West Indies are +sufficiently well known to modern readers. The French Jesuit historians +of the Antilles have left us many interesting details of their mode of +life, and Exquemelin's history of the freebooters has been reprinted +numerous times both in France and in England. Based upon these old, +contemporary narratives, modern accounts are issued from the press with +astonishing regularity, some of them purporting to be serious history, +others appearing in the more popular and entertaining guise of romances. +All, however, are alike in confining themselves for their information to +what may almost be called the traditional sources--Exquemelin, the +Jesuits, and perhaps a few narratives like those of Dampier and Wafer. +To write another history of these privateers or pirates, for they have, +unfortunately, more than once deserved that name, may seem a rather +fruitless undertaking. It is justified only by the fact that there exist +numerous other documents bearing upon the subject, documents which till +now have been entirely neglected. Exquemelin has been reprinted, the +story of the buccaneers has been re-told, yet no writer, whether editor +or historian, has attempted to estimate the trustworthiness of the old +tales by comparing them with these other sources, or to show the +connection between the buccaneers and the history of the English +colonies in the West Indies. The object of this volume, therefore, is +not only to give a narrative, according to the most authentic, available +sources, of the more brilliant exploits of these sea-rovers, but, what +is of greater interest and importance, to trace the policy pursued +toward them by the English and French Governments. + +The "Buccaneers in the West Indies" was presented as a thesis to the +Board of Modern History of Oxford University in May 1909 to fulfil the +requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Letters. It was written under +the supervision of C.H. Firth, Regius Professor of Modern History in +Oxford, and to him the writer owes a lasting debt of gratitude for his +unfailing aid and sympathy during the course of preparation. + +C.H.H. + +Oxford, 1910 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Preface + +CHAP. PAGE + +I. Introductory-- + Part I.--The Spanish Colonial System 1 + Part II.--The Freebooters of the Sixteenth Century 28 +II. The Beginnings of the Buccaneers 57 +III. The Conquest of Jamaica 85 +IV. Tortuga, 1655-1664 113 +V. Porto Bello and Panama 120 +VI. The Government Suppresses the Buccaneers 200 +VII. The Buccaneers Turn Pirate 232 + Appendices 273-74 + Bibliography 275 + Index 289 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Map of the West Indies _Frontispiece_ + From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_. + + FACING PAGE + +Spanish Periagua 1 + + From Exquemelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux_, + 1744. + +Buccaneer Vessels 76 + + From Exquemelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux_, + 1744. + +A Correct Map of Jamaica 85 + + From the _Royal Magazine_, 1760. + +Map of San Domingo 86 + + From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_. + +Plan of the Bay and Town of Portobelo 154 + + From Prevost d'Exiles' _Voyages_. + +The Isthmus of Darien 164 + + From Exquelmelin's _Bucaniers_, 1684-5. + +'The Battel between the Spaniards and the +pyrats or Buccaniers before the Citty of +Panama' 166 + + From Exquemelin's _Bucaniers of America_, 1684-5. + +Plan of Vera-Cruz 242 + + From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_, 1730. + +Plan of the Town and Roadstead of Cartegena +and of the Forts 264 + + From Baron de Pontis' _Relation de ce qui c'est fait la + prise de Carthagene_, Bruxelles, 1698. + + + + +THE BUCCANEERS IN THE +WEST INDIES IN THE +XVII CENTURY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + +I.--THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM + + +At the time of the discovery of America the Spaniards, as M. +Leroy-Beaulieu has remarked, were perhaps less fitted than any other +nation of western Europe for the task of American colonization. Whatever +may have been the political _role_ thrust upon them in the sixteenth +century by the Hapsburg marriages, whatever certain historians may say +of the grandeur and nobility of the Spanish national character, Spain +was then neither rich nor populous, nor industrious. For centuries she +had been called upon to wage a continuous warfare with the Moors, and +during this time had not only found little leisure to cultivate the arts +of peace, but had acquired a disdain for manual work which helped to +mould her colonial administration and influenced all her subsequent +history. And when the termination of the last of these wars left her +mistress of a united Spain, and the exploitation of her own resources +seemed to require all the energies she could muster, an entire new +hemisphere was suddenly thrown open to her, and given into her hands by +a papal decree to possess and populate. Already weakened by the exile of +the most sober and industrious of her population, the Jews; drawn into a +foreign policy for which she had neither the means nor the inclination; +instituting at home an economic policy which was almost epileptic in its +consequences, she found her strength dissipated, and gradually sank into +a condition of economic and political impotence. + +Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor in the service of the Castilian +Crown, wishing to find a western route by sea to India and especially to +Zipangu (Japan), the magic land described by the Venetian traveller, +Marco Polo, landed on 12th October 1492, on "Guanahani," one of the +Bahama Islands. From "Guanahani" he passed on to other islands of the +same group, and thence to Hispaniola, Tortuga and Cuba. Returning to +Spain in March 1493, he sailed again in September of the same year with +seventeen vessels and 1500 persons, and this time keeping farther to the +south, sighted Porto Rico and some of the Lesser Antilles, founded a +colony on Hispaniola, and discovered Jamaica in 1494. On a third voyage +in 1498 he discovered Trinidad, and coasted along the shores of South +America from the Orinoco River to the island of Margarita. After a +fourth and last voyage in 1502-04, Columbus died at Valladolid in 1506, +in the firm belief that he had discovered a part of the Continent of +Asia. + +The entire circle of the Antilles having thus been revealed before the +end of the fifteenth century, the Spaniards pushed forward to the +continent. While Hojida, Vespucci, Pinzon and de Solis were exploring +the eastern coast from La Plata to Yucatan, Ponce de Leon in 1512 +discovered Florida, and in 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa descried the +Pacific Ocean from the heights of Darien, revealing for the first time +the existence of a new continent. In 1520 Magellan entered the Pacific +through the strait which bears his name, and a year later was killed in +one of the Philippine Islands. Within the next twenty years Cortez had +conquered the realm of Montezuma, and Pizarro the empire of Peru; and +thus within the space of two generations all of the West Indies, North +America to California and the Carolinas, all of South America except +Brazil, which the error of Cabral gave to the Portuguese, and in the +east the Philippine Islands and New Guinea passed under the sway of the +Crown of Castile. + +Ferdinand and Isabella in 1493 had consulted with several persons of +eminent learning to find out whether it was necessary to obtain the +investiture of the Pope for their newly-discovered possessions, and all +were of opinion that this formality was unnecessary.[1] Nevertheless, on +3rd May 1493, a bull was granted by Pope Alexander VI., which divided +the sovereignty of those parts of the world not possessed by any +Christian prince between Spain and Portugal by a meridian line 100 +leagues west of the Azores or of Cape Verde. Later Spanish writers made +much of this papal gift; yet, as Georges Scelle points out,[2] it is +possible that this bull was not so much a deed of conveyance, investing +the Spaniards with the proprietorship of America, as it was an act of +ecclesiastical jurisdiction according them, on the strength of their +acquired right and proven Catholicism, a monopoly as it were in the +propagation of the faith. At that time, even Catholic princes were no +longer accustomed to seek the Pope's sanction when making a new +conquest, and certainly in the domain of public law the Pope was not +considered to have temporal jurisdiction over the entire world. He did, +however, intervene in temporal matters when they directly influenced +spiritual affairs, and of this the propagation of the faith was an +instance. As the compromise between Spain and Portugal was very +indecisive, owing to the difference in longitude of the Azores and Cape +Verde, a second Act was signed on 7th June 1494, which placed the line +of demarcation 270 leagues farther to the west. + +The colonization of the Spanish Indies, on its social and administrative +side, presents a curious contrast. On the one hand we see the Spanish +Crown, with high ideals of order and justice, of religious and political +unity, extending to its ultramarine possessions its faith, its language, +its laws and its administration; providing for the welfare of the +aborigines with paternal solicitude; endeavouring to restrain and temper +the passions of the conquerors; building churches and founding schools +and monasteries; in a word, trying to make its colonies an integral part +of the Spanish monarchy, "une societe vieille dans une contree neuve." +Some Spanish writers, it is true, have exaggerated the virtues of their +old colonial system; yet that system had excellences which we cannot +afford to despise. If the Spanish kings had not choked their government +with procrastination and routine; if they had only taken their task a +bit less seriously and had not tried to apply too strictly to an empty +continent the paternal administration of an older country; we might have +been privileged to witness the development and operation of as complete +and benign a system of colonial government as has been devised in modern +times. The public initiative of the Spanish government, and the care +with which it selected its colonists, compare very favourably with the +opportunism of the English and the French, who colonized by chance +private activity and sent the worst elements of their population, +criminals and vagabonds, to people their new settlements across the sea. +However much we may deprecate the treatment of the Indians by the +_conquistadores_, we must not forget that the greater part of the +population of Spanish America to-day is still Indian, and that no other +colonizing people have succeeded like the Spaniards in assimilating and +civilizing the natives. The code of laws which the Spaniards gradually +evolved for the rule of their transmarine provinces, was, in spite of +defects which are visible only to the larger experience of the present +day, one of the wisest, most humane and best co-ordinated of any to this +day published for any colony. Although the Spaniards had to deal with a +large population of barbarous natives, the word "conquest" was +suppressed in legislation as ill-sounding, "because the peace is to be +sealed," they said, "not with the sound of arms, but with charity and +good-will."[3] + +The actual results, however, of the social policy of the Spanish kings +fell far below the ideals they had set for themselves. The monarchic +spirit of the crown was so strong that it crushed every healthy, +expansive tendency in the new countries. It burdened the colonies with a +numerous, privileged nobility, who congregated mostly in the larger +towns and set to the rest of the colonists a pernicious example of +idleness and luxury. In its zeal for the propagation of the Faith, the +Crown constituted a powerfully endowed Church, which, while it did +splendid service in converting and civilizing the natives, engrossed +much of the land in the form of mainmort, and filled the new world with +thousands of idle, unproductive, and often licentious friars. With an +innate distrust and fear of individual initiative, it gave virtual +omnipotence to royal officials and excluded all creoles from public +employment. In this fashion was transferred to America the crushing +political and ecclesiastical absolutism of the mother country. +Self-reliance and independence of thought or action on the part of the +creoles was discouraged, divisions and factions among them were +encouraged and educational opportunities restricted, and the +American-born Spaniards gradually sank into idleness and lethargy, +indifferent to all but childish honours and distinctions and petty local +jealousies. To make matters worse, many of the Spaniards who crossed the +seas to the American colonies came not to colonize, not to trade or +cultivate the soil, so much as to extract from the natives a tribute of +gold and silver. The Indians, instead of being protected and civilized, +were only too often reduced to serfdom and confined to a laborious +routine for which they had neither the aptitude nor the strength; while +the government at home was too distant to interfere effectively in their +behalf. Driven by cruel taskmasters they died by thousands from +exhaustion and despair, and in some places entirely disappeared. + +The Crown of Castile, moreover, in the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries sought to extend Spanish commerce and monopolize all the +treasure of the Indies by means of a rigid and complicated commercial +system. Yet in the end it saw the trade of the New World pass into the +hands of its rivals, its own marine reduced to a shadow of its former +strength, its crews and its vessels supplied by merchants from foreign +lands, and its riches diverted at their very source. + +This Spanish commercial system was based upon two distinct principles. +One was the principle of colonial exclusivism, according to which all +the trade of the colonies was to be reserved to the mother country. +Spain on her side undertook to furnish the colonies with all they +required, shipped upon Spanish vessels; the colonies in return were to +produce nothing but raw materials and articles which did not compete +with the home products with which they were to be exchanged. The second +principle was the mercantile doctrine which, considering as wealth +itself the precious metals which are but its symbol, laid down that +money ought, by every means possible, to be imported and hoarded, never +exported.[4] This latter theory, the fallacy of which has long been +established, resulted in the endeavour of the Spanish Hapsburgs to +conserve the wealth of the country, not by the encouragement of +industry, but by the increase and complexity of imposts. The former +doctrine, adopted by a non-producing country which was in no position to +fulfil its part in the colonial compact, led to the most disastrous +consequences. + +While the Spanish Crown was aiming to concentrate and monopolize its +colonial commerce, the prosperity of Spain itself was slowly sapped by +reason of these mistaken economic theories. Owing to the lack of +workmen, the increase of imposts, and the prejudice against the mechanic +arts, industry was being ruined; while the increased depopulation of the +realm, the mainmort of ecclesiastical lands, the majorats of the +nobility and the privileges of the Mesta, brought agriculture rapidly +into decay. The Spaniards, consequently, could not export the products +of their manufacture to the colonies, when they did not have enough to +supply their own needs. To make up for this deficiency their merchants +were driven to have recourse to foreigners, to whom they lent their +names in order to elude a law which forbade commerce between the +colonies and traders of other nations. In return for the manufactured +articles of the English, Dutch and French, and of the great commercial +cities like Genoa and Hamburg, they were obliged to give their own raw +materials and the products of the Indies--wool, silks, wines and dried +fruits, cochineal, dye-woods, indigo and leather, and finally, indeed, +ingots of gold and silver. The trade in Spain thus in time became a mere +passive machine. Already in 1545 it had been found impossible to furnish +in less than six years the goods demanded by the merchants of Spanish +America. At the end of the seventeenth century, foreigners were +supplying five-sixths of the manufactures consumed in Spain itself, and +engrossed nine-tenths of that American trade which the Spaniards had +sought so carefully to monopolize.[5] + +In the colonies the most striking feature of Spanish economic policy was +its wastefulness. After the conquest of the New World, it was to the +interest of the Spaniards to gradually wean the native Indians from +barbarism by teaching them the arts and sciences of Europe, to encourage +such industries as were favoured by the soil, and to furnish the growing +colonies with those articles which they could not produce themselves, +and of which they stood in need. Only thus could they justify their +monopoly of the markets of Spanish America. The same test, indeed, may +be applied to every other nation which adopted the exclusivist system. +Queen Isabella wished to carry out this policy, introduced into the +newly-discovered islands wheat, the olive and the vine, and acclimatized +many of the European domestic animals.[6] Her efforts, unfortunately, +were not seconded by her successors, nor by the Spaniards who went to +the Indies. In time the government itself, as well as the colonist, came +to be concerned, not so much with the agricultural products of the +Indies, but with the return of the precious metals. Natives were made to +work the mines, while many regions adapted to agriculture, Guiana, +Caracas and Buenos Ayres, were neglected, and the peopling of the +colonies by Europeans was slow. The emperor, Charles V., did little to +stem this tendency, but drifted along with the tide. Immigration was +restricted to keep the colonies free from the contamination of heresy +and of foreigners. The Spanish population was concentrated in cities, +and the country divided into great estates granted by the crown to the +families of the _conquistadores_ or to favourites at court. The immense +areas of Peru, Buenos Ayres and Mexico were submitted to the most unjust +and arbitrary regulations, with no object but to stifle growing industry +and put them in absolute dependence upon the metropolis. It was +forbidden to exercise the trades of dyer, fuller, weaver, shoemaker or +hatter, and the natives were compelled to buy of the Spaniards even the +stuffs they wore on their backs. Another ordinance prohibited the +cultivation of the vine and the olive except in Peru and Chili, and even +these provinces might not send their oil and wine to Panama, Gautemala +or any other place which could be supplied from Spain.[7] To maintain +the commercial monopoly, legitimate ports of entry in Spanish America +were made few and far apart--for Mexico, Vera Cruz, for New Granada, the +town of Cartagena. The islands and most of the other provinces were +supplied by uncertain "vaisseaux de registre," while Peru and Chili, +finding all direct commerce by the Pacific or South Sea interdicted, +were obliged to resort to the fever-ridden town of Porto Bello, where +the mortality was enormous and the prices increased tenfold. + +In Spain, likewise, the colonial commerce was restricted to one +port--Seville. For in the estimation of the crown it was much more +important to avoid being defrauded of its dues on import and export, +than to permit the natural development of trade by those towns best +fitted to acquire it. Another reason, prior in point of time perhaps, +why Seville was chosen as the port for American trade, was that the +Indies were regarded as the exclusive appanage of the crown of Castile, +and of that realm Seville was then the chief mercantile city. It was not +a suitable port, however, to be distinguished by so high a privilege. +Only ships of less than 200 tons were able to cross the bar of San +Lucar, and goods therefore had to be transhipped--a disability which was +soon felt when traffic and vessels became heavier.[8] The fact, +nevertheless, that the official organization called the _Casa de +Contratacion_ was seated in Seville, together with the influence of the +vested interests of the merchants whose prosperity depended upon the +retention of that city as the one port for Indian commerce, were +sufficient to bear down all opposition. The maritime towns of Galicia +and Asturia, inhabited by better seamen and stronger races, often +protested, and sometimes succeeded in obtaining a small share of the +lucrative trade.[9] But Seville retained its primacy until 1717, in +which year the _Contratacion_ was transferred to Cadiz. + +The administration of the complex rules governing the commerce between +Spain and her colonies was entrusted to two institutions located at +Seville,--the _Casa de Contratacion_, mentioned above, and the +_Consulado_. The _Casa de Contratacion_, founded by royal decree as +early as 1503, was both a judicial tribunal and a house of commerce. +Nothing might be sent to the Indies without its consent; nothing might +be brought back and landed, either on the account of merchants or of the +King himself, without its authorization. It received all the revenues +accruing from the Indies, not only the imposts on commerce, but also all +the taxes remitted by colonial officers. As a consultative body it had +the right to propose directly to the King anything which it deemed +necessary to the development and organization of American commerce; and +as a tribunal it possessed an absolute competence over all crimes under +the common law, and over all infractions of the ordinances governing the +trade of the Indies, to the exclusion of every ordinary court. Its +jurisdiction began at the moment the passengers and crews embarked and +the goods were put on board, and ended only when the return voyage and +disembarkation had been completed.[10] The civil jurisdiction of the +_Casa_ was much more restricted and disputes purely commercial in +character between the merchants were reserved to the _Consulado_, which +was a tribunal of commerce chosen entirely by the merchants themselves. +Appeals in certain cases might be carried to the Council of the +Indies.[11] + +The first means adopted by the northern maritime nations to appropriate +to themselves a share of the riches of the New World was open, +semi-piratical attack upon the Spanish argosies returning from those +distant El Dorados. The success of the Norman and Breton corsairs, for +it was the French, not the English, who started the game, gradually +forced upon the Spaniards, as a means of protection, the establishment +of great merchant fleets sailing periodically at long intervals and +accompanied by powerful convoys. During the first half of the sixteenth +century any ship which had fulfilled the conditions required for +engaging in American commerce was allowed to depart alone and at any +time of the year. From about 1526, however, merchant vessels were +ordered to sail together, and by a _cedula_ of July 1561, the system of +fleets was made permanent and obligatory. This decree prohibited any +ship from sailing alone to America from Cadiz or San Lucar on pain of +forfeiture of ship and cargo.[12] Two fleets were organized each year, +one for Terra Firma going to Cartagena and Porto Bello, the other +designed for the port of San Juan d'Ulloa (Vera Cruz) in New Spain. The +latter, called the Flota, was commanded by an "almirante," and sailed +for Mexico in the early summer so as to avoid the hurricane season and +the "northers" of the Mexican Gulf. The former was usually called the +galeones (_anglice_ "galleons"), was commanded by a "general," and +sailed from Spain earlier in the year, between January and March. If it +departed in March, it usually wintered at Havana and returned with the +Flota in the following spring. Sometimes the two fleets sailed together +and separated at Guadaloupe, Deseada or another of the Leeward +Islands.[13] + +The galleons generally consisted of from five to eight war-vessels +carrying from forty to fifty guns, together with several smaller, faster +boats called "pataches," and a fleet of merchantmen varying in number in +different years. In the time of Philip II. often as many as forty ships +supplied Cartagena and Porto Bello, but in succeeding reigns, although +the population of the Indies was rapidly increasing, American commerce +fell off so sadly that eight or ten were sufficient for all the trade of +South and Central America. The general of the galleons, on his +departure, received from the Council of the Indies three sealed packets. +The first, opened at the Canaries, contained the name of the island in +the West Indies at which the fleet was first to call. The second was +unsealed after the galleons arrived at Cartagena, and contained +instructions for the fleet to return in the same year or to winter in +America. In the third, left unopened until the fleet had emerged from +the Bahama Channel on the homeward voyage, were orders for the route to +the Azores and the islands they should touch in passing, usually Corvo +and Flores or Santa Maria.[14] + +The course of the galleons from San Lucar was south-west to Teneriffe on +the African coast, and thence to the Grand Canary to call for +provisions--considered in all a run of eight days. From the Canaries one +of the pataches sailed on alone to Cartagena and Porto Bello, carrying +letters and packets from the Court and announcing the coming of the +fleet. If the two fleets sailed together, they steered south-west from +the Canaries to about the latitude of Deseada, 15' 30", and then +catching the Trade winds continued due west, rarely changing a sail +until Deseada or one of the other West Indian islands was sighted. From +Deseada the galleons steered an easy course to Cape de la Vela, and +thence to Cartagena. When the galleons sailed from Spain alone, however, +they entered the Caribbean Sea by the channel between Tobago and +Trinidad, afterwards named the Galleons' Passage. Opposite Margarita a +second patache left the fleet to visit the island and collect the royal +revenues, although after the exhaustion of the pearl fisheries the +island lost most of its importance. As the fleet advanced into regions +where more security was felt, merchant ships too, which were intended to +unload and trade on the coasts they were passing, detached themselves +during the night and made for Caracas, Santa Marta or Maracaibo to get +silver, cochineal, leather and cocoa. The Margarita patache, meanwhile, +had sailed on to Cumana and Caracas to receive there the king's +treasure, mostly paid in cocoa, the real currency of the country, and +thence proceeded to Cartagena to rejoin the galleons.[15] + +The fleet reached Cartagena ordinarily about two months after its +departure from Cadiz. On its arrival, the general forwarded the news to +Porto Bello, together with the packets destined for the viceroy at Lima. +From Porto Bello a courier hastened across the isthmus to the President +of Panama, who spread the advice amongst the merchants in his +jurisdiction, and, at the same time, sent a dispatch boat to Payta, in +Peru. The general of the galleons, meanwhile, was also sending a courier +overland to Lima, and another to Santa Fe, the capital of the interior +province of New Granada, whence runners carried to Popagan, Antioquia, +Mariguita, and adjacent provinces, the news of his arrival.[16] The +galleons were instructed to remain at Cartagena only a month, but bribes +from the merchants generally made it their interest to linger for fifty +or sixty days. To Cartagena came the gold and emeralds of New Granada, +the pearls of Margarita and Rancherias, and the indigo, tobacco, cocoa +and other products of the Venezuelan coast. The merchants of Gautemala, +likewise, shipped their commodities to Cartagena by way of Lake +Nicaragua and the San Juan river, for they feared to send goods across +the Gulf of Honduras to Havana, because of the French and English +buccaneers hanging about Cape San Antonio.[17] + +Meanwhile the viceroy at Lima, on receipt of his letters, ordered the +Armada of the South Sea to prepare to sail, and sent word south to Chili +and throughout the province of Peru from Las Charcas to Quito, to +forward the King's revenues for shipment to Panama. Within less than a +fortnight all was in readiness. The Armada, carrying a considerable +treasure, sailed from Callao and, touching at Payta, was joined by the +Navio del Oro (golden ship), which carried the gold from the province of +Quito and adjacent districts. While the galleons were approaching Porto +Bello the South Sea fleet arrived before Panama, and the merchants of +Chili and Peru began to transfer their merchandise on mules across the +high back of the isthmus.[18] + +Then began the famous fair of Porto Bello.[19] The town, whose permanent +population was very small and composed mostly of negroes and mulattos, +was suddenly called upon to accommodate an enormous crowd of merchants, +soldiers and seamen. Food and shelter were to be had only at +extraordinary prices. When Thomas Gage was in Porto Bello in 1637 he was +compelled to pay 120 crowns for a very small, meanly-furnished room for +a fortnight. Merchants gave as much as 1000 crowns for a moderate-sized +shop in which to sell their commodities. Owing to overcrowding, bad +sanitation, and an extremely unhealthy climate, the place became an open +grave, ready to swallow all who resorted there. In 1637, during the +fifteen days that the galleons remained at Porto Bello, 500 men died of +sickness. Meanwhile, day by day, the mule-trains from Panama were +winding their way into the town. Gage in one day counted 200 mules laden +with wedges of silver, which were unloaded in the market-place and +permitted to lie about like heaps of stones in the streets, without +causing any fear or suspicion of being lost.[20] While the treasure of +the King of Spain was being transferred to the galleons in the harbour, +the merchants were making their trade. There was little liberty, +however, in commercial transactions, for the prices were fixed and +published beforehand, and when negotiations began exchange was purely +mechanical. The fair, which was supposed to be open for forty days, was, +in later times, generally completed in ten or twelve. At the beginning +of the eighteenth century the volume of business transacted was +estimated to amount to thirty or forty million pounds sterling.[21] + +In view of the prevailing east wind in these regions, and the maze of +reefs, cays and shoals extending far out to sea from the Mosquito Coast, +the galleons, in making their course from Porto Bello to Havana, first +sailed back to Cartagena upon the eastward coast eddy, so as to get well +to windward of Nicaragua before attempting the passage through the +Yucatan Channel.[22] The fleet anchored at Cartagena a second time for +ten or twelve days, where it was rejoined by the patache of +Margarita[23] and by the merchant ships which had been sent to trade in +Terra-Firma. From Cartagena, too, the general sent dispatches to Spain +and to Havana, giving the condition of the vessels, the state of trade, +the day when he expected to sail, and the probable time of arrival.[24] +For when the galleons were in the Indies all ports were closed by the +Spaniards, for fear that precious information of the whereabouts of the +fleet and of the value of its cargo might inconveniently leak out to +their rivals. From Cartagena the course was north-west past Jamaica and +the Caymans to the Isle of Pines, and thence round Capes Corrientes and +San Antonio to Havana. The fleet generally required about eight days for +the journey, and arrived at Havana late in the summer. Here the galleons +refitted and revictualled, received tobacco, sugar, and other Cuban +exports, and if not ordered to return with the Flota, sailed for Spain +no later than the middle of September. The course for Spain was from +Cuba through the Bahama Channel, north-east between the Virginian Capes +and the Bermudas to about 38 deg., in order to recover the strong northerly +winds, and then east to the Azores. In winter the galleons sometimes ran +south of the Bermudas, and then slowly worked up to the higher latitude; +but in this case they often either lost some ships on the Bermuda +shoals, or to avoid these slipped too far south, were forced back into +the West Indies and missed their voyage altogether.[25] At the Azores +the general, falling in with his first intelligence from Spain, learned +where on the coast of Europe or Africa he was to sight land; and +finally, in the latter part of October or the beginning of November, he +dropped anchor at San Lucar or in Cadiz harbour. + +The Flota or Mexican fleet, consisting in the seventeenth century of two +galleons of 800 or 900 tons and from fifteen to twenty merchantmen, +usually left Cadiz between June and July and wintered in America; but if +it was to return with the galleons from Havana in September it sailed +for the Indies as early as April. The course from Spain to the Indies +was the same as for the fleet of Terra-Firma. From Deseada or +Guadeloupe, however, the Flota steered north-west, passing Santa Cruz +and Porto Rico on the north, and sighting the little isles of Mona and +Saona, as far as the Bay of Neyba in Hispaniola, where the ships took on +fresh wood and water.[26] Putting to sea again, and circling round Beata +and Alta Vela, the fleet sighted in turn Cape Tiburon, Cape de Cruz, the +Isle of Pines, and Capes Corrientes and San Antonio at the west end of +Cuba. Meanwhile merchant ships had dropped away one by one, sailing to +San Juan de Porto Rico, San Domingo, St. Jago de Cuba and even to +Truxillo and Cavallos in Honduras, to carry orders from Spain to the +governors, receive cargoes of leather, cocoa, etc., and rejoin the Flota +at Havana. From Cape San Antonio to Vera Cruz there was an outside or +winter route and an inside or summer route. The former lay north-west +between the Alacranes and the Negrillos to the Mexican coast about +sixteen leagues north of Vera Cruz, and then down before the wind into +the desired haven. The summer track was much closer to the shore of +Campeache, the fleet threading its way among the cays and shoals, and +approaching Vera Cruz by a channel on the south-east. + +If the Flota sailed from Spain in July it generally arrived at Vera Cruz +in the first fifteen days of September, and the ships were at once laid +up until March, when the crews reassembled to careen and refit them. If +the fleet was to return in the same year, however, the exports of New +Spain and adjacent provinces, the goods from China and the Philippines +carried across Mexico from the Pacific port of Acapulco, and the ten or +twelve millions of treasure for the king, were at once put on board and +the ships departed to join the galleons at Havana. Otherwise the fleet +sailed from Vera Cruz in April, and as it lay dead to the leeward of +Cuba, used the northerly winds to about 25 deg., then steered south-east and +reached Havana in eighteen or twenty days. By the beginning of June it +was ready to sail for Spain, where it arrived at the end of July, by the +same course as that followed by the galleons.[27] + +We are accustomed to think of Spanish commerce with the Indies as being +made solely by great fleets which sailed yearly from Seville or Cadiz to +Mexico and the Isthmus of Darien. There were, however, always exceptions +to this rule. When, as sometimes happened, the Flota did not sail, two +ships of 600 or 700 tons were sent by the King of Spain to Vera Cruz to +carry the quicksilver necessary for the mines. The metal was divided +between New Spain and Peru by the viceroy at Mexico, who sent _via_ +Gautemala the portion intended for the south. These ships, called +"azogues," carried from 2000 to 2500 quintals[28] of silver, and +sometimes convoyed six or seven merchant vessels. From time to time an +isolated ship was also allowed to sail from Spain to Caracas with +licence from the Council of the Indies and the _Contratacion_, paying +the king a duty of five ducats on the ton. It was called the "register +of Caracas," took the same route as the galleons, and returned with one +of the fleets from Havana. Similar vessels traded at Maracaibo, in Porto +Rico and at San Domingo, at Havana and Matanzas in Cuba and at Truxillo +and Campeache.[29] There was always, moreover, a special traffic with +Buenos Ayres. This port was opened to a limited trade in negroes in +1595. In 1602 permission was given to the inhabitants of La Plata to +export for six years the products of their lands to other Spanish +possessions, in exchange for goods of which they had need; and when in +1616 the colonists demanded an indefinite renewal of this privilege, the +sop thrown to them was the bare right of trade to the amount of 100 tons +every three years. Later in the century the Council of the Indies +extended the period to five years, so as not to prejudice the trade of +the galleons.[30] + +It was this commerce, which we have noticed at such length, that the +buccaneers of the West Indies in the seventeenth century came to regard +as their legitimate prey. These "corsarios Luteranos," as the Spaniards +sometimes called them, scouring the coast of the Main from Venezuela to +Cartagena, hovering about the broad channel between Cuba and Yucatan, or +prowling in the Florida Straits, became the nightmare of Spanish seamen. +Like a pack of terriers they hung upon the skirts of the great unwieldy +fleets, ready to snap up any unfortunate vessel which a tempest or other +accident had separated from its fellows. When Thomas Gage was sailing in +the galleons from Porto Bello to Cartagena in 1637, four buccaneers +hovering near them carried away two merchant-ships under cover of +darkness. As the same fleet was departing from Havana, just outside the +harbour two strange vessels appeared in their midst, and getting to the +windward of them singled out a Spanish ship which had strayed a short +distance from the rest, suddenly gave her a broadside and made her +yield. The vessel was laden with sugar and other goods to the value of +80,000 crowns. The Spanish vice-admiral and two other galleons gave +chase, but without success, for the wind was against them. The whole +action lasted only half an hour.[31] + +The Spanish ships of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were +notoriously clumsy and unseaworthy. With short keel and towering poop +and forecastle they were an easy prey for the long, low, close-sailing +sloops and barques of the buccaneers. But this was not their only +weakness. Although the king expressly prohibited the loading of +merchandise on the galleons except on the king's account, this rule was +often broken for the private profit of the captain, the sailors, and +even of the general. The men-of-war, indeed, were sometimes so +embarrassed with goods and passengers that it was scarcely possible to +defend them when attacked. The galleon which bore the general's flag had +often as many as 700 souls, crew, marines and passengers, on board, and +the same number were crowded upon those carrying the vice-admiral and +the pilot. Ship-masters frequently hired guns, anchors, cables, and +stores to make up the required equipment, and men to fill up the +muster-rolls, against the time when the "visitadors" came on board to +make their official inspection, getting rid of the stores and men +immediately afterward. Merchant ships were armed with such feeble crews, +owing to the excessive crowding, that it was all they could do to +withstand the least spell of bad weather, let alone outman[oe]uvre a +swift-sailing buccaneer.[32] + +By Spanish law strangers were forbidden to resort to, or reside in, the +Indies without express permission of the king. By law, moreover, they +might not trade with the Indies from Spain, either on their own account +or through the intermediary of a Spaniard, and they were forbidden even +to associate with those engaged in such a trade. Colonists were +stringently enjoined from having anything to do with them. In 1569 an +order was issued for the seizure of all goods sent to the colonies on +the account of foreigners, and a royal _cedula_ of 1614 decreed the +penalty of death and confiscation upon any who connived at the +participation of foreigners in Spanish colonial commerce.[33] It was +impossible, however, to maintain so complete an exclusion when the +products of Spain fell far short of supplying the needs of the +colonists. Foreign merchants were bound to have a hand in this traffic, +and the Spanish government tried to recompense itself by imposing on the +out-going cargoes tyrannical exactions called "indults." The results +were fatal. Foreigners often eluded these impositions by interloping in +the West Indies and in the South Sea.[34] And as the _Contratacion_, by +fixing each year the nature and quantity of the goods to be shipped to +the colonies, raised the price of merchandise at will and reaped +enormous profits, the colonists welcomed this contraband trade as an +opportunity of enriching themselves and adding to the comforts and +luxuries of living. + +From the beginning of the seventeenth century as many as 200 ships +sailed each year from Portugal with rich cargoes of silks, cloths and +woollens intended for Spanish America.[35] The Portuguese bought these +articles of the Flemish, English, and French, loaded them at Lisbon and +Oporto, ran their vessels to Brazil and up the La Plata as far as +navigation permitted, and then transported the goods overland through +Paraguay and Tucuman to Potosi and even to Lima. The Spanish merchants +of Peru kept factors in Brazil as well as in Spain, and as Portuguese +imposts were not so excessive as those levied at Cadiz and Seville, the +Portuguese could undersell their Spanish rivals. The frequent possession +of Assientos by the Portuguese and Dutch in the first half of the +seventeenth century also facilitated this contraband, for when carrying +negroes from Africa to Hispaniola, Cuba and the towns on the Main, they +profited by their opportunities to sell merchandise also, and generally +without the least obstacle. + +Other nations in the seventeenth century were not slow to follow the +same course; and two circumstances contributed to make that course easy. +One was the great length of coast line on both the Atlantic and Pacific +slopes over which a surveillance had to be exercised, making it +difficult to catch the interlopers. The other was the venal connivance +of the governors of the ports, who often tolerated and even encouraged +the traffic on the plea that the colonists demanded it.[36] The +subterfuges adopted by the interlopers were very simple. When a vessel +wished to enter a Spanish port to trade, the captain, pretending that +provisions had run low, or that the ship suffered from a leak or a +broken mast, sent a polite note to the governor accompanied by a +considerable gift. He generally obtained permission to enter, unload, +and put the ship into a seaworthy condition. All the formalities were +minutely observed. The unloaded goods were shut up in a storehouse, and +the doors sealed. But there was always found another door unsealed, and +by this they abstracted the goods during the night, and substituted coin +or bars of gold and silver. When the vessel was repaired to the +captain's satisfaction, it was reloaded and sailed away. + +There was also, especially on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, a less +elaborate commerce called "sloop-trade," for it was usually managed by +sloops which hovered near some secluded spot on the coast, often at the +mouth of a river, and informed the inhabitants of their presence in the +neighbourhood by firing a shot from a cannon. Sometimes a large ship +filled with merchandise was stationed in a bay close at hand, and by +means of these smaller craft made its trade with the colonists. The +latter, generally in disguise, came off in canoes by night. The +interlopers, however, were always on guard against such dangerous +visitors, and never admitted more than a few at a time; for when the +Spaniards found themselves stronger than the crew, and a favourable +opportunity presented itself, they rarely failed to attempt the vessel. + +Thus the Spaniards of the seventeenth century, by persisting, both at +home and in their colonies, in an economic policy which was fatally +inconsistent with their powers and resources, saw their commerce +gradually extinguished by the ships of the foreign interloper, and their +tropical possessions fall a prey to marauding bands of half-piratical +buccaneers. Although struggling under tremendous initial disabilities in +Europe, they had attempted, upon the slender pleas of prior discovery +and papal investiture, to reserve half the world to themselves. Without +a marine, without maritime traditions, they sought to hold a colonial +empire greater than any the world had yet seen, and comparable only with +the empire of Great Britain three centuries later. By discouraging +industry in Spain, and yet enforcing in the colonies an absolute +commercial dependence on the home-country, by combining in their rule of +distant America a solicitous paternalism with a restriction of +initiative altogether disastrous in its consequences, the Spaniards +succeeded in reducing their colonies to political impotence. And when, +to make their grip the more firm, they evolved, as a method of +outwitting the foreigner of his spoils, the system of great fleets and +single ports of call, they found the very means they had contrived for +their own safety to be the instrument of commercial disaster. + + +II.--THE FREEBOOTERS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY + +It was the French chronologist, Scaliger, who in the sixteenth century +asserted, "nulli melius piraticam exercent quam Angli"; and although he +had no need to cross the Channel to find men proficient in this +primitive calling, the remark applies to the England of his time with a +force which we to-day scarcely realise. Certainly the inveterate +hostility with which the Englishman learned to regard the Spaniard in +the latter half of the sixteenth and throughout the seventeenth +centuries found its most remarkable expression in the exploits of the +Elizabethan "sea-dogs" and of the buccaneers of a later period. The +religious differences and political jealousies which grew out of the +turmoil of the Reformation, and the moral anarchy incident to the +dissolution of ancient religious institutions, were the motive causes +for an outburst of piratical activity comparable only with the +professional piracy of the Barbary States. + +Even as far back as the thirteenth century, indeed, lawless sea-rovers, +mostly Bretons and Flemings, had infested the English Channel and the +seas about Great Britain. In the sixteenth this mode of livelihood +became the refuge for numerous young Englishmen, Catholic and +Protestant, who, fleeing from the persecutions of Edward VI. and of +Mary, sought refuge in French ports or in the recesses of the Irish +coast, and became the leaders of wild roving bands living chiefly upon +plunder. Among them during these persecutions were found many men +belonging to the best families in England, and although with the +accession of Elizabeth most of the leaders returned to the service of +the State, the pirate crews remained at their old trade. The contagion +spread, especially in the western counties, and great numbers of +fishermen who found their old employment profitless were recruited into +this new calling.[37] At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign we find +these Anglo-Irish pirates venturing farther south, plundering treasure +galleons off the coast of Spain, and cutting vessels out of the very +ports of the Spanish king. Such outrages of course provoked reprisals, +and the pirates, if caught, were sent to the galleys, rotted in the +dungeons of the Inquisition, or, least of all, were burnt in the plaza +at Valladolid. These cruelties only added fuel to a deadly hatred which +was kindling between the two nations, a hatred which it took one hundred +and fifty years to quench. + +The most venturesome of these sea-rovers, however, were soon attracted +to a larger and more distant sphere of activity. Spain, as we have seen, +was then endeavouring to reserve to herself in the western hemisphere an +entire new world; and this at a time when the great northern maritime +powers, France, England and Holland, were in the full tide of economic +development, restless with new thoughts, hopes and ambitions, and keenly +jealous of new commercial and industrial outlets. The famous Bull of +Alexander VI. had provoked Francis I. to express a desire "to see the +clause in Adam's will which entitled his brothers of Castile and +Portugal to divide the New World between them," and very early the +French corsairs had been encouraged to test the pretensions of the +Spaniards by the time-honoured proofs of fire and steel. The English +nation, however, in the first half of the sixteenth century, had not +disputed with Spain her exclusive trade and dominion in those regions. +The hardy mariners of the north were still indifferent to the wonders of +a new continent awaiting their exploitation, and it was left to the +Spaniards to unfold before the eyes of Europe the vast riches of +America, and to found empires on the plateaus of Mexico and beyond the +Andes. During the reign of Philip II. all this was changed. English +privateers began to extend their operations westward, and to sap the +very sources of Spanish wealth and power, while the wars which absorbed +the attention of the Spaniards in Europe, from the revolt of the Low +Countries to the Treaty of Westphalia, left the field clear for these +ubiquitous sea-rovers. The maritime powers, although obliged by the +theory of colonial exclusion to pretend to acquiesce in the Spaniard's +claim to tropical America, secretly protected and supported their +mariners who coursed those western seas. France and England were now +jealous and fearful of Spanish predominance in Europe, and kept eyes +obstinately fixed on the inexhaustible streams of gold and silver by +means of which Spain was enabled to pay her armies and man her fleets. +Queen Elizabeth, while she publicly excused or disavowed to Philip II. +the outrages committed by Hawkins and Drake, blaming the turbulence of +the times and promising to do her utmost to suppress the disorders, was +secretly one of the principal shareholders in their enterprises. + +The policy of the marauders was simple. The treasure which oiled the +machinery of Spanish policy came from the Indies where it was +accumulated; hence there were only two means of obtaining possession of +it:--bold raids on the ill-protected American continent, and the capture +of vessels _en route_.[38] The counter policy of the Spaniards was also +two-fold:--on the one hand, the establishment of commerce by means of +annual fleets protected by a powerful convoy; on the other, the removal +of the centres of population from the coasts to the interior of the +country far from danger of attack.[39] The Spaniards in America, +however, proved to be no match for the bold, intrepid mariners who +disputed their supremacy. The descendants of the _Conquistadores_ had +deteriorated sadly from the type of their forbears. Softened by tropical +heats and a crude, uncultured luxury, they seem to have lost initiative +and power of resistance. The disastrous commercial system of monopoly +and centralization forced them to vegetate; while the policy of +confining political office to native-born Spaniards denied any outlet to +creole talent and energy. Moreover, the productive power and +administrative abilities of the native-born Spaniards themselves were +gradually being paralyzed and reduced to impotence under the crushing +obligation of preserving and defending so unwieldy an empire and of +managing such disproportionate riches, a task for which they had neither +the aptitude nor the means.[40] Privateering in the West Indies may +indeed be regarded as a challenge to the Spaniards of America, sunk in +lethargy and living upon the credit of past glory and achievement, a +challenge to prove their right to retain their dominion and extend their +civilization and culture over half the world.[41] + +There were other motives which lay behind these piratical aggressions of +the French and English in Spanish America. The Spaniards, ever since the +days of the Dominican monk and bishop, Las Casas, had been reprobated as +the heartless oppressors and murderers of the native Indians. The +original owners of the soil had been dispossessed and reduced to +slavery. In the West Indies, the great islands, Cuba and Hispaniola, +were rendered desolate for want of inhabitants. Two great empires, +Mexico and Peru, had been subdued by treachery, their kings murdered, +and their people made to suffer a living death in the mines of Potosi +and New Spain. Such was the Protestant Englishman's conception, in the +sixteenth century, of the results of Spanish colonial policy. To avenge +the blood of these innocent victims, and teach the true religion to the +survivors, was to glorify the Church militant and strike a blow at +Antichrist. Spain, moreover, in the eyes of the Puritans, was the +lieutenant of Rome, the Scarlet Woman of the Apocalypse, who harried and +burnt their Protestant brethren whenever she could lay hands upon them. +That she was eager to repeat her ill-starred attempt of 1588 and +introduce into the British Isles the accursed Inquisition was patent to +everyone. Protestant England, therefore, filled with the enthusiasm and +intolerance of a new faith, made no bones of despoiling the Spaniards, +especially as the service of God was likely to be repaid with plunder. + +A pamphlet written by Dalby Thomas in 1690 expresses with tolerable +accuracy the attitude of the average Englishman toward Spain during the +previous century. He says:--"We will make a short reflection on the +unaccountable negligence, or rather stupidity, of this nation, during +the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI. and Queen Mary, who +could contentedly sit still and see the Spanish rifle, plunder and bring +home undisturbed, all the wealth of that golden world; and to suffer +them with forts and castles to shut up the doors and entrances unto all +the rich provinces of America, having not the least title or pretence of +right beyond any other nation; except that of being by accident the +first discoverer of some parts of it; where the unprecedented cruelties, +exorbitances and barbarities, their own histories witness, they +practised on a poor, naked and innocent people, which inhabited the +islands, as well as upon those truly civilized and mighty empires of +Peru and Mexico, called to all mankind for succour and relief against +their outrageous avarice and horrid massacres.... (We) slept on until +the ambitious Spaniard, by that inexhaustible spring of treasure, had +corrupted most of the courts and senates of Europe, and had set on fire, +by civil broils and discords, all our neighbour nations, or had subdued +them to his yoke; contriving too to make us wear his chains and bear a +share in the triumph of universal monarchy, not only projected but near +accomplished, when Queen Elizabeth came to the crown ... and to the +divided interests of Philip II. and Queen Elizabeth, in personal more +than National concerns, we do owe that start of hers in letting loose +upon him, and encouraging those daring adventurers, Drake, Hawkins, +Rawleigh, the Lord Clifford and many other braves that age produced, +who, by their privateering and bold undertaking (like those the +buccaneers practise) now opened the way to our discoveries, and +succeeding settlements in America."[42] + +On the 19th of November 1527, some Spaniards in a caravel loading +cassava at the Isle of Mona, between Hispaniola and Porto Rico, sighted +a strange vessel of about 250 tons well-armed with cannon, and believing +it to be a ship from Spain sent a boat to make inquiries. The new-comers +at the same time were seen to launch a pinnace carrying some twenty-five +men, all armed with corselets and bows. As the two boats approached the +Spaniards inquired the nationality of the strangers and were told that +they were English. The story given by the English master was that his +ship and another had been fitted out by the King of England and had +sailed from London to discover the land of the Great Khan; that they had +been separated in a great storm; that this ship afterwards ran into a +sea of ice, and unable to get through, turned south, touched at +Bacallaos (Newfoundland), where the pilot was killed by Indians, and +sailing 400 leagues along the coast of "terra nueva" had found her way +to this island of Porto Rico. The Englishmen offered to show their +commission written in Latin and Romance, which the Spanish captain could +not read; and after sojourning at the island for two days, they inquired +for the route to Hispaniola and sailed away. On the evening of 25th +November this same vessel appeared before the port of San Domingo, the +capital of Hispaniola, where the master with ten or twelve sailors went +ashore in a boat to ask leave to enter and trade. This they obtained, +for the _alguazil mayor_ and two pilots were sent back with them to +bring the ship into port. But early next morning, when they approached +the shore, the Spanish _alcaide_, Francisco de Tapia, commanded a gun to +be fired at the ship from the castle; whereupon the English, seeing the +reception accorded them, sailed back to Porto Rico, there obtained some +provisions in exchange for pewter and cloth, and departed for Europe, +"where it is believed that they never arrived, for nothing is known of +them." The _alcaide_, says Herrera, was imprisoned by the _oidores_, +because he did not, instead of driving the ship away, allow her to enter +the port, whence she could not have departed without the permission of +the city and the fort.[43] + +This is the earliest record we possess of the appearance of an English +ship in the waters of Spanish America. Others, however, soon followed. +In 1530 William Hawkins, father of the famous John Hawkins, ventured in +"a tall and goodly ship ... called the 'Polo of Plymouth,'" down to the +coast of Guinea, trafficked with the natives for gold-dust and ivory, +and then crossed the ocean to Brazil, "where he behaved himself so +wisely with those savage people" that one of the kings of the country +took ship with him to England and was presented to Henry VIII. at +Whitehall.[44] The real occasion, however, for the appearance of foreign +ships in Spanish-American waters was the new occupation of carrying +negroes from the African coast to the Spanish colonies to be sold as +slaves. The rapid depopulation of the Indies, and the really serious +concern of the Spanish crown for the preservation of the indigenes, had +compelled the Spanish government to permit the introduction of negro +slaves from an early period. At first restricted to Christian slaves +carried from Spain, after 1510 licences to take over a certain number, +subject of course to governmental imposts, were given to private +individuals; and in August 1518, owing to the incessant clamour of the +colonists for more negroes, Laurent de Gouvenot, Governor of Bresa and +one of the foreign favourites of Charles V., obtained the first regular +contract to carry 4000 slaves directly from Africa to the West +Indies.[45] With slight modifications the contract system became +permanent, and with it, as a natural consequence, came contraband trade. +Cargoes of negroes were frequently "run" from Africa by Spaniards and +Portuguese, and as early as 1506 an order was issued to expel all +contraband slaves from Hispaniola.[46] The supply never equalled the +demand, however, and this explains why John Hawkins found it so +profitable to carry ship-loads of blacks across from the Guinea coast, +and why Spanish colonists could not resist the temptation to buy them, +notwithstanding the stringent laws against trading with foreigners. + +The first voyage of John Hawkins was made in 1562-63. In conjunction +with Thomas Hampton he fitted out three vessels and sailed for Sierra +Leone. There he collected, "partly by the sword and partly by other +means," some 300 negroes, and with this valuable human freight crossed +the Atlantic to San Domingo in Hispaniola. Uncertain as to his +reception, Hawkins on his arrival pretended that he had been driven in +by foul weather, and was in need of provisions, but without ready money +to pay for them. He therefore requested permission to sell "certain +slaves he had with him." The opportunity was eagerly welcomed by the +planters, and the governor, not thinking it necessary to construe his +orders from home too stringently, allowed two-thirds of the cargo to be +sold. As neither Hawkins nor the Spanish colonists anticipated any +serious displeasure on the part of Philip II., the remaining 100 slaves +were left as a deposit with the Council of the island. Hawkins invested +the proceeds in a return cargo of hides, half of which he sent in +Spanish vessels to Spain under the care of his partner, while he +returned with the rest to England. The Spanish Government, however, was +not going to sanction for a moment the intrusion of the English into the +Indies. On Hampton's arrival at Cadiz his cargo was confiscated and he +himself narrowly escaped the Inquisition. The slaves left in San Domingo +were forfeited, and Hawkins, although he "cursed, threatened and +implored," could not obtain a farthing for his lost hides and negroes. +The only result of his demands was the dispatch of a peremptory order to +the West Indies that no English vessel should be allowed under any +pretext to trade there.[47] + +The second of the great Elizabethan sea-captains to beard the Spanish +lion was Hawkins' friend and pupil, Francis Drake. In 1567 he +accompanied Hawkins on his third expedition. With six ships, one of +which was lent by the Queen herself, they sailed from Plymouth in +October, picked up about 450 slaves on the Guinea coast, sighted +Dominica in the West Indies in March, and coasted along the mainland of +South America past Margarita and Cape de la Vela, carrying on a +"tolerable good trade." Rio de la Hacha they stormed with 200 men, +losing only two in the encounter; but they were scattered by a tempest +near Cartagena and driven into the Gulf of Mexico, where, on 16th +September, they entered the narrow port of S. Juan d'Ulloa or Vera Cruz. +The next day the fleet of New Spain, consisting of thirteen large ships, +appeared outside, and after an exchange of pledges of peace and amity +with the English intruders, entered on the 20th. On the morning of the +24th, however, a fierce encounter was begun, and Hawkins and Drake, +stubbornly defending themselves against tremendous odds, were glad to +escape with two shattered vessels and the loss of L100,000 treasure. +After a voyage of terrible suffering, Drake, in the "Judith," succeeded +in reaching England on 20th January 1569, and Hawkins followed five days +later.[48] Within a few years, however, Drake was away again, this time +alone and with the sole, unblushing purpose of robbing the Dons. With +only two ships and seventy-three men he prowled about the waters of the +West Indies for almost a year, capturing and rifling Spanish vessels, +plundering towns on the Main and intercepting convoys of treasure across +the Isthmus of Darien. In 1577 he sailed on the voyage which carried him +round the world, a feat for which he was knighted, promoted to the rank +of admiral, and visited by the Queen on board his ship, the "Golden +Hind." While Drake was being feted in London as the hero of the hour, +Philip of Spain from his cell in the Escorial must have execrated these +English sea-rovers whose visits brought ruin to his colonies and menaced +the safety of his treasure galleons. + +In the autumn of 1585 Drake was again in command of a formidable +armament intended against the West Indies. Supported by 2000 troops +under General Carleill, and by Martin Frobisher and Francis Knollys in +the fleet, he took and plundered San Domingo, and after occupying +Cartagena for six weeks ransomed the city for 110,000 ducats. This +fearless old Elizabethan sailed from Plymouth on his last voyage in +August 1595. Though under the joint command of Drake and Hawkins, the +expedition seemed doomed to disaster throughout its course. One vessel, +the "Francis," fell into the hands of the Spaniards. While the fleet was +passing through the Virgin Isles, Hawkins fell ill and died. A desperate +attack was made on S. Juan de Porto Rico, but the English, after losing +forty or fifty men, were compelled to retire. Drake then proceeded to +the Main, where in turn he captured and plundered Rancherias, Rio de la +Hacha, Santa Marta and Nombre de Dios. With 750 soldiers he made a bold +attempt to cross the isthmus to the city of Panama, but turned back +after the loss of eighty or ninety of his followers. A few days later, +on 15th January 1596, he too fell ill, died on the 28th, and was buried +in a leaden coffin off the coast of Darien.[49] + +Hawkins and Drake, however, were by no means the only English privateers +of that century in American waters. Names like Oxenham, Grenville, +Raleigh and Clifford, and others of lesser fame, such as Winter, Knollys +and Barker, helped to swell the roll of these Elizabethan sea-rovers. To +many a gallant sailor the Caribbean Sea was a happy hunting-ground where +he might indulge at his pleasure any propensities to lawless adventure. +If in 1588 he had helped to scatter the Invincible Armada, he now +pillaged treasure ships on the coasts of the Spanish Main; if he had +been with Drake to flout his Catholic Majesty at Cadiz, he now closed +with the Spaniards within their distant cities beyond the seas. Thus he +lined his own pockets with Spanish doubloons, and incidentally curbed +Philip's power of invading England. Nor must we think these mariners the +same as the lawless buccaneers of a later period. The men of this +generation were of a sterner and more fanatical mould, men who for their +wildest acts often claimed the sanction of religious convictions. +Whether they carried off the heathen from Africa, or plundered the +fleets of Romish Spain, they were but entering upon "the heritage of the +saints." Judged by the standards of our own century they were pirates +and freebooters, but in the eyes of their fellow-countrymen their +attacks upon the Spaniards seemed fair and honourable. + +The last of the great privateering voyages for which Drake had set the +example was the armament which Lord George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, +sent against Porto Rico in 1598. The ill-starred expeditions of Raleigh +to Guiana in 1595 and again in 1617 belong rather to the history of +exploration and colonization. Clifford, "courtier, gambler and +buccaneer," having run through a great part of his very considerable +fortune, had seized the opportunity offered him by the plunder of the +Spanish colonies to re-coup himself; and during a period of twelve +years, from 1586 to 1598, almost every year fitted out, and often +himself commanded, an expedition against the Spaniards. In his last and +most ambitious effort, in 1598, he equipped twenty vessels entirely at +his own cost, sailed from Plymouth in March, and on 6th June laid siege +to the city of San Juan, which he proposed to clear of Spaniards and +establish as an English stronghold. Although the place was captured, the +expedition proved a fiasco. A violent sickness broke out among the +troops, and as Clifford had already sailed away with some of the ships +to Flores to lie in wait for the treasure fleet, Sir Thomas Berkeley, +who was left in command in Porto Rico, abandoned the island and returned +to rejoin the Earl.[50] + +The English in the sixteenth century, however, had no monopoly of this +piratical game. The French did something in their own way, and the Dutch +were not far behind. Indeed, the French may claim to have set the +example for the Elizabethan freebooters, for in the first half of the +sixteenth century privateers flocked to the Spanish Indies from Dieppe, +Brest and the towns of the Basque coast. The gleam of the golden lingots +of Peru, and the pale lights of the emeralds from the mountains of New +Granada, exercised a hypnotic influence not only on ordinary seamen but +on merchants and on seigneurs with depleted fortunes. Names like Jean +Terrier, Jacques Sore and Francois le Clerc, the latter popularly called +"Pie de Palo," or "wooden-leg," by the Spaniards, were as detestable in +Spanish ears as those of the great English captains. Even before 1500 +French corsairs hovered about Cape St Vincent and among the Azores and +the Canaries; and their prowess and audacity were so feared that +Columbus, on returning from his third voyage in 1498, declared that he +had sailed for the island of Madeira by a new route to avoid meeting a +French fleet which was awaiting him near St Vincent.[51] With the +establishment of the system of armed convoys, however, and the presence +of Spanish fleets on the coast of Europe, the corsairs suffered some +painful reverses which impelled them to transfer their operations to +American waters. Thereafter Spanish records are full of references to +attacks by Frenchmen on Havana, St. Jago de Cuba, San Domingo and towns +on the mainland of South and Central America; full of appeals, too, from +the colonies to the neglectful authorities in Spain, urging them to send +artillery, cruisers and munitions of war for their defence.[52] + +A letter dated 8th April 1537, written by Gonzalo de Guzman to the +Empress, furnishes us with some interesting details of the exploits of +an anonymous French corsair in that year. In November 1536 this +Frenchman had seized in the port of Chagre, on the Isthmus of Darien, a +Spanish vessel laden with horses from San Domingo, had cast the cargo +into the sea, put the crew on shore and sailed away with his prize. A +month or two later he appeared off the coast of Havana and dropped +anchor in a small bay a few leagues from the city. As there were then +five Spanish ships lying in the harbour, the inhabitants compelled the +captains to attempt the seizure of the pirate, promising to pay for the +ships if they were lost. Three vessels of 200 tons each sailed out to +the attack, and for several days they fired at the French corsair, +which, being a patache of light draught, had run up the bay beyond their +reach. Finally one morning the Frenchmen were seen pressing with both +sail and oar to escape from the port. A Spanish vessel cut her cables to +follow in pursuit, but encountering a heavy sea and contrary winds was +abandoned by her crew, who made for shore in boats. The other two +Spanish ships were deserted in similar fashion, whereupon the French, +observing this new turn of affairs, re-entered the bay and easily +recovered the three drifting vessels. Two of the prizes they burnt, and +arming the third sailed away to cruise in the Florida straits, in the +route of ships returning from the West Indies to Spain.[53] + +The corsairs, however, were not always so uniformly successful. A band +of eighty, who attempted to plunder the town of St. Jago de Cuba, were +repulsed with some loss by a certain Diego Perez of Seville, captain of +an armed merchant ship then in the harbour, who later petitioned for the +grant of a coat-of-arms in recognition of his services.[54] In October +1544 six French vessels attacked the town of Santa Maria de los +Remedios, near Cape de la Vela, but failed to take it in face of the +stubborn resistance of the inhabitants. Yet the latter a few months +earlier had been unable to preserve their homes from pillage, and had +been obliged to flee to La Granjeria de las Perlas on the Rio de la +Hacha.[55] There is small wonder, indeed, that the defenders were so +rarely victorious. The Spanish towns were ill-provided with forts and +guns, and often entirely without ammunition or any regular soldiers. The +distance between the settlements as a rule was great, and the +inhabitants, as soon as informed of the presence of the enemy, knowing +that they had no means of resistance and little hope of succour, left +their homes to the mercy of the freebooters and fled to the hills and +woods with their families and most precious belongings. Thus when, in +October 1554, another band of three hundred French privateers swooped +down upon the unfortunate town of St. Jago de Cuba, they were able to +hold it for thirty days, and plundered it to the value of 80,000 pieces +of eight.[56] The following year, however, witnessed an even more +remarkable action. In July 1555 the celebrated captain, Jacques Sore, +landed two hundred men from a caravel a half-league from the city of +Havana, and before daybreak marched on the town and forced the surrender +of the castle. The Spanish governor had time to retire to the country, +where he gathered a small force of Spaniards and negroes, and returned +to surprise the French by night. Fifteen or sixteen of the latter were +killed, and Sore, who himself was wounded, in a rage gave orders for the +massacre of all the prisoners. He burned the cathedral and the hospital, +pillaged the houses and razed most of the city to the ground. After +transferring all the artillery to his vessel, he made several forays +into the country, burned a few plantations, and finally sailed away in +the beginning of August. No record remains of the amount of the booty, +but it must have been enormous. To fill the cup of bitterness for the +poor inhabitants, on 4th October there appeared on the coast another +French ship, which had learned of Sore's visit and of the helpless state +of the Spaniards. Several hundred men disembarked, sacked a few +plantations neglected by their predecessors, tore down or burned the +houses which the Spaniards had begun to rebuild, and seized a caravel +loaded with leather which had recently entered the harbour.[57] It is +true that during these years there was almost constant war in Europe +between the Emperor and France; yet this does not entirely explain the +activity of the French privateers in Spanish America, for we find them +busy there in the years when peace reigned at home. Once unleash the +sea-dogs and it was extremely difficult to bring them again under +restraint. + +With the seventeenth century began a new era in the history of the West +Indies. If in the sixteenth the English, French and Dutch came to +tropical America as piratical intruders into seas and countries which +belonged to others, in the following century they came as permanent +colonisers and settlers. The Spaniards, who had explored the whole ring +of the West Indian islands before 1500, from the beginning neglected the +lesser for the larger Antilles--Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico and +Jamaica--and for those islands like Trinidad, which lie close to the +mainland. And when in 1519 Cortez sailed from Cuba for the conquest of +Mexico, and twelve years later Pizarro entered Peru, the emigrants who +left Spain to seek their fortunes in the New World flocked to the vast +territories which the _Conquistadores_ and their lieutenants had subdued +on the Continent. It was consequently to the smaller islands which +compose the Leeward and Windward groups that the English, French and +Dutch first resorted as colonists. Small, and therefore "easy to settle, +easy to depopulate and to re-people, attractive not only on account of +their own wealth, but also as a starting-point for the vast and rich +continent off which they lie," these islands became the pawns in a game +of diplomacy and colonization which continued for 150 years. + +In the seventeenth century, moreover, the Spanish monarchy was declining +rapidly both in power and prestige, and its empire, though still +formidable, no longer overshadowed the other nations of Europe as in the +days of Charles V. and Philip II. France, with the Bourbons on the +throne, was entering upon an era of rapid expansion at home and abroad, +while the Dutch, by the truce of 1609, virtually obtained the freedom +for which they had struggled so long. In England Queen Elizabeth had +died in 1603, and her Stuart successor exchanged her policy of +dalliance, of balance between France and Spain, for one of peace and +conciliation. The aristocratic free-booters who had enriched themselves +by harassing the Spanish Indies were succeeded by a less romantic but +more business-like generation, which devoted itself to trade and +planting. Abortive attempts at colonization had been made in the +sixteenth century. The Dutch, who were trading in the West Indies as +early as 1542, by 1580 seem to have gained some foothold in Guiana;[58] +and the French Huguenots, under the patronage of the Admiral de Coligny, +made three unsuccessful efforts to form settlements on the American +continent, one in Brazil in 1555, another near Port Royal in South +Carolina in 1562, and two years later a third on the St. John's River in +Florida. The only English effort in the sixteenth century was the vain +attempt of Sir Walter Raleigh between 1585 and 1590 to plant a colony on +Roanoke Island, on the coast of what is now North Carolina. It was not +till 1607 that the first permanent English settlement in America was +made at Jamestown in Virginia. Between 1609 and 1619 numerous stations +were established by English, Dutch and French in Guiana between the +mouth of the Orinoco and that of the Amazon. In 1621 the Dutch West +India Company was incorporated, and a few years later proposals for a +similar company were broached in England. Among the West Indian Islands, +St. Kitts received its first English settlers in 1623; and two years +later the island was formally divided with the French, thus becoming the +earliest nucleus of English and French colonization in those regions. +Barbadoes was colonized in 1624-25. In 1628 English settlers from St. +Kitts spread to Nevis and Barbuda, and within another four years to +Antigua and Montserrat; while as early as 1625 English and Dutch took +joint possession of Santa Cruz. The founders of the French settlement on +St. Kitts induced Richelieu to incorporate a French West India Company +with the title, "The Company of the Isles of America," and under its +auspices Guadeloupe, Martinique and other islands of the Windward group +were colonized in 1635 and succeeding years. Meanwhile between 1632 and +1634 the Dutch had established trading stations on St. Eustatius in the +north, and on Tobago and Curacao in the south near the Spanish mainland. + +While these centres of trade and population were being formed in the +very heart of the Spanish seas, the privateers were not altogether idle. +To the treaty of Vervins between France and Spain in 1598 had been added +a secret restrictive article whereby it was agreed that the peace should +not hold good south of the Tropic of Cancer and west of the meridian of +the Azores. Beyond these two lines (called "les lignes de l'enclos des +Amities") French and Spanish ships might attack each other and take fair +prize as in open war. The ministers of Henry IV. communicated this +restriction verbally to the merchants of the ports, and soon private +men-of-war from Dieppe, Havre and St. Malo flocked to the western +seas.[59] Ships loaded with contraband goods no longer sailed for the +Indies unless armed ready to engage all comers, and many ship-captains +renounced trade altogether for the more profitable and exciting +occupation of privateering. In the early years of the seventeenth +century, moreover, Dutch fleets harassed the coasts of Chile and +Peru,[60] while in Brazil[61] and the West Indies a second "Pie de +Palo," this time the Dutch admiral, Piet Heyn, was proving a scourge to +the Spaniards. Heyn was employed by the Dutch West India Company, which +from the year 1623 onwards, carried the Spanish war into the transmarine +possessions of Spain and Portugal. With a fleet composed of twenty-six +ships and 3300 men, of which he was vice-admiral, he greatly +distinguished himself at the capture of Bahia, the seat of Portuguese +power in Brazil. Similar expeditions were sent out annually, and brought +back the rich spoils of the South American colonies. Within two years +the extraordinary number of eighty ships, with 1500 cannon and over 9000 +sailors and soldiers, were despatched to American seas, and although +Bahia was soon retaken, the Dutch for a time occupied Pernambuco, as +well as San Juan de Porto Rico in the West Indies.[62] In 1628 Piet Heyn +was in command of a squadron designed to intercept the plate fleet which +sailed every year from Vera Cruz to Spain. With thirty-one ships, 700 +cannon and nearly 3000 men he cruised along the northern coast of Cuba, +and on 8th September fell in with his quarry near Cape San Antonio. The +Spaniards made a running fight along the coast until they reached the +Matanzas River near Havana, into which they turned with the object of +running the great-bellied galleons aground and escaping with what +treasure they could. The Dutch followed, however, and most of the rich +cargo was diverted into the coffers of the Dutch West India Company. The +gold, silver, indigo, sugar and logwood were sold in the Netherlands for +fifteen million guilders, and the company was enabled to distribute to +its shareholders the unprecedented dividend of 50 per cent. It was an +exploit which two generations of English mariners had attempted in vain, +and the unfortunate Spanish general, Don Juan de Benavides, on his +return to Spain was imprisoned for his defeat and later beheaded.[63] + +In 1639 we find the Spanish Council of War for the Indies conferring +with the King on measures to be taken against English piratical ships in +the Caribbean;[64] and in 1642 Captain William Jackson, provided with an +ample commission from the Earl of Warwick[65] and duplicates under the +Great Seal, made a raid in which he emulated the exploits of Sir Francis +Drake and his contemporaries. Starting out with three ships and about +1100 men, mostly picked up in St. Kitts and Barbadoes, he cruised along +the Main from Caracas to Honduras and plundered the towns of Maracaibo +and Truxillo. On 25th March 1643 he dropped anchor in what is now +Kingston Harbour in Jamaica, landed about 500 men, and after some sharp +fighting and the loss of forty of his followers, entered the town of St. +Jago de la Vega, which he ransomed for 200 beeves, 10,000 lbs. of +cassava bread and 7000 pieces of eight. Many of the English were so +captivated by the beauty and fertility of the island that twenty-three +deserted in one night to the Spaniards.[66] + +The first two Stuart Kings, like the great Queen who preceded them, and +in spite of the presence of a powerful Spanish faction at the English +Court, looked upon the Indies with envious eyes, as a source of +perennial wealth to whichever nation could secure them. James I., to be +sure, was a man of peace, and soon after his accession patched up a +treaty with the Spaniards; but he had no intention of giving up any +English claims, however shadowy they might be, to America. Cornwallis, +the new ambassador at Madrid, from a vantage ground where he could +easily see the financial and administrative confusion into which Spain, +in spite of her colonial wealth, had fallen, was most dissatisfied with +the treaty. In a letter to Cranborne, dated 2nd July 1605, he suggested +that England never lost so great an opportunity of winning honour and +wealth as by relinquishing the war with Spain, and that Philip and his +kingdom "were reduced to such a state as they could not in all +likelihood have endured for the space of two years more."[67] This +opinion we find repeated in his letters in the following years, with +covert hints that an attack upon the Indies might after all be the most +profitable and politic thing to do. When, in October 1607, Zuniga, the +Spanish ambassador in London, complained to James of the establishment +of the new colony in Virginia, James replied that Virginia was land +discovered by the English and therefore not within the jurisdiction of +Philip; and a week later Salisbury, while confiding to Zuniga that he +thought the English might not justly go to Virginia, still refused to +prohibit their going or command their return, for it would be an +acknowledgment, he said, that the King of Spain was lord of all the +Indies.[68] In 1609, in the truce concluded between Spain and the +Netherlands, one of the stipulations provided that for nine years the +Dutch were to be free to trade in all places in the East and West Indies +except those in actual possession of the Spaniards on the date of +cessation of hostilities; and thereafter the English and French +governments endeavoured with all the more persistence to obtain a +similar privilege. Attorney-General Heath, in 1625, presented a memorial +to the Crown on the advantages derived by the Spaniards and Dutch in the +West Indies, maintaining that it was neither safe nor profitable for +them to be absolute lords of those regions; and he suggested that his +Majesty openly interpose or permit it to be done underhand.[69] In +September 1637 proposals were renewed in England for a West India +Company as the only method of obtaining a share in the wealth of +America. It was suggested that some convenient port be seized as a safe +retreat from which to plunder Spanish trade on land and sea, and that +the officers of the company be empowered to conquer and occupy any part +of the West Indies, build ships, levy soldiers and munitions of war, and +make reprisals.[70] The temper of Englishmen at this time was again +illustrated in 1640 when the Spanish ambassador, Alonzo de Cardenas, +protested to Charles I. against certain ships which the Earls of Warwick +and Marlborough were sending to the West Indies with the intention, +Cardenas declared, of committing hostilities against the Spaniards. The +Earl of Warwick, it seems, pretended to have received great injuries +from the latter and threatened to recoup his losses at their expense. He +procured from the king a broad commission which gave him the right to +trade in the West Indies, and to "offend" such as opposed him. Under +shelter of this commission the Earl of Marlborough was now going to sea +with three or four armed ships, and Cardenas prayed the king to restrain +him until he gave security not to commit any acts of violence against +the Spanish nation. The petition was referred to a committee of the +Lords, who concluded that as the peace had never been strictly observed +by either nation in the Indies they would not demand any security of the +Earl. "Whether the Spaniards will think this reasonable or not," +concludes Secretary Windebank in his letter to Sir Arthur Hopton, "is no +great matter."[71] + +During this century and a half between 1500 and 1650, the Spaniards were +by no means passive or indifferent to the attacks made upon their +authority and prestige in the New World. The hostility of the mariners +from the north they repaid with interest, and woe to the foreign +interloper or privateer who fell into their clutches. When Henry II. of +France in 1557 issued an order that Spanish prisoners be condemned to +the galleys, the Spanish government retaliated by commanding its +sea-captains to mete out the same treatment to their French captives, +except that captains, masters and officers taken in the navigation of +the Indies were to be hung or cast into the sea.[72] In December 1600 +the governor of Cumana had suggested to the King, as a means of keeping +Dutch and English ships from the salt mines of Araya, the ingenious +scheme of poisoning the salt. This advice, it seems, was not followed, +but a few years later, in 1605, a Spanish fleet of fourteen galleons +sent from Lisbon surprised and burnt nineteen Dutch vessels found +loading salt at Araya, and murdered most of the prisoners.[73] In +December 1604 the Venetian ambassador in London wrote of "news that the +Spanish in the West Indies captured two English vessels, cut off the +hands, feet, noses and ears of the crews and smeared them with honey and +tied them to trees to be tortured by flies and other insects. The +Spanish here plead," he continued, "that they were pirates, not +merchants, and that they did not know of the peace. But the barbarity +makes people here cry out."[74] On 22nd June 1606, Edmondes, the English +Ambassador at Brussels, in a letter to Cornwallis, speaks of a London +ship which was sent to trade in Virginia, and putting into a river in +Florida to obtain water, was surprised there by Spanish vessels from +Havana, the men ill-treated and the cargo confiscated.[75] And it was +but shortly after that Captain Chaloner's ship on its way to Virginia +was seized by the Spaniards in the West Indies, and the crew sent to +languish in the dungeons of Seville or condemned to the galleys. + +By attacks upon some of the English settlements, too, the Spaniards gave +their threats a more effective form. Frequent raids were made upon the +English and Dutch plantations in Guiana;[76] and on 8th-18th September +1629 a Spanish fleet of over thirty sail, commanded by Don Federico de +Toledo, nearly annihilated the joint French and English colony on St. +Kitts. Nine English ships were captured and the settlements burnt. The +French inhabitants temporarily evacuated the island and sailed for +Antigua; but of the English some 550 were carried to Cartagena and +Havana, whence they were shipped to England, and all the rest fled to +the mountains and woods.[77] Within three months' time, however, after +the departure of the Spaniards, the scattered settlers had returned and +re-established the colony. Providence Island and its neighbour, +Henrietta, being situated near the Mosquito Coast, were peculiarly +exposed to Spanish attack;[78] while near the north shore of Hispaniola +the island of Tortuga, which was colonized by the same English company, +suffered repeatedly from the assaults of its hostile neighbours. In July +1635 a Spanish fleet from the Main assailed the island of Providence, +but unable to land among the rocks, was after five days beaten off +"considerably torn" by the shot from the fort.[79] On the strength of +these injuries received and of others anticipated, the Providence +Company obtained from the king the liberty "to right themselves" by +making reprisals, and during the next six years kept numerous vessels +preying upon Spanish commerce in those waters. King Philip was therefore +all the more intent upon destroying the plantation.[80] He bided his +time, however, until the early summer of 1641, when the general of the +galleons, Don Francisco Diaz Pimienta, with twelve sail and 2000 men, +fell upon the colony, razed the forts and carried off all the English, +about 770 in number, together with forty cannon and half a million of +plunder.[81] It was just ten years later that a force of 800 men from +Porto Rico invaded Santa Cruz, whence the Dutch had been expelled by the +English in 1646, killed the English governor and more than 100 settlers, +seized two ships in the harbour and burnt and pillaged most of the +plantations. The rest of the inhabitants escaped to the woods, and after +the departure of the Spaniards deserted the colony for St. Kitts and +other islands.[82] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: Herrera: Decades II. 1, p. 4, cited in Scelle: la Traite +Negriere, I. p. 6. Note 2.] + +[Footnote 2: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. pp. 6-9.] + +[Footnote 3: "Por cuanto los pacificaciones no se han de hacer con ruido +de armas, sino con caridad y buen modo."--Recop. de leyes ... de las +Indias, lib. vii. tit. 1.] + +[Footnote 4: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 35.] + +[Footnote 5: Weiss: L'Espagne depuis Philippe II. jusqu'aux Bourbons., +II. pp. 204 and 215. Not till 1722 was legislative sanction given to +this practice. + +M. Lemonnet wrote to Colbert in 1670 concerning this commerce:--"Quelque +perquisition qu'on ait faite dans ce dernier temps aux Indes pour +decouvrir les biens des Francois, ils ont plustost souffert la prison +que de rien declarer ... toute les merchandises qu'on leur donne a +porter aux Indes sont chargees sous le nom d'Espagnols, que bien souvent +n'en ont pas connaissance, ne jugeant pas a propos de leur en parler, +afin de tenir les affaires plus secretes et qu'il n'y ait que le +commissionaire a le savoir, lequel en rend compte a son retour des +Indes, directement a celui qui en a donne la cargaison en confiance sans +avoir nul egard pour ceux au nom desquels le chargement a ete fait, et +lorsque ces commissionaires reviennent des Indes soit sur le flottes +galions ou navires particuliers, ils apportent leur argent dans leurs +coffres, la pluspart entre pont et sans connoissement." (Margry: +Relations et memoires inedits pour servir a l'histoire de la France dans +les pays d'outremer, p. 185.) + +The importance to the maritime powers of preserving and protecting this +clandestine trade is evident, especially as the Spanish government +frequently found it a convenient instrument for retaliating upon those +nations against which it harboured some grudge. All that was necessary +was to sequester the vessels and goods of merchants belonging to the +nation at which it wished to strike. This happened frequently in the +course of the seventeenth century. Thus Lerma in 1601 arrested the +French merchants in Spain to revenge himself on Henry IV. In 1624 +Olivares seized 160 Dutch vessels. The goods of Genoese merchants were +sequestered by Philip IV. in 1644; and in 1684 French merchandize was +again seized, and Mexican traders whose storehouses contained such goods +were fined 500,000 ecus, although the same storehouses contained English +and Dutch goods which were left unnoticed. The fine was later restored +upon Admiral d'Estrees' threat to bombard Cadiz. The solicitude of the +French government for this trade is expressed in a letter of Colbert to +the Marquis de Villars, ambassador at Madrid, dated 5th February +1672:--"Il est tellement necessaire d'avoir soin d'assister les +particuliers qui font leur trafic en Espagne, pour maintenir le plus +important commerce que nous ayons, que je suis persuade que vous ferez +toutes les instances qui pourront dependre de vous ... en sorte que +cette protection produira des avantages considerables au commerce des +sujets de Sa Majeste" (_ibid._, p. 188). + +_Cf._ also the instructions of Louis XIV. to the Comte d'Estrees, 1st +April 1680. The French admiral was to visit all the ports of the +Spaniards in the West Indies, especially Cartagena and San Domingo; and +to be always informed of the situation and advantages of these ports, +and of the facilities and difficulties to be met with in case of an +attack upon them; so that the Spaniards might realise that if they +failed to do justice to the French merchants on the return of the +galleons, his Majesty was always ready to force them to do so, either by +attacking these galleons, or by capturing one of their West Indian ports +(_ibid._).] + +[Footnote 6: Weiss, _op. cit._, II. p. 205.] + +[Footnote 7: Ibid., II. p. 206.] + +[Footnote 8: Oppenheim: The Naval Tracts of Sir Wm. Monson. Vol. II. +Appendix B., p. 316.] + +[Footnote 9: In 1509, owing to the difficulties experienced by merchants +in ascending the Guadalquivir, ships were given permission to load and +register at Cadiz under the supervision of an inspector or "visitador," +and thereafter commerce and navigation tended more and more to gravitate +to that port. After 1529, in order to facilitate emigration to America, +vessels were allowed to sail from certain other ports, notably San +Sebastian, Bilboa, Coruna, Cartagena and Malaga. The ships might +register in these ports, but were obliged always to make their return +voyage to Seville. But either the _cedula_ was revoked, or was never +made use of, for, according to Scelle, there are no known instances of +vessels sailing to America from those towns. The only other exceptions +were in favour of the Company of Guipuzcoa in 1728, to send ships from +San Sebastian to Caracas, and of the Company of Galicia in 1734, to send +two vessels annually to Campeache and Vera Cruz. (Scelle, _op. cit._, i. +pp. 48-49 and notes.)] + +[Footnote 10: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 36 _ff._] + +[Footnote 11: In Nov. 1530 Charles V., against the opposition of the +_Contratacion_, ordered the Council of the Indies to appoint a resident +judge at Cadiz to replace the officers of the _Casa_ there. This +institution, called the "Juzgado de Indias," was, until the removal of +the _Casa_ to Cadiz in 1717, the source of constant disputes and +irritation.] + +[Footnote 12: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 52 and note; Duro: Armada +Espanola, I. p. 204.] + +[Footnote 13: The distinction between the Flota or fleet for New Spain +and the galleons intended for Terra Firma only began with the opening of +the great silver mines of Potosi, the rich yields of which after 1557 +made advisable an especial fleet for Cartagena and Nombre de Dios. +(Oppenheim, II. Appendix B., p. 322.)] + +[Footnote 14: Memoir of MM. Duhalde and de Rochefort to the French king, +1680 (Margry, _op. cit._, p. 192 _ff._).] + +[Footnote 15: Memoir of MM. Duhalde and de Rochefort to the French king, +1680 (Margry, _op. cit._, p. 192 _ff._)] + +[Footnote 16: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 64; Dampier: Voyages, _ed._ +1906, i. p. 200.] + +[Footnote 17: Gage: A New Survey of the West Indies, _ed._ 1655, pp. +185-6. When Gage was at Granada, in February 1637, strict orders were +received from Gautemala that the ships were not to sail that year, +because the President and Audiencia were informed of some Dutch and +English ships lying in wait at the mouth of the river.] + +[Footnote 18: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. pp. 64-5; Duhalde and de Rochefort. +There were two ways of sending goods from Panama to Porto Bello. One was +an overland route of 18 leagues, and was used only during the summer. +The other was by land as far as Venta Cruz, 7 leagues from Panama, and +thence by water on the river Chagre to its mouth, a distance of 26 +leagues. When the river was high the transit might be accomplished in +two or three days, but at other times from six to twelve days were +required. To transfer goods from Chagre to Porto Bello was a matter of +only eight or nine hours. This route was used in winter when the roads +were rendered impassable by the great rains and floods. The overland +journey, though shorter, was also more difficult and expensive. The +goods were carried on long mule-trains, and the "roads, so-called, were +merely bridle paths ... running through swamps and jungles, over hills +and rocks, broken by unbridged rivers, and situated in one of the +deadliest climates in the world." The project of a canal to be cut +through the isthmus was often proposed to the Councils in Spain, but was +never acted upon. (Descript. ... of Cartagena; Oppenheim, i. p. 333.)] + +[Footnote 19: Nombre de Dios, a few leagues to the east of Porto Bello, +had formerly been the port where the galleons received the treasure +brought from Panama, but in 1584 the King of Spain ordered the +settlement to be abandoned on account of its unhealthiness, and because +the harbour, being open to the sea, afforded little shelter to shipping. +Gage says that in his time Nombre de Dios was almost forsaken because of +its climate. Dampier, writing thirty years later, describes the site as +a waste. "Nombre de Dios," he says, "is now nothing but a name. For I +have lain ashore in the place where that City stood, but it is all +overgrown with Wood, so as to have no sign that any Town hath been +there." (Voyages, _ed._ 1906, i. p. 81.)] + +[Footnote 20: Gage, _ed._ 1655, pp. 196-8.] + +[Footnote 21: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 65.] + +[Footnote 22: Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.] + +[Footnote 23: When the Margarita patache failed to meet the galleons at +Cartagena, it was given its clearance and allowed to sail alone to +Havana--a tempting prey to buccaneers hovering in those seas.] + +[Footnote 24: Duhalde and de Rochefort.] + +[Footnote 25: Rawl. MSS., A. 175, 313 b; Oppenheim, ii. p. 338.] + +[Footnote 26: Here I am following the MSS. quoted by Oppenheim (ii. pp. +335 _ff._). Instead of watering in Hispaniola, the fleet sometimes +stopped at Dominica, or at Aguada in Porto Rico.] + +[Footnote 27: Duhalde and de Rochefort.] + +[Footnote 28: Quintal=about 100 pounds.] + +[Footnote 29: These "vaisseaux de registre" were supposed not to exceed +300 tons, but through fraud were often double that burden.] + +[Footnote 30: Duhalde and de Rochefort; Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 54.] + +[Footnote 31: Gage, _ed._ 1655, pp. 199-200.] + +[Footnote 32: Duhalde and de Rochefort; Oppenheim, ii. p. 318.] + +[Footnote 33: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. 45; Recop., t. i. lib. iii. tit. +viii.] + +[Footnote 34: There seems to have been a contraband trade carried on at +Cadiz itself. Foreign merchants embarked their goods upon the galleons +directly from their own vessels in the harbour, without registering them +with the _Contratacion_; and on the return of the fleets received the +price of their goods in ingots of gold and silver by the same fraud. It +is scarcely possible that this was done without the tacit authorization +of the Council of the Indies at Madrid, for if the Council had insisted +upon a rigid execution of the laws regarding registration, detection +would have been inevitable.] + +[Footnote 35: Weiss, _op. cit._, ii. p. 226.] + +[Footnote 36: Most of the offices in the Spanish Indies were venal. No +one obtained a post without paying dearly for it, except the viceroys of +Mexico and Peru, who were grandees, and received their places through +favour at court. The governors of the ports, and the presidents of the +Audiencias established at Panama, San Domingo, and Gautemala, bought +their posts in Spain. The offices in the interior were in the gift of +the viceroys and sold to the highest bidder. Although each port had +three corregidors who audited the finances, as they also paid for their +places, they connived with the governors. The consequence was +inevitable. Each official during his tenure of office expected to +recover his initial outlay, and amass a small fortune besides. So not +only were the bribes of interlopers acceptable, but the officials often +themselves bought and sold the contraband articles.] + +[Footnote 37: Froude: History of England, viii. p. 436 _ff._] + +[Footnote 38: 1585, August 12th. Ralph Lane to Sir Philip Sidney. Port +Ferdinando, Virginia.--He has discovered the infinite riches of St. John +(Porto Rico?) and Hispaniola by dwelling on the islands five weeks. He +thinks that if the Queen finds herself burdened with the King of Spain, +to attempt them would be most honourable, feasible and profitable. He +exhorts him not to refuse this good opportunity of rendering so great a +service to the Church of Christ. The strength of the Spaniards doth +altogether grow from the mines of her treasure. Extract, C.S.P. Colon., +1574-1660.] + +[Footnote 39: Scelle, _op. cit._, ii. p. xiii.] + +[Footnote 40: Scelle, _op. cit._, i. p. ix.] + +[Footnote 41: 1611, February 28. Sir Thos. Roe to Salisbury. Port +d'Espaigne, Trinidad.--He has seen more of the coast from the River +Amazon to the Orinoco than any other Englishman alive. The Spaniards +here are proud and insolent, yet needy and weak, their force is +reputation, their safety is opinion. The Spaniards treat the English +worse than Moors. The government is lazy and has more skill in planting +and selling tobacco than in erecting colonies and marching armies. +Extract, C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660. (Roe was sent by Prince Henry upon a +voyage of discovery to the Indies.)] + +[Footnote 42: "An historical account of the rise and growth of the West +India Colonies." By Dalby Thomas, Lond., 1690. (Harl. Miscell., 1808, +ii. 357.)] + +[Footnote 43: Oviedo: Historia general de las Indias, lib. xix. cap. +xiii.; Coleccion de documentos ... de ultramar, tom. iv. p. 57 +(deposition of the Spanish captain at the Isle of Mona); Pacheco, etc.: +Coleccion de documentos ... de las posesiones espanoles en America y +Oceania, tom. xl. p. 305 (cross-examination of witnesses by officers of +the Royal Audiencia in San Domingo just after the visit of the English +ship to that place); English Historical Review, XX. p. 115. + +The ship is identified with the "Samson" dispatched by Henry VIII. in +1527 "with divers cunning men to seek strange regions," which sailed +from the Thames on 20th May in company with the "Mary of Guildford," was +lost by her consort in a storm on the night of 1st July, and was +believed to have foundered with all on board. (Ibid.)] + +[Footnote 44: Hakluyt, _ed._ 1600, iii. p. 700; Froude, _op. cit._, +viii. p. 427.] + +[Footnote 45: Scelle., _op. cit._, i. pp. 123-25, 139-61.] + +[Footnote 46: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar. tom. vi. p. 15.] + +[Footnote 47: Froude, _op. cit._, viii. pp. 470-72.] + +[Footnote 48: Corbett: Drake and the Tudor Navy, i. ch. 3.] + +[Footnote 49: Corbett: Drake and the Tudor Navy, ii. chs. 1, 2, 11.] + +[Footnote 50: Corbett: The Successors of Drake, ch. x.] + +[Footnote 51: Marcel: Les corsaires francais au XVIe siecle, p. 7. As +early as 1501 a royal ordinance in Spain prescribed the construction of +carracks to pursue the privateers, and in 1513 royal _cedulas_ were sent +to the officials of the _Casa de Contratacion_ ordering them to send two +caravels to guard the coasts of Cuba and protect Spanish navigation from +the assaults of French corsairs. (Ibid., p. 8).] + +[Footnote 52: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tomos i., iv., vi.; +Ducere: Les corsaires sous l'ancien regime. Append. II.; Duro., _op. +cit._, i. Append. XIV.] + +[Footnote 53: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 22.] + +[Footnote 54: Ibid., p. 23.] + +[Footnote 55: Marcel, _op. cit._, p. 16.] + +[Footnote 56: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 360.] + +[Footnote 57: Colecc. de doc. ... de ultramar, tom. vi. p. 360.] + +[Footnote 58: Lucas: A Historical Geography of the British Colonies, +vol. ii. pp. 37, 50.] + +[Footnote 59: Weiss, _op. cit._, ii. p. 292.] + +[Footnote 60: Duro, _op. cit._, iii. ch. xvi.; iv. chs. iii., viii.] + +[Footnote 61: Portugal between 1581 and 1640 was subject to the Crown of +Spain, and Brazil, a Portuguese colony, was consequently within the pale +of Spanish influence and administration.] + +[Footnote 62: Blok: History of the People of the Netherlands, iv. p. +36.] + +[Footnote 63: Blok: History of the People of the Netherlands, iv. p. 37; +Duro, _op. cit._, iv. p. 99; Gage, _ed._ 1655, p. 80.] + +[Footnote 64: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,325, No. 10.] + +[Footnote 65: Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, was created admiral of the +fleet by order of Parliament in March 1642, and although removed by +Charles I. was reinstated by Parliament on 1st July.] + +[Footnote 66: Brit. Mus., Sloane MSS., 793 or 894; Add. MSS., 36,327, +No. 9.] + +[Footnote 67: Winwood Papers, ii. pp. 75-77.] + +[Footnote 68: Brown: Genesis of the United States, i. pp. 120-25, 172.] + +[Footnote 69: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660.] + +[Footnote 70: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660.] + +[Footnote 71: Clarendon State Papers, ii. p. 87; Rymer: F[oe]dera, xx. +p. 416.] + +[Footnote 72: Duro, _op. cit._, ii. p. 462.] + +[Footnote 73: Duro, _op. cit._, iii. pp. 236-37.] + +[Footnote 74: C.S.P. Venet., 1603-07, p. 199.] + +[Footnote 75: Winwood Papers, ii. p. 233.] + +[Footnote 76: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,319, No. 7; 36,320, No. 8; +36,321, No. 24; 36,322, No. 23.] + +[Footnote 77: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660:--1629, 5th and 30th Nov.; 1630, +29th July.] + +[Footnote 78: Gage saw at Cartagena about a dozen English prisoners +captured by the Spaniards at sea, and belonging to the settlement on +Providence Island.] + +[Footnote 79: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660:--1635, 19th March; 1636, 26th +March.] + +[Footnote 80: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 36,323, No. 10.] + +[Footnote 81: Duro, Tomo., iv. p. 339; _cf._ also in Bodleian +Library:--"A letter written upon occasion in the Low Countries, etc. +Whereunto is added avisos from several places, of the taking of the +Island of Providence, by the Spaniards from the English. London. Printed +for Nath. Butter, Mar. 22, 1641. + +"I have letter by an aviso from Cartagena, dated the 14th of September, +wherein they advise that the galleons were ready laden with the silver, +and would depart thence the 6th of October. The general of the galleons, +named Francisco Dias Pimienta, had beene formerly in the moneth of July +with above 3000 men, and the least of his ships, in the island of S. +Catalina, where he had taken and carried away with all the English, and +razed the forts, wherein they found 600 negroes, much gold and indigo, +so that the prize is esteemed worth above halfe a million."] + +[Footnote 82: Rawl. MSS., A. 32,297; 31, 121.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BEGINNINGS OF THE BUCCANEERS + + +In the second half of the sixteenth and the early part of the +seventeenth centuries, strangers who visited the great Spanish islands +of Hispaniola, Jamaica or Porto Rico, usually remarked the extraordinary +number of wild cattle and boars found roaming upon them. These herds +were in every case sprung from domestic animals originally brought from +Spain. For as the aborigines in the Greater Antilles decreased in +numbers under the heavy yoke of their conquerors, and as the Spaniards +themselves turned their backs upon the Antilles for the richer +allurements of the continent, less and less land was left under +cultivation; and cattle, hogs, horses and even dogs ran wild, increased +at a rapid rate, and soon filled the broad savannas and deep woods which +covered the greater part of these islands. The northern shore of +Hispaniola the Spaniards had never settled, and thither, probably from +an early period, interloping ships were accustomed to resort when in +want of victuals. With a long range of uninhabited coast, good anchorage +and abundance of provisions, this northern shore could not fail to +induce some to remain. In time we find there scattered groups of +hunters, mostly French and English, who gained a rude livelihood by +killing wild cattle for their skins, and curing the flesh to supply the +needs of passing vessels. The origin of these men we do not know. They +may have been deserters from ships, crews of wrecked vessels, or even +chance marooners. In any case the charm of their half-savage, +independent mode of life must soon have attracted others, and a fairly +regular traffic sprang up between them and the ubiquitous Dutch traders, +whom they supplied with hides, tallow and cured meat in return for the +few crude necessities and luxuries they required. Their numbers were +recruited in 1629 by colonists from St. Kitts who had fled before Don +Federico de Toledo. Making common lot with the hunters, the refugees +found sustenance so easy and the natural bounty of the island so rich +and varied, that many remained and settled. + +To the north-west of Hispaniola lies a small, rocky island about eight +leagues in length and two in breadth, separated by a narrow channel from +its larger neighbour. From the shore of Hispaniola the island appears in +form like a monster sea-turtle floating upon the waves, and hence was +named by the Spaniards "Tortuga." So mountainous and inaccessible on the +northern side as to be called the Cote-de-Fer, and with only one harbour +upon the south, it offered a convenient refuge to the French and English +hunters should the Spaniards become troublesome. These hunters probably +ventured across to Tortuga before 1630, for there are indications that a +Spanish expedition was sent against the island from Hispaniola in 1630 +or 1631, and a division of the spoil made in the city of San Domingo +after its return.[83] It was then, apparently, that the Spaniards left +upon Tortuga an officer and twenty-eight men, the small garrison which, +says Charlevoix, was found there when the hunters returned. The Spanish +soldiers were already tired of their exile upon this lonely, +inhospitable rock, and evacuated with the same satisfaction with which +the French and English resumed their occupancy. From the testimony of +some documents in the English colonial archives we may gather that the +English from the first were in predominance in the new colony, and +exercised almost sole authority. In the minutes of the Providence +Company, under date of 19th May 1631, we find that a committee was +"appointed to treat with the agents for a colony of about 150 persons, +settled upon Tortuga";[84] and a few weeks later that "the planters upon +the island of Tortuga desired the company to take them under their +protection, and to be at the charge of their fortification, in +consideration of a twentieth part of the commodities raised there +yearly."[85] At the same time the Earl of Holland, governor of the +company, and his associates petitioned the king for an enlargement of +their grant "only of 3 or 4 degrees of northerly latitude, to avoid all +doubts as to whether one of the islands (Tortuga) was contained in their +former grant."[86] Although there were several islands named Tortuga in +the region of the West Indies, all the evidence points to the identity +of the island concerned in this petition with the Tortuga near the north +coast of Hispaniola.[87] + +The Providence Company accepted the offer of the settlers upon Tortuga, +and sent a ship to reinforce the little colony with six pieces of +ordnance, a supply of ammunition and provisions, and a number of +apprentices or _engages_. A Captain Hilton was appointed governor, with +Captain Christopher Wormeley to succeed him in case of the governor's +death or absence, and the name of the island was changed from Tortuga to +Association.[88] Although consisting for the most part of high land +covered with tall cedar woods, the island contained in the south and +west broad savannas which soon attracted planters as well as +cattle-hunters. Some of the inhabitants of St. Kitts, wearied of the +dissensions between the French and English there, and allured by reports +of quiet and plenty in Tortuga, deserted St. Kitts for the new colony. +The settlement, however, was probably always very poor and struggling, +for in January 1634 the Providence Company received advice that Captain +Hilton intended to desert the island and draw most of the inhabitants +after him; and a declaration was sent out from England to the planters, +assuring them special privileges of trade and domicile, and dissuading +them from "changing certain ways of profit already discovered for +uncertain hopes suggested by fancy or persuasion."[89] The question of +remaining or departing, indeed, was soon decided for the colonists +without their volition, for in December 1634 a Spanish force from +Hispaniola invaded the island and drove out all the English and French +they found there. It seems that an Irishman named "Don Juan Morf" (John +Murphy?),[90] who had been "sargento-mayor" in Tortuga, became +discontented with the _regime_ there and fled to Cartagena. The Spanish +governor of Cartagena sent him to Don Gabriel de Gaves, President of the +Audiencia in San Domingo, thinking that with the information the +renegade was able to supply the Spaniards of Hispaniola might drive out +the foreigners. The President of San Domingo, however, died three months +later without bestirring himself, and it was left to his successor to +carry out the project. With the information given by Murphy, added to +that obtained from prisoners, he sent a force of 250 foot under command +of Rui Fernandez de Fuemayor to take the island.[91] At this time, +according to the Spaniards' account, there were in Tortuga 600 men +bearing arms, besides slaves, women and children. The harbour was +commanded by a platform of six cannon. The Spaniards approached the +island just before dawn, but through the ignorance of the pilot the +whole armadilla was cast upon some reefs near the shore. Rui Fernandez +with about thirty of his men succeeded in reaching land in canoes, +seized the fort without any difficulty, and although his followers were +so few managed to disperse a body of the enemy who were approaching, +with the English governor at their head, to recover it. In the melee the +governor was one of the first to be killed--stabbed, say the Spaniards, +by the Irishman, who took active part in the expedition and fought by +the side of Rui Fernandez. Meanwhile some of the inhabitants, thinking +that they could not hold the island, had regained the fort, spiked the +guns and transferred the stores to several ships in the harbour, which +sailed away leaving only two dismantled boats and a patache to fall into +the hands of the Spaniards. Rui Fernandez, reinforced by some 200 of his +men who had succeeded in escaping from the stranded armadilla, now +turned his attention to the settlement. He found his way barred by +another body of several hundred English, but dispersed them too, and +took seventy prisoners. The houses were then sacked and the tobacco +plantations burned by the soldiers, and the Spaniards returned to San +Domingo with four captured banners, the six pieces of artillery and 180 +muskets.[92] + +The Spanish occupation apparently did not last very long, for in the +following April the Providence Company appointed Captain Nicholas +Riskinner to be governor of Tortuga in place of Wormeley, and in +February 1636 it learned that Riskinner was in possession of the +island.[93] Two planters just returned from the colony, moreover, +informed the company that there were then some 80 English in the +settlement, besides 150 negroes. It is evident that the colonists were +mostly cattle-hunters, for they assured the company that they could +supply Tortuga with 200 beasts a month from Hispaniola, and would +deliver calves there at twenty shillings apiece.[94] Yet at a later +meeting of the Adventurers on 20th January 1637, a project for sending +more men and ammunition to the island was suddenly dropped "upon +intelligence that the inhabitants had quitted it and removed to +Hispaniola."[95] For three years thereafter the Providence records are +silent concerning Tortuga. A few Frenchmen must have remained on the +island, however, for Charlevoix informs us that in 1638 the general of +the galleons swooped down upon the colony, put to the sword all who +failed to escape to the hills and woods, and again destroyed all the +habitations.[96] Persuaded that the hunters would not expose themselves +to a repetition of such treatment, the Spaniards neglected to leave a +garrison, and a few scattered Frenchmen gradually filtered back to their +ruined homes. It was about this time, it seems, that the President of +San Domingo formed a body of 500 armed lancers in an effort to drive the +intruders from the larger island of Hispaniola. These lancers, half of +whom were always kept in the field, were divided into companies of fifty +each, whence they were called by the French, "cinquantaines." Ranging +the woods and savannas this Spanish constabulary attacked isolated +hunters wherever they found them, and they formed an important element +in the constant warfare between the French and Spanish colonists +throughout the rest of the century.[97] + +Meanwhile an English adventurer, some time after the Spanish descent of +1638, gathered a body of 300 of his compatriots in the island of Nevis +near St. Kitts, and sailing for Tortuga dispossessed the few Frenchmen +living there of the island. According to French accounts he was received +amicably by the inhabitants and lived with them for four months, when he +turned upon his hosts, disarmed them and marooned them upon the opposite +shore of Hispaniola. A few made their way to St. Kitts and complained to +M. de Poincy, the governor-general of the French islands, who seized the +opportunity to establish a French governor in Tortuga. Living at that +time in St. Kitts was a Huguenot gentleman named Levasseur, who had been +a companion-in-arms of d'Esnambuc when the latter settled St. Kitts in +1625, and after a short visit to France had returned and made his +fortune in trade. He was a man of courage and command as well as a +skilful engineer, and soon rose high in the councils of de Poincy. Being +a Calvinist, however, he had drawn upon the governor the reproaches of +the authorities at home; and de Poincy proposed to get rid of his +presence, now become inconvenient, by sending him to subdue Tortuga. +Levasseur received his commission from de Poincy in May 1640, assembled +forty or fifty followers, all Calvinists, and sailed in a barque to +Hispaniola. He established himself at Port Margot, about five leagues +from Tortuga, and entered into friendly relations with his English +neighbours. He was but biding his time, however, and on the last day of +August 1640, on the plea that the English had ill-used some of his +followers and had seized a vessel sent by de Poincy to obtain +provisions, he made a sudden descent upon the island with only 49 men +and captured the governor. The inhabitants retired to Hispaniola, but a +few days later returned and besieged Levasseur for ten days. Finding +that they could not dislodge him, they sailed away with all their people +to the island of Providence.[98] + +Levasseur, fearing perhaps another descent of the Spaniards, lost no +time in putting the settlement in a state of defence. Although the port +of Tortuga was little more than a roadstead, it offered a good anchorage +on a bottom of fine sand, the approaches to which were easily defended +by a hill or promontory overlooking the harbour. The top of this hill, +situated 500 or 600 paces from the shore, was a level platform, and upon +it rose a steep rock some 30 feet high. Nine or ten paces from the base +of the rock gushed forth a perennial fountain of fresh water. The new +governor quickly made the most of these natural advantages. The platform +he shaped into terraces, with means for accommodating several hundred +men. On the top of the rock he built a house for himself, as well as a +magazine, and mounted a battery of two guns. The only access to the rock +was by a narrow approach, up half of which steps were cut in the stone, +the rest of the ascent being by means of an iron ladder which could +easily be raised and lowered.[99] This little fortress, in which the +governor could repose with a feeling of entire security, he +euphuistically called his "dove-cote." The dove-cote was not finished +any too soon, for the Spaniards of San Domingo in 1643 determined to +destroy this rising power in their neighbourhood, and sent against +Levasseur a force of 500 or 600 men. When they tried to land within a +half gunshot of the shore, however, they were greeted with a discharge +of artillery from the fort, which sank one of the vessels and forced the +rest to retire. The Spaniards withdrew to a place two leagues to +leeward, where they succeeded in disembarking, but fell into an ambush +laid by Levasseur, lost, according to the French accounts, between 100 +and 200 men, and fled to their ships and back to Hispaniola. With this +victory the reputation of Levasseur spread far and wide throughout the +islands, and for ten years the Spaniards made no further attempt to +dislodge the French settlement.[100] + +Planters, hunters and corsairs now came in greater numbers to Tortuga. +The hunters, using the smaller island merely as a headquarters for +supplies and a retreat in time of danger, penetrated more boldly than +ever into the interior of Hispaniola, plundering the Spanish plantations +in their path, and establishing settlements on the north shore at Port +Margot and Port de Paix. Corsairs, after cruising and robbing along the +Spanish coasts, retired to Tortuga to refit and find a market for their +spoils. Plantations of tobacco and sugar were cultivated, and although +the soil never yielded such rich returns as upon the other islands, +Dutch and French trading ships frequently resorted there for these +commodities, and especially for the skins prepared by the hunters, +bringing in exchange brandy, guns, powder and cloth. Indeed, under the +active, positive administration of Levasseur, Tortuga enjoyed a degree +of prosperity which almost rivalled that of the French settlements in +the Leeward Islands. + +The term "buccaneer," though usually applied to the corsairs who in the +seventeenth century ravaged the Spanish possessions in the West Indies +and the South Seas, should really be restricted to these cattle-hunters +of west and north-west Hispaniola. The flesh of the wild-cattle was +cured by the hunters after a fashion learnt from the Caribbee Indians. +The meat was cut into long strips, laid upon a grate or hurdle +constructed of green sticks, and dried over a slow wood fire fed with +bones and the trimmings of the hide of the animal. By this means an +excellent flavour was imparted to the meat and a fine red colour. The +place where the flesh was smoked was called by the Indians a "boucan," +and the same term, from the poverty of an undeveloped language, was +applied to the frame or grating on which the flesh was dried. In course +of time the dried meat became known as "viande boucannee," and the +hunters themselves as "boucaniers" or "buccaneers." When later +circumstances led the hunters to combine their trade in flesh and hides +with that of piracy, the name gradually lost its original significance +and acquired, in the English language at least, its modern and +better-known meaning of corsair or freebooter. The French adventurers, +however, seem always to have restricted the word "boucanier" to its +proper signification, that of a hunter and curer of meat; and when they +developed into corsairs, by a curious contrast they adopted an English +name and called themselves "filibustiers," which is merely the French +sailor's way of pronouncing the English word "freebooter."[101] + +The buccaneers or West Indian corsairs owed their origin as well as +their name to the cattle and hog-hunters of Hispaniola and Tortuga. +Doubtless many of the wilder, more restless spirits in the smaller +islands of the Windward and Leeward groups found their way into the +ranks of this piratical fraternity, or were willing at least to lend a +hand in an occasional foray against their Spanish neighbours. We know +that Jackson, in 1642, had no difficulty in gathering 700 or 800 men +from Barbadoes and St. Kitts for his ill-starred dash upon the Spanish +Main. And when the French in later years made their periodical descents +upon the Dutch stations on Tobago, Curacao and St. Eustatius, they +always found in their island colonies of Martinique and Guadeloupe +buccaneers enough and more, eager to fill their ships. It seems to be +generally agreed, however, among the Jesuit historians of the West +Indies--and upon these writers we are almost entirely dependent for our +knowledge of the origins of buccaneering--that the corsairs had their +source and nucleus in the hunters who infested the coasts of Hispaniola. +Between the hunter and the pirate at first no impassable line was drawn. +The same person combined in himself the occupations of cow-killing and +cruising, varying the monotony of the one by occasionally trying his +hand at the other. In either case he lived at constant enmity with the +Spaniards. With the passing of time the sea attracted more and more away +from their former pursuits. Even the planters who were beginning to +filter into the new settlements found the attractions of coursing +against the Spaniards to be irresistible. Great extremes of fortune, +such as those to which the buccaneers were subject, have always +exercised an attraction over minds of an adventurous stamp. It was the +same allurement which drew the "forty-niners" to California, and in 1897 +the gold-seekers to the Canadian Klondyke. If the suffering endured was +often great, the prize to be gained was worth it. Fortune, if fickle one +day, might the next bring incredible bounty, and the buccaneers who +sweltered in a tropical sea, with starvation staring them in the face, +dreamed of rolling in the oriental wealth of a Spanish argosy. +Especially to the cattle-hunter must this temptation have been great, +for his mode of life was the very rudest. He roamed the woods by day +with his dog and apprentices, and at night slept in the open air or in a +rude shed hastily constructed of leaves and skins, which served as a +house, and which he called after the Indian name, "ajoupa" or +"barbacoa." His dress was of the simplest--coarse cloth trousers, and a +shirt which hung loosely over them, both pieces so black and saturated +with the blood and grease of slain animals that they looked as if they +had been tarred ("de toile gaudronnee").[102] A belt of undressed bull's +hide bound the shirt, and supported on one side three or four large +knives, on the other a pouch for powder and shot. A cap with a short +pointed brim extending over the eyes, rude shoes of cowhide or pigskin +made all of one piece bound over the foot, and a short, large-bore +musket, completed the hunter's grotesque outfit. Often he carried wound +about his waist a sack of netting into which he crawled at night to keep +off the pestiferous mosquitoes. With creditable regularity he and his +apprentices arose early in the morning and started on foot for the hunt, +eating no food until they had killed and skinned as many wild cattle or +swine as there were persons in the company. After having skinned the +last animal, the master-hunter broke its softest bones and made a meal +for himself and his followers on the marrow. Then each took up a hide +and returned to the boucan, where they dined on the flesh they had +killed.[103] In this fashion the hunter lived for the space of six +months or a year. Then he made a division of the skins and dried meat, +and repaired to Tortuga or one of the French settlements on the coast of +Hispaniola to recoup his stock of ammunition and spend the rest of his +gains in a wild carouse of drunkenness and debauchery. His money gone, +he returned again to the hunt. The cow-killers, as they had neither wife +nor children, commonly associated in pairs with the right of inheriting +from each other, a custom which was called "matelotage." These private +associations, however, did not prevent the property of all from being in +a measure common. Their mode of settling quarrels was the most +primitive--the duel. In other things they governed themselves by a +certain "coutumier," a medley of bizarre laws which they had originated +among themselves. At any attempt to bring them under civilised rules, +the reply always was, "telle etoit la coutume de la cote"; and that +definitely closed the matter. They based their rights thus to live upon +the fact, they said, of having passed the Tropic, where, borrowing from +the sailor's well-known superstition, they pretended to have drowned all +their former obligations.[104] Even their family names they discarded, +and the saying was in those days that one knew a man in the Isles only +when he was married. From a life of this sort, cruising against Spanish +ships, if not an unmixed good, was at least always a desirable +recreation. Every Spanish prize brought into Tortuga, moreover, was an +incitement to fresh adventure against the common foe. The "gens de la +cote," as they called themselves, ordinarily associated a score or more +together, and having taken or built themselves a canoe, put to sea with +intent to seize a Spanish barque or some other coasting vessel. With +silent paddles, under cover of darkness, they approached the +unsuspecting prey, killed the frightened sailors or drove them +overboard, and carried the prize to Tortuga. There the raiders either +dispersed to their former occupations, or gathered a larger crew of +congenial spirits and sailed away for bigger game. + +All the Jesuit historians of the West Indies, Dutertre, Labat and +Charlevoix, have left us accounts of the manners and customs of the +buccaneers. The Dutch physician, Exquemelin, who lived with the +buccaneers for several years, from 1668 to 1674, and wrote a picturesque +narrative from materials at his disposal, has also been a source for the +ideas of most later writers on the subject. It may not be out of place +to quote his description of the men whose deeds he recorded. + +"Before the Pirates go out to sea," he writes, "they give notice to +every one who goes upon the voyage of the day on which they ought +precisely to embark, intimating also to them their obligation of +bringing each man in particular so many pounds of powder and bullets as +they think necessary for that expedition. Being all come on board, they +join together in council, concerning what place they ought first to go +wherein to get provisions--especially of flesh, seeing they scarce eat +anything else. And of this the most common sort among them is pork. The +next food is tortoises, which they are accustomed to salt a little. +Sometimes they resolve to rob such or such hog-yards, wherein the +Spaniards often have a thousand heads of swine together. They come to +these places in the dark of night, and having beset the keeper's lodge, +they force him to rise, and give them as many heads as they desire, +threatening withal to kill him in case he disobeys their command or +makes any noise. Yea, these menaces are oftentimes put in execution, +without giving any quarter to the miserable swine-keepers, or any other +person that endeavours to hinder their robberies. + +"Having got provisions of flesh sufficient for their voyage, they return +to their ship. Here their allowance, twice a day to every one, is as +much as he can eat, without either weight or measure. Neither does the +steward of the vessel give any greater proportion of flesh or anything +else to the captain than to the meanest mariner. The ship being well +victualled, they call another council, to deliberate towards what place +they shall go, to seek their desperate fortunes. In this council, +likewise, they agree upon certain Articles, which are put in writing, by +way of bond or obligation, which everyone is bound to observe, and all +of them, or the chief, set their hands to it. Herein they specify, and +set down very distinctly, what sums of money each particular person +ought to have for that voyage, the fund of all the payments being the +common stock of what is gotten by the whole expedition; for otherwise it +is the same law, among these people, as with other Pirates, 'No prey, no +pay.' In the first place, therefore, they mention how much the Captain +ought to have for his ship. Next the salary of the carpenter, or +shipwright, who careened, mended and rigged the vessel. This commonly +amounts to 100 or 150 pieces of eight, being, according to the +agreement, more or less. Afterwards for provisions and victualling they +draw out of the same common stock about 200 pieces of eight. Also a +competent salary for the surgeon and his chest of medicaments, which is +usually rated at 200 or 250 pieces of eight. Lastly they stipulate in +writing what recompense or reward each one ought to have, that is either +wounded or maimed in his body, suffering the loss of any limb, by that +voyage. Thus they order for the loss of a right arm 600 pieces of eight, +or six slaves; for the loss of a left arm 500 pieces of eight, or five +slaves; for a right leg 500 pieces of eight, or five slaves; for the +left leg 400 pieces of eight, or four slaves; for an eye 100 pieces of +eight or one slave; for a finger of the hand the same reward as for the +eye. All which sums of money, as I have said before, are taken out of +the capital sum or common stock of what is got by their piracy. For a +very exact and equal dividend is made of the remainder among them all. +Yet herein they have also regard to qualities and places. Thus the +Captain, or chief Commander, is allotted five or six portions to what +the ordinary seamen have; the Master's Mate only two; and other Officers +proportionate to their employment. After whom they draw equal parts from +the highest even to the lowest mariner, the boys not being omitted. For +even these draw half a share, by reason that, when they happen to take a +better vessel than their own, it is the duty of the boys to set fire to +the ship or boat wherein they are, and then retire to the prize which +they have taken. + +"They observe among themselves very good orders. For in the prizes they +take it is severely prohibited to everyone to usurp anything in +particular to themselves. Hence all they take is equally divided, +according to what has been said before. Yea, they make a solemn oath to +each other not to abscond or conceal the least thing they find amongst +the prey. If afterwards anyone is found unfaithful, who has contravened +the said oath, immediately he is separated and turned out of the +society. Among themselves they are very civil and charitable to each +other. Insomuch that if any wants what another has, with great +liberality they give it one to another. As soon as these pirates have +taken any prize of ship or boat, the first thing they endeavour is to +set on shore the prisoners, detaining only some few for their own help +and service, to whom also they give their liberty after the space of two +or three years. They put in very frequently for refreshment at one +island or another; but more especially into those which lie on the +southern side of the Isle of Cuba. Here they careen their vessels, and +in the meanwhile some of them go to hunt, others to cruise upon the seas +in canoes, seeking their fortune. Many times they take the poor +fishermen of tortoises, and carrying them to their habitations they make +them work so long as the pirates are pleased." + +The articles which fixed the conditions under which the buccaneers +sailed were commonly called the "chasse-partie."[105] In the earlier +days of buccaneering, before the period of great leaders like Mansfield, +Morgan and Grammont, the captain was usually chosen from among their own +number. Although faithfully obeyed he was removable at will, and had +scarcely more prerogative than the ordinary sailor. After 1655 the +buccaneers generally sailed under commissions from the governors of +Jamaica or Tortuga, and then they always set aside one tenth of the +profits for the governor. But when their prizes were unauthorised they +often withdrew to some secluded coast to make a partition of the booty, +and on their return to port eased the governor's conscience with politic +gifts; and as the governor generally had little control over these +difficult people he found himself all the more obliged to dissimulate. +Although the buccaneers were called by the Spaniards "ladrones" and +"demonios," names which they richly deserved, they often gave part of +their spoil to churches in the ports which they frequented, especially +if among the booty they found any ecclesiastical ornaments or the stuffs +for making them--articles which not infrequently formed an important +part of the cargo of Spanish treasure ships. In March 1694 the Jesuit +writer, Labat, took part in a Mass at Martinique which was performed for +some French buccaneers in pursuance of a vow made when they were taking +two English vessels near Barbadoes. The French vessel and its two prizes +were anchored near the church, and fired salutes of all their cannon at +the beginning of the Mass, at the Elevation of the Host, at the +Benediction, and again at the end of the Te Deum sung after the +Mass.[106] Labat, who, although a priest, is particularly lenient +towards the crimes of the buccaneers, and who we suspect must have been +the recipient of numerous "favours" from them out of their store of +booty, relates a curious tale of the buccaneer, Captain Daniel, a tale +which has often been used by other writers, but which may bear +repetition. Daniel, in need of provisions, anchored one night off one of +the "Saintes," small islands near Dominica, and landing without +opposition, took possession of the house of the cure and of some other +inhabitants of the neighbourhood. He carried the cure and his people on +board his ship without offering them the least violence, and told them +that he merely wished to buy some wine, brandy and fowls. While these +were being gathered, Daniel requested the cure to celebrate Mass, which +the poor priest dared not refuse. So the necessary sacred vessels were +sent for and an altar improvised on the deck for the service, which they +chanted to the best of their ability. As at Martinique, the Mass was +begun by a discharge of artillery, and after the Exaudiat and prayer for +the King was closed by a loud "Vive le Roi!" from the throats of the +buccaneers. A single incident, however, somewhat disturbed the +devotions. One of the buccaneers, remaining in an indecent attitude +during the Elevation, was rebuked by the captain, and instead of heeding +the correction, replied with an impertinence and a fearful oath. Quick +as a flash Daniel whipped out his pistol and shot the buccaneer through +the head, adjuring God that he would do as much to the first who failed +in his respect to the Holy Sacrifice. The shot was fired close by the +priest, who, as we can readily imagine, was considerably agitated. "Do +not be troubled, my father," said Daniel; "he is a rascal lacking in his +duty and I have punished him to teach him better." A very efficacious +means, remarks Labat, of preventing his falling into another like +mistake. After the Mass the body of the dead man was thrown into the +sea, and the cure was recompensed for his pains by some goods out of +their stock and the present of a negro slave.[107] + +The buccaneers preferred to sail in barques, vessels of one mast and +rigged with triangular sails. This type of boat, they found, could be +more easily man[oe]uvred, was faster and sailed closer to the wind. The +boats were built of cedar, and the best were reputed to come from +Bermuda. They carried very few guns, generally from six to twelve or +fourteen, the corsairs believing that four muskets did more execution +than one cannon.[108] The buccaneers sometimes used brigantines, vessels +with two masts, the fore or mizzenmast being square-rigged with two +sails and the mainmast rigged like that of a barque. The corsair at +Martinique of whom Labat speaks was captain of a corvette, a boat like a +brigantine, except that all the sails were square-rigged. At the +beginning of a voyage the freebooters were generally so crowded in their +small vessels that they suffered much from lack of room. Moreover, they +had little protection from sun and rain, and with but a small stock of +provisions often faced starvation. It was this as much as anything which +frequently inspired them to attack without reflection any possible +prize, great or small, and to make themselves masters of it or perish in +the attempt. Their first object was to come to close quarters; and +although a single broadside would have sunk their small craft, they +man[oe]uvred so skilfully as to keep their bow always presented to the +enemy, while their musketeers cleared the enemy's decks until the time +when the captain judged it proper to board. The buccaneers rarely +attacked Spanish ships on the outward voyage from Europe to America, for +such ships were loaded with wines, cloths, grains and other commodities +for which they had little use, and which they could less readily turn +into available wealth. Outgoing vessels also carried large crews and a +considerable number of passengers. It was the homeward-bound ships, +rather, which attracted their avarice, for in such vessels the crews +were smaller and the cargo consisted of precious metals, dye-woods and +jewels, articles which the freebooters could easily dispose of to the +merchants and tavern-keepers of the ports they frequented. + +The Gulf of Honduras and the Mosquito Coast, dotted with numerous small +islands and protecting reefs, was a favourite retreat for the +buccaneers. As the clumsy Spanish war-vessels of the period found it +ticklish work threading these tortuous channels, where a sudden adverse +wind usually meant disaster, the buccaneers there felt secure from +interference; and in the creeks, lagoons and river-mouths densely +shrouded by tropical foliage, they were able to careen and refit their +vessels, divide their booty, and enjoy a respite from their sea-forays. +Thence, too, they preyed upon the Spanish ships which sailed from the +coast of Cartagena to Porto Bello, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the larger +Antilles, and were a constant menace to the great treasure galleons of +the Terra-Firma fleet. The English settlement on the island of +Providence, lying as it did off the Nicaragua coast and in the very +track of Spanish commerce in those regions, was, until captured in 1641, +a source of great fear to Spanish mariners; and when in 1642 some +English occupied the island of Roatan, near Truxillo, the governor of +Cuba and the Presidents of the Audiencias at Gautemala and San Domingo +jointly equipped an expedition of four vessels under D. Francisco de +Villalba y Toledo, which drove out the intruders.[109] Closer to the +buccaneering headquarters in Tortuga (and later in Jamaica) were the +straits separating the great West Indian islands:--the Yucatan Channel +at the western end of Cuba, the passage between Cuba and Hispaniola in +the east, and the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Porto Rico. In +these regions the corsairs waited to pick up stray Spanish merchantmen, +and watched for the coming of the galleons or the Flota.[110] When the +buccaneers returned from their cruises they generally squandered in a +few days, in the taverns of the towns which they frequented, the wealth +which had cost them such peril and labour. Some of these outlaws, says +Exquemelin, would spend 2000 or 3000 pieces of eight[111] in one night, +not leaving themselves a good shirt to wear on their backs in the +morning. "My own master," he continues, "would buy, on like occasions, a +whole pipe of wine, and placing it in the street would force every one +that passed by to drink with him; threatening also to pistol them in +case they would not do it. At other times he would do the same with +barrels of ale or beer. And, very often, with both in his hands, he +would throw these liquors about the streets, and wet the clothes of such +as walked by, without regarding whether he spoiled their apparel or not, +were they men or women." The taverns and ale-houses always welcomed the +arrival of these dissolute corsairs; and although they extended long +credits, they also at times sold as indentured servants those who had +run too deeply into debt, as happened in Jamaica to this same patron or +master of whom Exquemelin wrote. + +Until 1640 buccaneering in the West Indies was more or less accidental, +occasional, in character. In the second half of the century, however, +the numbers of the freebooters greatly increased, and men entirely +deserted their former occupations for the excitement and big profits of +the "course." There were several reasons for this increase in the +popularity of buccaneering. The English adventurers in Hispaniola had +lost their profession of hunting very early, for with the coming of +Levasseur the French had gradually elbowed them out of the island, and +compelled them either to retire to the Lesser Antilles or to prey upon +their Spanish neighbours. But the French themselves were within the next +twenty years driven to the same expedient. The Spanish colonists on +Hispaniola, unable to keep the French from the island, at last foolishly +resolved, according to Charlevoix's account, to remove the principal +attraction by destroying all the wild cattle. If the trade with French +vessels and the barter of hides for brandy could be arrested, the +hunters would be driven from the woods by starvation. This policy, +together with the wasteful methods pursued by the hunters, caused a +rapid decrease in the number of cattle. The Spaniards, however, did not +dream of the consequences of their action. Many of the French, forced to +seek another occupation, naturally fell into the way of buccaneering. +The hunters of cattle became hunters of Spaniards, and the sea became +the savanna on which they sought their game. Exquemelin tells us that +when he arrived at the island there were scarcely three hundred engaged +in hunting, and even these found their livelihood precarious. It was +from this time forward to the end of the century that the buccaneers +played so important a _role_ on the stage of West Indian history. + +Another source of recruits for the freebooters were the indentured +servants or _engages_. We hear a great deal of the barbarity with which +West Indian planters and hunters in the seventeenth century treated +their servants, and we may well believe that many of the latter, finding +their situation unendurable, ran away from their plantations or ajoupas +to join the crew of a chance corsair hovering in the neighbourhood. The +hunters' life, as we have seen, was not one of revelry and ease. On the +one side were all the insidious dangers lurking in a wild, tropical +forest; on the other, the relentless hostility of the Spaniards. The +environment of the hunters made them rough and cruel, and for many an +_engage_ his three years of servitude must have been a veritable +purgatory. The servants of the planters were in no better position. +Decoyed from Norman and Breton towns and villages by the loud-sounding +promises of sea-captains and West Indian agents, they came to seek an El +Dorado, and often found only despair and death. The want of sufficient +negroes led men to resort to any artifice in order to obtain assistance +in cultivating the sugar-cane and tobacco. The apprentices sent from +Europe were generally bound out in the French Antilles for eighteen +months or three years, among the English for seven years. They were +often resold in the interim, and sometimes served ten or twelve years +before they regained their freedom. They were veritable convicts, often +more ill-treated than the slaves with whom they worked side by side, for +their lives, after the expiration of their term of service, were of no +consequence to their masters. Many of these apprentices, of good birth +and tender education, were unable to endure the debilitating climate and +hard labour, let alone the cruelty of their employers. Exquemelin, +himself originally an _engage_, gives a most piteous description of +their sufferings. He was sold to the Lieutenant-Governor of Tortuga, who +treated him with great severity and refused to take less than 300 pieces +of eight for his freedom. Falling ill through vexation and despair, he +passed into the hands of a surgeon, who proved kind to him and finally +gave him his liberty for 100 pieces of eight, to be paid after his first +buccaneering voyage.[112] + +We left Levasseur governor in Tortuga after the abortive Spanish attack +of 1643. Finding his personal ascendancy so complete over the rude +natures about him, Levasseur, like many a greater man in similar +circumstances, lost his sense of the rights of others. His character +changed, he became suspicious and intolerant, and the settlers +complained bitterly of his cruelty and overbearing temper. Having come +as the leader of a band of Huguenots, he forbade the Roman Catholics to +hold services on the island, burnt their chapel and turned out their +priest. He placed heavy imposts on trade, and soon amassed a +considerable fortune.[113] In his eyrie upon the rock fortress, he is +said to have kept for his enemies a cage of iron, in which the prisoner +could neither stand nor lie down, and which Levasseur, with grim humour, +called his "little hell." A dungeon in his castle he termed in like +fashion his "purgatory." All these stories, however, are reported by the +Jesuits, his natural foes, and must be taken with a grain of salt. De +Poincy, who himself ruled with despotic authority and was guilty of +similar cruelties, would have turned a deaf ear to the denunciations +against his lieutenant, had not his jealousy been aroused by the +suspicion that Levasseur intended to declare himself an independent +prince.[114] So the governor-general, already in bad odour at court for +having given Levasseur means of establishing a little Geneva in Tortuga, +began to disavow him to the authorities at home. He also sent his +nephew, M. de Lonvilliers, to Tortuga, on the pretext of complimenting +Levasseur on his victory over the Spaniards, but really to endeavour to +entice him back to St. Kitts. Levasseur, subtle and penetrating, +skilfully avoided the trap, and Lonvilliers returned to St. Kitts alone. + +Charlevoix relates an amusing instance of the governor's stubborn +resistance to de Poincy's authority. A silver statue of the Virgin, +captured by some buccaneer from a Spanish ship, had been appropriated by +Levasseur, and de Poincy, desiring to decorate his chapel with it, wrote +to him demanding the statue, and observing that a Protestant had no use +for such an object. Levasseur, however, replied that the Protestants had +a great adoration for silver virgins, and that Catholics being "trop +spirituels pour tenir a la matiere," he was sending him, instead, a +madonna of painted wood. + +After a tenure of power for twelve years, Levasseur came to the end of +his tether. While de Poincy was resolving upon an expedition to oust him +from authority, two adventurers named Martin and Thibault, whom +Levasseur had adopted as his heirs, and with whom, it is said, he had +quarrelled over a mistress, shot him as he was descending from the fort +to the shore, and completed the murder by a poniard's thrust. They then +seized the government without any opposition from the inhabitants.[115] +Meanwhile there had arrived at St. Kitts the Chevalier de Fontenay, a +soldier of fortune who had distinguished himself against the Turks and +was attracted by the gleam of Spanish gold. He it was whom de Poincy +chose as the man to succeed Levasseur. The opportunity for action was +eagerly accepted by de Fontenay, but the project was kept secret, for if +Levasseur had got wind of it all the forces in St. Kitts could not have +dislodged him. Volunteers were raised on the pretext of a privateering +expedition to the coasts of Cartagena, and to complete the deception de +Fontenay actually sailed for the Main and captured several prizes. The +rendezvous was on the coast of Hispaniola, where de Fontenay was +eventually joined by de Poincy's nephew, M. de Treval, with another +frigate and materials for a siege. Learning of the murder of Levasseur, +the invaders at once sailed for Tortuga and landed several hundred men +at the spot where the Spaniards had formerly been repulsed. The two +assassins, finding the inhabitants indisposed to support them, +capitulated to de Fontenay on receiving pardon for their crime and the +peaceful possession of their property. Catholicism was restored, +commerce was patronized and buccaneers encouraged to use the port. Two +stone bastions were raised on the platform and more guns were +mounted.[116] De Fontenay himself was the first to bear the official +title of "Governor for the King of Tortuga and the Coast of S. Domingo." + +The new governor was not fated to enjoy his success for any length of +time. The President of S. Domingo, Don Juan Francisco de Montemayor, +with orders from the King of Spain, was preparing for another effort to +get rid of his troublesome neighbour, and in November 1653 sent an +expedition of five vessels and 400 infantry against the French, under +command of Don Gabriel Roxas de Valle-Figueroa. The ships were separated +by a storm, two ran aground and a third was lost, so that only the +"Capitana" and "Almirante" reached Tortuga on 10th January. Being +greeted with a rough fire from the platform and fort as they approached +the harbour, they dropped anchor a league to leeward and landed with +little opposition. After nine days of fighting and siege of the fort, de +Fontenay capitulated with the honours of war.[117] According to the +French account, the Spaniards, lashing their cannon to rough frames of +wood, dragged a battery of eight or ten guns to the top of some hills +commanding the fort, and began a furious bombardment. Several sorties of +the besieged to capture the battery were unsuccessful. The inhabitants +began to tire of fighting, and de Fontenay, discovering some secret +negotiations with the enemy, was compelled to sue for terms. With +incredible exertions, two half-scuttled ships in the harbour were fitted +up and provisioned within three days, and upon them the French sailed +for Port Margot.[118] The Spaniards claimed that the booty would have +been considerable but for some Dutch trading-ships in the harbour which +conveyed all the valuables from the island. They burned the settlements, +however, carried away with them some guns, munitions of war and slaves, +and this time taking the precaution to leave behind a garrison of 150 +men, sailed for Hispaniola. Fearing that the French might join forces +with the buccaneers and attack their small squadron on the way back, +they retained de Fontenay's brother as a hostage until they reached the +city of San Domingo. De Fontenay, indeed, after his brother's release, +did determine to try and recover the island. Only 130 of his men stood +by him, the rest deserting to join the buccaneers in western Hispaniola. +While he was careening his ship at Port Margot, however, a Dutch trader +arrived with commodities for Tortuga, and learning of the disaster, +offered him aid with men and supplies. A descent was made upon the +smaller island, and the Spaniards were besieged for twenty days, but +after several encounters they compelled the French to withdraw. De +Fontenay, with only thirty companions, sailed for Europe, was wrecked +among the Azores, and eventually reached France, only to die a short +time afterwards. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 83: Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9334, f. 48.] + +[Footnote 84: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, p. 130. This company had been +organised under the name of "The Governor and Company of Adventurers for +the Plantations of the Islands of Providence, Henrietta and the adjacent +islands, between 10 and 20 degrees of north latitude and 290 and 310 +degrees of longitude." The patent of incorporation is dated 4th December +1630 (_ibid._, p. 123).] + +[Footnote 85: Ibid., p. 131.] + +[Footnote 86: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 87: This identity was first pointed out by Pierre de Vaissiere +in his recent book: "Saint Domingue (1629-1789). La societe et la vie +creoles sous l'ancien regime," Paris, 1909, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 88: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, pp. 131-33.] + +[Footnote 89: Ibid., pp. 174, 175.] + +[Footnote 90: This was probably the same man as the "Don Juan de Morfa +Geraldino" who was admiral of the fleet which attacked Tortuga in 1654. +_Cf._ Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 35.] + +[Footnote 91: In 1642 Rui Fernandez de Fuemayor was governor and +captain-general of the province of Venezuela. _Cf._ Doro, _op. cit._, +iv. p. 341; note 2.] + +[Footnote 92: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,977, f. 505. According to the +minutes of the Providence Company, a certain Mr. Perry, newly arrived +from Association, gave information on 19th March 1635 that the island +had been surprised by the Spaniards (C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, p. 200). +This news was confirmed by a Mrs. Filby at another meeting of the +company on 10th April, when Capt. Wormeley, "by reason of his cowardice +and negligence in losing the island," was formally deprived of his +office as governor and banished from the colony (_ibid._, p. 201).] + +[Footnote 93: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,977, pp. 222-23.] + +[Footnote 94: Ibid., pp. 226-27, 235.] + +[Footnote 95: Ibid., pp. 226, 233, 235-37, 244.] + +[Footnote 96: Charlevoix: Histoire de. ... Saint Domingue, liv. vii. pp. +9-10. The story is repeated by Duro (_op. cit._, v. p. 34), who says +that the Spaniards were led by "el general D. Carlos Ibarra."] + +[Footnote 97: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. p. 10; Bibl. Nat. Nouv. +Acq., 9334, p. 48 _ff._] + +[Footnote 98: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 10-12; Vaissiere., +_op. cit._, Appendix I ("Memoire envoye aux seigneurs de la Compagnie +des Isles de l'Amerique par M. de Poincy, le 15 Novembre 1640"). + +According to the records of the Providence Company, Tortuga in 1640 had +300 inhabitants. A Captain Fload, who had been governor, was then in +London to clear himself of charges preferred against him by the +planters, while a Captain James was exercising authority as "President" +in the island. (C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660. pp. 313, 314.) Fload was +probably the "English captain" referred to in de Poincy's memoir. His +oppressive rule seems to have been felt as well by the English as by the +French.] + +[Footnote 99: Dutertre: Histoire generale des Antilles, tom. i. p. 171.] + +[Footnote 100: Charlevoix: _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 12-13.] + +[Footnote 101: In this monograph, by "buccaneers" are always meant the +corsairs and filibusters, and not the cattle and hog killers of +Hispaniola and Tortuga.] + +[Footnote 102: Labat: Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amerique, _ed._ +1742, tom. vii. p. 233.] + +[Footnote 103: Le Pers, printed in Margry, _op. cit._] + +[Footnote 104: Le Pers, printed in Margry, _op. cit._] + +[Footnote 105: Dampier writes that "Privateers are not obliged to any +ship, but free to go ashore where they please, or to go into any other +ship that will entertain them, only paying for their provision." +(Edition 1906, i. p. 61).] + +[Footnote 106: Labat, _op. cit._, tom. i. ch. 9.] + +[Footnote 107: Labat, _op. cit._, tom. vii. ch. 17.] + +[Footnote 108: Ibid., tom. ii. ch. 17.] + +[Footnote 109: Gibbs: British Honduras, p. 25.] + +[Footnote 110: A Spaniard, writing from S. Domingo in 1635, complains of +an English buccaneer settlement at Samana (on the north coast of +Hispaniola, near the Mona Passage), where they grew tobacco, and preyed +on the ships sailing from Cartagena and S. Domingo for Spain. (Add. +MSS., 13,977, f. 508.)] + +[Footnote 111: A piece of eight was worth in Jamaica from 4s. 6d. to +5s.] + +[Footnote 112: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part I. pp. 21-22.] + +[Footnote 113: Dutertre, _op. cit._, tom. i. ch. vi.] + +[Footnote 114: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. p. 16.] + +[Footnote 115: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 17-18.] + +[Footnote 116: According to a Spanish MS., there were in Tortuga in 1653 +700 French inhabitants, more than 200 negroes, and 250 Indians with +their wives and children. The negroes and Indians were all slaves; the +former seized on the coasts of Havana and Cartagena, the latter brought +over from Yucatan. In the harbour the platform had fourteen cannon, and +in the fort above were forty-six cannon, many of them of bronze (Add. +MSS., 13,992, f. 499 _ff._). The report of the amount of ordnance is +doubtless an exaggeration.] + +[Footnote 117: Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.] + +[Footnote 118: According to Dutertre, one vessel was commanded by the +assassins, Martin and Thibault, and contained the women and children. +The latter, when provisions ran low, were marooned on one of the +Caymans, north-west of Jamaica, where they would have perished had not a +Dutch ship found and rescued them. Martin and Thibault were never heard +of again.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CONQUEST OF JAMAICA + + +The capture of Jamaica by the expedition sent out by Cromwell in 1655 +was the blundering beginning of a new era in West Indian history. It was +the first permanent annexation by another European power of an integral +part of Spanish America. Before 1655 the island had already been twice +visited by English forces. The first occasion was in January 1597, when +Sir Anthony Shirley, with little opposition, took and plundered St. Jago +de la Vega. The second was in 1643, when William Jackson repeated the +same exploit with 500 men from the Windward Islands. Cromwell's +expedition, consisting of 2500 men and a considerable fleet, set sail +from England in December 1654, with the secret object of "gaining an +interest" in that part of the West Indies in possession of the +Spaniards. Admiral Penn commanded the fleet, and General Venables the +land forces.[119] The expedition reached Barbadoes at the end of +January, where some 4000 additional troops were raised, besides about +1200 from Nevis, St. Kitts, and neighbouring islands. The commanders +having resolved to direct their first attempt against Hispaniola, on +13th April a landing was effected at a point to the west of San Domingo, +and the army, suffering terribly from a tropical sun and lack of water, +marched thirty miles through woods and savannahs to attack the city. The +English received two shameful defeats from a handful of Spaniards on +17th and 25th April, and General Venables, complaining loudly of the +cowardice of his men and of Admiral Penn's failure to co-operate with +him, finally gave up the attempt and sailed for Jamaica. On 11th May, in +the splendid harbour on which Kingston now stands, the English fleet +dropped anchor. Three small forts on the western side were battered by +the guns from the ships, and as soon as the troops began to land the +garrisons evacuated their posts. St. Jago, six miles inland, was +occupied next day. The terms offered by Venables to the Spaniards (the +same as those exacted from the English settlers on Providence Island in +1641--emigration within ten days on pain of death, and forfeiture of all +their property) were accepted on the 17th; but the Spaniards were soon +discovered to have entered into negotiations merely to gain time and +retire with their families and goods to the woods and mountains, whence +they continued their resistance. Meanwhile the army, wretchedly equipped +with provisions and other necessities, was decimated by sickness. On the +19th two long-expected store-ships arrived, but the supplies brought by +them were limited, and an appeal for assistance was sent to New England. +Admiral Penn, disgusted with the fiasco in Hispaniola and on bad terms +with Venables, sailed for England with part of his fleet on 25th June; +and Venables, so ill that his life was despaired of, and also anxious to +clear himself of the responsibility for the initial failure of the +expedition, followed in the "Marston Moor" nine days later. On 20th +September both commanders appeared before the Council of State to answer +the charge of having deserted their posts, and together they shared the +disgrace of a month in the Tower.[120] + +The army of General Venables was composed of very inferior and +undisciplined troops, mostly the rejected of English regiments or the +offscourings of the West Indian colonies; yet the chief reasons for the +miscarriage before San Domingo were the failure of Venables to command +the confidence of his officers and men, his inexcusable errors in the +management of the attack, and the lack of cordial co-operation between +him and the Admiral. The difficulties with which he had to struggle +were, of course, very great. On the other hand, he seems to have been +deficient both in strength of character and in military capacity; and +his ill-health made still more difficult a task for which he was +fundamentally incompetent. The comparative failure of this, Cromwell's +pet enterprise, was a bitter blow to the Protector. For a whole day he +shut himself up in his room, brooding over the disaster for which he, +more than any other, was responsible. He had aimed not merely to plant +one more colony in America, but to make himself master of such parts of +the West Indian islands and Spanish Main as would enable him to dominate +the route of the Spanish-American treasure fleets. To this end Jamaica +contributed few advantages beyond those possessed by Barbadoes and St. +Kitts, and it was too early for him to realize that island for island +Jamaica was much more suitable than Hispaniola as the seat of an English +colony.[121] + +Religious and economic motives form the key to Cromwell's foreign +policy, and it is difficult to discover which, the religious or the +economic, was uppermost in his mind when he planned this expedition. He +inherited from the Puritans of Elizabeth's time the traditional +religious hatred of Spain as the bulwark of Rome, and in his mind as in +theirs the overthrow of the Spaniards in the West Indies was a blow at +antichrist and an extension of the true religion. The religious ends of +the expedition were fully impressed upon Venables and his successors in +Jamaica.[122] Second only, however, to Oliver's desire to protect "the +people of God," was his ambition to extend England's empire beyond the +seas. He desired the unquestioned supremacy of England over the other +nations of Europe, and that supremacy, as he probably foresaw, was to be +commercial and colonial. Since the discovery of America the world's +commerce had enormously increased, and its control brought with it +national power. America had become the treasure-house of Europe. If +England was to be set at the head of the world's commerce and +navigation, she must break through Spain's monopoly of the Indies and +gain a control in Spanish America. San Domingo was to be but a +preliminary step, after which the rest of the Spanish dominions in the +New World would be gradually absorbed.[123] + +The immediate excuse for the attack on Hispaniola and Jamaica was the +Spaniards' practice of seizing English ships and ill-treating English +crews merely because they were found in some part of the Caribbean Sea, +and even though bound for a plantation actually in possession of English +colonists. It was the old question of effective occupation _versus_ +papal donation, and both Cromwell and Venables convinced themselves that +Spanish assaults in the past on English ships and colonies supplied a +sufficient _casus belli_.[124] There was no justification, however, for +a secret attack upon Spain. She had been the first to recognize the +young republic, and was willing and even anxious to league herself with +England. There had been actual negotiations for an alliance, and +Cromwell's offers, though rejected, had never been really withdrawn. +Without a declaration of war or formal notice of any sort, a fleet was +fitted out and sent in utmost secrecy to fall unawares upon the colonies +of a friendly nation. The whole aspect of the exploit was Elizabethan. +It was inspired by Drake and Raleigh, a reversion to the Elizabethan +gold-hunt. It was the first of the great buccaneering expeditions.[125] + +Cromwell was doubtless influenced, too, by the representations of Thomas +Gage. Gage was an Englishman who had joined the Dominicans and had been +sent by his Order out to Spanish America. In 1641 he returned to +England, announced his conversion to Protestantism, took the side of +Parliament and became a minister. His experiences in the West Indies and +Mexico he published in 1648 under the name of "The English-American, or +a New Survey of the West Indies," a most entertaining book, which aimed +to arouse Englishmen against Romish "idolatries," to show how valuable +the Spanish-American provinces might be to England in trade and bullion +and how easily they might be seized. In the summer of 1654, moreover, +Gage had laid before the Protector a memorial in which he recapitulated +the conclusions of his book, assuring Cromwell that the Spanish colonies +were sparsely peopled and that the few whites were unwarlike and +scantily provided with arms and ammunition. He asserted that the +conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba would be a matter of no difficulty, and +that even Central America was too weak to oppose a long resistance.[126] +All this was true, and had Cromwell but sent a respectable force under +an efficient leader the result would have been different. The exploits +of the buccaneers a few years later proved it. + +It was fortunate, considering the distracted state of affairs in Jamaica +in 1655-56, that the Spaniards were in no condition to attempt to regain +the island. Cuba, the nearest Spanish territory to Jamaica, was being +ravaged by the most terrible pestilence known there in years, and the +inhabitants, alarmed for their own safety, instead of trying to +dispossess the English, were busy providing for the defence of their own +coasts.[127] In 1657, however, some troops under command of the old +Spanish governor of Jamaica, D. Christopher Sasi Arnoldo, crossed from +St. Jago de Cuba and entrenched themselves on the northern shore as the +advance post of a greater force expected from the mainland. Papers of +instructions relating to the enterprise were intercepted by Colonel +Doyley, then acting-governor of Jamaica; and he with 500 picked men +embarked for the north side, attacked the Spaniards in their +entrenchments and utterly routed them.[128] The next year about 1000 +men, the long-expected corps of regular Spanish infantry, landed and +erected a fort at Rio Nuevo. Doyley, displaying the same energy, set out +again on 11th June with 750 men, landed under fire on the 22nd, and next +day captured the fort in a brilliant attack in which about 300 Spaniards +were killed and 100 more, with many officers and flags, captured. The +English lost about sixty in killed and wounded.[129] After the failure +of a similar, though weaker, attempt in 1660, the Spaniards despaired of +regaining Jamaica, and most of those still upon the island embraced the +first opportunity to retire to Cuba and other Spanish settlements. + +As colonists the troops in Jamaica proved to be very discouraging +material, and the army was soon in a wretched state. The officers and +soldiers plundered and mutinied instead of working and planting. Their +wastefulness led to scarcity of food, and scarcity of food brought +disease and death.[139] They wished to force the Protector to recall +them, or to employ them in assaulting the opulent Spanish towns on the +Main, an occupation far more lucrative than that of planting corn and +provisions for sustenance. Cromwell, however, set himself to develop and +strengthen his new colony. He issued a proclamation encouraging trade +and settlement in the island by exempting the inhabitants from taxes, +and the Council voted that 1000 young men and an equal number of girls +be shipped over from Ireland. The Scotch government was instructed to +apprehend and transport idlers and vagabonds, and commissioners were +sent into New England and to the Windward and Leeward Islands to try and +attract settlers.[131] Bermudians, Jews, Quakers from Barbadoes and +criminals from Newgate, helped to swell the population of the new +colony, and in 1658 the island is said to have contained 4500 whites, +besides 1500 or more negro slaves.[132] + +To dominate the Spanish trade routes was one of the principal objects of +English policy in the West Indies. This purpose is reflected in all of +Cromwell's instructions to the leaders of the Jamaican design, and it +appears again in his instructions of 10th October 1655 to Major-General +Fortescue and Vice-Admiral Goodson. Fortescue was given power and +authority to land men upon territory claimed by the Spaniards, to take +their forts, castles and places of strength, and to pursue, kill and +destroy all who opposed him. The Vice-Admiral was to assist him with his +sea-forces, and to use his best endeavours to seize all ships belonging +to the King of Spain or his subjects in America.[133] The soldiers, as +has been said, were more eager to fight the Spaniards than to plant, and +opportunities were soon given them to try their hand. Admiral Penn had +left twelve ships under Goodson's charge, and of these, six were at sea +picking up a few scattered Spanish prizes which helped to pay for the +victuals supplied out of New England.[134] Goodson, however, was after +larger prey, no less than the galleons or a Spanish town upon the +mainland. He did not know where the galleons were, but at the end of +July he seems to have been lying with eight vessels before Cartagena and +Porto Bello, and on 22nd November he sent Captain Blake with nine ships +to the same coast to intercept all vessels going thither from Spain or +elsewhere. The fleet was broken up by foul weather, however, and part +returned on 14th December to refit, leaving a few small frigates to lie +in wait for some merchantmen reported to be in that region.[135] The +first town on the Main to feel the presence of this new power in the +Indies was Santa Marta, close to Cartagena on the shores of what is now +the U.S. of Columbia. In the latter part of October, just a month before +the departure of Blake, Goodson sailed with a fleet of eight vessels to +ravage the Spanish coasts. According to one account his original design +had been against Rio de la Hacha near the pearl fisheries, "but having +missed his aim" he sailed for Santa Marta. He landed 400 sailors and +soldiers under the protection of his guns, took and demolished the two +forts which barred his way, and entered the town. Finding that the +inhabitants had already fled with as much of their belongings as they +could carry, he pursued them some twelve miles up into the country; and +on his return plundered and burnt their houses, embarked with thirty +pieces of cannon and other booty, and sailed for Jamaica.[136] It was a +gallant performance with a handful of men, but the profits were much +less than had been expected. It had been agreed that the seamen and +soldiers should receive half the spoil, but on counting the proceeds it +was found that their share amounted to no more than L400, to balance +which the State took the thirty pieces of ordnance and some powder, +shot, hides, salt and Indian corn.[137] Sedgwick wrote to Thurloe that +"reckoning all got there on the State's share, it did not pay for the +powder and shot spent in that service."[138] Sedgwick was one of the +civil commissioners appointed for the government of Jamaica. A brave, +pious soldier with a long experience and honourable military record in +the Massachusetts colony, he did not approve of this type of warfare +against the Spaniards. "This kind of marooning cruising West India trade +of plundering and burning towns," he writes, "though it hath been long +practised in these parts, yet is not honourable for a princely navy, +neither was it, I think, the work designed, though perhaps it may be +tolerated at present." If Cromwell was to accomplish his original +purpose of blocking up the Spanish treasure route, he wrote again, +permanent foothold must be gained in some important Spanish fortress, +either Cartagena or Havana, places strongly garrisoned, however, and +requiring for their reduction a considerable army and fleet, such as +Jamaica did not then possess. But to waste and burn towns of inferior +rank without retaining them merely dragged on the war indefinitely and +effected little advantage or profit to anybody.[139] Captain Nuberry +visited Santa Marta several weeks after Goodson's descent, and, going on +shore, found that about a hundred people had made bold to return and +rebuild their devastated homes. Upon sight of the English the poor +people again fled incontinently to the woods, and Nuberry and his men +destroyed their houses a second time.[140] + +On 5th April 1656 Goodson, with ten of his best ships, set sail again +and steered eastward along the coast of Hispaniola as far as Alta Vela, +hoping to meet with some Spanish ships reported in that region. +Encountering none, he stood for the Main, and landed on 4th May with +about 450 men at Rio de la Hacha. The story of the exploit is merely a +repetition of what happened at Santa Marta. The people had sight of the +English fleet six hours before it could drop anchor, and fled from the +town to the hills and surrounding woods. Only twelve men were left +behind to hold the fort, which the English stormed and took within half +an hour. Four large brass cannon were carried to the ships and the fort +partly demolished. The Spaniards pretended to parley for the ransom of +their town, but when after a day's delay they gave no sign of complying +with the admiral's demands, he burned the place on 8th May and sailed +away.[141] Goodson called again at Santa Marta on the 11th to get water, +and on the 14th stood before Cartagena to view the harbour. Leaving +three vessels to ply there, he returned to Jamaica, bringing back with +him only two small prizes, one laden with wine, the other with cocoa. + +The seamen of the fleet, however, were restless and eager for further +enterprises of this nature, and Goodson by the middle of June had +fourteen of his vessels lying off the Cuban coast near Cape S. Antonio +in wait for the galleons or the Flota, both of which fleets were then +expected at Havana. His ambition to repeat the achievement of Piet Heyn +was fated never to be realised. The fleet of Terra-Firma, he soon +learned, had sailed into Havana on 15th May, and on 13th June, three +days before his arrival on that coast, had departed for Spain.[142] +Meanwhile, one of his own vessels, the "Arms of Holland," was blown up, +with the loss of all on board but three men and the captain, and two +other ships were disabled. Five of the fleet returned to England on 23rd +August, and with the rest Goodson remained on the Cuban coast until the +end of the month, watching in vain for the fleet from Vera Cruz which +never sailed.[143] + +Colonel Edward Doyley, the officer who so promptly defeated the attempts +of the Spaniards in 1657-58 to re-conquer Jamaica, was now governor of +the island. He had sailed with the expedition to the West Indies as +lieutenant-colonel in the regiment of General Venables, and on the death +of Major-General Fortescue in November 1655 had been chosen by +Cromwell's commissioners in Jamaica as commander-in-chief of the land +forces. In May 1656 he was superseded by Robert Sedgwick, but the latter +died within a few days, and Doyley petitioned the Protector to appoint +him to the post. William Brayne, however, arrived from England in +December 1656 to take chief command; and when he, like his two +predecessors, was stricken down by disease nine months later, the place +devolved permanently upon Doyley. Doyley was a very efficient governor, +and although he has been accused of showing little regard or respect for +planting and trade, the charge appears to be unjust.[144] He firmly +maintained order among men disheartened and averse to settlement, and at +the end of his service delivered up the colony a comparatively +well-ordered and thriving community. He was confirmed in his post by +Charles II. at the Restoration, but superseded by Lord Windsor in August +1661. Doyley's claim to distinction rests mainly upon his vigorous +policy against the Spaniards, not only in defending Jamaica, but by +encouraging privateers and carrying the war into the enemies' quarters. +In July 1658, on learning from some prisoners that the galleons were in +Porto Bello awaiting the plate from Panama, Doyley embarked 300 men on a +fleet of five vessels and sent it to lie in an obscure bay between that +port and Cartagena to intercept the Spanish ships. On 20th October the +galleons were espied, twenty-nine vessels in all, fifteen galleons and +fourteen stout merchantmen. Unfortunately, all the English vessels +except the "Hector" and the "Marston Moor" were at that moment absent to +obtain fresh water. Those two alone could do nothing, but passing +helplessly through the Spaniards, hung on their rear and tried without +success to scatter them. The English fleet later attacked and burnt the +town of Tolu on the Main, capturing two Spanish ships in the road; and +afterwards paid another visit to the unfortunate Santa Marta, where they +remained three days, marching several miles into the country and burning +and destroying everything in their path.[145] + +On 23rd April 1659, however, there returned to Port Royal another +expedition whose success realised the wildest dreams of avarice. Three +frigates under command of Captain Christopher Myngs,[146] with 300 +soldiers on board, had been sent by Doyley to harry the South American +coast. They first entered and destroyed Cumana, and then ranging along +the coast westward, landed again at Puerto Cabello and at Coro. At the +latter town they followed the inhabitants into the woods, where besides +other plunder they came upon twenty-two chests of royal treasure +intended for the King of Spain, each chest containing 400 pounds of +silver.[147] Embarking this money and other spoil in the shape of plate, +jewels and cocoa, they returned to Port Royal with the richest prize +that ever entered Jamaica. The whole pillage was estimated at between +L200,000 and L300,000.[148] The abundance of new wealth introduced into +Jamaica did much to raise the spirits of the colonists, and set the +island well upon the road to more prosperous times. The sequel to this +brilliant exploit, however, was in some ways unfortunate. Disputes were +engendered between the officers of the expedition and the governor and +other authorities on shore over the disposal of the booty, and in the +early part of June 1659 Captain Myngs was sent home in the "Marston +Moor," suspended for disobeying orders and plundering the hold of one of +the prizes to the value of 12,000 pieces of eight. Myngs was an active, +intrepid commander, but apparently avaricious and impatient of control. +He seems to have endeavoured to divert most of the prize money into the +pockets of his officers and men, by disposing of the booty on his own +initiative before giving a strict account of it to the governor or +steward-general of the island. Doyley writes that there was a constant +market aboard the "Marston Moor," and that Myngs and his officers, +alleging it to be customary to break and plunder the holds, permitted +the twenty-two chests of the King of Spain's silver to be divided among +the men without any provision whatever for the claims of the State.[149] +There was also some friction over the disposal of six Dutch prizes which +Doyley had picked up for illegal trading at Barbadoes on his way out +from England. These, too, had been plundered before they reached +Jamaica, and when Myngs found that there was no power in the colony to +try and condemn ships taken by virtue of the Navigation Laws, it only +added fuel to his dissatisfaction. When Myngs reached England he lodged +counter-complaints against Governor Doyley, Burough, the +steward-general, and Vice-Admiral Goodson, alleging that they received +more than their share of the prize money; and a war of mutual +recrimination followed.[150] Amid the distractions of the Restoration, +however, little seems ever to have been made of the matter in England. +The insubordination of officers in 1659-60 was a constant source of +difficulty and impediment to the governor in his efforts to establish +peace and order in the colony. In England nobody was sure where the +powers of government actually resided. As Burough wrote from Jamaica on +19th January 1660, "We are here just like you at home; when we heard of +the Lord-Protector's death we proclaimed his son, and when we heard of +his being turned out we proclaimed a Parliament and now own a Committee +of safety."[151] The effect of this uncertainty was bound to be +prejudicial in Jamaica, a new colony filled with adventurers, for it +loosened the reins of authority and encouraged lawless spirits to set +the governor at defiance. + +On 8th May 1660 Charles II. was proclaimed King of England, and entered +London on 29th May. The war which Cromwell had begun with Spain was +essentially a war of the Commonwealth. The Spanish court was therefore +on friendly terms with the exiled prince, and when he returned into +possession of his kingdom a cessation of hostilities with Spain +naturally followed. Charles wrote a note to Don Luis de Haro on 2nd June +1660, proposing an armistice in Europe and America which was to lead to +a permanent peace and a re-establishment of commercial relations between +the two kingdoms.[152] At the same time Sir Henry Bennett, the English +resident in Madrid, made similar proposals to the Spanish king. A +favourable answer was received in July, and the cessation of arms, +including a revival of the treaty of 1630 was proclaimed on 10th-20th +September 1660. Preliminary negotiations for a new treaty were entered +upon at Madrid, but the marriage of Charles to Catherine of Braganza in +1662, and the consequent alliance with Portugal, with whom Spain was +then at war, put a damper upon all such designs. The armistice with +Spain was not published in Jamaica until 5th February of the following +year. On 4th February Colonel Doyley received from the governor of St. +Jago de Cuba a letter enclosing an order from Sir Henry Bennett for the +cessation of arms, and this order Doyley immediately made public.[153] +About thirty English prisoners were also returned by the Spaniards with +the letter. Doyley was confirmed in his command of Jamaica by Charles +II., but his commission was not issued till 8th February 1661.[154] He +was very desirous, however, of returning to England to look after his +private affairs, and on 2nd August another commission was issued to Lord +Windsor, appointing him as Doyley's successor.[155] Just a year later, +in August 1662, Windsor arrived at Port Royal, fortified with +instructions "to endeavour to obtain and preserve a good correspondence +and free commerce with the plantations belonging to the King of Spain," +even resorting to force if necessary.[156] + +The question of English trade with the Spanish colonies in the Indies +had first come to the surface in the negotiations for the treaty of +1604, after the long wars between Elizabeth and Philip II. The endeavour +of the Spaniards to obtain an explicit prohibition of commerce was met +by the English demand for entire freedom. The Spaniards protested that +it had never been granted in former treaties or to other nations, or +even without restriction to Spanish subjects, and clamoured for at least +a private article on the subject; but the English commissioners +steadfastly refused, and offered to forbid trade only with ports +actually under Spanish authority. Finally a compromise was reached in +the words "in quibus ante bellum fuit commercium, juxta et secundum usum +et observantiam."[157] This article was renewed in Cottington's Treaty +of 1630. The Spaniards themselves, indeed, in 1630, were willing to +concede a free navigation in the American seas, and even offered to +recognise the English colony of Virginia if Charles I. would admit +articles prohibiting trade and navigation in certain harbours and bays. +Cottington, however, was too far-sighted, and wrote to Lord Dorchester: +"For my own part, I shall ever be far from advising His Majesty to think +of such restrictions, for certainly a little more time will open the +navigation to those parts so long as there are no negative capitulations +or articles to hinder it."[158] The monopolistic pretensions of the +Spanish government were evidently relaxing, for in 1634 the Conde de +Humanes confided to the English agent, Taylor, that there had been talk +in the Council of the Indies of admitting the English to a share in the +freight of ships sent to the West Indies, and even of granting them a +limited permission to go to those regions on their own account. And in +1637 the Conde de Linhares, recently appointed governor of Brazil, told +the English ambassador, Lord Aston, that he was very anxious that +English ships should do the carrying between Lisbon and Brazilian ports. + +The settlement of the Windward and Leeward Islands and the conquest of +Jamaica had given a new impetus to contraband trade. The commercial +nations were setting up shop, as it were, at the very doors of the +Spanish Indies. The French and English Antilles, condemned by the +Navigation Laws to confine themselves to agriculture and a passive trade +with the home country, had no recourse but to traffic with their Spanish +neighbours. Factors of the Assiento established at Cartagena, Porto +Bello and Vera Cruz every year supplied European merchants with detailed +news of the nature and quantity of the goods which might be imported +with advantage; while the buccaneers, by dominating the whole Caribbean +Sea, hindered frequent communication between Spain and her colonies. It +is not surprising, therefore, that the commerce of Seville, which had +hitherto held its own, decreased with surprising rapidity, that the +sailings of the galleons and the Flota were separated by several years, +and that the fairs of Porto Bello and Vera Cruz were almost deserted. To +put an effective restraint, moreover, upon this contraband trade was +impossible on either side. The West Indian dependencies were situated +far from the centre of authority, while the home governments generally +had their hands too full of other matters to adequately control their +subjects in America. The Spanish viceroys, meanwhile, and the governors +in the West Indian Islands, connived at a practice which lined their own +pockets with the gold of bribery, and at the same time contributed to +the public interest and prosperity of their respective colonies. It was +this illicit commerce with Spanish America which Charles II., by +negotiation at Madrid and by instructions to his governors in the West +Indies, tried to get within his own control. At the Spanish court, +Fanshaw, Sandwich and Godolphin in turn were instructed to sue for a +free trade with the Colonies. The Assiento of negroes was at this time +held by two Genoese named Grillo and Lomelin, and with them the English +ambassadors several times entered into negotiation for the privilege of +supplying blacks from the English islands. By the treaty of 1670 the +English colonies in America were for the first time formally recognised +by the Spanish Crown. Freedom of commerce, however, was as far as ever +from realisation, and after this date Charles seems to have given up +hope of ever obtaining it through diplomatic channels. + +The peace of 1660 between England and Spain was supposed to extend to +both sides of the "Line." The Council in Jamaica, however, were of the +opinion that it applied only to Europe,[159] and from the tenor of Lord +Windsor's instructions it may be inferred that the English Court at that +time meant to interpret it with the same limitations. Windsor, indeed, +was not only instructed to force the Spanish colonies to a free trade, +but was empowered to call upon the governor of Barbadoes for aid "in +case of any considerable attempt by the Spaniards against Jamaica."[160] +The efforts of the Governor, however, to come to a good correspondence +with the Spanish colonies were fruitless. In the minutes of the Council +of Jamaica of 20th August 1662, we read: "Resolved that the letters from +the Governors of Porto Rico and San Domingo are an absolute denial of +trade, and that according to His Majesty's instructions to Lord Windsor +a trade by force or otherwise be endeavoured;"[161] and under 12th +September we find another resolution "that men be enlisted for a design +by sea with the 'Centurion' and other vessels."[162] This "design" was +an expedition to capture and destroy St. Jago de Cuba, the Spanish port +nearest to Jamaican shores. An attack upon St. Jago had been projected +by Goodson as far back as 1655. "The Admiral," wrote Major Sedgwick to +Thurloe just after his arrival in Jamaica, "was intended before our +coming in to have taken some few soldiers and gone over to St. Jago de +Cuba, a town upon Cuba, but our coming hindered him without whom we +could not well tell how to do anything."[163] In January 1656 the plan +was definitely abandoned, because the colony could not spare a +sufficient number of soldiers for the enterprise.[164] It was to St. +Jago that the Spaniards, driven from Jamaica, mostly betook themselves, +and from St. Jago as a starting-point had come the expedition of 1658 to +reconquer the island. The instructions of Lord Windsor afforded a +convenient opportunity to avenge past attacks and secure Jamaica from +molestation in that quarter for the future. The command of the +expedition was entrusted to Myngs, who in 1662 was again in the Indies +on the frigate "Centurion." Myngs sailed from Port Royal on 21st +September with eleven ships and 1300 men,[165] but, kept back by +unfavourable winds, did not sight the castle of St. Jago until 5th +October. Although he had intended to force the entrance of the harbour, +he was prevented by the prevailing land breeze; so he disembarked his +men to windward, on a rocky coast, where the path up the bluffs was so +narrow that but one man could march at a time. Night had fallen before +all were landed, and "the way (was) soe difficult and the night soe dark +that they were forced to make stands and fires, and their guides with +brands in their hands, to beat the path."[166] At daybreak they reached +a plantation by a river's side, some six miles from the place of landing +and three from St. Jago. There they refreshed themselves, and advancing +upon the town surprised the enemy, who knew of the late landing and the +badness of the way and did not expect them so soon. They found 200 +Spaniards at the entrance to the town, drawn up under their governor, +Don Pedro de Moralis, and supported by Don Christopher de Sasi Arnoldo, +the former Spanish governor of Jamaica, with a reserve of 500 more. The +Spaniards fled before the first charge of the Jamaicans, and the place +was easily mastered. + +The next day parties were despatched into the country to pursue the +enemy, and orders sent to the fleet to attack the forts at the mouth of +the harbour. This was successfully done, the Spaniards deserting the +great castle after firing but two muskets. Between scouring the country +for hidden riches, most of which had been carried far inland beyond +their reach, and dismantling and demolishing the forts, the English +forces occupied their time until October 19th. Thirty-four guns were +found in the fortifications and 1000 barrels of powder. Some of the guns +were carried to the ships and the rest flung over the precipice into the +sea; while the powder was used to blow up the castle and the +neighbouring country houses.[167] The expedition returned to Jamaica on +22nd October.[168] Only six men had been killed by the Spaniards, twenty +more being lost by other "accidents." Of these twenty some must have +been captured by the enemy, for when Sir Richard Fanshaw was appointed +ambassador to Spain in January 1664, he was instructed among other +things to negotiate for an exchange of prisoners taken in the Indies. In +July we find him treating for the release of Captain Myngs' men from the +prisons of Seville and Cadiz,[169] and on 7th November an order to this +effect was obtained from the King of Spain.[170] + +The instructions of Lord Windsor gave him leave, as soon as he had +settled the government in Jamaica, to appoint a deputy and return to +England to confer with the King on colonial affairs. Windsor sailed for +England on 28th October, and on the same day Sir Charles Lyttleton's +commission as deputy-governor was read in the Jamaican Council.[171] +During his short sojourn of three months the Governor had made +considerable progress toward establishing an ordered constitution in the +island. He disbanded the old army, and reorganised the military under a +stricter discipline and better officers. He systematised legal procedure +and the rules for the conveyance of property. He erected an Admiralty +Court at Port Royal, and above all, probably in pursuance of the +recommendation of Colonel Doyley,[172] had called in all the +privateering commissions issued by previous governors, and tried to +submit the captains to orderly rules by giving them new commissions, +with instructions to bring their Spanish prizes to Jamaica for +judicature.[173] + +The departure of Windsor did not put a stop to the efforts of the +Jamaicans to "force a trade" with the Spanish plantations, and we find +the Council, on 11th December 1662, passing a motion that to this end an +attempt should be made to leeward on the coasts of Cuba, Honduras and +the Gulf of Campeache. On 9th and 10th January between 1500 and 1600 +soldiers, many of them doubtless buccaneers, were embarked on a fleet of +twelve ships and sailed two days later under command of the redoubtable +Myngs. About ninety leagues this side of Campeache the fleet ran into a +great storm, in which one of the vessels foundered and three others were +separated from their fellows. The English reached the coast of +Campeache, however, in the early morning of Friday, 9th February, and +landing a league and a half from the town, marched without being seen +along an Indian path with "such speed and good fortune" that by ten +o'clock in the morning they were already masters of the city and of all +the forts save one, the Castle of Santa Cruz. At the second fort Myngs +was wounded by a gun in three places. The town itself, Myngs reported, +might have been defended like a fortress, for the houses were contiguous +and strongly built of stone with flat roofs.[174] The forts were partly +demolished, a portion of the town was destroyed by fire, and the +fourteen sail lying in the harbour were seized by the invaders. +Altogether the booty must have been considerable. The Spanish +licentiate, Maldonado de Aldana, placed it at 150,000 pieces of +eight,[175] and the general damage to the city in the destruction of +houses and munitions by the enemy, and in the expenditure of treasure +for purposes of defence, at half a million more. Myngs and his fleet +sailed away on 23rd February, but the "Centurion" did not reach Port +Royal until 13th April, and the rest of the fleet followed a few days +later. The number of casualties on each side was surprisingly small. The +invaders lost only thirty men killed, and the Spaniards between fifty +and sixty, but among the latter were the two alcaldes and many other +officers and prominent citizens of the town.[176] + +To satisfactorily explain at Madrid these two presumptuous assaults upon +Spanish territory in America was an embarrassing problem for the English +Government, especially as Myngs' men imprisoned at Seville and Cadiz +were said to have produced commissions to justify their actions.[177] +The Spanish king instructed his resident in London to demand whether +Charles accepted responsibility for the attack upon St. Jago, and the +proceedings of English cases in the Spanish courts arising from the +depredations of Galician corsairs were indefinitely suspended.[178] +When, however, there followed upon this, in May 1663, the news of the +sack and burning of Campeache, it stirred up the greatest excitement in +Madrid.[179] Orders and, what was rarer in Spain, money were immediately +sent to Cadiz to the Duke of Albuquerque to hasten the work on the royal +Armada for despatch to the Indies; and efforts were made to resuscitate +the defunct Armada de Barlovento, a small fleet which had formerly been +used to catch interlopers and protect the coasts of Terra-Firma. In one +way the capture of Campeache had touched Spain in her most vulnerable +spot. The Mexican Flota, which was scheduled to sail from Havana in June +1663, refused to stir from its retreat at Vera Cruz until the galleons +from Porto Bello came to convoy it. The arrival of the American treasure +in Spain was thus delayed for two months, and the bankrupt government +put to sore straits for money. + +The activity of the Spaniards, however, was merely a blind to hide their +own impotence, and their clamours were eventually satisfied by the King +of England's writing to Deputy-Governor Lyttleton a letter forbidding +all such undertakings for the future. The text of the letter is as +follows: "Understanding with what jealousy and offence the Spaniards +look upon our island of Jamaica, and how disposed they are to make some +attempt upon it, and knowing how disabled it will remain in its own +defence if encouragement be given to such undertakings as have lately +been set on foot, and are yet pursued, and which divert the inhabitants +from that industry which alone can render the island considerable, the +king signifies his dislike of all such undertakings, and commands that +no such be pursued for the future, but that they unitedly apply +themselves to the improvement of the plantation and keeping the force in +proper condition."[180] The original draft of the letter was much milder +in tone, and betrays the real attitude of Charles II. toward these +half-piratical enterprises: "His Majesty has heard of the success of the +undertaking upon Cuba, in which he cannot choose but please himself in +the vigour and resolution wherein it was performed ... but because His +Majesty cannot foresee any utility likely to arise thereby ... he has +thought fit hereby to command him to give no encouragement to such +undertakings unless they may be performed by the frigates or men-of-war +attending that place without any addition from the soldiers or +inhabitants."[181] Other letters were subsequently sent to Jamaica, +which made it clear that the war of the privateers was not intended to +be called off by the king's instructions; and Sir Charles Lyttleton, +therefore, did not recall their commissions. Nevertheless, in the early +part of 1664, the assembly in Jamaica passed an act prohibiting public +levies of men upon foreign designs, and forbidding any person to leave +the island on any such design without first obtaining leave from the +governor, council and assembly.[182] + +When the instructions of the authorities at home were so ambiguous, and +the incentives to corsairing so alluring, it was natural that this game +of baiting the Spaniards should suffer little interruption. English +freebooters who had formerly made Hispaniola and Tortuga their +headquarters now resorted to Jamaica, where they found a cordial welcome +and a better market for their plunder. Thus in June 1663 a certain +Captain Barnard sailed from Port Royal to the Orinoco, took and +plundered the town of Santo Tomas and returned in the following +March.[183] On 19th October another privateer named Captain Cooper +brought into Port Royal two Spanish prizes, the larger of which, the +"Maria" of Seville, was a royal azogue and carried 1000 quintals of +quicksilver for the King of Spain's mines in Mexico, besides oil, wine +and olives.[184] Cooper in his fight with the smaller vessel so disabled +his own ship that he was forced to abandon it and enter the prize; and +it was while cruising off Hispaniola in this prize that he fell in with +the "Maria," and captured her after a four hours' combat. There were +seventy prisoners, among them a number of friars going to Campeache and +Vera Cruz. Some of the prize goods were carried to England, and Don +Patricio Moledi, the Spanish resident in London, importuned the English +government for its restoration.[185] Sir Charles Lyttleton had sailed +for England on 2nd May 1664, leaving the government of Jamaica in the +hands of the Council with Colonel Thomas Lynch as president;[186] and on +his arrival in England he made formal answer to the complaints of +Moledi. His excuse was that Captain Cooper's commission had been derived +not from the deputy-governor himself but from Lord Windsor; and that the +deputy-governor had never received any order from the king for recalling +commissions, or for the cessation of hostilities against the +Spaniards.[187] Lyttleton and the English government were evidently +attempting the rather difficult circus feat of riding two mounts at the +same time. The instructions from England, as Lyttleton himself +acknowledged in his letter of 15th October 1663, distinctly forbade +further hostilities against the Spanish plantations; on the other hand, +there were no specific orders that privateers should be recalled. +Lyttleton was from first to last in sympathy with the freebooters, and +probably believed with many others of his time that "the Spaniard is +most pliable when best beaten." In August 1664 he presented to the Lord +Chancellor his reasons for advocating a continuance of the privateers in +Jamaica. They are sufficiently interesting to merit a _resume_ of the +principal points advanced. 1st. Privateering maintained a great number +of seamen by whom the island was protected without the immediate +necessity of a naval force. 2nd. If privateering were forbidden, the +king would lose many men who, in case of a war in the West Indies, would +be of incalculable service, being acquainted, as they were, with the +coasts, shoals, currents, winds, etc., of the Spanish dominions. 3rd. +Without the privateers, the Jamaicans would have no intelligence of +Spanish designs against them, or of the size or neighbourhood of their +fleets, or of the strength of their resources. 4th. If prize-goods were +no longer brought into Port Royal, few merchants would resort to Jamaica +and prices would become excessively high. 5th. To reduce the privateers +would require a large number of frigates at considerable trouble and +expense; English seamen, moreover, generally had the privateering spirit +and would be more ready to join with them than oppose them, as previous +experience had shown. Finally, the privateers, if denied the freedom of +Jamaican ports, would not take to planting, but would resort to the +islands of other nations, and perhaps prey upon English commerce.[188] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 119: Venables was not bound by his instructions to any +definite plan. It had been proposed, he was told, to seize Hispaniola or +Porto Rico or both, after which either Cartagena or Havana might be +taken, and the Spanish revenue-fleets obstructed. An alternative scheme +was to make the first attempt on the mainland at some point between the +mouth of the Orinoco and Porto Bello, with the ultimate object of +securing Cartagena. It was left to Venables, however, to consult with +Admiral Penn and three commissioners, Edward Winslow (former governor of +Plymouth colony in New England), Daniel Searle (governor of Barbadoes), +and Gregory Butler, as to which, if any, of these schemes should be +carried out. Not until some time after the arrival of the fleet at +Barbadoes was it resolved to attack Hispaniola. (Narrative of Gen. +Venables, edition 1900, pp. x, 112-3.)] + +[Footnote 120: Gardiner: Hist. of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, +vol. iii. ch. xlv.; Narrative of Gen. Venables.] + +[Footnote 121: Gardiner: _op. cit._, iii. p. 368.] + +[Footnote 122: _Cf._ the "Commission of the Commissioners for the West +Indian Expedition." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p. 109.)] + +[Footnote 123: _Cf._ American Hist. Review, vol. iv. p. 228; +"Instructions unto Gen. Robt. Venables." (Narrative of Gen. Venables, p. +111.)] + +[Footnote 124: _Cf._ Narrative of Gen. Venables, pp. 3, 90; +"Instructions unto Generall Penn," etc., _ibid._, p. 107. + +After the outbreak of the Spanish war, Cromwell was anxious to clear his +government of the charges of treachery and violation of international +duties. The task was entrusted to the Latin Secretary, John Milton, who +on 26th October 1655 published a manifesto defending the actions of the +Commonwealth. He gave two principal reasons for the attempt upon the +West Indies:--(1) the cruelties of the Spaniards toward the English in +America and their depredations on English colonies and trade; (2) the +outrageous treatment and extermination of the Indians. He denied the +Spanish claims to all of America, either as a papal gift, or by right of +discovery alone, or even by right of settlement, and insisted upon both +the natural and treaty rights of Englishmen to trade in Spanish seas.] + +[Footnote 125: The memory of the exploits of Drake and his +contemporaries was not allowed to die in the first half of the +seventeenth century. Books like "Sir Francis Drake Revived," and "The +World encompassed by Sir Francis Drake," were printed time and time +again. The former was published in 1626 and again two years later; "The +World Encompassed" first appeared in 1628 and was reprinted in 1635 and +1653. A quotation from the title-page of the latter may serve to +illustrate the temper of the times:-- + + Drake, Sir Francis. The world encompassed. Being his + next voyage to that to Nombre de Dios, formerly + imprinted ... offered ... especially for the stirring up + of heroick spirits, to benefit their country and + eternize their names by like bold attempts. Lon. 1628. + +_Cf._ also Gardiner, _op. cit._, iii. pp. 343-44.] + +[Footnote 126: Gardiner, _op. cit._, iii. p. 346; _cf._ also "Present +State of Jamaica, 1683."] + +[Footnote 127: Long: "History of Jamaica," i. p. 260; C.S.P. Colon., +1675-76. Addenda, No. 274.] + +[Footnote 128: Long, _op. cit._, i. p. 272 _ff._] + +[Footnote 129: Ibid.; Thurloe Papers, VI. p. 540; vii. p. 260; "Present +State of Jamaica, 1683"; C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 303-308.] + +[Footnote 130: Long, _op. cit._, i. p. 245; C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. +Addenda, Nos. 236, 261, 276, etc. + +The conditions in Jamaica directly after its capture are in remarkable +contrast to what might have been expected after reading the enthusiastic +descriptions of the island, its climate, soil and products, left us by +Englishmen who visited it. Jackson in 1643 compared it with the Arcadian +plains and Thessalien Tempe, and many of his men wanted to remain and +live with the Spaniards. See also the description of Jamaica contained +in the Rawlinson MSS. and written just after the arrival of the English +army:--"As for the country ... more than this." (Narrative of Gen. +Venables, pp. 138-9.)] + +[Footnote 131: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 229, 232; Lucas: +Historical Geography of the British Colonies, ii. p. 101, and note.] + +[Footnote 132: Lucas, _op. cit._, ii. p. 109.] + +[Footnote 133: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 230, 231. Fortescue +was Gen. Venables' successor in Jamaica.] + +[Footnote 134: Ibid., No. 218; Long, _op. cit._, i. p. 262.] + +[Footnote 135: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, Nos. 218, 252; Thurloe +Papers, IV. pp. 451, 457.] + +[Footnote 136: Thurloe Papers, IV. pp. 152, 493.] + +[Footnote 137: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda, No. 236.] + +[Footnote 138: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 604.] + +[Footnote 139: Ibid., pp. 454-5, 604.] + +[Footnote 140: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 452.] + +[Footnote 141: Ibid., v. pp. 96, 151.] + +[Footnote 142: This was the treasure fleet which Captain Stayner's ship +and two other frigates captured off Cadiz on 9th September. Six galleons +were captured, sunk or burnt, with no less than L600,000 of gold and +silver. The galleons which Blake burnt in the harbour of Santa Cruz, on +20th April 1657, were doubtless the Mexican fleet for which Admiral +Goodson vainly waited before Havana in the previous summer.] + +[Footnote 143: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 260, 263, 266, 270, +275; Thurloe Papers, V. p. 340.] + +[Footnote 144: _Cf._ Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 12,430: Journal of Col. +Beeston. Col. Beeston seems to have harboured a peculiar spite against +Doyley. For the contrary view of Doyley, _cf._ Long, _op. cit._, i. p. +284.] + +[Footnote 145: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76. Addenda., Nos. 309, 310. In these +letters the towns are called "Tralo" and "St. Mark." _Cf._ also Thurloe +Papers, VII. p. 340.] + +[Footnote 146: Captain Christopher Myngs had been appointed to the +"Marston Moor," a frigate of fifty-four guns, in October 1654, and had +seen two years' service in the West Indies under Goodson in 1656 and +1657. In May 1656 he took part in the sack of Rio de la Hacha. In July +1657 the "Marston Moor" returned to England and was ordered to be +refitted, but by 20th February 1658 Myngs and his frigate were again at +Port Royal (C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 295, 297). After +Admiral Goodson's return to England (Ibid., No. 1202) Myngs seems to +have been the chief naval officer in the West Indies, and greatly +distinguished himself in his naval actions against the Spaniards.] + +[Footnote 147: Tanner MSS., LI. 82.] + +[Footnote 148: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 315, 316. Some +figures put it as high as L500,000.] + +[Footnote 149: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, Nos. 315, 318. Captain +Wm. Dalyson wrote home, on 23rd January 1659/60, that he verily believed +if the General (Doyley) were at home to answer for himself, Captain +Myngs would be found no better than he is, a proud-speaking vain fool, +and a knave in cheating the State and robbing merchants. Ibid., No. +328.] + +[Footnote 150: Ibid., Nos. 327, 331.] + +[Footnote 151: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Addenda, No. 326.] + +[Footnote 152: S.P. Spain, vol. 44, f. 318.] + +[Footnote 153: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 17, 61.] + +[Footnote 154: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 20.] + +[Footnote 155: Ibid., No. 145.] + +[Footnote 156: Ibid., Nos. 259, 278. In Lord Windsor's original +instructions of 21st March 1662 he was empowered to search ships +suspected of trading with the Spaniards and to adjudicate the same in +the Admiralty Court. A fortnight later, however, the King and Council +seem to have completely changed their point of view, and this too in +spite of the Navigation Laws which prohibited the colonies from trading +with any but the mother-country.] + +[Footnote 157: Art. ix. of the treaty. _Cf._ Dumont: Corps diplomatique, +T.V., pt. ii. p. 625. _Cf._ also C.S.P. Venetian, 1604, p. 189:--"I +wished to hear from His Majesty's own lips" (wrote the Venetian +ambassador in November 1604), "how he read the clause about the India +navigation, and I said, 'Sire, your subjects may trade with Spain and +Flanders but not with the Indies.' 'Why not?' said the King. 'Because,' +I replied, 'the clause is read in that sense.' 'They are making a great +error, whoever they are that hold this view,' said His Majesty; 'the +meaning is quite clear.'"] + +[Footnote 158: S.P. Spain, vol. 35.] + +[Footnote 159: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 61.] + +[Footnote 160: Ibid., No. 259.] + +[Footnote 161: Ibid., No. 355.] + +[Footnote 162: Ibid., No. 364.] + +[Footnote 163: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 154.] + +[Footnote 164: Thurloe Papers, IV. p. 457.] + +[Footnote 165: Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 166: Calendar of the Heathcote MSS. (pr. by Hist. MSS. +Commiss.), p. 34.] + +[Footnote 167: Calendar of the Heathcote MSS., p. 34. _Cf._ also C.S.P. +Colon., 1661-68, No. 384:--"An act for the sale of five copper guns +taken at St. Jago de Cuba."] + +[Footnote 168: Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 169: S.P. Spain, vol. 46.] + +[Footnote 170: Ibid., vol. 47.] + +[Footnote 171: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 294, 375.] + +[Footnote 172: Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 11,410, f. 16.] + +[Footnote 173: Ibid., f. 6.] + +[Footnote 174: Dampier also says of Campeache that "it makes a fine +show, being built all with good stone ... the roofs flattish after the +Spanish fashion, and covered with pantile."--_Ed._ 1906, ii. p. 147.] + +[Footnote 175: However, the writer of the "Present State of Jamaica" +says (p. 39) that Myngs got no great plunder, neither at Campeache nor +at St. Jago.] + +[Footnote 176: Beeston's Journal; Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,964, f. +16:--"Original letter from the Licentiate Maldonado de Aldana to Don +Francisco Calderon y Romero, giving him an account of the taking of +Campeache in 1663"; dated Campeache, March 1663. + +According to the Spanish relation there were fourteen vessels in the +English fleet, one large ship of forty-four guns (the "Centurion"?) and +thirteen smaller ones. The discrepancy in the numbers of the fleet may +be explained by the probability that other Jamaican privateering vessels +joined it after its departure from Port Royal. Beeston writes in his +Journal that the privateer "Blessing," Captain Mitchell, commander, +brought news on 28th February that the Spaniards in Campeache had notice +from St. Jago of the English design and made elaborate preparations for +the defence of the town. This is contradicted by the Spanish report, in +which it appears that the authorities in Campeache had been culpably +negligent in not maintaining the defences with men, powder or +provisions.] + +[Footnote 177: S.P. Spain, vol. 46. Fanshaw to Sec. Bennet, 13th-23rd +July 1664.] + +[Footnote 178: Ibid., vol. 45. Letter of Consul Rumbold, 31st March +1663.] + +[Footnote 179: Ibid., 4th May 1663.] + +[Footnote 180: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 443. Dated 28th April 1663.] + +[Footnote 181: Ibid., Nos. 441, 442.] + +[Footnote 182: Rawlinson MSS., A. 347, f. 62.] + +[Footnote 183: Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 184: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 571; Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 185: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, ff. 94, 96, 108, 121, 123, 127, 309 +(April-August 1664).] + +[Footnote 186: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 697, 744, 812.] + +[Footnote 187: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 280.] + +[Footnote 188: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 311.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TORTUGA--1655-1664 + + +When the Chevalier de Fontenay was driven from Tortuga in January 1654, +the Spaniards left a small garrison to occupy the fort and prevent +further settlements of French and English buccaneers. These troops +possessed the island for about eighteen months, but on the approach of +the expedition under Penn and Venables were ordered by the Conde de +Penalva, President of S. Domingo, to demolish the fort, bury the +artillery and other arms, and retire to his aid in Hispaniola.[189] Some +six months later an Englishman, Elias Watts,[190] with his family and +ten or twelve others, came from Jamaica in a shallop, re-settled the +island, and raised a battery of four guns upon the ruins of the larger +fort previously erected by the French. Watts received a commission for +the island from General Brayne, who was then governor of Jamaica, and in +a short time gathered about him a colony of about 150, both English and +French. Among these new-comers was a "poor distressed gentleman" by the +name of James Arundell, formerly a colonel in the Royalist army and now +banished from England, who eventually married Watts' daughter and became +the head of the colony. + +It was while Watts was governor of Tortuga, if we are to believe the +Jesuit, Dutertre, that the buccaneers determined to avenge the treachery +of the Spaniards to a French vessel in that neighbourhood by plundering +the city of St. Jago in Hispaniola. According to this historian, who +from the style of the narrative seems to be reporting the words of an +eye-witness, the buccaneers, including doubtless both hunters and +corsairs, formed a party of 400 men under the leadership of four +captains and obtained a commission for the enterprise from the English +governor, who was very likely looking forward to a share of the booty. +Compelling the captain of a frigate which had just arrived from Nantes +to lend his ship, they embarked in it and in two or three other boats +found on the coast for Puerta de Plata, where they landed on Palm Sunday +of 1659.[191] St. Jago, which lay in a pleasant, fertile plain some +fifteen or twenty leagues in the interior of Hispaniola, they approached +through the woods on the night of Holy Wednesday, entered before +daybreak, and surprised the governor in his bed. The buccaneers told him +to prepare to die, whereupon he fell on his knees and prayed to such +effect that they finally offered him his life for a ransom of 60,000 +pieces of eight. They pillaged for twenty-four hours, taking even the +bells, ornaments and sacred vessels of the churches, and after +refreshing themselves with food and drink, retreated with their plunder +and prisoners, including the governor and chief inhabitants. Meanwhile +the alarm had been given for ten or twelve leagues round about. Men came +in from all directions, and rallying with the inhabitants of the town +till they amounted to about 1000 men, marched through the woods by a +by-route, got ahead of the buccaneers and attacked them from ambush. The +English and French stood their ground in spite of inferior numbers, for +they were all good marksmen and every shot told. As the Spaniards +persisted, however, they finally threatened to stab the governor and all +the other prisoners, whereupon the Spaniards took counsel and retired to +their homes. The invaders lost only ten killed and five or six wounded. +They tarried on the coast several days waiting for the rest of the +promised ransom, but as it failed to arrive they liberated the prisoners +and returned to Tortuga, each adventurer receiving 300 crowns as his +share of the pillage.[192] + +In the latter part of 1659 a French gentleman, Jeremie Deschamps, +seigneur du Rausset, who had been one of the first inhabitants of +Tortuga under Levasseur and de Fontenay, repaired to England and had +sufficient influence there to obtain an order from the Council of State +to Colonel Doyley to give him a commission as governor of Tortuga, with +such instructions as Doyley might think requisite.[193] This same du +Rausset, it seems, had received a French commission from Louis XIV. as +early as November 1656.[194] At any rate, he came to Jamaica in 1660 and +obtained his commission from Doyley on condition that he held Tortuga in +the English interest.[195] Watts, it seems, had meanwhile learnt that he +was to be superseded by a Frenchman, whereupon he embarked with his +family and all his goods and sought refuge in New England. About two +months later, according to one story, Doyley heard that Deschamps had +given a commission to a privateer and committed insolences for which +Doyley feared to be called to account. He sent to remonstrate with him, +but Deschamps answered that he possessed a French commission and that he +had better interest with the powers in England than had the governor of +Jamaica. As there were more French than English on the island, Deschamps +then proclaimed the King of France and set up the French colours.[196] +Doyley as yet had received no authority from the newly-restored king, +Charles II., and hesitated to use any force; but he did give permission +to Arundell, Watts' son-in-law, to surprise Deschamps and carry him to +Jamaica for trial. Deschamps was absent at the time at Santa Cruz, but +Arundell, relying upon the friendship and esteem which the inhabitants +had felt for his father-in-law, surprised the governor's nephew and +deputy, the Sieur de la Place, and possessed himself of the island. By +some mischance or neglect, however, he was disarmed by the French and +sent back to Jamaica.[197] This was not the end of his misfortunes. On +the way to Jamaica he and his company were surprised by Spaniards in the +bay of Matanzas in Cuba, and carried to Puerto Principe. There, after a +month's imprisonment, Arundell and Barth. Cock, his shipmaster, were +taken out by negroes into the bush and murdered, and their heads brought +into the town.[198] Deschamps later returned to France because of +ill-health, leaving la Place to govern the island in his stead, and when +the property of the French Antilles was vested in the new French West +India Company in 1664 he was arrested and sent to the Bastille. The +cause of his arrest is obscure, but it seems that he had been in +correspondence with the English government, to whom he had offered to +restore Tortuga on condition of being reimbursed with L6000 sterling. A +few days in the Bastille made him think better of his resolution. He +ceded his rights to the company for 15,000 livres, and was released from +confinement in November.[199] + +The fiasco of Arundell's attempt was not the only effort of the English +to recover the island. In answer to a memorial presented by Lord Windsor +before his departure for Jamaica, an Order in Council was delivered to +him in February 1662, empowering him to use his utmost endeavours to +reduce Tortuga and its governor to obedience.[200] The matter was taken +up by the Jamaican Council in September, shortly after Windsor's +arrival;[201] and on 16th December an order was issued by +deputy-governor Lyttleton to Captain Robert Munden of the "Charles" +frigate for the transportation of Colonel Samuel Barry and Captain +Langford to Tortuga, where Munden was to receive orders for reducing the +island.[202] The design miscarried again, however, probably because of +ill-blood between Barry and Munden. Clement de Plenneville, who +accompanied Barry, writes that "the expedition failed through +treachery";[203] and Beeston says in his Journal that Barry, approaching +Tortuga on 30th January, found the French armed and ready to oppose him, +whereupon he ordered Captain Munden to fire. Munden however refused, +sailed away to Corydon in Hispaniola, where he put Barry and his men on +shore, and then "went away about his merchandize."[204] Barry made his +way in a sloop to Jamaica where he arrived on 1st March. Langford, +however, was sent to Petit-Goave, an island about the size of Tortuga in +the _cul-de-sac_ at the western end of Hispaniola, where he was chosen +governor by the inhabitants and raised the first English standard. +Petit-Goave had been frequented by buccaneers since 1659, and after +d'Ogeron succeeded du Rausset as governor for the French in those +regions, it became with Tortuga one of their chief resorts. In the +latter part of 1664 we find Langford in England petitioning the king for +a commission as governor of Tortuga and the coast of Hispaniola, and for +two ships to go and seize the smaller island.[205] Such a design, +however, with the direct sanction and aid of the English government, +might have endangered a rupture with France. Charles preferred to leave +such irregular warfare to his governor in Jamaica, whom he could support +or disown as best suited the exigencies of the moment. Langford, +moreover, seems not to have made a brilliant success of his short stay +at Petit-Goave, and was probably distrusted by the authorities both in +England and in the West Indies. When Modyford came as governor to +Jamaica, the possibility of recovering Tortuga was still discussed, but +no effort to effect it was ever made again. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 189: Dutertre, t. iii. p. 126; Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499. + +On 26th February 1656 there arrived at Jamaica a small vessel the master +of which, touching at Tortuga, had found upon the deserted island two +papers, one in Spanish, the other in "sorrie English" (Thurloe Papers, +IV. p. 601). These papers were copies of a proclamation forbidding +settlement on the island, and the English paper (Rawl. MSS., A. 29, f. +500) is printed in Firth's "Venables" as follows:-- + +"The Captane and Sarginge Mager Don Baltearsor Calderon and Spenoso, +Nopte to the President that is now in the sity of Santo-domingo, and +Captane of the gones of the sitye, and Governor and Lord Mare of this +Island, and stranch of this Lland of Tortogo, and Chefe Comander of all +for the Khinge of Spaine. + +"Yoo moust understand that all pepell what soever that shall com to this +Iland of the Khinge of Spaine Catholok wich is name is Don Pilep the +Ostere the forth of this name, that with his harmes he hath put of +Feleminge and French men and Englesh with lefee heare from the yeare of +1630 tell the yeare of thurty fouer and tell the yeare of fifte fouer in +wich the Kinge of Spane uesenge all curtyse and given good quartell to +all that was upon this Iland, after that came and with oute Recepet upon +this Iland knowinge that the Kinge of Spane had planted upon it and +fortified in the name of the Kinge came the forth time the 15th of +Augost the last yeare French and Fleminges to govern this Iland the same +Governeore that was heare befor his name was Themeleon hot man De +founttana gentleman of the ourder of Guresalem for to take this Iland +put if fources by se and land and forsed us to beate him oute of this +place with a greate dale of shame, and be caues yoo shall take notes +that wee have puelld doune the Casill and carid all the gonenes and have +puelld doune all the houes and have lefte no thinge, the same Captane +and Sargint-mager in the name of the Kinge wich God blesh hath given yoo +notis that what souer nason souer that shall com to live upon this Iland +that thare shall not a man mother or children cape of the sorde, thare +fore I give notiss to all pepell that they shall have a care with out +anye more notis for this is the order of the Kinge and with out fall you +will not want yooer Pamente and this is the furst and second and thorde +time, and this whe leave heare for them that comes hear to take notis, +that when wee com upon you, you shall not pleate that you dod not know +is riten the 25 of August 1656." + + Baltesar Calderon y Espinosa + Por Mandado de Senor Gou^{or}. + Pedro Fran^{co} de riva deney xasuss. + +] + +[Footnote 190: In Dutertre's account the name is Eliazouard (Elias +Ward).] + +[Footnote 191: According to a Spanish account of the expedition the date +was 1661. Brit. Mus., Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.] + +[Footnote 192: Dutertre, tom. iii. pp. 130-34.] + +[Footnote 193: Rawl. MSS., A. 347, ff. 31 and 36; S.P. Spain, vol. +47:--Deposition of Sir Charles Lyttleton; Margry, _op. cit._, p. 281.] + +[Footnote 194: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. p. 36; Vaissiere, _op. +cit._, p. 10.] + +[Footnote 195: According to Dutertre, Deschamps' commission extended +only to the French inhabitants upon Tortuga, the French and English +living thereafter under separate governments as at St. Kitts. Dutertre, +t. iii. p. 135.] + +[Footnote 196: Rawl. MSS., A. 347, f. 36. + +According to Dutertre's version, Watts had scarcely forsaken the island +when Deschamps arrived in the Road, and found that the French +inhabitants had already made themselves masters of the colony and had +substituted the French for the English standard. Dutertre, t. iii. p. +136.] + +[Footnote 197: Rawl. MSS., A. 347, f. 36.] + +[Footnote 198: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 648.] + +[Footnote 199: Dutertre, t. iii. p. 138; Vaissiere, _op. cit._, p. 11, +note 2.] + +[Footnote 200: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 233.] + +[Footnote 201: Ibid., No. 364.] + +[Footnote 202: Ibid., No. 390; _cf._ also No. 474 (1).] + +[Footnote 203: Ibid., No. 475.] + +[Footnote 204: Beeston's Journal, 1st March 1663. + +According to Dutertre, some inhabitants of Tortuga ran away to Jamaica +and persuaded the governor that they could no longer endure French +domination, and that if an armed force was sent, it would find no +obstacle in restoring the English king's authority. Accordingly Col. +Barry was despatched to receive their allegiance, with orders to use no +violence but only to accept their voluntary submission. When Barry +landed on Tortuga, however, with no other support than a proclamation +and a harangue, the French inhabitants laughed in his face, and he +returned to Jamaica in shame and confusion. Dutertre, t. iii. pp. +137-38.] + +[Footnote 205: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 817-21.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +PORTO BELLO AND PANAMA + + +On 4th January 1664, the king wrote to Sir Thomas Modyford in Barbadoes +that he had chosen him governor of Jamaica.[206] Modyford, who had lived +as a planter in Barbadoes since 1650, had taken a prominent share in the +struggles between Parliamentarians and Royalists in the little island. +He was a member of the Council, and had been governor for a short time +in 1660. His commission and instructions for Jamaica[207] were carried +to the West Indies by Colonel Edward Morgan, who went as Modyford's +deputy-governor and landed in Barbadoes on 21st April.[208] Modyford was +instructed, among other things, to prohibit the granting of letters of +marque, and particularly to encourage trade and maintain friendly +relations with the Spanish dominions. Sir Richard Fanshaw had just been +appointed to go to Spain and negotiate a treaty for wider commercial +privileges in the Indies, and Charles saw that the daily complaints of +violence and depredation done by Jamaican ships on the King of Spain's +subjects were scarcely calculated to increase the good-will and +compliance of the Spanish Court. Nor had the attempt in the Indies to +force a trade upon the Spaniards been brilliantly successful. It was +soon evident that another course of action was demanded. Sir Thomas +Modyford seems at first to have been sincerely anxious to suppress +privateering and conciliate his Spanish neighbours. On receiving his +commission and instructions he immediately prepared letters to the +President of San Domingo, expressing his fair intentions and requesting +the co-operation of the Spaniards.[209] Modyford himself arrived in +Jamaica on 1st June,[210] proclaimed an entire cessation of +hostilities,[211] and on the 16th sent the "Swallow" ketch to Cartagena +to acquaint the governor with what he had done. On almost the same day +letters were forwarded from England and from Ambassador Fanshaw in +Madrid, strictly forbidding all violences in the future against the +Spanish nation, and ordering Modyford to inflict condign punishment on +every offender, and make entire restitution and satisfaction to the +sufferers.[212] + +The letters for San Domingo, which had been forwarded to Jamaica with +Colonel Morgan and thence dispatched to Hispaniola before Modyford's +arrival, received a favourable answer, but that was about as far as the +matter ever got. The buccaneers, moreover, the principal grievance of +the Spaniards, still remained at large. As Thomas Lynch wrote on 25th +May, "It is not in the power of the governor to have or suffer a +commerce, nor will any necessity or advantage bring private Spaniards to +Jamaica, for we and they have used too many mutual barbarisms to have a +sudden correspondence. When the king was restored, the Spaniards thought +the manners of the English nation changed too, and adventured twenty or +thirty vessels to Jamaica for blacks, but the surprises and irruptions +by C. Myngs, for whom the governor of San Domingo has upbraided the +commissioners, made the Spaniards redouble their malice, and nothing but +an order from Spain can give us admittance or trade."[213] For a short +time, however, a serious effort was made to recall the privateers. +Several prizes which were brought into Port Royal were seized and +returned to their owners, while the captors had their commissions taken +from them. Such was the experience of one Captain Searles, who in August +brought in two Spanish vessels, both of which were restored to the +Spaniards, and Searles deprived of his rudder and sails as security +against his making further depredations upon the Dons.[214] In November +Captain Morris Williams sent a note to Governor Modyford, offering to +come in with a rich prize of logwood, indigo and silver, if security +were given that it should be condemned to him for the payment of his +debts in Jamaica; and although the governor refused to give any promises +the prize was brought in eight days later. The goods were seized and +sold in the interest of the Spanish owner.[215] Nevertheless, the +effects of the proclamation were not at all encouraging. In the first +month only three privateers came in with their commissions, and Modyford +wrote to Secretary Bennet on 30th June that he feared the only effect of +the proclamation would be to drive them to the French in Tortuga. He +therefore thought it prudent, he continued, to dispense somewhat with +the strictness of his instructions, "doing by degrees and moderation +what he had at first resolved to execute suddenly and severely."[216] + +Tortuga was really the crux of the whole difficulty. Back in 1662 +Colonel Doyley, in his report to the Lord Chancellor after his return to +England, had suggested the reduction of Tortuga to English obedience as +the only effective way of dealing with the buccaneers;[217] and Modyford +in 1664 also realized the necessity of this preliminary step.[218] The +conquest of Tortuga, however, was no longer the simple task it might +have been four or five years earlier. The inhabitants of the island were +now almost entirely French, and with their companions on the coast of +Hispaniola had no intention of submitting to English dictation. The +buccaneers, who had become numerous and independent and made Tortuga one +of their principal retreats, would throw all their strength in the +balance against an expedition the avowed object of whose coming was to +make their profession impossible. The colony, moreover, received an +incalculable accession of strength in the arrival of Bertrand d'Ogeron, +the governor sent out in 1665 by the new French West India Company. +D'Ogeron was one of the most remarkable figures in the West Indies in +the second half of the seventeenth century. Of broad imagination and +singular kindness of heart, with an indomitable will and a mind full of +resource, he seems to have been an ideal man for the task, not only of +reducing to some semblance of law and order a people who had never given +obedience to any authority, but also of making palatable the _regime_ +and exclusive privileges of a private trading company. D'Ogeron first +established himself at Port Margot on the coast of Hispaniola opposite +Tortuga in the early part of 1665; and here the adventurers at once gave +him to understand that they would never submit to any mere company, much +less suffer an interruption of their trade with the Dutch, who had +supplied them with necessities at a time when it was not even known in +France that there were Frenchmen in that region. D'Ogeron pretended to +subscribe to these conditions, passed over to Tortuga where he received +the submission of la Place, and then to Petit-Goave and Leogane, in the +_cul-de-sac_ of Hispaniola. There he made his headquarters, adopted +every means to attract planters and _engages_, and firmly established +his authority. He made advances from his own purse without interest to +adventurers who wished to settle down to planting, bought two ships to +facilitate trade between the colony and France, and even contrived to +have several lots of fifty women each brought over from France to be +sold and distributed as wives amongst the colonists. The settlements +soon put on a new air of prosperity, and really owed their existence as +a permanent French colony to the efforts of this new governor.[219] It +was under the administration of d'Ogeron that l'Olonnais,[220] Michel le +Basque, and most of the French buccaneers flourished, whose exploits are +celebrated in Exquemelin's history. + +The conquest of Tortuga was not the only measure necessary for the +effectual suppression of the buccaneers. Five or six swift cruisers were +also required to pursue and bring to bay those corsairs who refused to +come in with their commissions.[221] Since the Restoration the West +Indies had been entirely denuded of English men-of-war; while the +buccaneers, with the tacit consent or encouragement of Doyley, had at +the same time increased both in numbers and boldness. Letters written +from Jamaica in 1664 placed the number scattered abroad in privateering +at from 1500 to 2000, sailing in fourteen or fifteen ships.[222] They +were desperate men, accustomed to living at sea, with no trade but +burning and plundering, and unlikely to take orders from any but +stronger and faster frigates. Nor was this condition of affairs +surprising when we consider that, in the seventeenth century, there +flowed from Europe to the West Indies adventurers from every class of +society; men doubtless often endowed with strong personalities, +enterprising and intrepid; but often, too, of mediocre intelligence or +little education, and usually without either money or scruples. They +included many who had revolted from the narrow social laws of European +countries, and were disinclined to live peaceably within the bounds of +any organized society. Many, too, had belonged to rebellious political +factions at home, men of the better classes who were banished or who +emigrated in order to keep their heads upon their shoulders. In France +the total exhaustion of public and private fortune at the end of the +religious wars disposed many to seek to recoup themselves out of the +immense colonial riches of the Spaniards; while the disorders of the +Rebellion and the Commonwealth in England caused successive emigrations +of Puritans and Loyalists to the newer England beyond the seas. At the +close of the Thirty Years' War, too, a host of French and English +adventurers, who had fattened upon Germany and her misfortunes, were +left without a livelihood, and doubtless many resorted to emigration as +the sole means of continuing their life of freedom and even of licence. +Coming to the West Indies these men, so various in origin and character, +hoped soon to acquire there the riches which they lost or coveted at +home; and their expectations deceived, they often broke in a formal and +absolute manner the bonds which attached them to their fellow humanity. +Jamaica especially suffered in this respect, for it had been colonized +in the first instance by a discontented, refractory soldiery, and it was +being recruited largely by transported criminals and vagabonds. In +contrast with the policy of Spain, who placed the most careful +restrictions upon the class of emigrants sent to her American +possessions, England from the very beginning used her colonies, and +especially the West Indian islands, as a dumping-ground for her refuse +population. Within a short time a regular trade sprang up for furnishing +the colonies with servile labour from the prisons of the mother country. +Scots captured at the battles of Dunbar and Worcester,[223] English, +French, Irish and Dutch pirates lying in the gaols of Dorchester and +Plymouth,[224] if "not thought fit to be tried for their lives," were +shipped to Barbadoes, Jamaica, and the other Antilles. In August 1656 +the Council of State issued an order for the apprehension of all lewd +and dangerous persons, rogues, vagrants and other idlers who had no way +of livelihood and refused to work, to be transported by contractors to +the English plantations in America;[225] and in June 1661 the Council +for Foreign Plantations appointed a committee to consider the same +matter.[226] Complaints were often made that children and apprentices +were "seduced or spirited away" from their parents and masters and +concealed upon ships sailing for the colonies; and an office of registry +was established to prevent this abuse.[227] In 1664 Charles granted a +licence for five years to Sir James Modyford, brother of Sir Thomas, to +take all felons convicted in the circuits and at the Old Bailey who were +afterwards reprieved for transportation to foreign plantations, and to +transmit them to the governor of Jamaica;[228] and this practice was +continued throughout the whole of the buccaneering period. + +Privateering opened a channel by which these disorderly spirits, +impatient of the sober and laborious life of the planter, found an +employment agreeable to their tastes. An example had been set by the +plundering expeditions sent out by Fortescue, Brayne and Doyley, and +when these naval excursions ceased, the sailors and others who had taken +part in them fell to robbing on their private account. Sir Charles +Lyttleton, we have seen, zealously defended and encouraged the +freebooters; and Long, the historian of Jamaica, justified their +existence on the ground that many traders were attracted to the island +by the plunder with which Port Royal was so abundantly stocked, and that +the prosperity of the colony was founded upon the great demand for +provisions for the outfit of the privateers. These effects, however, +were but temporary and superficial, and did not counterbalance the +manifest evils of the practice, especially the discouragement to +planting, and the element of turbulence and unrest ever present in the +island. Under such conditions Governor Modyford found it necessary to +temporise with the marauders, and perhaps he did so the more readily +because he felt that they were still needed for the security of the +colony. A war between England and the States-General then seemed +imminent, and the governor considered that unless he allowed the +buccaneers to dispose of their booty when they came in to Port Royal, +they might, in event of hostilities breaking out, go to the Dutch at +Curacao and other islands, and prey upon Jamaican commerce. On the other +hand, if, by adopting a conciliatory attitude, he retained their +allegiance, they would offer the handiest and most effective instrument +for driving the Dutch themselves out of the Indies.[229] He privately +told one captain, who brought in a Spanish prize, that he only stopped +the Admiralty proceedings to "give a good relish to the Spaniard"; and +that although the captor should have satisfaction, the governor could +not guarantee him his ship. So Sir Thomas persuaded some merchants to +buy the prize-goods and contributed one quarter of the money himself, +with the understanding that he should receive nothing if the Spaniards +came to claim their property.[230] A letter from Secretary Bennet, on +12th November 1664, confirmed the governor in this course;[231] and on +2nd February 1665, three weeks before the declaration of war against +Holland, a warrant was issued to the Duke of York, High Admiral of +England, to grant, through the colonial governors and vice-admirals, +commissions of reprisal upon the ships and goods of the Dutch.[232] +Modyford at once took advantage of this liberty. Some fourteen pirates, +who in the beginning of February had been tried and condemned to death, +were pardoned; and public declaration was made that commissions would be +granted against the Hollanders. Before nightfall two commissions had +been taken out, and all the rovers were making applications and planning +how to seize Curacao.[233] Modyford drew up an elaborate design[234] for +rooting out at one and the same time the Dutch settlements and the +French buccaneers, and on 20th April he wrote that Lieutenant-Colonel +Morgan had sailed with ten ships and some 500 men, chiefly "reformed +prisoners," resolute fellows, and well armed with fusees and +pistols.[235] Their plan was to fall upon the Dutch fleet trading at St. +Kitts, capture St. Eustatius, Saba, and perhaps Curacao, and on the +homeward voyage visit the French settlements on Hispaniola and Tortuga. +"All this is prepared," he wrote, "by the honest privateer, at the old +rate of no purchase no pay, and it will cost the king nothing +considerable, some powder and mortar-pieces." On the same day, 20th +April, Admiral de Ruyter, who had arrived in the Indies with a fleet of +fourteen sail, attacked the forts and shipping at Barbadoes, but +suffered considerable damage and retired after a few hours. At +Montserrat and Nevis, however, he was more successful and captured +sixteen merchant ships, after which he sailed for Virginia and New +York.[236] + +The buccaneers enrolled in Colonel Morgan's expedition proved to be +troublesome allies. Before their departure from Jamaica most of them +mutinied, and refused to sail until promised by Morgan that the plunder +should be equally divided.[237] On 17th July, however, the expedition +made its rendezvous at Montserrat, and on the 23rd arrived before St. +Eustatius. Two vessels had been lost sight of, a third, with the +ironical name of the "Olive Branch," had sailed for Virginia, and many +stragglers had been left behind at Montserrat, so that Morgan could +muster only 326 men for the assault. There was only one landing-place on +the island, with a narrow path accommodating but two men at a time +leading to an eminence which was crowned with a fort and 450 Dutchmen. +Morgan landed his division first, and Colonel Carey followed. The enemy, +it seems, gave them but one small volley and then retreated to the fort. +The governor sent forward three men to parley, and on receiving a +summons to surrender, delivered up the fort with eleven large guns and +considerable ammunition. "It is supposed they were drunk or mad," was +the comment made upon the rather disgraceful defence.[238] During the +action Colonel Morgan, who was an old man and very corpulent, was +overcome by the hard marching and extraordinary heat, and died. Colonel +Carey, who succeeded him in command, was anxious to proceed at once to +the capture of the Dutch forts on Saba, St. Martins and Tortola; but the +buccaneers refused to stir until the booty got at St. Eustatius was +divided--nor were the officers and men able to agree on the manner of +sharing. The plunder, besides guns and ammunition, included about 900 +slaves, negro and Indian, with a large quantity of live stock and +cotton. Meanwhile a party of seventy had crossed over to the island of +Saba, only four leagues distant, and secured its surrender on the same +terms as St. Eustatius. As the men had now become very mutinous, and on +a muster numbered scarcely 250, the officers decided that they could not +reasonably proceed any further and sailed for Jamaica, leaving a small +garrison on each of the islands. Most of the Dutch, about 250 in number, +were sent to St. Martins, but a few others, with some threescore +English, Irish and Scotch, took the oath of allegiance and +remained.[239] + +Encouraged by a letter from the king,[240] Governor Modyford continued +his exertions against the Dutch. In January (?) 1666 two buccaneer +captains, Searles and Stedman, with two small ships and only eighty men +took the island of Tobago, near Trinidad, and destroyed everything they +could not carry away. Lord Willoughby, governor of Barbadoes, had also +fitted out an expedition to take the island, but the Jamaicans were +three or four days before him. The latter were busy with their work of +pillage, when Willoughby arrived and demanded the island in the name of +the king; and the buccaneers condescended to leave the fort and the +governor's house standing only on condition that Willoughby gave them +liberty to sell their plunder in Barbadoes.[241] Modyford, meanwhile, +greatly disappointed by the miscarriage of the design against Curacao, +called in the aid of the "old privateer," Captain Edward Mansfield, and +in the autumn of 1665, with the hope of sending another armament against +the island, appointed a rendezvous for the buccaneers in Bluefields +Bay.[242] + +In January 1666 war against England was openly declared by France in +support of her Dutch allies, and in the following month Charles II. sent +letters to his governors in the West Indies and the North American +colonies, apprising them of the war and urging them to attack their +French neighbours.[243] The news of the outbreak of hostilities did not +reach Jamaica until 2nd July, but already in December of the previous +year warning had been sent out to the West Indies of the coming +rupture.[244] Governor Modyford, therefore, seeing the French very much +increased in Hispaniola, concluded that it was high time to entice the +buccaneers from French service and bind them to himself by issuing +commissions against the Spaniards. The French still permitted the +freebooters to dispose of Spanish prizes in their ports, but the better +market afforded by Jamaica was always a sufficient consideration to +attract not only the English buccaneers, but the Dutch and French as +well. Moreover, the difficulties of the situation, which Modyford had +repeatedly enlarged upon in his letters, seem to have been appreciated +by the authorities in England, for in the spring of 1665, following upon +Secretary Bennet's letter of 12th November and shortly after the +outbreak of the Dutch war, the Duke of Albemarle had written to Modyford +in the name of the king, giving him permission to use his own discretion +in granting commissions against the Dons.[245] Modyford was convinced +that all the circumstances were favourable to such a course of action, +and on 22nd February assembled the Council. A resolution was passed that +it was to the interest of the island to grant letters of marque against +the Spaniards,[246] and a proclamation to this effect was published by +the governor at Port Royal and Tortuga. In the following August Modyford +sent home to Bennet, now become Lord Arlington, an elaborate defence of +his actions. "Your Lordship very well knows," wrote Modyford, "how great +an aversion I had for the privateers while at Barbadoes, but after I had +put His Majesty's orders for restitution in strict execution, I found my +error in the decay of the forts and wealth of this place, and also the +affections of this people to His Majesty's service; yet I continued +discountenancing and punishing those kind of people till your Lordship's +of the 12th November 1664 arrived, commanding a gentle usage of them; +still we went to decay, which I represented to the Lord General +faithfully the 6th of March following, who upon serious consideration +with His Majesty and the Lord Chancellor, by letter of 1st June 1665, +gave me latitude to grant or not commissions against the Spaniard, as I +found it for the advantage of His Majesty's service and the good of this +island. I was glad of this power, yet resolved not to use it unless +necessity drove me to it; and that too when I saw how poor the fleets +returning from Statia were, so that vessels were broken up and the men +disposed of for the coast of Cuba to get a livelihood and so be wholly +alienated from us. Many stayed at the Windward Isles, having not enough +to pay their engagements, and at Tortuga and among the French +buccaneers; still I forebore to make use of my power, hoping their +hardships and great hazards would in time reclaim them from that course +of life. But about the beginning of March last I found that the guards +of Port Royal, which under Colonel Morgan were 600, had fallen to 138, +so I assembled the Council to advise how to strengthen that most +important place with some of the inland forces; but they all agreed that +the only way to fill Port Royal with men was to grant commissions +against the Spaniards, which they were very pressing in ... and looking +on our weak condition, the chief merchants gone from Port Royal, no +credit given to privateers for victualling, etc., and rumours of war +with the French often repeated, I issued a declaration of my intentions +to grant commissions against the Spaniards. Your Lordship cannot imagine +what an universal change there was on the faces of men and things, ships +repairing, great resort of workmen and labourers to Port Royal, many +returning, many debtors released out of prison, and the ships from the +Curacao voyage, not daring to come in for fear of creditors, brought in +and fitted out again, so that the regimental forces at Port Royal are +near 400. Had it not been for that seasonable action, I could not have +kept my place against the French buccaneers, who would have ruined all +the seaside plantations at least, whereas I now draw from them mainly, +and lately David Marteen, the best man of Tortuga, that has two frigates +at sea, has promised to bring in both."[247] + +In so far as the buccaneers affected the mutual relations of England and +Spain, it after all could make little difference whether commissions +were issued in Jamaica or not, for the plundering and burning continued, +and the harassed Spanish-Americans, only too prone to call the rogues +English of whatever origin they might really be, continued to curse and +hate the English nation and make cruel reprisals whenever possible. +Moreover, every expedition into Spanish territory, finding the Spaniards +very weak and very rich, gave new incentive to such endeavour. While +Modyford had been standing now on one foot, now on the other, uncertain +whether to repulse the buccaneers or not, secretly anxious to welcome +them, but fearing the authorities at home, the corsairs themselves had +entirely ignored him. The privateers whom Modyford had invited to +rendezvous in Bluefield's Bay in November 1665 had chosen Captain +Mansfield as their admiral, and in the middle of January sailed from the +south cays of Cuba for Curacao. In the meantime, however, because they +had been refused provisions which, according to Modyford's account, they +sought to buy from the Spaniards in Cuba, they had marched forty-two +miles into the island, and on the strength of Portuguese commissions +which they held against the Spaniards, had plundered and burnt the town +of Sancti Spiritus, routed a body of 200 horse, carried some prisoners +to the coast, and for their ransom extorted 300 head of cattle.[248] The +rich and easy profits to be got by plundering the Spaniards were almost +too much for the loyalty of the men, and Modyford, hearing of many +defections from their ranks, had despatched Captain Beeston on 10th +November to divert them, if possible, from Sancti Spiritus, and confirm +them in their designs against Curacao.[249] The officers of the +expedition, indeed, sent to the governor a letter expressing their zeal +for the enterprise; but the men still held off, and the fleet, in +consequence, eventually broke up. Two vessels departed for Tortuga, and +four others, joined by two French rovers, sailed under Mansfield to +attempt the recapture of Providence Island, which, since 1641, had been +garrisoned by the Spaniards and used as a penal settlement.[250] Being +resolved, as Mansfield afterwards told the governor of Jamaica, never to +see Modyford's face until he had done some service to the king, he +sailed for Providence with about 200 men,[251] and approaching the +island in the night by an unusual passage among the reefs, landed early +in the morning, and surprised and captured the Spanish commander. The +garrison of about 200 yielded up the fort on the promise that they would +be carried to the mainland. Twenty-seven pieces of ordnance were taken, +many of which, it is said, bore the arms of Queen Elizabeth engraved +upon them. Mansfield left thirty-five men under command of a Captain +Hattsell to hold the island, and sailed with his prisoners for Central +America. After cruising along the shores of the mainland, he ascended +the San Juan River and entered and sacked Granada, the capital of +Nicaragua. From Granada the buccaneers turned south into Costa Rica, +burning plantations, breaking the images in the churches, ham-stringing +cows and mules, cutting down the fruit trees, and in general destroying +everything they found. The Spanish governor had only thirty-six soldiers +at his disposal and scarcely any firearms; but he gathered the +inhabitants and some Indians, blocked the roads, laid ambuscades, and +did all that his pitiful means permitted to hinder the progress of the +invaders. The freebooters had designed to visit Cartago, the chief city +of the province, and plunder it as they had plundered Granada. They +penetrated only as far as Turrialva, however, whence weary and footsore +from their struggle through the Cordillera, and harassed by the +Spaniards, they retired through the province of Veragua in military +order to their ships.[252] On 12th June the buccaneers, laden with +booty, sailed into Port Royal. There was at that moment no declared war +between England and Spain. Yet the governor, probably because he +believed Mansfield to be justified, _ex post facto_, by the issue of +commissions against the Spaniards in the previous February, did no more +than mildly reprove him for acting without his orders; and "considering +its good situation for favouring any design on the rich main," he +accepted the tender of the island in behalf of the king. He despatched +Major Samuel Smith, who had been one of Mansfield's party, with a few +soldiers to reinforce the English garrison;[253] and on 10th November +the Council in England set the stamp of their approval upon his actions +by issuing a commission to his brother, Sir James Modyford, to be +lieutenant-governor of the new acquisition.[254] + +In August 1665, only two months before the departure of Mansfield from +Jamaica, there had returned to Port Royal from a raid in the same region +three privateer captains named Morris, Jackman and Morgan.[255] These +men, with their followers, doubtless helped to swell the ranks of +Mansfield's buccaneers, and it was probably their report of the wealth +of Central America which induced Mansfield to emulate their performance. +In the previous January these three captains, still pretending to sail +under commissions from Lord Windsor, had ascended the river Tabasco, in +the province of Campeache, with 107 men, and guided by Indians made a +detour of 300 miles, according to their account, to Villa de Mosa,[256] +which they took and plundered. When they returned to the mouth of the +river, they found that their ships had been seized by Spaniards, who, on +their approach, attacked them 300 strong. The Spaniards, softened by the +heat and indolent life of the tropics, were no match for one-third their +number of desperadoes, and the buccaneers beat them off without the loss +of a man. The freebooters then fitted up two barques and four canoes, +sailed to Rio Garta and stormed the place with only thirty men; crossed +the Gulf of Honduras to the Island of Roatan to rest and obtain fresh +water, and then captured and plundered the port of Truxillo. Down the +Mosquito Coast they passed like a devouring flame, consuming all in +their path. Anchoring in Monkey Bay, they ascended the San Juan River in +canoes for a distance of 100 miles to Lake Nicaragua. The basin into +which they entered they described as a veritable paradise, the air cool +and wholesome, the shores of the lake full of green pastures and broad +savannahs dotted with horses and cattle, and round about all a coronal +of azure mountains. Hiding by day among the numerous islands and rowing +all night, on the fifth night they landed near the city of Granada, just +a year before Mansfield's visit to the place. The buccaneers marched +unobserved to the central square of the city, overturned eighteen cannon +mounted there, seized the magazine, and took and imprisoned in the +cathedral 300 of the citizens. They plundered for sixteen hours, then +released their prisoners, and taking the precaution to scuttle all the +boats, made their way back to the sea coast. The town was large and +pleasant, containing seven churches besides several colleges and +monasteries, and most of the buildings were constructed of stone. About +1000 Indians, driven to rebellion by the cruelty and oppression of the +Spaniards, accompanied the marauders and would have massacred the +prisoners, especially the religious, had they not been told that the +English had no intentions of retaining their conquest. The news of the +exploit produced a lively impression in Jamaica, and the governor +suggested Central America as the "properest place" for an attack from +England on the Spanish Indies.[257] + +Providence Island was now in the hands of an English garrison, and the +Spaniards were not slow to realise that the possession of this outpost +by the buccaneers might be but the first step to larger conquests on the +mainland. The President of Panama, Don Juan Perez de Guzman, immediately +took steps to recover the island. He transferred himself to Porto Bello, +embargoed an English ship of thirty guns, the "Concord," lying at anchor +there with licence to trade in negroes, manned it with 350 Spaniards +under command of Jose Sanchez Jimenez, and sent it to Cartagena. The +governor of Cartagena contributed several small vessels and a hundred or +more men to the enterprise, and on 10th August 1666 the united Spanish +fleet appeared off the shores of Providence. On the refusal of Major +Smith to surrender, the Spaniards landed, and on 15th August, after a +three days' siege, forced the handful of buccaneers, only sixty or +seventy in number, to capitulate. Some of the English defenders later +deposed before Governor Modyford that the Spaniards had agreed to let +them depart in a barque for Jamaica. However this may be, when the +English came to lay down their arms they were made prisoners by the +Spaniards, carried to Porto Bello, and all except Sir Thomas Whetstone, +Major Smith and Captain Stanley, the three English captains, submitted +to the most inhuman cruelties. Thirty-three were chained to the ground +in a dungeon 12 feet by 10. They were forced to work in the water from +five in the morning till seven at night, and at such a rate that the +Spaniards themselves confessed they made one of them do more work than +any three negroes; yet when weak for want of victuals and sleep, they +were knocked down and beaten with cudgels so that four or five died. +"Having no clothes, their backs were blistered with the sun, their heads +scorched, their necks, shoulders and hands raw with carrying stones and +mortar, their feet chopped and their legs bruised and battered with the +irons, and their corpses were noisome to one another." The three English +captains were carried to Panama, and there cast into a dungeon and bound +in irons for seventeen months.[258] + +On 8th January 1664 Sir Richard Fanshaw, formerly ambassador to +Portugal, had arrived in Madrid from England to negotiate a treaty of +commerce with Spain, and if possible to patch up a peace between the +Spanish and Portuguese crowns. He had renewed the old demand for a free +commerce in the Indies; and the negotiations had dragged through the +years of 1664 and 1665, hampered and crossed by the factions in the +Spanish court, the hostile machinations of the Dutch resident in Madrid, +and the constant rumours of cruelties and desolations by the freebooters +in America.[259] The Spanish Government insisted that by sole virtue of +the articles of 1630 there was peace on both sides of the "Line," and +that the violences of the buccaneers in the West Indies, and even the +presence of English colonists there, was a breach of the articles. In +this fashion they endeavoured to reduce Fanshaw to the position of a +suppliant for favours which they might only out of their grace and +generosity concede. It was a favourite trick of Spanish diplomacy, which +had been worked many times before. The English ambassador was, in +consequence, compelled strenuously to deny the existence of any peace in +America, although he realised how ambiguous his position had been +rendered by the original orders of Charles II. to Modyford in 1664.[260] +After the death of Philip IV. in 1665, negotiations were renewed with +the encouragement of the Queen Regent, and on 17th December provisional +articles were signed by Fanshaw and the Duke de Medina de los Torres and +sent to England for ratification.[261] Fanshaw died shortly after, and +Lord Sandwich, his successor, finally succeeded in concluding a treaty +on 23rd May 1667.[262] The provisions of the treaty extended to places +"where hitherto trade and commerce hath been accustomed," and the only +privileges obtained in America were those which had been granted to the +Low Countries by the Treaty of Munster. On 21st July of the same year a +general peace was concluded at Breda between England, Holland and +France. + +It was in the very midst of Lord Sandwich's negotiations that Modyford +had, as Beeston expresses it in his Journal, declared war against the +Spaniards by the re-issue of privateering commissions. He had done it +all in his own name, however, so that the king might disavow him should +the exigencies of diplomacy demand it.[263] Moreover, at this same time, +in the middle of 1666, Albemarle was writing to Modyford that +notwithstanding the negotiations, in which, as he said, the West Indies +were not at all concerned, the governor might still employ the +privateers as formerly, if it be for the benefit of English interests in +the Indies.[264] The news of the general peace reached Jamaica late in +1667; yet Modyford did not change his policy. It is true that in +February Secretary Lord Arlington had sent directions to restrain the +buccaneers from further acts of violence against the Spaniards;[265] but +Modyford drew his own conclusions from the contradictory orders received +from England, and was conscious, perhaps, that he was only reflecting +the general policy of the home government when he wrote to +Arlington:--"Truly it must be very imprudent to run the hazard of this +place, for obtaining a correspondence which could not but by orders from +Madrid be had.... The Spaniards look on us as intruders and trespassers, +wheresoever they find us in the Indies, and use us accordingly; and were +it in their power, as it is fixed in their wills, would soon turn us out +of all our plantations; and is it reasonable that we should quietly let +them grow upon us until they are able to do it? It must be force alone +that can cut in sunder that unneighbourly maxim of their government to +deny all access to strangers."[266] + +These words were very soon translated into action, for in June 1668 +Henry Morgan, with a fleet of nine or ten ships and between 400 and 500 +men, took and sacked Porto Bello, one of the strongest cities of Spanish +America, and the emporium for most of the European trade of the South +American continent. Henry Morgan was a nephew of the Colonel Edward +Morgan who died in the assault of St. Eustatius. He is said to have been +kidnapped at Bristol while he was a mere lad and sold as a servant in +Barbadoes, whence, on the expiration of his time, he found his way to +Jamaica. There he joined the buccaneers and soon rose to be captain of a +ship. It was probably he who took part in the expedition with Morris and +Jackman to Campeache and Central America. He afterwards joined the +Curacao armament of Mansfield and was with the latter when he seized the +island of Providence. After Mansfield's disappearance Morgan seems to +have taken his place as the foremost buccaneer leader in Jamaica, and +during the next twenty years he was one of the most considerable men in +the colony. He was but thirty-three years old when he led the expedition +against Porto Bello.[267] + +In the beginning of 1668 Sir Thomas Modyford, having had "frequent and +strong advice" that the Spaniards were planning an invasion of Jamaica, +had commissioned Henry Morgan to draw together the English privateers +and take some Spanish prisoners in order to find out if these rumours +were true. The buccaneers, according to Morgan's own report to the +governor, were driven to the south cays of Cuba, where being in want of +victuals and "like to starve," and meeting some Frenchmen in a similar +plight, they put their men ashore to forage. They found all the cattle +driven up into the country, however, and the inhabitants fled. So the +freebooters marched twenty leagues to Puerto Principe on the north side +of the island, and after a short encounter, in which the Spanish +governor was killed, possessed themselves of the place. Nothing of value +escaped the rapacity of the invaders, who resorted to the extremes of +torture to draw from their prisoners confessions of hidden wealth. On +the entreaty of the Spaniards they forebore to fire the town, and for a +ransom of 1000 head of cattle released all the prisoners; but they +compelled the Spaniards to salt the beef and carry it to the ships.[268] +Morgan reported, with what degree of truth we have no means of judging, +that seventy men had been impressed in Puerto Principe to go against +Jamaica, and that a similar levy had been made throughout the island. +Considerable forces, moreover, were expected from the mainland to +rendezvous at Havana and St. Jago, with the final object of invading the +English colony. + +On returning to the ships from the sack of Puerto Principe, Morgan +unfolded to his men his scheme of striking at the very heart of Spanish +power in the Indies by capturing Porto Bello. The Frenchmen among his +followers, it seems, wholly refused to join him in this larger design, +full of danger as it was; so Morgan sailed away with only the English +freebooters, some 400 in number, for the coasts of Darien. Exquemelin +has left us a narrative of this exploit which is more circumstantial +than any other we possess, and agrees so closely with what we know from +other sources that we must accept the author's statement that he was an +eye-witness. He relates the whole story, moreover, in so entertaining +and picturesque a manner that he deserves quotation. + +"Captain Morgan," he says, "who knew very well all the avenues of this +city, as also all the neighbouring coasts, arrived in the dusk of the +evening at the place called Puerto de Naos, distant ten leagues towards +the west of Porto Bello.[269] Being come unto this place, they mounted +the river in their ships, as far as another harbour called Puerto +Pontin, where they came to anchor. Here they put themselves immediately +into boats and canoes, leaving in the ships only a few men to keep them +and conduct them the next day unto the port. About midnight they came to +a certain place called Estera longa Lemos, where they all went on shore, +and marched by land to the first posts of the city. They had in their +company a certain Englishman, who had been formerly a prisoner in those +parts, and who now served them for a guide. Unto him, and three or four +more, they gave commission to take the sentry, if possible, or to kill +him upon the place. But they laid hands on him and apprehended him with +such cunning as he had no time to give warning with his musket, or make +any other noise. Thus they brought him, with his hands bound, unto +Captain Morgan, who asked him: 'How things went in the city, and what +forces they had'; with many other circumstances, which he was desirous +to know. After every question they made him a thousand menaces to kill +him, in case he declared not the truth. Thus they began to advance +towards the city, carrying always the said sentry bound before them. +Having marched about one quarter of a league, they came to the castle +that is nigh unto the city, which presently they closely surrounded, so +that no person could get either in or out of the said fortress. + +"Being thus posted under the walls of the castle, Captain Morgan +commanded the sentry, whom they had taken prisoner, to speak to those +that were within, charging them to surrender, and deliver themselves up +to his discretion; otherwise they should be all cut in pieces, without +giving quarter to any one. But they would hearken to none of these +threats, beginning instantly to fire; which gave notice unto the city, +and this was suddenly alarmed. Yet, notwithstanding, although the +Governor and soldiers of the said castle made as great resistance as +could be performed, they were constrained to surrender unto the Pirates. +These no sooner had taken the castle, than they resolved to be as good +as their words, in putting the Spaniards to the sword, thereby to strike +a terror into the rest of the city. Hereupon, having shut up all the +soldiers and officers as prisoners into one room, they instantly set +fire to the powder (whereof they found great quantity), and blew up the +whole castle into the air, with all the Spaniards that were within. This +being done, they pursued the course of their victory, falling upon the +city, which as yet was not in order to receive them. Many of the +inhabitants cast their precious jewels and moneys into wells and +cisterns or hid them in other places underground, to excuse, as much as +were possible, their being totally robbed. One party of the Pirates +being assigned to this purpose, ran immediately to the cloisters, and +took as many religious men and women as they could find. The Governor of +the city not being able to rally the citizens, through the huge +confusion of the town, retired unto one of the castles remaining, and +from thence began to fire incessantly at the Pirates. But these were not +in the least negligent either to assault him or defend themselves with +all the courage imaginable. Thus it was observed that, amidst the horror +of the assault, they made very few shot in vain. For aiming with great +dexterity at the mouths of the guns, the Spaniards were certain to lose +one or two men every time they charged each gun anew. + +"The assault of this castle where the Governor was continued very +furious on both sides, from break of day until noon. Yea, about this +time of the day the case was very dubious which party should conquer or +be conquered. At last the Pirates, perceiving they had lost many men and +as yet advanced but little towards the gaining either this or the other +castles remaining, thought to make use of fireballs, which they threw +with their hands, designing, if possible, to burn the doors of the +castle. But going about to put this in execution, the Spaniards from the +walls let fall great quantity of stones and earthen pots full of powder +and other combustible matter, which forced them to desist from that +attempt. Captain Morgan, seeing this generous defence made by the +Spaniards, began to despair of the whole success of the enterprise. +Hereupon many faint and calm meditations came into his mind; neither +could he determine which way to turn himself in that straitness of +affairs. Being involved in these thoughts, he was suddenly animated to +continue the assault, by seeing the English colours put forth at one of +the lesser castles, then entered by his men, of whom he presently after +spied a troop that came to meet him proclaiming victory with loud shouts +of joy. This instantly put him upon new resolutions of making new +efforts to take the rest of the castles that stood out against him; +especially seeing the chief citizens were fled unto them, and had +conveyed thither great part of their riches, with all the plate +belonging to the churches, and other things dedicated to divine service. + +"To this effect, therefore, he ordered ten or twelve ladders to be made, +in all possible haste, so broad that three or four men at once might +ascend by them. These being finished, he commanded all the religious men +and women whom he had taken prisoners to fix them against the walls of +the castle. Thus much he had beforehand threatened the Governor to +perform, in case he delivered not the castle. But his answer was: 'He +would never surrender himself alive.' Captain Morgan was much persuaded +that the Governor would not employ his utmost forces, seeing religious +women and ecclesiastical persons exposed in the front of the soldiers to +the greatest dangers. Thus the ladders, as I have said, were put into +the hands of religious persons of both sexes; and these were forced, at +the head of the companies, to raise and apply them to the walls. But +Captain Morgan was deceived in his judgment of this design. For the +Governor, who acted like a brave and courageous soldier, refused not, in +performance of his duty, to use his utmost endeavours to destroy +whosoever came near the walls. The religious men and women ceased not to +cry unto him and beg of him by all the Saints of Heaven he would deliver +the castle, and hereby spare both his and their own lives. But nothing +could prevail with the obstinacy and fierceness that had possessed the +Governor's mind. Thus many of the religious men and nuns were killed +before they could fix the ladders. Which at last being done, though with +great loss of the said religious people, the Pirates mounted them in +great numbers, and with no less valour; having fireballs in their hands, +and earthen pots full of powder. All which things, being now at the top +of the walls, they kindled and cast in among the Spaniards. + +"This effort of the Pirates was very great, insomuch as the Spaniards +could no longer resist nor defend the castle, which was now entered. +Hereupon they all threw down their arms, and craved quarter for their +lives. Only the Governor of the city would admit or crave no mercy; but +rather killed many of the Pirates with his own hands, and not a few of +his own soldiers, because they did not stand to their arms. And although +the Pirates asked him if he would have quarter, yet he constantly +answered: 'By no means; I had rather die as a valiant soldier, than be +hanged as a coward.' They endeavoured as much as they could to take him +prisoner. But he defended himself so obstinately that they were forced +to kill him; notwithstanding all the cries and tears of his own wife and +daughter, who begged of him upon their knees he would demand quarter and +save his life. When the Pirates had possessed themselves of the castle, +which was about night, they enclosed therein all the prisoners they had +taken, placing the women and men by themselves, with some guards upon +them. All the wounded were put into a certain apartment by itself, to +the intent their own complaints might be the cure of their diseases; for +no other was afforded them. + +"This being done, they fell to eating and drinking after their usual +manner; that is to say, committing in both these things all manner of +debauchery and excess.... After such manner they delivered themselves up +unto all sort of debauchery, that if there had been found only fifty +courageous men, they might easily have re-taken the city, and killed all +the Pirates. The next day, having plundered all they could find, they +began to examine some of the prisoners (who had been persuaded by their +companions to say they were the richest of the town), charging them +severely to discover where they had hidden their riches and goods. But +not being able to extort anything out of them, as they were not the +right persons that possessed any wealth, they at last resolved to +torture them. This they performed with such cruelty that many of them +died upon the rack, or presently after. Soon after, the President of +Panama had news brought him of the pillage and ruin of Porto Bello. This +intelligence caused him to employ all his care and industry to raise +forces, with design to pursue and cast out the Pirates from thence. But +these cared little for what extraordinary means the President used, as +having their ships nigh at hand, and being determined to set fire unto +the city and retreat. They had now been at Porto Bello fifteen days, in +which space of time they had lost many of their men, both by the +unhealthiness of the country and the extravagant debaucheries they had +committed.[270] + +"Hereupon they prepared for a departure, carrying on board their ships +all the pillage they had gotten. But, before all, they provided the +fleet with sufficient victuals for the voyage. While these things were +getting ready, Captain Morgan sent an injunction unto the prisoners, +that they should pay him a ransom for the city, or else he would by fire +consume it to ashes, and blow up all the castles into the air. Withal, +he commanded them to send speedily two persons to seek and procure the +sum he demanded, which amounted to one hundred thousand pieces of eight. +Unto this effect, two men were sent to the President of Panama, who gave +him an account of all these tragedies. The President, having now a body +of men in readiness, set forth immediately towards Porto Bello, to +encounter the Pirates before their retreat. But these people, hearing of +his coming, instead of flying away, went out to meet him at a narrow +passage through which of necessity he ought to pass. Here they placed an +hundred men very well armed; the which, at the first encounter, put to +flight a good party of those of Panama. This accident obliged the +President to retire for that time, as not being yet in a posture of +strength to proceed any farther. Presently after this rencounter he sent +a message unto Captain Morgan to tell him: 'That in case he departed not +suddenly with all his forces from Porto Bello, he ought to expect no +quarter for himself nor his companions, when he should take them, as he +hoped soon to do.' Captain Morgan, who feared not his threats knowing he +had a secure retreat in his ships which were nigh at hand, made him +answer: 'He would not deliver the castles, before he had received the +contribution money he had demanded. Which in case it were not paid down, +he would certainly burn the whole city, and then leave it, demolishing +beforehand the castles and killing the prisoners.' + +"The Governor of Panama perceived by this answer that no means would +serve to mollify the hearts of the Pirates, nor reduce them to reason. +Hereupon he determined to leave them; as also those of the city, whom he +came to relieve, involved in the difficulties of making the best +agreement they could with their enemies.[271] Thus, in a few days more, +the miserable citizens gathered the contribution wherein they were +fined, and brought the entire sum of one hundred thousand pieces of +eight unto the Pirates, for a ransom of the cruel captivity they were +fallen into. But the President of Panama, by these transactions, was +brought into an extreme admiration, considering that four hundred men +had been able to take such a great city, with so many strong castles; +especially seeing they had no pieces of cannon, nor other great guns, +wherewith to raise batteries against them. And what was more, knowing +that the citizens of Porto Bello had always great repute of being good +soldiers themselves, and who had never wanted courage in their own +defence. This astonishment was so great, that it occasioned him, for to +be satisfied therein, to send a messenger unto Captain Morgan, desiring +him to send him some small pattern of those arms wherewith he had taken +with such violence so great a city. Captain Morgan received this +messenger very kindly, and treated him with great civility. Which being +done, he gave him a pistol and a few small bullets of lead, to carry +back unto the President, his Master, telling him withal: 'He desired him +to accept that slender pattern of the arms wherewith he had taken Porto +Bello and keep them for a twelvemonth; after which time he promised to +come to Panama and fetch them away.' The governor of Panama returned the +present very soon unto Captain Morgan, giving him thanks for the favour +of lending him such weapons as he needed not, and withal sent him a ring +of gold, with this message: 'That he desired him not to give himself the +labour of coming to Panama, as he had done to Porto Bello; for he did +certify unto him, he should not speed so well here as he had done +there.' + +"After these transactions, Captain Morgan (having provided his fleet +with all necessaries, and taken with him the best guns of the castles, +nailing the rest which he could not carry away) set sail from Porto +Bello with all his ships. With these he arrived in a few days unto the +Island of Cuba, where he sought out a place wherein with all quiet and +repose he might make the dividend of the spoil they had gotten. They +found in ready money two hundred and fifty thousand pieces of eight, +besides all other merchandises, as cloth, linen, silks and other goods. +With this rich purchase they sailed again from thence unto their common +place of rendezvous, Jamaica. Being arrived, they passed here some time +in all sorts of vices and debauchery, according to their common manner +of doing, spending with huge prodigality what others had gained with no +small labour and toil."[272] + +Morgan and his officers, on their return to Jamaica in the middle of +August, made an official report which places their conduct in a +peculiarly mild and charitable light,[273] and forms a sharp contrast to +the account left us by Exquemelin. According to Morgan the town and +castles were restored "in as good condition as they found them," and the +people were so well treated that "several ladies of great quality and +other prisoners" who were offered "their liberty to go to the +President's camp, refused, saying they were now prisoners to a person of +quality, who was more tender of their honours than they doubted to find +in the president's camp, and so voluntarily continued with them till the +surrender of the town and castles." This scarcely tallies with what we +know of the manners of the freebooters, and Exquemelin's evidence is +probably nearer the truth. When Morgan returned to Jamaica Modyford at +first received him somewhat doubtfully, for Morgan's commission, as the +Governor told him, was only against ships, and the Governor was not at +all sure how the exploit would be taken in England. Morgan, however, had +reported that at Porto Bello, as well as in Cuba, levies were being made +for an attack upon Jamaica, and Modyford laid great stress upon this +point when he forwarded the buccaneer's narrative to the Duke of +Albemarle. + +The sack of Porto Bello was nothing less than an act of open war against +Spain, and Modyford, now that he had taken the decisive step, was not +satisfied with half measures. Before the end of October 1668 the whole +fleet of privateers, ten sail and 800 men, had gone out again under +Morgan to cruise on the coasts of Caracas, while Captain Dempster with +several other vessels and 300 followers lay before Havana and along the +shores of Campeache.[274] Modyford had written home repeatedly that if +the king wished him to exercise any adequate control over the +buccaneers, he must send from England two or three nimble fifth-rate +frigates to command their obedience and protect the island from hostile +attacks. Charles in reply to these letters sent out the "Oxford," a +frigate of thirty-four guns, which arrived at Port Royal on 14th +October. According to Beeston's Journal, it brought instructions +countenancing the war, and empowering the governor to commission +whatever persons he thought good to be partners with His Majesty in the +plunder, "they finding victuals, wear and tear."[275] The frigate was +immediately provisioned for a several months' cruise, and sent under +command of Captain Edward Collier to join Morgan's fleet as a private +ship-of-war. Morgan had appointed the Isle la Vache, or Cow Island, on +the south side of Hispaniola, as the rendezvous for the privateers; and +thither flocked great numbers, both English and French, for the name of +Morgan was, by his exploit at Porto Bello, rendered famous in all the +neighbouring islands. Here, too, arrived the "Oxford" in December. Among +the French privateers were two men-of-war, one of which, the "Cour +Volant" of La Rochelle, commanded by M. la Vivon, was seized by Captain +Collier for having robbed an English vessel of provisions. A few days +later, on 2nd January, a council of war was held aboard the "Oxford," +where it was decided that the privateers, now numbering about 900 men, +should attack Cartagena. While the captains were at dinner on the +quarter-deck, however, the frigate blew up, and about 200 men, including +five captains, were lost.[276] "I was eating my dinner with the rest," +writes the surgeon, Richard Browne, "when the mainmasts blew out, and +fell upon Captains Aylett, Bigford, and others, and knocked them on the +head; I saved myself by getting astride the mizzenmast." It seems that +out of the whole ship only Morgan and those who sat on his side of the +table were saved. The accident was probably caused by the carelessness +of a gunner. Captain Collier sailed in la Vivon's ship for Jamaica, +where the French captain was convicted of piracy in the Admiralty Court, +and reprieved by Governor Modyford, but his ship confiscated.[277] + +Morgan, from the rendezvous at the Isle la Vache, had coasted along the +southern shores of Hispaniola and made several inroads upon the island +for the purpose of securing beef and other provisions. Some of his +ships, meanwhile, had been separated from the body of the fleet, and at +last he found himself with but eight vessels and 400 or 500 men, +scarcely more than half his original company. With these small numbers +he changed his resolution to attempt Cartagena, and set sail for +Maracaibo, a town situated on the great lagoon of that name in +Venezuela. This town had been pillaged in 1667, just before the peace of +Aix-la-Chapelle, by 650 buccaneers led by two French captains, +L'Olonnais and Michel le Basque, and had suffered all the horrors +attendant upon such a visit. In March 1669 Morgan appeared at the +entrance to the lake, forced the passage after a day's hot bombardment, +dismantled the fort which commanded it, and entered Maracaibo, from +which the inhabitants had fled before him. The buccaneers sacked the +town, and scoured the woods in search of the Spaniards and their +valuables. Men, women and children were brought in and cruelly tortured +to make them confess where their treasures were hid. Morgan, at the end +of three weeks, "having now got by degrees into his hands about 100 of +the chief families," resolved to go to Gibraltar, near the head of the +lake, as L'Olonnais had done before him. Here the scenes of inhuman +cruelty, "the tortures, murders, robberies and such like insolences," +were repeated for five weeks; after which the buccaneers, gathering up +their rich booty, returned to Maracaibo, carrying with them four +hostages for the ransom of the town and prisoners, which the inhabitants +promised to send after them. At Maracaibo Morgan learnt that three large +Spanish men-of-war were lying off the entrance of the lake, and that the +fort, in the meantime, had been armed and manned and put into a posture +of defence. In order to gain time he entered into negotiations with the +Spanish admiral, Don Alonso del Campo y Espinosa, while the privateers +carefully made ready a fireship disguised as a man-of-war. At dawn on +1st May 1669, according to Exquemelin, they approached the Spanish ships +riding at anchor within the entry of the lake, and sending the fireship +ahead of the rest, steered directly for them. The fireship fell foul of +the "Almirante," a vessel of forty guns, grappled with her and set her +in flames. The second Spanish ship, when the plight of the Admiral was +discovered, was run aground and burnt by her own men. The third was +captured by the buccaneers. As no quarter was given or taken, the loss +of the Spaniards must have been considerable, although some of those on +the Admiral, including Don Alonso, succeeded in reaching shore. From a +pilot picked up by the buccaneers, Morgan learned that in the flagship +was a great quantity of plate to the value of 40,000 pieces of eight. Of +this he succeeded in recovering about half, much of it melted by the +force of the heat. Morgan then returned to Maracaibo to refit his prize, +and opening negotiations again with Don Alonso, he actually succeeded in +obtaining 20,000 pieces of eight and 500 head of cattle as a ransom for +the city. Permission to pass the fort, however, the Spaniard refused. +So, having first made a division of the spoil,[278] Morgan resorted to +an ingenious stratagem to effect his egress from the lake. He led the +Spaniards to believe that he was landing his men for an attack on the +fort from the land side; and while the Spaniards were moving their guns +in that direction, Morgan in the night, by the light of the moon, let +his ships drop gently down with the tide till they were abreast of the +fort, and then suddenly spreading sail made good his escape. On 17th May +the buccaneers returned to Port Royal. + +These events in the West Indies filled the Spanish Court with impotent +rage, and the Conde de Molina, ambassador in England, made repeated +demands for the punishment of Modyford, and for the restitution of the +plate and other captured goods which were beginning to flow into England +from Jamaica. The English Council replied that the treaty of 1667 was +not understood to include the Indies, and Charles II. sent him a long +list of complaints of ill-usage to English ships at the hands of the +Spaniards in America.[279] Orders seem to have been sent to Modyford, +however, to stop hostilities, for in May 1669 Modyford again called in +all commissions,[280] and Beeston writes in his Journal, under 14th +June, that peace was publicly proclaimed with the Spaniards. In +November, moreover, the governor told Albemarle that most of the +buccaneers were turning to trade, hunting or planting, and that he hoped +soon to reduce all to peaceful pursuits.[281] The Spanish Council of +State, in the meantime, had determined upon a course of active reprisal. +A commission from the queen-regent, dated 20th April 1669, commanded her +governors in the Indies to make open war against the English;[282] and a +fleet of six vessels, carrying from eighteen to forty-eight guns, was +sent from Spain to cruise against the buccaneers. To this fleet belonged +the three ships which tried to bottle up Morgan in Lake Maracaibo. Port +Royal was filled with report and rumour of English ships captured and +plundered, of cruelties to English prisoners in the dungeons of +Cartagena, of commissions of war issued at Porto Bello and St. Jago de +Cuba, and of intended reprisals upon the settlements in Jamaica. The +privateers became restless and spoke darkly of revenge, while Modyford, +his old supporter the Duke of Albemarle having just died, wrote home +begging for orders which would give him liberty to retaliate.[283] The +last straw fell in June 1670, when two Spanish men-of-war from St. Jago +de Cuba, commanded by a Portuguese, Manuel Rivero Pardal, landed men on +the north side of the island, burnt some houses and carried off a number +of the inhabitants as prisoners.[284] On 2nd July the governor and +council issued a commission to Henry Morgan, as commander-in-chief of +all ships of war belonging to Jamaica, to get together the privateers +for the defence of the island, to attack, seize and destroy all the +enemy's vessels he could discover, and in case he found it feasible, "to +land and attack St. Jago or any other place where ... are stores for +this war or a rendezvous for their forces." In the accompanying +instructions he was bidden "to advise his fleet and soldiers that they +were upon the old pleasing account of no purchase, no pay, and therefore +that all which is got, shall be divided amongst them, according to the +accustomed rules."[285] + +Morgan sailed from Jamaica on 14th August 1670 with eleven vessels and +600 men for the Isle la Vache, the usual rendezvous, whence during the +next three months squadrons were detailed to the coast of Cuba and the +mainland of South America to collect provisions and intelligence. Sir +William Godolphin was at that moment in Madrid concluding articles for +the establishment of peace and friendship in America; and on 12th June +Secretary Arlington wrote to Modyford that in view of these negotiations +his Majesty commanded the privateers to forbear all hostilities on land +against the Spaniards.[286] These orders reached Jamaica on 13th August, +whereupon the governor recalled Morgan, who had sailed from the harbour +the day before, and communicated them to him, "strictly charging him to +observe the same and behave with all moderation possible in carrying on +the war." The admiral replied that necessity would compel him to land in +the Spaniards' country for wood, water and provisions, but unless he was +assured that the enemy in their towns were making hostile preparations +against the Jamaicans, he would not touch any of them.[287] On 6th +September, however, Vice-Admiral Collier with six sail and 400 men was +dispatched by Morgan to the Spanish Main. There on 4th November he +seized, in the harbour of Santa Marta, two frigates laden with +provisions for Maracaibo. Then coasting eastward to Rio de la Hacha, he +attacked and captured the fort with its commander and all its garrison, +sacked the city, held it to ransom for salt, maize, meat and other +provisions, and after occupying it for almost a month returned on 28th +October to the Isle la Vache.[288] One of the frigates captured at Santa +Marta, "La Gallardina," had been with Pardal when he burnt the coast of +Jamaica. Pardal's own ship of fourteen guns had been captured but a +short time before by Captain John Morris at the east end of Cuba, and +Pardal himself shot through the neck and killed.[289] He was called by +the Jamaicans "the vapouring admiral of St. Jago," for in June he had +nailed a piece of canvas to a tree on the Jamaican coast, with a curious +challenge written both in English and Spanish:-- + +"I, Captain Manuel Rivero Pardal, to the chief of the squadron of +privateers in Jamaica. I am he who this year have done that which +follows. I went on shore at Caimanos, and burnt 20 houses, and fought +with Captain Ary, and took from him a catch laden with provisions and a +canoe. And I am he who took Captain Baines and did carry the prize to +Cartagena, and now am arrived to this coast, and have burnt it. And I +come to seek General Morgan, with 2 ships of 20 guns, and having seen +this, I crave he would come out upon the coast and seek me, that he +might see the valour of the Spaniards. And because I had no time I did +not come to the mouth of Port Royal to speak by word of mouth in the +name of my king, whom God preserve. Dated the 5th of July 1670."[290] + +Meanwhile, in the middle of October, there sailed into Port Royal three +privateers, Captains Prince, Harrison and Ludbury, who six weeks before +had ascended the river San Juan in Nicaragua with 170 men and again +plundered the unfortunate city of Granada. The town had rapidly decayed, +however, under the repeated assaults of the buccaneers, and the +plunderers secured only L20 or L30 per man. Modyford reproved the +captains for acting without commissions, but "not deeming it prudent to +press the matter too far in this juncture," commanded them to join +Morgan at the Isle la Vache.[291] There Morgan was slowly mustering his +strength. He negotiated with the French of Tortuga and Hispaniola who +were then in revolt against the _regime_ of the French Company; and he +added to his forces seven ships and 400 men sent him by the +indefatigable Governor of Jamaica. On 7th October, indeed, the venture +was almost ruined by a violent storm which cast the whole fleet, except +the Admiral's vessel, upon the shore. All of the ships but three, +however, were eventually got off and repaired, and on 6th December +Morgan was able to write to Modyford that he had 1800 buccaneers, +including several hundred French, and thirty-six ships under his +command.[292] Upon consideration of the reports brought from the Main by +his own men, and the testimony of prisoners they had taken, Morgan +decided that it was impossible to attempt what seems to have been his +original design, a descent upon St. Jago de Cuba, without great loss of +men and ships. On 2nd December, therefore, it was unanimously agreed by +a general council of all the captains, thirty-seven in number, "that it +stands most for the good of Jamaica and safety of us all to take Panama, +the President thereof having granted several commissions against the +English."[293] Six days later the fleet put to sea from Cape Tiburon, +and on the morning of the 14th sighted Providence Island. The Spanish +governor capitulated next day, on condition of being transported with +his garrison to the mainland, and four of his soldiers who had formerly +been banditti in the province of Darien agreed to become guides for the +English.[294] After a delay of five days more, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph +Bradley, with between 400 and 500 men in three ships, was sent ahead by +Morgan to the isthmus to seize the Castle of San Lorenzo, situated at +the mouth of the Chagre river. + +The President of Panama, meanwhile, on 15th December, had received a +messenger from the governor of Cartagena with news of the coming of the +English.[295] The president immediately dispatched reinforcements to the +Castle of Chagre, which arrived fifteen days before the buccaneers and +raised its strength to over 350 men. Two hundred men were sent to Porto +Bello, and 500 more were stationed at Venta Cruz and in ambuscades along +the Chagre river to oppose the advance of the English. The president +himself rose from a bed of sickness to head a reserve of 800, but most +of his men were raw recruits without a professional soldier amongst +them. This militia in a few days became so panic-stricken that one-third +deserted in a night, and the president was compelled to retire to +Panama. There the Spaniards managed to load some of the treasure upon +two or three ships lying in the roadstead; and the nuns and most of the +citizens of importance also embarked with their wives, children and +personal property.[296] + +The fort or castle of San Lorenzo, which stood on a hill commanding the +river Chagre, seems to have been built of double rows of wooden +palisades, the space between being filled with earth; and it was +protected by a ditch 12 feet deep and by several smaller batteries +nearer the water's edge. Lieutenant-Colonel Bradley, who, according to +Exquemelin, had been on these coasts before with Captain Mansfield, +landed near the fort on the 27th of December. He and his men fought in +the trenches from early afternoon till eight o'clock next morning, when +they stormed and carried the place. The buccaneers suffered severely, +losing about 150 in killed and wounded, including Bradley himself who +died ten days later. Exquemelin gives a very vivid account of the +action. The buccaneers, he writes, "came to anchor in a small port, at +the distance of a league more or less from the castle. The next morning +very early they went on shore, and marched through the woods, to attack +the castle on that side. This march continued until two o'clock, +afternoon, by reason of the difficulties of the way, and its mire and +dirt. And although their guides served them exactly, notwithstanding +they came so nigh the castle at first that they lost many of their men +with the shot from the guns, they being in an open place where nothing +could cover nor defend them. This much perplexed the Pirates ..." (but) +"at last after many doubts and disputes among themselves they resolved +to hazard the assault and their lives after a most desperate manner. +Thus they advanced towards the castle, with their swords in one hand and +fireballs in the other. The Spaniards defended themselves very briskly, +ceasing not to fire at them with their great guns and muskets +continually crying withal: 'Come on, ye English dogs, enemies to God and +our King; let your other companions that are behind come on too, ye +shall not go to Panama this bout.' After the Pirates had made some trial +to climb up the walls, they were forced to retreat, which they +accordingly did, resting themselves until night. This being done, they +returned to the assault, to try if by the help of their fireballs they +could overcome and pull down the pales before the wall. This they +attempted to do, and while they were about it there happened a very +remarkable accident, which gave them the opportunity of the victory. One +of the Pirates was wounded with an arrow in his back, which pierced his +body to the other side. This he instantly pulled out with great valour +at the side of his breast; then taking a little cotton that he had about +him, he wound it about the said arrow, and putting it into his musket, +he shot it back into the castle. But the cotton being kindled by the +powder, occasioned two or three houses that were within the castle, +being thatched with palm-leaves, to take fire, which the Spaniards +perceived not so soon as was necessary. For this fire meeting with a +parcel of powder, blew it up and thereby caused great ruin, and no less +consternation to the Spaniards, who were not able to account for this +accident, not having seen the beginning thereof. + +"Thus the Pirates perceiving the good effect of the arrow and the +beginning of the misfortune of the Spaniards, were infinitely gladdened +thereat. And while they were busied in extinguishing the fire, which +caused great confusion in the whole castle, having not sufficient water +wherewithal to do it, the Pirates made use of this opportunity, setting +fire likewise to the palisades. Thus the fire was seen at the same time +in several parts about the castle, which gave them huge advantage +against the Spaniards. For many breaches were made at once by the fire +among the pales, great heaps of earth falling down into the ditch. Upon +these the Pirates climbed up, and got over into the castle, +notwithstanding that some Spaniards, who were not busied about the fire, +cast down upon them many flaming pots, full of combustible matter and +odious smells, which occasioned the loss of many of the English. + +"The Spaniards, notwithstanding the great resistance they made, could +not hinder the palisades from being entirely burnt before midnight. +Meanwhile the Pirates ceased not to persist in their intention of taking +the castle. Unto which effect, although the fire was great, they would +creep upon the ground, as nigh unto it as they could, and shoot amidst +the flames, against the Spaniards they could perceive on the other side, +and thus cause many to fall dead from the walls. When day was come, they +observed all the moveable earth that lay between the pales to be fallen +into the ditch in huge quantity. So that now those within the castle did +in a manner lie equally exposed to them without, as had been on the +contrary before. Whereupon the Pirates continued shooting very furiously +against them, and killed great numbers of Spaniards. For the Governor +had given them orders not to retire from those posts which corresponded +to the heaps of earth fallen into the ditch, and caused the artillery to +be transported unto the breaches. + +"Notwithstanding, the fire within the castle still continued, and now +the Pirates from abroad used what means they could to hinder its +progress, by shooting incessantly against it. One party of the Pirates +was employed only to this purpose, and another commanded to watch all +the motions of the Spaniards, and take all opportunities against them. +About noon the English happened to gain a breach, which the Governor +himself defended with twenty-five soldiers. Here was performed a very +courageous and warlike resistance by the Spaniards, both with muskets, +pikes, stones and swords. Yet notwithstanding, through all these arms +the Pirates forced and fought their way, till at last they gained the +castle. The Spaniards who remained alive cast themselves down from the +castle into the sea, choosing rather to die precipitated by their own +selves (few or none surviving the fall) than to ask any quarter for +their lives. The Governor himself retreated unto the corps du garde, +before which were placed two pieces of cannon. Here he intended still to +defend himself, neither would he demand any quarter. But at last he was +killed with a musket shot, which pierced his skull into the brain. + +"The Governor being dead, and the corps du garde surrendered, they found +still remaining in it alive to the number of thirty men, whereof scarce +ten were not wounded. These informed the Pirates that eight or nine of +their soldiers had deserted their colours, and were gone to Panama to +carry news of their arrival and invasion. These thirty men alone were +remaining of three hundred and fourteen, wherewith the castle was +garrisoned, among which number not one officer was found alive. These +were all made prisoners, and compelled to tell whatsoever they knew of +their designs and enterprises."[297] + +Five days after the taking of the castle, Morgan arrived from Providence +Island with the rest of the armament; but at the entrance to the Chagre +river, in passing over the bar, his flagship and five or six smaller +boats were wrecked, and ten men were drowned. After repairing and +provisioning the castle, and leaving 300 men to guard it and the ships, +Morgan, on 9th January 1671, at the head of 1400 men, began the ascent +of the river in seven small vessels and thirty-six canoes.[298] The +story of this brilliant march we will again leave to Exquemelin, who +took part in it, to relate. The first day "they sailed only six leagues, +and came to a place called De los Bracos. Here a party of his men went +on shore, only to sleep some few hours and stretch their limbs, they +being almost crippled with lying too much crowded in the boats. After +they had rested awhile, they went abroad, to see if any victuals could +be found in the neighbouring plantations. But they could find none, the +Spaniards being fled and carrying with them all the provisions they had. +This day, being the first of their journey, there was amongst them such +scarcity of victuals that the greatest part were forced to pass with +only a pipe of tobacco, without any other refreshment. + +"The next day, very early in the morning, they continued their journey, +and came about evening to a place called Cruz de Juan Gallego. Here they +were compelled to leave their boats and canoes, by reason the river was +very dry for want of rain, and the many obstacles of trees that were +fallen into it. The guides told them that about two leagues farther on +the country would be very good to continue the journey by land. Hereupon +they left some companies, being in all one hundred and sixty men,[299] +on board the boats to defend them, with intent they might serve for a +place of refuge in case of necessity. + +"The next morning, being the third day of their journey, they all went +ashore, excepting those above-mentioned who were to keep the boats. Unto +these Captain Morgan gave very strict orders, under great penalties, +that no man, upon any pretext whatsoever, should dare to leave the boats +and go ashore. This he did, fearing lest they should be surprised and +cut off by an ambuscade of Spaniards, that might chance to lie +thereabouts in the neighbouring woods, which appeared so thick as to +seem almost impenetrable. Having this morning begun their march, they +found the ways so dirty and irksome, that Captain Morgan thought it more +convenient to transport some of the men in canoes (though it could not +be done without great labour) to a place farther up the river, called +Cedro Bueno. Thus they re-embarked, and the canoes returned for the rest +that were left behind. So that about night they found themselves all +together at the said place. The Pirates were extremely desirous to meet +any Spaniards, or Indians, hoping to fill their bellies with what +provisions they should take from them. For now they were reduced almost +to the very extremity of hunger. + +"On the fourth day, the greatest part of the Pirates marched by land, +being led by one of the guides. The rest went by water, farther up with +the canoes, being conducted by another guide, who always went before +them with two of the said canoes, to discover on both sides the river +the ambuscades of the Spaniards. These had also spies, who were very +dextrous, and could at any time give notice of all accidents or of the +arrival of the Pirates, six hours at least before they came to any +place. This day about noon they found themselves nigh unto a post, +called Torna Cavallos. Here the guide of the canoes began to cry aloud +he perceived an ambuscade. His voice caused infinite joy unto all the +Pirates, as persuading themselves they should find some provisions +wherewith to satiate their hunger, which was very great. Being come unto +the place, they found nobody in it, the Spaniards who were there not +long before being every one fled, and leaving nothing behind unless it +were a small number of leather bags, all empty, and a few crumbs of +bread scattered upon the ground where they had eaten.[300] Being angry +at this misfortune, they pulled down a few little huts which the +Spaniards had made, and afterwards fell to eating the leathern bags, as +being desirous to afford something to the ferment of their stomachs, +which now was grown so sharp that it did gnaw their very bowels, having +nothing else to prey upon. Thus they made a huge banquet upon those bags +of leather, which doubtless had been more grateful unto them, if divers +quarrels had not risen concerning who should have the greatest share. By +the circumference of the place they conjectured five hundred Spaniards, +more or less, had been there. And these, finding no victuals, they were +now infinitely desirous to meet, intending to devour some of them rather +than perish. Whom they would certainly in that occasion have roasted or +boiled, to satisfy their famine, had they been able to take them. + +"After they had feasted themselves with those pieces of leather, they +quitted the place, and marched farther on, till they came about night to +another post called Torna Munni. Here they found another ambuscade, but +as barren and desert as the former. They searched the neighbouring +woods, but could not find the least thing to eat. The Spaniards having +been so provident as not to leave behind them anywhere the least crumb +of sustenance, whereby the Pirates were now brought to the extremity +aforementioned. Here again he was happy, that had reserved since noon +any small piece of leather whereof to make his supper, drinking after it +a good draught of water for his greatest comfort. Some persons who never +were out of their mothers' kitchens may ask how these Pirates could eat, +swallow and digest those pieces of leather, so hard and dry. Unto whom I +only answer: That could they once experiment what hunger, or rather +famine, is, they would certainly find the manner, by their own +necessity, as the Pirates did. For these first took the leather, and +sliced it in pieces. Then did they beat it between two stones and rub +it, often dipping it in the water of the river, to render it by these +means supple and tender. Lastly they scraped off the hair, and roasted +or broiled it upon the fire. And being thus cooked they cut it into +small morsels, and eat it, helping it down with frequent gulps of water, +which by good fortune they had nigh at hand. + +"They continued their march the fifth day, and about noon came unto a +place called Barbacoa. Here likewise they found traces of another +ambuscade, but the place totally as unprovided as the two precedent +were. At a small distance were to be seen several plantations, which +they searched very narrowly, but could not find any person, animal or +other thing that was capable of relieving their extreme and ravenous +hunger. Finally, having ranged up and down and searched a long time, +they found a certain grotto which seemed to be but lately hewn out of a +rock, in which they found two sacks of meal, wheat and like things, with +two great jars of wine, and certain fruits called Platanos. Captain +Morgan, knowing that some of his men were now, through hunger, reduced +almost to the extremity of their lives, and fearing lest the major part +should be brought into the same condition, caused all that was found to +be distributed amongst them who were in greatest necessity. Having +refreshed themselves with these victuals, they began to march anew with +greater courage than ever. Such as could not well go for weakness were +put into the canoes, and those commanded to land that were in them +before. Thus they prosecuted their journey till late at night, at which +time they came unto a plantation where they took up their rest. But +without eating anything at all; for the Spaniards, as before, had swept +away all manner of provisions, leaving not behind them the least signs +of victuals. + +"On the sixth day they continued their march, part of them by land +through the woods, and part by water in the canoes. Howbeit they were +constrained to rest themselves very frequently by the way, both for the +ruggedness thereof and the extreme weakness they were under. Unto this +they endeavoured to occur, by eating some leaves of trees and green +herbs, or grass, such as they could pick, for such was the miserable +condition they were in. This day, at noon, they arrived at a plantation, +where they found a barn full of maize. Immediately they beat down the +doors, and fell to eating of it dry, as much as they could devour. +Afterwards they distributed great quantity, giving to every man a good +allowance thereof. Being thus provided they prosecuted their journey, +which having continued for the space of an hour or thereabouts, they met +with an ambuscade of Indians. This they no sooner had discovered, but +they threw away their maize, with the sudden hopes they conceived of +finding all things in abundance. But after all this haste, they found +themselves much deceived, they meeting neither Indians nor victuals, nor +anything else of what they had imagined. They saw notwithstanding on the +other side of the river a troop of a hundred Indians more or less, who +all escaped away through the agility of their feet. Some few Pirates +there were who leapt into the river, the sooner to reach the shore to +see if they could take any of the said Indians prisoners. But all was in +vain; for being much more nimble on their feet than the Pirates they +easily baffled their endeavours. Neither did they only baffle them, but +killed also two or three of the Pirates with their arrows, shooting at +them at a distance, and crying: 'Ha! perros, a la savana, a la savana. +Ha! ye dogs, go to the plain, go to the plain.' + +"This day they could advance no further, by reason they were +necessitated to pass the river hereabouts to continue their march on the +other side. Hereupon they took up their repose for that night. Howbeit +their sleep was not heavy nor profound, for great murmurings were heard +that night in the camp, many complaining of Captain Morgan and his +conduct in that enterprise, and being desirous to return home. On the +contrary, others would rather die there than go back one step from what +they had undertaken. But others who had greater courage than any of +these two parties did laugh and joke at all their discourses. In the +meanwhile they had a guide who much comforted them, saying: 'It would +not now be long before they met with people, from whom they should reap +some considerable advantage.' + +"The seventh day in the morning they all made clean their arms, and +every one discharged his pistol or musket without bullet, to examine the +security of their firelocks. This being done, they passed to the other +side of the river in the canoes, leaving the post where they had rested +the night before, called Santa Cruz. Thus they proceeded on their +journey till noon, at which time they arrived at a village called +Cruz.[301] Being at a great distance as yet from the place, they +perceived much smoke to arise out of the chimneys. The sight hereof +afforded them great joy and hopes of finding people in the town, and +afterwards what they most desired, which was plenty of good cheer. Thus +they went on with as much haste as they could, making several arguments +to one another upon those external signs, though all like castles built +in the air. 'For,' said they, 'there is smoke coming out of every house, +and therefore they are making good fires to roast and boil what we are +to eat.' With other things to this purpose. + +"At length they arrived there in great haste, all sweating and panting, +but found no person in the town, nor anything that was eatable wherewith +to refresh themselves, unless it were good fires to warm themselves, +which they wanted not. For the Spaniards before their departure, had +every one set fire to his own house, excepting only the storehouses and +stables belonging to the King. + +"They had not left behind them any beast whatsoever, either alive or +dead. This occasioned much confusion in their minds, they not finding +the least thing to lay hold on, unless it were some few cats and dogs, +which they immediately killed and devoured with great appetite. At last +in the King's stables they found by good fortune fifteen or sixteen jars +of Peru wine, and a leather sack full of bread. But no sooner had they +begun to drink of the said wine when they fell sick, almost every man. +This sudden disaster made them think that the wine was poisoned, which +caused a new consternation in the whole camp, as judging themselves now +to be irrecoverably lost. But the true reason was, their huge want of +sustenance in that whole voyage, and the manifold sorts of trash which +they had eaten upon that occasion. Their sickness was so great that day +as caused them to remain there till the next morning, without being able +to prosecute their journey as they used to do, in the afternoon. This +village is seated in the latitude in 9 degrees and 2 minutes, northern +latitude, being distant from the river of Chagre twenty-six Spanish +leagues, and eight from Panama. Moreover, this is the last place unto +which boats or canoes can come; for which reason they built here +store-houses, wherein to keep all sorts of merchandise, which from hence +to and from Panama are transported upon the backs of mules. + +"Here therefore Captain Morgan was constrained to leave his canoes and +land all his men, though never so weak in their bodies. But lest the +canoes should be surprised, or take up too many men for their defence, +he resolved to send them all back to the place where the boats were, +excepting one, which he caused to be hidden, to the intent it might +serve to carry intelligence according to the exigency of affairs. Many +of the Spaniards and Indians belonging to this village were fled to the +plantations thereabouts. Hereupon Captain Morgan gave express orders +that none should dare to go out of the village, except in whole +companies of a hundred together. The occasion hereof was his fear lest +the enemy should take an advantage upon his men, by any sudden assault. +Notwithstanding, one party of English soldiers stickled not to +contravene these commands, being thereunto tempted with the desire of +finding victuals. But these were soon glad to fly into the town again, +being assaulted with great fury by some Spaniards and Indians, who +snatched up one of the Pirates, and carried him away prisoner. Thus the +vigilance and care of Captain Morgan was not sufficient to prevent every +accident that might happen. + +"On the eighth day, in the morning, Captain Morgan sent two hundred men +before the body of his army, to discover the way to Panama, and see if +they had laid any ambuscades therein. Especially considering that the +places by which they were to pass were very fit for that purpose, the +paths being so narrow that only ten or twelve persons could march in a +file, and oftentimes not so many. Having marched about the space of ten +hours, they came unto a place called Quebrada Obscura. Here, all on a +sudden, three or four thousand arrows were shot at them, without being +able to perceive from whence they came, or who shot them. The place, +from whence it was presumed they were shot was a high rocky mountain, +excavated from one side to the other, wherein was a grotto that went +through it, only capable of admitting one horse, or other beast laden. +This multitude of arrows caused a huge alarm among the Pirates, +especially because they could not discover the place from whence they +were discharged. At last, seeing no more arrows to appear, they marched +a little farther, and entered into a wood. Here they perceived some +Indians to fly as fast as they could possible before them, to take the +advantage of another post, and thence observe the march of the Pirates. +There remained, notwithstanding one troop of Indians upon the place, +with full design to fight and defend themselves. This combat they +performed with huge courage, till such time as their captain fell to the +ground wounded, who although he was now in despair of life, yet his +valour being greater than his strength, would demand no quarter, but, +endeavouring to raise himself, with undaunted mind laid hold of his +azagaya, or javelin, and struck at one of the Pirates. But before he +could second the blow, he was shot to death with a pistol. This was also +the fate of many of his companions, who like good and courageous +soldiers lost their lives with their captain, for the defence of their +country. + +"The Pirates endeavoured, as much as was possible, to lay hold on some +of the Indians and take them prisoners. But they being infinitely +swifter than the Pirates, every one escaped, leaving eight Pirates dead +upon the place and ten wounded.[302] Yea, had the Indians been more +dextrous in military affairs, they might have defended that passage, and +not let one sole man to pass. Within a little while after they came to a +large campaign field open and full of variegated meadows. From here they +could perceive at a distance before them a parcel of Indians who stood +on the top of a mountain, very nigh unto the way by which the Pirates +were to pass. They sent a troop of fifty men, the nimblest they could +pick out, to see if they could catch any of them, and afterwards force +them to declare whereabouts their companions had their mansions. But all +their industry was in vain, for they escaped through their nimbleness, +and presently after showed themselves in another place, hallooing unto +the English, and crying: 'A la savana, a la savana, cornudos, perros +Ingleses;' that is, 'To the plain, to the plain, ye cockolds, ye English +dogs!' While these things passed, the ten Pirates that were wounded a +little before were dressed and plastered up. + +"At this place there was a wood and on each side thereof a mountain. The +Indians had possessed themselves of the one, and the Pirates took +possession of the other that was opposite unto it. Captain Morgan was +persuaded that in the wood the Spaniards had placed an ambuscade, as +lying so conveniently for that purpose. Hereupon he sent before two +hundred men to search it. The Spaniards and Indians, perceiving the +Pirates to descend the mountain, did so too, as if they designed to +attack them. But being got into the wood, out of sight of the Pirates, +they disappeared, and were seen no more, leaving the passage open unto +them. + +"About night there fell a great rain, which caused the Pirates to march +the faster and seek everywhere for houses wherein to preserve their arms +from being wet. But the Indians had set fire to every one thereabouts, +and transported all their cattle unto remote places, to the end that the +Pirates, finding neither houses nor victuals, might be constrained to +return homewards. Notwithstanding, after diligent search, they found a +few little huts belonging to shepherds, but in them nothing to eat. +These not being capable of holding many men, they placed in them out of +every company a small number, who kept the arms of the rest of the army. +Those who remained in the open field endured much hardship that night, +the rain not ceasing to fall until the morning. + +"The next morning, about break of day, being the ninth of this tedious +journey, Captain Morgan continued his march while the fresh air of the +morning lasted. For the clouds then hanging as yet over their heads were +much more favourable unto them than the scorching rays of the sun, by +reason the way was now more difficult and laborious than all the +precedent. After two hours' march, they discovered a troop of about +twenty Spaniards. who observed the motions of the Pirates. They +endeavoured to catch some of them, but could lay hold on none, they +suddenly disappearing, and absconding themselves in caves among the +rocks, totally unknown to the Pirates. At last they came to a high +mountain, which, when they ascended, they discovered from the top +thereof the South Sea. This happy sight, as if it were the end of their +labours, caused infinite joy among the Pirates. From hence they could +descry also one ship and six boats, which were set forth from Panama, +and sailed towards the islands of Tavoga and Tavogilla. Having descended +this mountain, they came unto a vale, in which they found great quantity +of cattle, whereof they killed good store. Here while some were employed +in killing and flaying of cows, horses, bulls and chiefly asses, of +which there was greatest number, others busied themselves in kindling of +fires and getting wood wherewith to roast them. Thus cutting the flesh +of these animals into convenient pieces, or gobbets, they threw them +into the fire and, half carbonadoed or roasted, they devoured them with +incredible haste and appetite. For such was their hunger that they more +resembled cannibals than Europeans at this banquet, the blood many times +running down from their beards to the middle of their bodies. + +"Having satisfied their hunger with these delicious meats, Captain +Morgan ordered them to continue the march. Here again he sent before the +main body fifty men, with intent to take some prisoners, if possibly +they could. For he seemed now to be much concerned that in nine days' +time he could not meet one person who might inform him of the condition +and forces of the Spaniards. About evening they discovered a troop of +two hundred Spaniards, more or less, who hallooed unto the Pirates, but +these could not understand what they said. A little while after they +came the first time within sight of the highest steeple of Panama. This +steeple they no sooner had discovered but they began to show signs of +extreme joy, casting up their hats into the air, leaping for mirth, and +shouting, even just as if they had already obtained the victory and +entire accomplishment of their designs. All their trumpets were sounded +and every drum beaten, in token of this universal acclamation and huge +alacrity of their minds. Thus they pitched their camp for that night +with general content of the whole army, waiting with impatience for the +morning, at which time they intended to attack the city. This evening +there appeared fifty horse who came out of the city, hearing the noise +of the drums and trumpets of the Pirates, to observe, as it was thought, +their motions. They came almost within musket-shot of the army, being +preceded by a trumpet that sounded marvellously well. Those on horseback +hallooed aloud unto the Pirates, and threatened them, saying, 'Perros! +nos veremos,' that is, 'Ye dogs! we shall meet ye.' Having made this +menace they returned to the city, excepting only seven or eight horsemen +who remained hovering thereabouts, to watch what motions the Pirates +made. Immediately after, the city began to fire and ceased not to play +with their biggest guns all night long against the camp, but with little +or no harm unto the Pirates, whom they could not conveniently reach. +About this time also the two hundred Spaniards whom the Pirates had seen +in the afternoon appeared again within sight, making resemblance as if +they would block up the passages, to the intent no Pirates might escape +the hands of their forces. But the Pirates, who were now in a manner +besieged, instead of conceiving any fear of their blockades, as soon as +they had placed sentries about their camp, began every one to open their +satchels, and without any preparation of napkins or plates, fell to +eating very heartily the remaining pieces of bulls' and horses' flesh +which they had reserved since noon. This being done, they laid +themselves down to sleep upon the grass with great repose and huge +satisfaction, expecting only with impatience for the dawnings of the +next day. + +"On the tenth day, betimes in the morning, they put all their men in +convenient order, and with drums and trumpets sounding, continued their +march directly towards the city. But one of the guides desired Captain +Morgan not to take the common highway that led thither, fearing lest +they should find in it much resistance and many ambuscades. He presently +took his advice, and chose another way that went through the wood, +although very irksome and difficult. Thus the Spaniards, perceiving the +Pirates had taken another way, which they scarce had thought on or +believed, were compelled to leave their stops and batteries, and come +out to meet them. The Governor of Panama put his forces in order, +consisting of two squadrons, four regiments of foot, and a huge number +of wild bulls, which were driven by a great number of Indians, with some +negroes and others to help them. + +"The Pirates being now upon their march, came unto the top of a little +hill, from whence they had a large prospect of the city and campaign +country underneath. Here they discovered the forces of the people of +Panama, extended in battle array, which, when they perceived to be so +numerous, they were suddenly surprised with great fear, much doubting +the fortune of the day. Yea, few or none there were but wished +themselves at home, or at least free from the obligation of that +engagement, wherein they perceived their lives must be so narrowly +concerned. Having been some time at a stand, in a wavering condition of +mind, they at last reflected upon the straits they had brought +themselves into, and that now they ought of necessity either to fight +resolutely or die, for no quarter could be expected from an enemy +against whom they had committed so many cruelties on all occasions. +Hereupon they encouraged one another, and resolved either to conquer, or +spend the very last drop of blood in their bodies. Afterwards they +divided themselves into three battalions, or troops, sending before them +one of two hundred buccaneers, which sort of people are infinitely +dextrous at shooting with guns.[303] Thus the Pirates left the hill and +descended, marching directly towards the Spaniards, who were posted in a +spacious field, waiting for their coming. As soon as they drew nigh unto +them, the Spaniards began to shout and cry, 'Viva el Rey! God save the +King!' and immediately their horse began to move against the Pirates. +But the field being full of quags and very soft under foot, they could +not ply to and fro and wheel about, as they desired. The two hundred +buccaneers who went before, every one putting one knee to the ground, +gave them a full volley of shot, wherewith the battle was instantly +kindled very hot. The Spaniards defended themselves very courageously, +acting all they could possibly perform, to disorder the Pirates. Their +foot, in like manner, endeavoured to second the horse, but were +constrained by the Pirates to separate from them. Thus finding +themselves frustrated of their designs, they attempted to drive the +bulls against them at their backs, and by this means to put them into +disorder. But the greatest part of that wild cattle ran away, being +frightened with the noise of the battle. And some few that broke through +the English companies did no other harm than to tear the colours in +pieces; whereas the buccaneers, shooting them dead, left not one to +trouble them thereabouts. + +"The battle having now continued for the space of two hours, at the end +thereof the greatest part of the Spanish horse was ruined and almost all +killed. The rest fled away. Which being perceived by the foot, and that +they could not possibly prevail, they discharged the shot they had in +their muskets, and throwing them on the ground, betook themselves to +flight, every one which way he could run. The Pirates could not possibly +follow them, as being too much harassed and wearied with the long +journey they had lately made. Many of them not being able to fly whither +they desired, hid themselves for that present among the shrubs of the +seaside. But very unfortunately; for most of them being found out by the +Pirates, were instantly killed, without giving quarter to any.[304] Some +religious men were brought prisoners before Captain Morgan; but he being +deaf to their cries and lamentations, commanded them all to be +immediately pistoled, which was accordingly done. Soon after they +brought a captain to his presence, whom he examined very strictly about +several things, particularly wherein consisted the forces of those of +Panama. Unto which he answered: Their whole strength did consist in four +hundred horse, twenty-four companies of foot, each being of one hundred +men complete, sixty Indians and some negroes, who were to drive two +thousand wild bulls and cause them to run over the English camp, and +thus by breaking their files put them into a total disorder and +confusion.[305] He discovered more, that in the city they had made +trenches and raised batteries in several places, in all which they had +placed many guns. And that at the entry of the highway which led to the +city they had built a fort, which was mounted with eight great guns of +brass and defended by fifty men. + +"Captain Morgan, having heard this information, gave orders instantly +they should march another way. But before setting forth, he made a +review of all his men, whereof he found both killed and wounded a +considerable number, and much greater than he had believed. Of the +Spaniards were found six hundred dead upon the place, besides the +wounded and prisoners.[306] The Pirates were nothing discouraged, seeing +their number so much diminished, but rather filled with greater pride +than before, perceiving what huge advantage they had obtained against +their enemies. Thus having rested themselves some while, they prepared +to march courageously towards the city, plighting their oaths to one +another in general they would fight till never a man was left alive. +With this courage they recommenced their march, either to conquer or be +conquered, carrying with them all the prisoners. + +"They found much difficulty in their approach unto the city. For within +the town the Spaniards had placed many great guns, at several quarters +thereof, some of which were charged with small pieces of iron, and +others with musket bullets. With all these they saluted the Pirates, at +their drawing nigh unto the place, and gave them full and frequent +broadsides, firing at them incessantly. Whence it came to pass that +unavoidably they lost, at every step they advanced, great numbers of +men. But neither these manifest dangers of their lives, nor the sight of +so many of their own as dropped down continually at their sides, could +deter them from advancing farther, and gaining ground every moment upon +the enemy. Thus, although the Spaniards never ceased to fire and act the +best they could for their defence, yet notwithstanding they were forced +to deliver the city after the space of three hours' combat.[307] And the +Pirates, having now possessed themselves thereof, both killed and +destroyed as many as attempted to make the least opposition against +them. The inhabitants had caused the best of their goods to be +transported to more remote and occult places. Howbeit they found within +the city as yet several warehouses, very well stocked with all sorts of +merchandise, as well silks and cloths as linen, and other things of +considerable value. As soon as the first fury of their entrance into the +city was over, Captain Morgan assembled all his men at a certain place +which he assigned, and there commanded them under very great penalties +that none of them should dare to drink or taste any wine. The reason he +gave for this injunction was, because he had received private +intelligence that it had been all poisoned by the Spaniards. Howbeit it +was the opinion of many he gave these prudent orders to prevent the +debauchery of his people, which he foresaw would be very great at the +beginning, after so much hunger sustained by the way. Fearing withal +lest the Spaniards, seeing them in wine, should rally their forces and +fall upon the city, and use them as inhumanly as they had used the +inhabitants before." + +Exquemelin accuses Morgan of setting fire to the city and endeavouring +to make the world believe that it was done by the Spaniards. Wm. Frogge, +however, who was also present, says distinctly that the Spaniards fired +the town, and Sir William Godolphin, in a letter from Madrid to +Secretary Arlington on 2nd June 1671, giving news of the exploit which +must have come from a Spanish source, says that the President of Panama +left orders that the city if taken should be burnt.[308] Moreover the +President of Panama himself, in a letter to Spain describing the event +which was intercepted by the English, admits that not the buccaneers but +the slaves and the owners of the houses set fire to the city.[309] The +buccaneers tried in vain to extinguish the flames, and the whole town, +which was built mostly of wood, was consumed by twelve o'clock midnight. +The only edifices which escaped were the government buildings, a few +churches, and about 300 houses in the suburbs. The freebooters remained +at Panama twenty-eight days seeking plunder and indulging in every +variety of excess. Excursions were made daily into the country for +twenty leagues round about to search for booty, and 3000 prisoners were +brought in. Exquemelin's story of the sack is probably in the main true. +In describing the city he writes: "There belonged to this city (which is +also the head of a bishopric) eight monasteries, whereof seven were for +men and one for women, two stately churches and one hospital. The +churches and monasteries were all richly adorned with altar-pieces and +paintings, huge quantity of gold and silver, with other precious things; +all which the ecclesiastics had hidden and concealed. Besides which +ornaments, here were to be seen two thousand houses of magnificent and +prodigious building, being all or the greatest part inhabited by +merchants of that country, who are vastly rich. For the rest of the +inhabitants of lesser quality and tradesmen, this city contained five +thousand houses more. Here were also great numbers of stables, which +served for the horses and mules, that carry all the plate, belonging as +well unto the King of Spain as to private men, towards the coast of the +North Sea. The neighbouring fields belonging to this city are all +cultivated with fertile plantations and pleasant gardens, which afford +delicious prospects unto the inhabitants the whole year long."[310] The +day after the capture, continues Exquemelin, "Captain Morgan dispatched +away two troops of Pirates of one hundred and fifty men each, being all +very stout soldiers and well armed with orders to seek for the +inhabitants of Panama who were escaped from the hands of their enemies. +These men, having made several excursions up and down the campaign +fields, woods and mountains, adjoining to Panama, returned after two +days' time bringing with them above 200 prisoners, between men, women +and slaves. The same day returned also the boat ... which Captain Morgan +had sent into the South Sea, bringing with her three other boats, which +they had taken in a little while. But all these prizes they could +willingly have given, yea, although they had employed greater labour +into the bargain, for one certain galleon, which miraculously escaped +their industry, being very richly laden with all the King's plate and +great quantity of riches of gold, pearl, jewels and other most precious +goods, of all of the best and richest merchants of Panama. On board of +this galleon were also the religious women, belonging to the nunnery of +the said city, who had embarked with them all the ornaments of their +church, consisting in great quantity of gold, plate, and other things of +great value.... + +"Notwithstanding the Pirates found in the ports of the islands of Tavoga +and Tavogilla several boats that were laden with many sorts of very good +merchandise; all which they took and brought unto Panama; where being +arrived, they made an exact relation of all that had passed while they +were abroad to Captain Morgan. The prisoners confirmed what the Pirates +had said, adding thereto, that they undoubtedly knew whereabouts the +said galleon might be at that present, but that it was very probable +they had been relieved before now from other places. These relations +stirred up Captain Morgan anew to send forth all the boats that were in +the port of Panama, with design to seek and pursue the said galleon till +they could find her. The boats aforesaid being in all four, set sail +from Panama, and having spent eight days in cruising to and fro, and +searching several ports and creeks, they lost all their hopes of finding +what they so earnestly sought for. Hereupon they resolved to return unto +the isles of Tavoga and Tavogilla. Here they found a reasonable good +ship, that was newly come from Payta, being laden with cloth, soap, +sugar and biscuit, with twenty thousand pieces of eight in ready money. +This vessel they instantly seized, not finding the least resistance from +any person within her. Nigh unto the said ship was also a boat whereof +in like manner they possessed themselves. Upon the boat they laded great +part of the merchandises they had found in the ship, together with some +slaves they had taken in the said islands. With this purchase they +returned to Panama, something better satisfied of their voyage, yet +withal much discontented they could not meet with the galleon.... + +"Captain Morgan used to send forth daily parties of two hundred men, to +make inroads into all the fields and country thereabouts, and when one +party came back, another consisting of two hundred more was ready to go +forth. By this means they gathered in a short time huge quantity of +riches, and no lesser number of prisoners. These being brought into the +city, were presently put unto the most exquisite tortures imaginable, to +make them confess both other people's goods and their own. Here it +happened, that one poor and miserable wretch was found in the house of a +gentleman of great quality, who had put on, amidst that confusion of +things, a pair of taffety breeches belonging to his master with a little +silver key hanging at the strings thereof. This being perceived by the +Pirates they immediately asked him where was the cabinet of the said +key? His answer was: he knew not what was become of it, but only that +finding those breeches in his master's house, he had made bold to wear +them. Not being able to extort any other confession out of him, they +first put him upon the rack, wherewith they inhumanly disjointed his +arms. After this they twisted a cord about his forehead, which they +wrung so hard, that his eyes appeared as big as eggs, and were ready to +fall out of his skull. But neither with these torments could they obtain +any positive answer to their demands. Whereupon they soon after hung him +up, giving him infinite blows and stripes, while he was under that +intolerable pain and posture of body. Afterwards they cut off his nose +and ears, and singed his face with burning straw, till he could speak +nor lament his misery no longer. Then losing all hopes of hearing any +confession from his mouth, they commanded a negro to run him through +with a lance, which put an end to his life and a period to their cruel +and inhuman tortures. After this execrable manner did many others of +those miserable prisoners finish their days, the common sport and +recreation of these Pirates being these and other tragedies not inferior +to these. + +"They spared in these their cruelties no sex nor condition whatsoever. +For as to religious persons and priests, they granted them less quarter +than unto others, unless they could produce a considerable sum of money, +capable of being a sufficient ransom. Women themselves were no better +used ... and Captain Morgan, their leader and commander, gave them no +good example in this point....[311] + +"Captain Morgan having now been at Panama the full space of three weeks, +commanded all things to be put in order for his departure. Unto this +effect he gave orders to every company of his men, to seek out for so +many beasts of carriage as might suffice to convey the whole spoil of +the city unto the river where his canoes lay. About this time a great +rumour was spread in the city, of a considerable number of Pirates who +intended to leave Captain Morgan; and that, by taking a ship which was +in the port, they determined to go and rob upon the South Sea till they +had got as much as they thought fit, and then return homewards by the +way of the East Indies into Europe. For which purpose they had already +gathered great quantity of provisions which they had hidden in private +places, with sufficient store of powder, bullets and all other sorts of +ammunition; likewise some great guns belonging to the town, muskets and +other things, wherewith they designed not only to equip the said vessel +but also to fortify themselves and raise batteries in some island or +other, which might serve them for a place of refuge. + +"This design had certainly taken effect as they intended, had not +Captain Morgan had timely advice thereof given him by one of their +comrades. Hereupon he instantly commanded the mainmast of the said ship +should be cut down and burnt, together with all the other boats that +were in the port. Hereby the intentions of all or most of his companions +were totally frustrated. After this Captain Morgan sent forth many of +the Spaniards into the adjoining fields and country, to seek for money +wherewith to ransom not only themselves but also all the rest of the +prisoners, as likewise the ecclesiastics, both secular and regular. +Moreover, he commanded all the artillery of the town to be spoiled, that +is to say, nailed and stopped up. At the same time he sent out a strong +company of men to seek for the Governor of Panama, of whom intelligence +was brought that he had laid several ambuscades in the way, by which he +ought to pass at his return. But those who were sent upon this design +returned soon after, saying they had not found any sign or appearance of +any such ambuscades. For a confirmation whereof they brought with them +some prisoners they had taken, who declared how that the said Governor +had had an intention of making some opposition by the way, but that the +men whom he had designed to effect it were unwilling to undertake any +such enterprise; so that for want of means he could not put his design +into execution.[312] + +"On the 24th of February of the year 1671,[313] Captain Morgan departed +from the city of Panama, or rather from the place where the said city of +Panama did stand. Of the spoils whereof he carried with him one hundred +and seventy-five beasts of carriage, laden with silver, gold and other +precious things, besides 600 prisoners, more or less, between men, +women, children and slaves. That day they came unto a river that passeth +through a delicious campaign field, at the distance of a league from +Panama. Here Captain Morgan put all his forces into good order of +martial array in such manner that the prisoners were in the middle of +the camp, surrounded on all sides with Pirates. At which present +conjuncture nothing else was to be heard but lamentations, cries, +shrieks and doleful sighs, of so many women and children, who were +persuaded Captain Morgan designed to transport them all, and carry them +into his own country for slaves. Besides that, among all those miserable +prisoners, there was extreme hunger and thirst endured at that time. +Which hardship and misery Captain Morgan designedly caused them to +sustain, with intent to excite them more earnestly to seek for money +wherewith to ransom themselves, according to the tax he had set upon +every one. Many of the women begged of Captain Morgan upon their knees, +with infinite sighs and tears, he would permit them to return unto +Panama, there to live in company of their dear husbands and children, in +little huts of straw which they would erect, seeing they had no houses +until the rebuilding of the city. But his answer was: he came not +thither to hear lamentations and cries, but rather to seek money. +Therefore, they ought to seek out for that in the first place, wherever +it were to be had, and bring it to him, otherwise he would assuredly +transport them all to such places whither they cared not to go.... + +"As soon as Captain Morgan arrived, upon his march, at the town called +Cruz, seated on the banks of the river Chagre, as was mentioned before, +he commanded an order to be published among the prisoners, that within +the space of three days every one of them should bring in their ransom, +under the penalty aforementioned, of being transported unto Jamaica. In +the meanwhile he gave orders for so much rice and maize to be collected +thereabouts as was necessary for the victualling all his ships. At this +place some of the prisoners were ransomed, but many others could not +bring in their moneys in so short a time. Hereupon he continued his +voyage ... carrying with him all the spoil that ever he could transport. +From this village he likewise led away some new prisoners, who were +inhabitants of the said place. So that these prisoners were added to +those of Panama who had not as yet paid their ransoms, and all +transported.... About the middle of the way unto the Castle of Chagre, +Captain Morgan commanded them to be placed in due order, according to +their custom, and caused every one to be sworn, that they had reserved +nor concealed nothing privately to themselves, even not so much as the +value of sixpence. This being done, Captain Morgan having had some +experience that those lewd fellows would not much stickle to swear +falsely in points of interest, he commanded them every one to be +searched very strictly, both in their clothes and satchels and +everywhere it might be presumed they had reserved anything. Yea, to the +intent this order might not be ill taken by his companions, he permitted +himself to be searched, even to the very soles of his shoes. To this +effect by common consent, there was assigned one out of every company to +be the searchers of all the rest. The French Pirates that went on this +expedition with Captain Morgan were not well satisfied with this new +custom of searching. Yet their number being less than that of the +English, they were forced to submit unto it, as well as the others had +done before them. The search being over, they re-embarked in their +canoes and boats, which attended them on the river, and arrived at the +Castle of Chagre.[314] ... Here they found all things in good order, +excepting the wounded men, whom they had left there at the time of their +departure. For of these the greatest number were dead, through the +wounds they had received. + +"From Chagre, Captain Morgan sent presently after his arrival, a great +boat unto Porto Bello, wherein were all the prisoners he had taken at +the Isle of St. Catherine, demanding by them a considerable ransom for +the Castle of Chagre, where he then was, threatening otherwise to ruin +and demolish it even to the ground. To this message those of Porto Bello +made answer: they would not give one farthing towards the ransom of the +said castle, and that the English might do with it as they pleased. This +answer being come, the dividend was made of all the spoil they had +purchased in that voyage. Thus every company and every particular person +therein included received their portion of what was gotten; or rather +what part thereof Captain Morgan was pleased to give them. For so it +was, that the rest of his companions, even of his own nation, complained +of his proceedings in this particular, and feared not to tell him openly +to his face, that he had reserved the best jewels to himself. For they +judged it impossible that no greater share should belong unto them than +two hundred pieces of eight per capita, of so many valuable purchases +and robberies as they had obtained. Which small sum they thought too +little reward for so much labour and such huge and manifest dangers as +they had so often exposed their lives unto. But Captain Morgan was deaf +to all these and many other complaints of this kind, having designed in +his mind to cheat them of as much as he could."[315] + +On 6th March 1671, Morgan, after demolishing the fort and other edifices +at Chagre and spiking all the guns, got secretly on board his own ship, +if we are to believe Exquemelin, and followed by only three or four +vessels of the fleet, returned to Port Royal. The rest of the fleet +scattered, most of the ships having "much ado to find sufficient +victuals and provisions for their voyage to Jamaica." At the end of +August not more than ten vessels of the original thirty-six had made +their way back to the English colony. Morgan, with very inadequate +means, accomplished a feat which had been the dream of Drake and other +English sailors for a century or more, and which Admiral Vernon in 1741 +with a much greater armament feared even to attempt. For display of +remarkable leadership and reckless bravery the expedition against Panama +has never been surpassed. Its brilliance was only clouded by the cruelty +and rapacity of the victors--a force levied without pay and little +discipline, and unrestrained, if not encouraged, in brutality by Morgan +himself. Exquemelin's accusation against Morgan, of avarice and +dishonesty in the division of the spoil amongst his followers, is, +unfortunately for the admiral's reputation, too well substantiated. +Richard Browne, the surgeon-general of the fleet, estimated the plunder +at over L70,000 "besides other rich goods," of which the soldiers were +miserably cheated, each man receiving but L10 as his share. At Chagre, +he writes, the leaders gave what they pleased "for which ... we must be +content or else be clapped in irons." The wronged seamen were loud in +their complaints against Morgan, Collier and the other captains for +starving, cheating and deserting them; but so long as Modyford was +governor they could obtain no redress. The commanders "dared but seldom +appear," writes Browne, "the widows, orphans and injured inhabitants who +had so freely advanced upon the hopes of a glorious design, being now +ruined through fitting out the privateers."[316] The Spaniards reckoned +their whole loss at 6,000,000 crowns.[317] + +On 31st May 1671, the Council of Jamaica extended a vote of thanks to +Morgan for the execution of his late commission, and formally expressed +their approval of the manner in which he had conducted himself.[318] +There can be no question but that the governor had full knowledge of +Morgan's intentions before the fleet sailed from Cape Tiburon. After the +decision of the council of officers on 2nd December to attack Panama, a +boat was dispatched to Jamaica to inform Modyford, and in a letter +written to Morgan ten days after the arrival of the vessel the governor +gave no countermand to the decision.[319] Doubtless the defence made, +that the governor and council were trying to forestall an impending +invasion of Jamaica by the Spaniards, was sincere. But it is also very +probable that they were in part deceived into this belief by Morgan and +his followers, who made it their first object to get prisoners, and +obtain from them by force a confession that at Cartagena, Porto Bello or +some other Spanish maritime port the Spaniards were mustering men and +fitting a fleet to invade the island. + +By a strange irony of fate, on 8th-18th July 1670 a treaty was concluded +at Madrid by Sir William Godolphin for "composing differences, +restraining depredations and establishing peace" in America. No trading +privileges in the West Indies were granted by either crown, but the King +of Spain acknowledged the sovereignty of the King of England over all +islands, colonies, etc., in America then in possession of the English, +and the ships of either nation, in case of distress, were to have +entertainment and aid in the ports of the other. The treaty was to be +published in the West Indies simultaneously by English and Spanish +governors within eight months after its ratification.[320] In May of the +following year, a messenger from San Domingo arrived in Port Royal with +a copy of the articles of peace, to propose that a day be fixed for +their publication, and to offer an exchange of prisoners,[321] Modyford +had as yet received no official notice from England of the treaty, and +might with justice complain to the authorities at home of their +neglect.[322] Shortly after, however, a new governor came to relieve him +of further responsibility. Charles II. had probably placated the Spanish +ambassador in 1670 by promising the removal of Modyford and the dispatch +of another governor well-disposed to the Spaniards.[323] At any rate, a +commission was issued in September 1670, appointing Colonel Thomas Lynch +Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, to command there in the "want, absence +or disability" of the governor;[324] and on 4th January following, in +spite of a petition of the officers, freeholders and inhabitants of +Jamaica in favour of Modyford,[325] the commission of the governor was +revoked.[326] Lynch arrived in Jamaica on 25th June with instructions, +as soon as he had possession of the government and forts, to arrest Sir +Thomas Modyford and send him home under guard to answer charges laid +against him.[327] Fearing to exasperate the friends of the old governor, +Lynch hesitated to carry out his instructions until 12th August, when he +invited Modyford on board the frigate "Assistance," with several members +of the council, and produced the royal orders for his arrest. Lynch +assured him, however, that his life and fortune were not in danger, the +proceeding being merely a sop to the indignant Spaniards.[328] Modyford +arrived in England in November, and on the 17th of the month was +committed to the Tower.[329] + +The indignation of the Spaniards, when the news of the sack of Panama +reached Spain, rose to a white heat. "It is impossible for me to paint +to your Lordship," wrote Godolphin to Lord Arlington, "the face of +Madrid upon the news of this action ... nor to what degree of +indignation the queen and ministers of State, the particular councils +and all sorts of people here, have taken it to heart."[330] It seems +that the ambassador or the Spanish consul in London had written to +Madrid that this last expedition was made by private intimation, if not +orders, from London, and that Godolphin had been commanded to provide in +the treaty for a long term before publication, so as to give time for +the execution of the design. Against these falsehoods the English +ambassador found it difficult to make headway, although he assured the +queen of the immediate punishment of the perpetrators, and the arrest +and recall of the Governor of Jamaica. Only by the greatest tact and +prudence was he able to stave off, until an official disavowal of the +expedition came from England, an immediate embargo on all the goods of +English merchants in Spain. The Spanish government decided to send a +fleet of 10,000 men with all speed to the Indies; and the Dukes of +Albuquerque and Medina Coeli vied with each other in offering to raise +the men at their own charge from among their own vassals. After +Godolphin had presented his official assurance to the queen, however, +nothing more was heard of this armament. "God grant," wrote the English +ambassador, "that Sir Thomas Modyford's way of defending Jamaica (as he +used to call it) by sending out the forces thereof to pillage, prove an +infallible one; for my own part, I do not think it hath been our +interest to awaken the Spaniards so much as this last action hath +done."[331] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 206: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 635.] + +[Footnote 207: Ibid., Nos. 656 and 664. Dated 15th and 18th February +respectively.] + +[Footnote 208: Ibid., No. 739.] + +[Footnote 209: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 739 and 744.] + +[Footnote 210: Ibid., Nos. 762 and 767.] + +[Footnote 211: Ibid., No. 746; Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 212: S.P. Spain, vol. 46, f. 192; C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. +753.] + +[Footnote 212: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 744; _cf._ also No. 811, and +Lyttleton's Report, No. 812.] + +[Footnote 214: Ibid., No. 789.] + +[Footnote 215: Ibid., Nos. 859, 964; Beeston's Journal. For disputes +over the cargo of the Spanish prize captured by Williams, _cf._ C.S.P. +Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1140, 1150, 1177, 1264, 1266.] + +[Footnote 216: Ibid., No. 767.] + +[Footnote 217: Add. MSS., 11,410, pp. 16-25.] + +[Footnote 218: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 786; _cf._ also Add. MSS., +11,410, f. 303:--"Mr. Worseley's discourse of the Privateers of +Jamaica."] + +[Footnote 219: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 57-65.] + +[Footnote 220: For the biography of Jean-David Nau, surnamed l'Olonnais, +_cf._ Nouvelle Biographie Generale, t. xxxviii. p. 654.] + +[Footnote 221: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 744, 812.] + +[Footnote 222: Ibid., Nos. 744, 765, 786, 812.] + +[Footnote 223: C.S.P. Colon., 1574-1660, pp. 363, 421, 433.] + +[Footnote 224: Ibid., pp. 419, 427, 428.] + +[Footnote 225: Ibid., p. 447; Egerton MSS., 2395, f. 167.] + +[Footnote 226: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 101; _cf._ also Nos. 24, 32, +122. From orders contained in the MSS. of the Marquis of Ormonde issued +on petitions of convicted prisoners, we find that reprieves were often +granted on condition of their making arrangements for their own +transportation for life to the West Indies, without expense to the +government. The condemned were permitted to leave the gaols in which +they were confined and embark immediately, on showing that they had +agreed with a sea-captain to act as his servant, both during the voyage +and after their arrival. The captains were obliged to give bond for the +safe transportation of the criminals, and the latter were also to find +security that they would not return to the British Isles without +license, on pain of receiving the punishment from which they had been +originally reprieved. (Hist. MSS. Comm. Rept. X., pt. 5, pp. 34, 42, 85, +94). _Cf._ also C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1268.] + +[Footnote 227: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 331, 769-772, 790, 791, 798, +847, 1720.] + +[Footnote 228: Ibid., No. 866.] + +[Footnote 229: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 839, 843.] + +[Footnote 230: Ibid., No. 786.] + +[Footnote 231: Ibid., No. 943.] + +[Footnote 232: Ibid., Nos. 910, 919, 926.] + +[Footnote 233: Ibid., Nos. 942, 976.] + +[Footnote 234: Ibid., No. 944.] + +[Footnote 235: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 979. There were really nine +ships and 650 men. Cf. _ibid._, No. 1088.] + +[Footnote 236: Ibid., Nos. 980, 983, 992.] + +[Footnote 237: Ibid., No. 1088.] + +[Footnote 238: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1073, 1088.] + +[Footnote 239: Ibid., No. 1042, I. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Morgan (not +to be confused with Colonel Edward Morgan), who was left in command of +St. Eustatius and Saba, went in April 1666 with a company of buccaneers +to the assistance of Governor Watts of St. Kitts against the French. In +the rather shameful defence of the English part of the island Morgan's +buccaneers were the only English who displayed any courage or +discipline, and most of them were killed or wounded, Colonel Morgan +himself being shot in both legs. (Ibid., Nos. 1204, 1205, 1212, 1220, +1257.) St. Eustatius was reconquered by a French force from St. Kitts in +the early part of 1667. (Ibid., No. 1401.)] + +[Footnote 240: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1082.] + +[Footnote 241: Ibid., No. 1125. Stedman was later in the year, after the +outbreak of war with France, captured by a French frigate off +Guadeloupe. With a small vessel and only 100 men he found himself +becalmed and unable to escape, so he boldly boarded the Frenchman in +buccaneer fashion and fought for two hours, but was finally overcome. +(Ibid., No. 1212.)] + +[Footnote 242: Ibid., No. 1085; Beeston's Journal. Mansfield was the +buccaneer whom Exquemelin disguises under the name of "Mansvelt."] + +[Footnote 243: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1130, 1132-37.] + +[Footnote 244: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1129, 1263.] + +[Footnote 245: Ibid., Nos. 1144, 1264.] + +[Footnote 246: Ibid., Nos. 1138, 1144.] + +[Footnote 247: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1264, slightly condensed from +the original.] + +[Footnote 248: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1142, 1147. The Governor of +Havana wrote concerning this same exploit, that on Christmas Eve of 1665 +the English entered and sacked the town of Cayo in the jurisdiction of +Havana, and meeting with a vessel having on board twenty-two Spaniards +who were inhabitants of the town, put them all to the sword, cutting +them to pieces with hangers. Afterwards they sailed to the town of +Bayamo with thirteen vessels and 700 men, but altering their plans, went +to Sancti Spiritus, landed 300, plundered the town, cruelly treated both +men and women, burnt the best houses, and wrecked and desecrated the +church in which they had made their quarters. (S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. +50.) + +Col. Beeston says that Mansfield conducted the raid; but according to +the Spanish account to which Duro had access, the leader was Pierre +Legrand. (Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 164).] + +[Footnote 249: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1147; Beeston's Journal. +Beeston reports that after a six weeks' search for Mansfield and his men +he failed to find them and returned to Jamaica.] + +[Footnote 250: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1213.] + +[Footnote 251: Exquemelin, however, says that he had 500 men. If he +attacked Providence Island with only 200 he must have received +reinforcements later.] + +[Footnote 252: Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 167; S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. 50. +The accounts that have come down to us of this expedition are obscure +and contradictory. Modyford writes of the exploit merely that "they +landed 600 men at Cape Blanco, in the kingdom of Veragua, and marched 90 +miles into that country to surprise its chief city, Cartago; but +understanding that the inhabitants had carried away their wealth, +returned to their ships without being challenged." (C.S.P. Colon., +1661-68, No. 1213.) According to Exquemelin the original goal of the +buccaneers was the town of Nata, north of Panama. The Spanish accounts +make the numbers of the invaders much greater, from 800 to 1200.] + +[Footnote 253: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1263.] + +[Footnote 254: Ibid., Nos. 1309, 1349. The capture of Providence Island +was Mansfield's last exploit. According to a deposition found among the +Colonial papers, he and his ship were later captured by the Spaniards +and carried to Havana where the old buccaneer was put in irons and soon +after executed. (Ibid., No. 1827.) Exquemelin says that Mansfield, +having been refused sufficient aid by Modyford for the defence of +Providence, went to seek assistance at Tortuga, when "death suddenly +surprised him and put a period to his wicked life."] + +[Footnote 255: Exquemelin refers to a voyage of Henry Morgan to +Campeache at about this time, and says that he afterwards accompanied +Mansfield as his "vice-admiral." There were at least three Morgans then +in the West Indies, but Colonel Edward and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas +were at this time doubtless busy preparing the armament against +Curacao.] + +[Footnote 256: "Villa de Mosa is a small Town standing on the Starboard +side of the River ... inhabited chiefly by Indians, with some +Spaniards.... Thus far Ships come to bring Goods, especially European +Commodities.... They arrive here in November or December, and stay till +June or July, selling their Commodities, and then load chiefly with +Cacao and some Sylvester. All the Merchants and petty Traders of the +country Towns come thither about Christmas to Traffick, which makes this +Town the chiefest in all these Parts, Campeache excepted."--Dampier, +_ed._ 1906, ii. p. 206. The town was twelve leagues from the river's +mouth.] + +[Footnote 257: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1142; Beeston's Journal, 20th +August 1665. The viceroy of New Spain, in a letter of 28th March 1665, +reports the coming, in February, of 150 English in three ships to +Tabasco, but gives the name of the plundered town as Santa Marta de la +Vitoria. According to his story, the buccaneers seized royal treasure +amounting to 50,000 pieces of eight, besides ammunition and slaves. +(S.P. Spain, vol. 49, f. 122.)] + +[Footnote 258: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1826, 1827, 1851; +Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part II. pp. 65-74.] + +[Footnote 259: S.P. Spain, vols. 46-49. Correspondence of Sir Richard +Fanshaw.] + +[Footnote 260: Ibid., vol. 46, f. 192.] + +[Footnote 261: Ibid., vol. 49, f. 212.] + +[Footnote 262: Ibid., vol. 52, f. 138; Record Office, Treaties, etc., +466.] + +[Footnote 263: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1276.] + +[Footnote 264: Ibid., No. 1264.] + +[Footnote 265: Ibid., No. 1537.] + +[Footnote 266: Ibid., No. 1264. + +There was probably some disagreement in the Council in England over the +policy to be pursued toward the buccaneers. On 21st August 1666 Modyford +wrote to Albemarle: "Sir James Modyford will present his Grace with a +copy of some orders made at Oxford, in behalf of some Spaniards, with +Lord Arlington's letter thereon; in which are such strong inculcations +of continuing friendship with the Spaniards here, that he doubts he +shall be highly discanted on by some persons for granting commissions +against them; must beg his Grace to bring him off, or at least that the +necessity of this proceeding may be taken into serious debate and then +doubts not but true English judges will confirm what he has done." On +the other hand he writes to Arlington on 30th July 1667: "Had my +abilities suited so well with my wishes as the latter did with your +Lordship's, the privateers' attempts had been only practised on the +Dutch and French, and the Spaniards free of them, but I had no money to +pay them nor frigates to force them; the former they could not get from +our declared enemies, nothing could they expect but blows from them, and +(as they have often repeated to me) will that pay for new sails and +rigging?... (but) will, suitable to your Lordship's directions, as far +as I am able, restrain them from further acts of violence towards the +Spaniards, unless provoked by new insolences." Yet in the following +December the governor tells Albemarle that he has not altered his +posture, nor does he intend until further orders. It seems clear that +Arlington and Albemarle represented two opposite sets of opinion in the +Council.] + +[Footnote 267: On 21st December 1671, Morgan in a deposition before the +Council of Jamaica gave his age as thirty-six years. (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 705.)] + +[Footnote 268: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838; Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, +Part II., pp. 79-88. According to Exquemelin the first design of the +freebooters had been to cross the island of Cuba in its narrowest part +and fall upon Havana. But on receiving advice that the governor had +taken measures to defend and provision the city, they changed their +minds and marched to Puerto Principe.] + +[Footnote 269: The city of Porto Bello with its large commodious harbour +afforded a good anchorage and shelter for the annual treasure galleons. +The narrow entrance was secured by the two forts mentioned in the +narrative, the St. Jago on the left entering the harbour, and the San +Felipe on the right; and within the port was a third called the San +Miguel. The town lay at the bottom of the harbour bending round the +shore like a half-moon. It was built on low swampy ground and had no +walls or defences on the land side. (_Cf._ the descriptions of Wafer and +Gage.) The garrison at this time probably did not exceed 300 men.] + +[Footnote 270: This statement is confirmed by one of the captains +serving under Morgan, who in his account of the expedition says: "After +remaining some days ... sickness broke out among the troops, of which we +lost half by sickness and fighting." (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1.) +And in "The Present State of Jamaica, 1683," we read that Morgan brought +to the island the plague "that killed my Lady Modyford and others."] + +[Footnote 271: Morgan reported, however, that the ransom was offered and +paid by the President of Panama. (C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838.)] + +[Footnote 272: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part II. pp. 89-103. + +The cruelties of the buccaneers at Porto Bello are confirmed by a letter +from John Style to the Secretary of State, complaining of the disorder +and injustice reigning in Jamaica. He writes: "It is a common thing +among the privateers, besides burning with matches and such like slight +torments, to cut a man in pieces, first some flesh, then a hand, an arm, +a leg, sometimes tying a cord about his head and with a stick twisting +it till the eyes shot out, which is called 'woolding.' Before taking +Puerto Bello, thus some were used, because they refused to discover a +way into the town which was not, and many in the town because they would +not discover wealth they knew not of. A woman there was by some set bare +upon a baking stone and roasted because she did not confess of money +which she had only in their conceit; this he heard some declare with +boasting, and one that was sick confess with sorrow." (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 138.) + +Modyford writes concerning the booty got at Porto Bello, that the +business cleared each privateer L60, and "to himself they gave only L20 +for their commission, which never exceeded L300." (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 103.) But it is very probable that the buccaneers did not +return a full account of the booty to the governor, for it was a common +complaint that they plundered their prizes and hid the spoil in holes +and creeks along the coast so as to cheat the government of its tenths +and fifteenths levied on all condemned prize-goods.] + +[Footnote 273: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, No. 1838.] + +[Footnote 274: C.S.P. Colon., 1661-68, Nos. 1863, 1867, 1892.] + +[Footnote 275: Ibid., No. 1867; Beeston's Journal, 15th October 1668.] + +[Footnote 276: Ibid., C.S.P. Colon., 1674-76, Addenda, No. 1207.] + +[Footnote 277: Exquemelin gives a French version of the episode, +according to which the commander of the "Cour Volant" had given bills of +exchange upon Jamaica and Tortuga for the provisions he had taken out of +the English ship; but Morgan, because he could not prevail on the French +captain to join his proposed expedition, used this merely as a pretext +to seize the ship for piracy. The "Cour Volant," turned into a privateer +and called the "Satisfaction," was used by Morgan as his flagship in the +expedition against Panama.] + +[Footnote 278: According to Exquemelin the booty amounted to 250,000 +crowns in money and jewels, besides merchandise and slaves. Modyford, +however, wrote that the buccaneers received only L30 per man.] + +[Footnote 279: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1; S.P. Spain, vol. 54, f. +118; vol. 55, f. 177.] + +[Footnote 280: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 227, 578.] + +[Footnote 281: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 129.] + +[Footnote 282: Ibid., No. 149. + +In 1666 the Consejo de Almirantazgo of Flanders had offered the +government to send its frigates to the Indies to pursue and punish the +buccaneers, and protect the coasts of Spanish America; and in 1669 +similar proposals were made by the "armadores" or owners of corsairing +vessels in the seaport towns of Biscay. Both offers were refused, +however, because the government feared that such privileges would lead +to commercial abuses infringing on the monopoly of the Seville +merchants. Duro, _op. cit._, V. p. 169.] + +[Footnote 283: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 113, 161, 162, 172, 182, +264, 280.] + +[Footnote 284: Ibid., Nos. 207, 211, 227, 240.] + +[Footnote 285: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 207, 209-212, 226.] + +[Footnote 286: Ibid., No. 194.] + +[Footnote 287: Ibid., No. 237.] + +[Footnote 288: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74; Nos. 310, 359, 504; Exquemelin, +_ed._ 1684, Pt. III. pp. 3-7; Add. MSS., 13,964, f. 24.] + +[Footnote 289: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 293, 310.] + +[Footnote 290: S.P. Spain, vol. 57, ff. 48, 53.] + +[Footnote 291: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 293, 310; Add. MSS., 13,964, +f. 26. The Spaniards estimated their loss at 100,000 pieces of eight. +(Add. MSS. 11,268, f. 51.)] + +[Footnote 292: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 310, 359, 504. In a report +sent by Governor Modyford to England (_ibid._, No. 704, I.) we find a +list of the vessels under command of Henry Morgan, with the name, +captain, tonnage, guns and crew of each ship. There were twenty-eight +English vessels of from 10 to 140 tons and from zero to 20 guns, +carrying from 16 to 140 men; the French vessels were eight in number, of +from 25 to 100 tons, with from 2 to 14 guns, and carrying from 30 to 110 +men.] + +[Footnote 293: Ibid., No. 504. According to Exquemelin, before the fleet +sailed all the officers signed articles regulating the disposal of the +booty. It was stipulated that Admiral Morgan should have the hundredth +part of all the plunder, "that every captain should draw the shares of +eight men, for the expenses of his ship, besides his own; that the +surgeon besides his ordinary pay should have two hundred pieces of +eight, for his chest of medicaments; and every carpenter above his +ordinary salary, should draw one hundred pieces of eight. As to +recompenses and rewards they were regulated in this voyage much higher +than was expressed in the first part of this book. For the loss of both +legs they assigned one thousand five hundred pieces of eight or fifteen +slaves, the choice being left to the election of the party; for the loss +of both hands, one thousand eight hundred pieces of eight or eighteen +slaves; for one leg, whether the right or left, six hundred pieces of +eight or six slaves; for a hand as much as for a leg, and for the loss +of an eye, one hundred pieces of eight or one slave. Lastly, unto him +that in any battle should signalize himself, either by entering the +first any castle, or taking down the Spanish colours and setting up the +English, they constituted fifty pieces of eight for a reward. In the +head of these articles it was stipulated that all these extraordinary +salaries, recompenses and rewards should be paid out of the first spoil +or purchase they should take, according as every one should then occur +to be either rewarded or paid."] + +[Footnote 294: Sir James Modyford, who, after the capture of Providence +by Mansfield in 1666, had been commissioned by the king as +lieutenant-governor of the island, now bestirred himself, and in May +1671 appointed Colonel Blodre Morgan (who commanded the rear-guard at +the battle of Panama) to go as deputy-governor and take possession. +Modyford himself intended to follow with some settlers shortly after, +but the attempt at colonization seems to have failed. (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, Nos. 494, 534, 613.)] + +[Footnote 295: Add. MSS., 11,268, f. 51 _ff._; _ibid._, 13,964, f. +24-25.] + +[Footnote 296: Ibid., 11,268, f. 51 _ff._; S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + +[Footnote 297: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part III. pp. 23-27.] + +[Footnote 298: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504. Exquemelin says that +there were 1200 men, five boats with artillery and thirty-two canoes.] + +[Footnote 299: Morgan's report makes it 200 men. (C.S.P. Colon., +1669-74, No. 504.)] + +[Footnote 300: Morgan says: "The enemy had basely quitted the first +entrenchment and set all on fire, as they did all the rest, without +striking a stroke." The President of Panama also writes that the +garrisons up the river, on receiving news of the fall of Chagre, were in +a panic, the commanders forsaking their posts and retiring in all haste +to Venta Cruz. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 547.)] + +[Footnote 301: Exquemelin makes the buccaneers arrive at Venta Cruz on +the seventh day. According to Morgan they reached the village on the +sixth day, and according to Frogge on the fifth. Morgan reports that two +miles from Venta Cruz there was "a very narrow and dangerous passage +where the enemy thought to put a stop to our further proceeding but were +presently routed by the Forlorn commanded by Capt. Thomas Rogers."] + +[Footnote 302: Frogge says that after leaving Venta Cruz they came upon +an ambuscade of 1000 Indians, but put them to flight with the loss of +only one killed and two wounded, the Indians losing their chief and +about thirty men. (S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 118.) Morgan reports three +killed and six or seven wounded.] + +[Footnote 303: "Next morning drew up his men in the form of a tertia, +the vanguard led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence Prince and Major John +Morris, in number 300, the main body 600, the right wing led by himself, +the left by Colonel Edw. Collyer, the rearguard of 300 commanded by +Colonel Bledry Morgan."--Morgan's Report. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. +504.)] + +[Footnote 304: The close agreement between the accounts of the battle +given by Morgan and Exquemelin is remarkable, and leads us to give much +greater credence to those details in Exquemelin's narrative of the +expedition which were omitted from the official report. Morgan says of +the battle that as the Spaniards had the advantage of position and +refused to move, the buccaneers made a flanking movement to the left and +secured a hill protected on one side by a bog. Thereupon "One Francesco +de Harro charged with the horse upon the vanguard so furiously that he +could not be stopped till he lost his life; upon which the horse wheeled +off, and the foot advanced, but met with such a warm welcome and were +pursued so close that the enemies' retreat came to plain running, though +they did work such a stratagem as has been seldom heard of, +viz.:--attempting to drive two droves of 1500 cattle into their rear." +(C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 504.)] + +[Footnote 305: Morgan gives the number of Spaniards at 2100 foot and 600 +horse, and Frogge reports substantially the same figures. The President +of Panama, however, in his letter to the Queen, writes that he had but +1200 men, mostly negroes, mulattos and Indians, besides 200 slaves of +the Assiento. His followers, he continues, were armed only with +arquebuses and fowling-pieces, and his artillery consisted of three +wooden guns bound with hide.] + +[Footnote 306: According to Frogge the Spaniards lost 500 men in the +battle, the buccaneers but one Frenchman. Morgan says that the whole +day's work only cost him five men killed and ten wounded, and that the +loss of the enemy was about 400.] + +[Footnote 307: "In the city they had 200 fresh men, two forts, all the +streets barricaded and great guns in every street, which in all amounted +to thirty-two brass guns, but instead of fighting commanded it to be +fired, and blew up the chief fort, which was done in such haste that +forty of their own soldiers were blown up. In the market-place some +resistance was made, but at three o'clock they had quiet possession of +the city...."--Morgan's Report.] + +[Footnote 308: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + +[Footnote 309: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 547.] + +[Footnote 310: After the destruction of Panama in 1671, the old city was +deserted by the Spaniards, and the present town raised on a site several +miles to the westward, where there was a better anchorage and landing +facilities.] + +[Footnote 311: The incident of Morgan and the Spanish lady I have +omitted because it is so contrary to the testimony of Richard Browne +(who if anything was prejudiced against Morgan) that "as to their women, +I know or ever heard of anything offered beyond their wills; something I +know was cruelly executed by Captain Collier in killing a friar in the +field after quarter given; but for the Admiral he was noble enough to +the vanquished enemy." (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 608.)] + +[Footnote 312: The President had retired north to Nata de los Santos, +and thence sent couriers with an account of what had happened over +Darien to Cartagena, whence the news was forwarded by express boat to +Spain. (S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156). That the president made efforts to +raise men to oppose the retreat of the buccaneers, but received no +support from the inhabitants, is proved by Spanish documents in Add. +MSS., 11,268, ff. 33, 37, etc.] + +[Footnote 313: The President of Panama in his account contained in Add. +MSS. 11,268, gives the date as 25th February. Morgan, however, says that +they began the march for Venta Cruz on 14th February; but this +discrepancy may be due to a confusion of the old and new style of +dating.] + +[Footnote 314: The buccaneers arrived at Chagre on 26th +February.--Morgan's account.] + +[Footnote 315: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part III. pp. 31-76.] + +[Footnote 316: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 608. Wm. Frogge, too, says +that the share of each man was only L10.] + +[Footnote 317: Add. MSS., 11,268.] + +[Footnote 318: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 542, I.] + +[Footnote 319: Ibid., No. 542, II.] + +[Footnote 320: S.P. Spain, vol. 57, f. 76; vol. 58, f. 27.] + +[Footnote 321: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 513, 531, 532, 544; +Beeston's journal.] + +[Footnote 322: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 30.] + +[Footnote 323: _Cf._ Memorial of the Conde de Molina complaining that a +new governor had not been sent to Jamaica, as promised, nor the old +governor recalled, 26th Feb. 1671 (S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 62).] + +[Footnote 324: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 272.] + +[Footnote 325: Ibid., No. 331.] + +[Footnote 326: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 377, 424.] + +[Footnote 327: Ibid., Nos. 405, 441, 452, 453, 552, 587.] + +[Footnote 328: Ibid., Nos. 600, 604, 608, 655.] + +[Footnote 329: Ibid., Nos. 653, 654.] + +[Footnote 330: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + +[Footnote 331: S.P. Spain, vol. 58, f. 156.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GOVERNMENT SUPPRESSES THE BUCCANEERS + + +The new Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch, brought with +him instructions to publish and carefully observe the articles of 1670 +with Spain, and at the same time to revoke all commissions issued by his +predecessor "to the prejudice of the King of Spain or any of his +subjects." When he proclaimed the peace he was likewise to publish a +general pardon to privateers who came in and submitted within a +reasonable time, of all offences committed since June 1660, assuring to +them the possession of their prize-goods (except the tenths and the +fifteenths which were always reserved to the crown as a condition of +granting commissions), and offering them inducements to take up +planting, trade, or service in the royal navy. But he was not to insist +positively on the payment of the tenths and fifteenths if it discouraged +their submission; and if this course failed to bring in the rovers, he +was to use every means in his power "by force or persuasion" to make +them submit.[332] Lynch immediately set about to secure the good-will of +his Spanish neighbours and to win back the privateers to more peaceful +pursuits. Major Beeston was sent to Cartagena with the articles of +peace, where he was given every satisfaction and secured the release of +thirty-two English prisoners.[333] On the 15th August the proclamation +of pardon to privateers was issued at Port Royal;[334] and those who had +railed against their commanders for cheating them at Panama, were given +an opportunity of resorting to the law-courts.[335] Similar +proclamations were sent by the governor "to all their haunts," +intimating that he had written to Bermuda, the Caribbees, New England, +New York and Virginia for their apprehension, had sent notices to all +Spanish ports declaring them pirates, and intended to send to Tortuga to +prevent their reception there.[336] However, although the governor wrote +home in the latter part of the month that the privateers were entirely +suppressed, he soon found that the task was by no means a simple one. +Two buccaneers with a commission from Modyford, an Englishman named +Thurston and a mulatto named Diego, flouted his offer of pardon, +continued to prey upon Spanish shipping, and carried their prizes to +Tortuga.[337] A Dutchman named Captain Yallahs (or Yellowes) fled to +Campeache, sold his frigate for 7000 pieces of eight to the Spanish +governor, and entered into Spanish service to cruise against the English +logwood-cutters. The Governor of Jamaica sent Captain Wilgress in +pursuit, but Wilgress devoted his time to chasing a Spanish vessel +ashore, stealing logwood and burning Spanish houses on the coast.[338] A +party of buccaneers, English and French, landed upon the north side of +Cuba and burnt two towns, carrying away women and inflicting many +cruelties on the inhabitants; and when the governors of Havana and St. +Jago complained to Lynch, the latter could only disavow the English in +the marauding party as rebels and pirates, and bid the Spanish governors +hang all who fell into their power.[339] The governor, in fact, was +having his hands full, and wrote in January 1672 that "this cursed trade +has been so long followed, and there is so many of it, that like weeds +or hydras, they spring up as fast as we can cut them down."[340] + +Some of the recalcitrant freebooters, however, were captured and brought +to justice. Major Beeston, sent by the governor in January 1672, with a +frigate and four smaller vessels, to seize and burn some pirate ships +careening on the south cays of Cuba, fell in instead with two other +vessels, one English and one French, which had taken part in the raids +upon Cuba, and carried them to Jamaica. The French captain was offered +to the Governor of St. Jago, but the latter refused to punish him for +fear of his comrades in Tortuga and Hispaniola. Both captains were +therefore tried and condemned to death at Port Royal. As the Spaniards, +however, had refused to punish them, and as there was no reason why the +Jamaicans should be the executioners, the captains of the port and some +of the council begged for a reprieve, and the English prisoner, Francis +Witherborn, was sent to England.[341] Captain Johnson, one of the +pirates after whom Beeston had originally been sent, was later in the +year shipwrecked by a hurricane upon the coast of Jamaica. Johnson, +immediately after the publication of the peace by Sir Thomas Lynch, had +fled from Port Royal with about ten followers, and falling in with a +Spanish ship of eighteen guns, had seized it and killed the captain and +twelve or fourteen of the crew. Then gathering about him a party of a +hundred or more, English and French, he had robbed Spanish vessels round +Havana and the Cuban coast. Finally, however, he grew weary of his +French companions, and sailed for Jamaica to make terms with the +governor, when on coming to anchor in Morant Bay he was blown ashore by +the hurricane. The governor had him arrested, and gave a commission to +Colonel Modyford, the son of Sir Thomas, to assemble the justices and +proceed to trial and immediate execution. He adjured him, moreover, to +see to it that the pirate was not acquitted. Colonel Modyford, +nevertheless, sharing perhaps his father's sympathy with the sea-rovers, +deferred the trial, acquainted none of the justices with his orders, and +although Johnson and two of his men "confessed enough to hang a hundred +honester persons," told the jury they could not find against the +prisoner. Half an hour after the dismissal of the court, Johnson "came +to drink with his judges." The baffled governor thereupon placed Johnson +a second time under arrest, called a meeting of the council, from which +he dismissed Colonel Modyford, and "finding material errors," reversed +the judgment. The pirate was again tried--Lynch himself this time +presiding over the court--and upon making a full confession, was +condemned and executed, though "as much regretted," writes Lynch, "as if +he had been as pious and as innocent as one of the primitive martyrs." +The second trial was contrary to the fundamental principles of English +law, howsoever guilty the culprit may have been, and the king sent a +letter to Lynch reproving him for his rashness. He commanded the +governor to try all pirates thereafter by maritime law, and if a +disagreement arose to remit the case to the king for re-judgment. +Nevertheless he ordered Lynch to suspend from all public employments in +the island, whether civil or military, both Colonel Modyford and all +others guilty with him of designedly acquitting Johnson.[342] + +The Spaniards in the West Indies, notwithstanding the endeavours of Sir +Thomas Lynch to clear their coasts of pirates, made little effort to +co-operate with him. The governors of Cartagena and St. Jago de Cuba, +pretending that they feared being punished for allowing trade, had +forbidden English frigates to come into their ports, and refused them +provisions and water; and the Governor of Campeache had detained money, +plate and negroes taken out of an English trading-vessel, to the value +of 12,000 pieces of eight. When Lynch sent to demand satisfaction, the +governor referred him to Madrid for justice, "which to me that have been +there," writes Lynch, "seems worse than the taking it away."[343] The +news also of the imposing armament, which the Spanish grandees made +signs of preparing to send to the Indies on learning of the capture of +Panama, was in November 1671 just beginning to filter into Jamaica; and +the governor and council, fearing that the fleet was directed against +them, made vigorous efforts, by repairing the forts, collecting stores +and marshalling the militia, to put the island in a state of defence. +The Spanish fleet never appeared, however, and life on the island soon +subsided into its customary channels.[344] Sir Thomas Lynch, meanwhile, +was all the more careful to observe the peace with Spain and yet refrain +from alienating the more troublesome elements of the population. It had +been decided in England that Morgan, too, like Modyford, was to be +sacrificed, formally at least, to the remonstrances of the Spanish +Government; yet Lynch, because Morgan himself was ill, and fearing +perhaps that two such arrests might create a disturbance among the +friends of the culprits, or at least deter the buccaneers from coming in +under the declaration of amnesty, did not send the admiral to England +until the following spring. On 6th April 1672 Morgan sailed from Jamaica +a prisoner in the frigate "Welcome."[345] He sailed, however, with the +universal respect and sympathy of all parties in the colony. Lynch +himself calls him "an honest, brave fellow," and Major James Banister in +a letter to the Secretary of State recommends him to the esteem of +Arlington as "a very well deserving person, and one of great courage and +conduct, who may, with his Majesty's pleasure, perform good service at +home, and be very advantageous to the island if war should break forth +with the Spaniard."[346] + +Indeed Morgan, the buccaneer, was soon in high favour at the dissolute +court of Charles II., and when in January 1674 the Earl of Carlisle was +chosen Governor of Jamaica, Morgan was selected as his deputy[347]--an +act which must have entirely neutralized in Spanish Councils the effect +of his arrest a year and a half earlier. Lord Carlisle, however, did not +go out to Jamaica until 1678, and meanwhile in April a commission to be +governor was issued to Lord Vaughan,[348] and several months later +another to Morgan as lieutenant-governor.[349] Vaughan arrived in +Jamaica in the middle of March 1675; but Morgan, whom the king in the +meantime had knighted, sailed ahead of Vaughan, apparently in defiance +of the governor's orders, and although shipwrecked on the Isle la Vache, +reached Jamaica a week before his superior.[350] It seems that Sir +Thomas Modyford sailed for Jamaica with Morgan, and the return of these +two arch-offenders to the West Indies filled the Spanish Court with new +alarms. The Spanish ambassador in London presented a memorial of protest +to the English king,[351] and in Spain the Council of War blossomed into +fresh activity to secure the defence of the West Indies and the coasts +of the South Sea.[352] Ever since 1672, indeed, the Spaniards moved by +some strange infatuation, had persisted in a course of active hostility +to the English in the West Indies. Could the Spanish Government have +realized the inherent weakness of its American possessions, could it +have been informed of the scantiness of the population in proportion to +the large extent of territory and coast-line to be defended, could it +have known how in the midst of such rich, unpeopled countries abounding +with cattle, hogs and other provisions, the buccaneers could be +extirpated only by co-operation with its English and French neighbours, +it would have soon fallen back upon a policy of peace and good +understanding with England. But the news of the sack of Panama, +following so close upon the conclusion of the treaty of 1670, and the +continued depredations of the buccaneers of Tortuga and the declared +pirates of Jamaica, had shattered irrevocably the reliance of the +Spaniards upon the good faith of the English Government. And when Morgan +was knighted and sent back to Jamaica as lieutenant-governor, their +suspicions seemed to be confirmed. A ketch, sent to Cartagena in 1672 by +Sir Thomas Lynch to trade in negroes, was seized by the general of the +galleons, the goods burnt in the market-place, and the negroes sold for +the Spanish King's account.[353] An Irish papist, named Philip +Fitzgerald, commanding a Spanish man-of-war of twelve guns belonging to +Havana, and a Spaniard called Don Francisco with a commission from the +Governor of Campeache, roamed the West Indian seas and captured English +vessels sailing from Jamaica to London, Virginia and the Windward +Islands, barbarously ill-treating and sometimes massacring the English +mariners who fell into their hands.[354] The Spanish governors, in spite +of the treaty and doubtless in conformity with orders from home,[355] +did nothing to restrain the cruelties of these privateers. At one time +eight English sailors who had been captured in a barque off Port Royal +and carried to Havana, on attempting to escape from the city were +pursued by a party of soldiers, and all of them murdered, the head of +the master being set on a pole before the governor's door.[356] At +another time Fitzgerald sailed into the harbour of Havana with five +Englishmen tied ready to hang, two at the main-yard arms, two at the +fore-yard arms, and one at the mizzen peak, and as he approached the +castle he had the wretches swung off, while he and his men shot at the +dangling corpses from the decks of the vessel.[357] The repeated +complaints and demands for reparation made to the Spanish ambassador in +London, and by Sir William Godolphin to the Spanish Court, were answered +by counter-complaints of outrages committed by buccaneers who, though +long ago disavowed and declared pirates by the Governor of Jamaica, were +still charged by the Spaniards to the account of the English.[358] Each +return of the fleet from Porto Bello or Vera Cruz brought with it +English prisoners from Cartagena and other Spanish fortresses, who were +lodged in the dungeons of Seville and often condemned to the galleys or +to the quicksilver mines. The English ambassador sometimes secured their +release, but his efforts to obtain redress for the loss of ships and +goods received no satisfaction. The Spanish Government, believing that +Parliament was solicitous of Spanish trade and would not supply Charles +II. with the necessary funds for a war,[359] would disburse nothing in +damages. It merely granted to the injured parties despatches directed to +the Governor of Havana, which ordered him to restore the property in +dispute unless it was contraband goods. Godolphin realized that these +delays and excuses were only the prelude to an ultimate denial of any +reparation whatever, and wrote home to the Secretary of State that +"England ought rather to provide against future injuries than to depend +on satisfaction here, till they have taught the Spaniards their own +interest in the West Indies by more efficient means than +friendship."[360] The aggrieved merchants and shipowners, often only too +well acquainted with the dilatory Spanish forms of procedure, saw that +redress at Havana was hopeless, and petitioned Charles II. for letters +of reprisal.[361] Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the Admiralty, however, +in a report to the king gave his opinion that although he saw little +hope of real reparation, the granting of reprisals was not justified by +law until the cases had been prosecuted at Havana according to the +queen-regent's orders.[362] This apparently was never done, and some of +the cases dragged on for years without the petitioners ever receiving +satisfaction. + +The excuse of the Spaniards for most of these seizures was that the +vessels contained logwood, a dyewood found upon the coasts of Campeache, +Honduras and Yucatan, the cutting and removal of which was forbidden to +any but Spanish subjects. The occupation of cutting logwood had sprung +up among the English about ten years after the seizure of Jamaica. In +1670 Modyford writes that a dozen vessels belonging to Port Royal were +concerned in this trade alone, and six months later he furnished a list +of thirty-two ships employed in logwood cutting, equipped with +seventy-four guns and 424 men.[363] The men engaged in the business had +most of them been privateers, and as the regions in which they sought +the precious wood were entirely uninhabited by Spaniards, Modyford +suggested that the trade be encouraged as an outlet for the energies of +the buccaneers. By such means, he thought, these "soldiery men" might be +kept within peaceable bounds, and yet be always ready to serve His +Majesty in event of any new rupture. When Sir Thomas Lynch replaced +Modyford, he realized that this logwood-cutting would be resented by the +Spaniards and might neutralize all his efforts to effect a peace. He +begged repeatedly for directions from the council in England. "For God's +sake," he writes, "give your commands about the logwood."[364] In the +meantime, after consulting with Modyford, he decided to connive at the +business, but he compelled all who brought the wood into Port Royal to +swear that they had not stolen it or done any violence to the +Spaniards.[365] Secretary Arlington wrote to the governor, in November +1671, to hold the matter over until he obtained the opinion of the +English ambassador at Madrid, especially as some colour was lent to the +pretensions of the logwood cutters by the article of the peace of 1670 +which confirmed the English King in the possession and sovereignty of +all territory in America occupied by his subjects at that date.[366] In +May 1672 Ambassador Godolphin returned his answer. "The wood," he +writes, "is brought from Yucatan, a large province of New Spain, about +100 leagues in length, sufficiently peopled, having several great towns, +as Merida, Valladolid, San Francisco de Campeache, etc., and the +government one of the most considerable next to Peru and Mexico.... So +that Spain has as well too much right as advantage not to assert the +propriety of these woods, for though not all inhabited, these people may +as justly pretend to make use of our rivers, mountains and commons, as +we can to enjoy any benefit to those woods." So much for the strict +justice of the matter. But when the ambassador came to give his own +opinion on the trade, he advised that if the English confined themselves +to cutting wood alone, and in places remote from Spanish settlements, +the king might connive at, although not authorize, their so doing.[367] +Here was the kernel of the whole matter. Spain was too weak and impotent +to take any serious revenge. So let us rob her quietly but decently, +keeping the theft out of her sight and so sparing her feelings as much +as possible. It was the same piratical motive which animated Drake and +Hawkins, which impelled Morgan to sack Maracaibo and Panama, and which, +transferred to the dignified council chambers of England, took on a more +humane but less romantic guise. On 8th October 1672, the Council for the +Plantations dispatched to Governor Lynch their approval of his +connivance at the business, but they urged him to observe every care and +prudence, to countenance the cutting only in desolate and uninhabited +places, and to use every endeavour to prevent any just complaints by the +Spaniards of violence and depredation.[368] + +The Spaniards nevertheless did, as we have seen, engage in active +reprisal, especially as they knew the cutting of logwood to be but the +preliminary step to the growth of English settlements upon the coasts of +Yucatan and Honduras, settlements, indeed, which later crystallized into +a British colony. The Queen-Regent of Spain sent orders and instructions +to her governors in the West Indies to encourage privateers to take and +punish as pirates all English and French who robbed and carried away +wood within their jurisdictions; and three small frigates from Biscay +were sent to clear out the intruders.[369] The buccaneer Yallahs, we +have seen, was employed by the Governor of Campeache to seize the +logwood-cutters; and although he surprised twelve or more vessels, the +Governor of Jamaica, not daring openly to avow the business, could enter +no complaint. On 3rd November 1672, however, he was compelled to issue a +proclamation ordering all vessels sailing from Port Royal for the +purpose of cutting dye-wood to go in fleets of at least four as security +against surprise and capture. Under the governorship of Lord Vaughan, +and after him of Lord Carlisle, matters continued in this same uncertain +course, the English settlements in Honduras gradually increasing in +numbers and vitality, and the Spaniards maintaining their right to take +all ships they found at sea laden with logwood, and indeed, all English +and French ships found upon their coasts. Each of the English governors +in turn had urged that some equitable adjustment of the trade be made +with the Spanish Crown, if peace was to be preserved in the Indies and +the buccaneers finally suppressed; but the Spaniards would agree to no +accommodation, and in March 1679 the king wrote to Lord Carlisle bidding +him discourage, as far as possible, the logwood-cutting in Campeache or +any other of the Spanish dominions, and to try and induce the buccaneers +to apply themselves to planting instead.[370] + +The reprisals of the Spaniards on the score of logwood-cutting were not +the only difficulties with which Lord Vaughan as governor had to +contend. From the day of his landing in Jamaica he seems to have +conceived a violent dislike of his lieutenant, Sir Henry Morgan, and +this antagonism was embittered by Morgan's open or secret sympathy with +the privateers, a race with whom Vaughan had nothing in common. The ship +on which Morgan had sailed from England, and which was cast away upon +the Isle la Vache, had contained the military stores for Jamaica, most +of which were lost in the wreck. Morgan, contrary to Lord Vaughan's +positive and written orders, had sailed before him, and assumed the +authority in Jamaica a week before the arrival of the governor at Port +Royal. This the governor seems to have been unable to forgive. He openly +blamed Morgan for the wreck and the loss of the stores; and only two +months after his coming to Jamaica, in May 1675, he wrote to England +that for the good of His Majesty's service he thought Morgan ought to be +removed, and the charge of so useless an officer saved.[371] In +September he wrote that he was "every day more convinced of (Morgan's) +imprudence and unfitness to have anything to do in the Civil Government, +and of what hazards the island may run by so dangerous a succession." +Sir Henry, he continued, had made himself and his authority so cheap at +the Port, drinking and gaming in the taverns, that the governor intended +to remove thither speedily himself for the reputation of the island and +the security of the place.[372] He recommended that his predecessor, Sir +Thomas Lynch, whom he praises for "his prudent government and conduct of +affairs," be appointed his deputy instead of Morgan in the event of the +governor's death or absence.[373] Lord Vaughan's chief grievance, +however, was the lieutenant-governor's secret encouragement of the +buccaneers. "What I most resent," he writes again, "is ... that I find +Sir Henry, contrary to his duty and trust, endeavours to set up +privateering, and has obstructed all my designs and purposes for the +reducing of those that do use this course of life."[374] When he had +issued proclamations, the governor continued, declaring as pirates all +the buccaneers who refused to submit, Sir Henry had encouraged the +English freebooters to take French commissions, had himself fitted them +out for sea, and had received authority from the French Governor of +Tortuga to collect the tenths on prize goods brought into Jamaica under +cover of these commissions. The quarrel came to a head over the arrest +and trial of a buccaneer named John Deane, commander of the ship "St. +David." Deane was accused of having stopped a ship called the "John +Adventure," taken out several pipes of wine and a cable worth L100, and +forcibly carried the vessel to Jamaica. He was also reported to be +wearing Dutch, French and Spanish colours without commission.[375] When +the "John Adventure" entered Port Royal it was seized by the governor +for landing goods without entry, contrary to the Acts of Navigation, and +on complaint of the master of the vessel that he had been robbed by +Deane and other privateers, Sir Henry Morgan was ordered to imprison the +offenders. The lieutenant-governor, however, seems rather to have +encouraged them to escape,[376] until Deane made so bold as to accuse +the governor of illegal seizure. Deane was in consequence arrested by +the governor, and on 27th April 1676, in a Court of Admiralty presided +over by Lord Vaughan as vice-admiral, was tried and condemned to suffer +death as a pirate.[377] The proceedings, however, were not warranted by +legal practice, for according to statutes of the twenty-seventh and +twenty-eighth years of Henry VIII., pirates might not be tried in an +Admiralty Court, but only under the Common Law of England by a +Commission of Oyer and Terminer under the great seal.[378] After +obtaining an opinion to this effect from the Judge of the Admiralty, the +English Council wrote to Lord Vaughan staying the execution of Deane, +and ordering a new trial to be held under a proper commission about to +be forwarded to him.[379] The Governor of Jamaica, however, upon +receiving a confession from Deane and frequent petitions for pardon, had +reprieved the pirate a month before the letter from the council reached +him.[380] The incident had good effect in persuading the freebooters to +come in, and that result assured, the governor could afford to bend to +popular clamour in favour of the culprit. In the latter part of 1677 a +standing commission of Oyer and Terminer for the trial of pirates in +Jamaica was prepared by the attorney-general and sent to the +colony.[381] + +After the trial of Deane, the lieutenant-governor, according to Lord +Vaughan, had openly expressed himself, both in the taverns and in his +own house, in vindication of the condemned man and in disparagement of +Vaughan himself.[382] The quarrel hung fire, however, until on 24th July +when the governor, in obedience to orders from England,[383] cited +Morgan and his brother-in-law, Colonel Byndloss, to appear before the +council. Against Morgan he brought formal charges of using the +governor's name and authority without his orders in letters written to +the captains of the privateers, and Byndloss he accused of unlawfully +holding a commission from a foreign governor to collect the tenths on +condemned prize goods.[384] Morgan in his defence to Secretary Coventry +flatly denied the charges, and denounced the letters written to the +privateers as forgeries; and Byndloss declared his readiness "to go in +this frigate with a tender of six or eight guns and so to deal with the +privateers at sea, and in their holes (_sic_) bring in the chief of them +to His Majesty's obedience or bring in their heads and destroy their +ships."[385] There seems to be little doubt that letters were written by +Morgan to certain privateers soon after his arrival in Jamaica, offering +them, in the name of the governor, favour and protection in Port Royal. +Copies of these letters, indeed, still exist;[386] but whether they were +actually used is not so certain. Charles Barre, secretary to Sir Henry +Morgan, confessed that such letters had been written, but with the +understanding that the governor lent them his approval, and that when +this was denied Sir Henry refused to send them.[387] It is natural to +suppose that Morgan should feel a bond of sympathy with his old +companions in the buccaneer trade, and it is probable that in 1675, in +the first enthusiasm of his return to Jamaica, having behind him the +openly-expressed approbation of the English Court for what he had done +in the past, and feeling uncertain, perhaps, as to Lord Vaughan's real +attitude toward the sea-rovers, Morgan should have done some things +inconsistent with the policy of stern suppression pursued by the +government. It is even likely that he was indiscreet in some of his +expressions regarding the governor and his actions. His bluff, +unconventional, easygoing manners, natural to men brought up in new +countries and intensified by his early association with the buccaneers, +may have been distasteful to a courtier accustomed to the urbanities of +Whitehall. It is also clear, however, that Lord Vaughan from the first +conceived a violent prejudice against his lieutenant, and allowed this +prejudice to colour the interpretation he put upon all of Sir Henry's +actions. And it is rather significant that although the particulars of +the dispute and of the examination before the Council of Jamaica were +sent to the Privy Council in England, the latter body did not see fit to +remove Morgan from his post until six years later. + +As in the case of Modyford and Lynch, so with Lord Vaughan, the thorn in +his side was the French colony on Hispaniola and Tortuga. The English +buccaneers who would not come in under the proclamation of pardon +published at Port Royal, still continued to range the seas with French +commissions, and carried their prizes into French ports. The governor +protested to M. d'Ogeron and to his successor, M. de Pouancay, declaring +that any English vessels or subjects caught with commissions against the +Spaniards would be treated as pirates and rebels; and in December 1675, +in compliance with the king's orders of the previous August, he issued a +public proclamation to that effect.[388] In April 1677 an act was passed +by the assembly, declaring it felony for any English subject belonging +to the island to serve under a foreign prince or state without licence +under the hand and seal of the governor;[389] and in the following July +the council ordered another proclamation to be issued, offering ample +pardon to all men in foreign service who should come in within twelve +months to claim the benefit of the act.[390] These measures seem to have +been fairly successful, for on 1st August Peter Beckford, Clerk of the +Council in Jamaica, wrote to Secretary Williamson that since the passing +of the law at least 300 privateers had come in and submitted, and that +few men would now venture their lives to serve the French.[391] + +Even with the success of this act, however, the path of the governor was +not all roses. Buccaneering had always been so much a part of the life +of the colony that it was difficult to stamp it out entirely. Runaway +servants and others from the island frequently recruited the ranks of +the freebooters; members of the assembly, and even of the council, were +interested in privateering ventures; and as the governor was without a +sufficient naval force to deal with the offenders independently of the +council and assembly, he often found his efforts fruitless. In the early +part of 1677 a Scotchman, named James Browne, with a commission from M. +d'Ogeron and a mixed crew of English, Dutch and French, seized a Dutch +ship trading in negroes off the coast of Cartagena, killed the Dutch +captain and several of his men, and landed the negroes, about 150 in +number, in a remote bay of Jamaica. Lord Vaughan sent a frigate which +seized about 100 of the negroes, and when Browne and his crew fell into +the governor's hands he had them all tried and condemned for piracy. +Browne was ordered to be executed, but his men, eight in number, were +pardoned. The captain petitioned the assembly to have the benefit of the +Act of Privateers, and the House twice sent a committee to the governor +to endeavour to obtain a reprieve. Lord Vaughan, however, refused to +listen and gave orders for immediate execution. Half an hour after the +hanging, the provost-marshal appeared with an order signed by the +speaker to observe the Chief-Justice's writ of Habeas Corpus, whereupon +Vaughan, resenting the action, immediately dissolved the Assembly.[392] + +The French colony on Hispaniola was an object of concern to the +Jamaicans, not only because it served as a refuge for privateers from +Port Royal, but also because it threatened soon to overwhelm the old +Spanish colony and absorb the whole island. Under the conciliatory, +opportunist regime of M. d'Ogeron, the French settlements in the west of +the island had grown steadily in number and size;[393] while the old +Spanish towns seemed every year to become weaker and more open to +attack. D'Ogeron, who died in France in 1675, had kept always before him +the project of capturing the Spanish capital, San Domingo; but he was +too weak to accomplish so great a design without aid from home, and this +was never vouchsafed him. His policy, however, was continued by his +nephew and successor, M. de Pouancay, and every defection from Jamaica +seemed so much assistance to the French to accomplish their ambition. +Yet it was manifestly to the English interest in the West Indies not to +permit the French to obtain a pre-eminence there. The Spanish colonies +were large in area, thinly populated, and ill-supported by the home +government, so that they were not likely to be a serious menace to the +English islands. With their great wealth and resources, moreover, they +had few manufactures and offered a tempting field for exploitation by +English merchants. The French colonies, on the other hand, were easily +supplied with merchandise from France, and in event of a war would prove +more dangerous as neighbours than the Spaniards. To allow the French to +become lords of San Domingo would have been to give them an undisputed +predominance in the West Indies and make them masters of the +neighbouring seas. + +In the second war of conquest waged by Louis XIV. against Holland, the +French in the West Indies found the buccaneers to be useful allies, but +as usually happened at such times, the Spaniards paid the bill. In the +spring of 1677 five or six English privateers surprised the town of +Santa Marta on the Spanish Main. According to the reports brought to +Jamaica, the governor and the bishop, in order to save the town from +being burnt, agreed with the marauders for a ransom; but the Governor of +Cartagena, instead of contributing with pieces of eight, despatched a +force of 500 men by land and three vessels by sea to drive out the +invaders. The Spanish troops, however, were easily defeated, and the +ships, seeing the French colours waving over the fort and the town, +sailed back to Cartagena. The privateers carried away the governor and +the bishop and came to Jamaica in July. The plunder amounted to only L20 +per man. The English in the party, about 100 in number and led by +Captains Barnes and Coxon, submitted at Port Royal under the terms of +the Act against Privateers, and delivered up the Bishop of Santa Marta +to Lord Vaughan. Vaughan took care to lodge the bishop well, and hired a +vessel to send him to Cartagena, at which "the good old man was +exceedingly pleased." He also endeavoured to obtain the custody of the +Spanish governor and other prisoners, but without success, "the French +being obstinate and damnably enraged the English had left them" and +submitted to Lord Vaughan.[394] + +In the beginning of the following year, 1678, Count d'Estrees, +Vice-Admiral of the French fleet in the West Indies, was preparing a +powerful armament to go against the Dutch on Curacao, and sent two +frigates to Hispaniola with an order from the king to M. de Pouancay to +join him with 1200 buccaneers. De Pouancay assembled the men at Cap +Francois, and embarking on the frigates and on some filibustering ships +in the road, sailed for St. Kitts. There he was joined by a squadron of +fifteen or more men-of-war from Martinique under command of Count +d'Estrees. The united fleet of over thirty vessels sailed for Curacao on +7th May, but on the fourth day following, at about eight o'clock in the +evening, was wrecked upon some coral reefs near the Isle d'Aves.[395] As +the French pilots had been at odds among themselves as to the exact +position of the fleet, the admiral had taken the precaution to send a +fire-ship and three buccaneering vessels several miles in advance of the +rest of the squadron. Unfortunately these scouts drew too little water +and passed over the reefs without touching them. A buccaneer was the +first to strike and fired three shots to warn the admiral, who at once +lighted fires and discharged cannon to keep off the rest of the ships. +The latter, however, mistaking the signals, crowded on sail, and soon +most of the fleet were on the reefs. Those of the left wing, warned in +time by a shallop from the flag-ship, succeeded in veering off. The +rescue of the crews was slow, for the seas were heavy and the boats +approached the doomed ships with difficulty. Many sailors and marines +were drowned, and seven men-of-war, besides several buccaneering ships, +were lost on the rocks. Count d'Estrees himself escaped, and sailed with +the remnant of his squadron to Petit Goave and Cap Francois in +Hispaniola, whence on 18th June he departed for France.[396] + +The buccaneers were accused in the reports which reached Barbadoes of +deserting the admiral after the accident, and thus preventing the +reduction of Curacao, which d'Estrees would have undertaken in spite of +the shipwreck.[397] However this may be, one of the principal buccaneer +leaders, named de Grammont, was left by de Pouancay at the Isle d'Aves +to recover what he could from the wreck, and to repair some of the +privateering vessels.[398] When he had accomplished this, finding +himself short of provisions, he sailed with about 700 men to make a +descent on Maracaibo; and after spending six months in the lake, seizing +the shipping and plundering all the settlements in that region, he +re-embarked in the middle of December. The booty is said to have been +very small.[399] Early in the same year the Marquis de Maintenon, +commanding the frigate "La Sorciere," and aided by some French +filibusters from Tortuga, was on the coast of Caracas, where he ravaged +the islands of Margarita and Trinidad. He had arrived in the West Indies +from France in the latter part of 1676, and when he sailed from Tortuga +was at the head of 700 or 800 men. His squadron met with little success, +however, and soon scattered.[400] Other bands of filibusters pillaged +Campeache, Puerto Principe in Cuba, Santo Tomas on the Orinoco, and +Truxillo in the province of Honduras; and de Pouancay, to console the +buccaneers for their losses at the Isle d'Aves, sent 800 men under the +Sieur de Franquesnay to make a descent upon St. Jago de Cuba, but the +expedition seems to have been a failure.[401] + +On 1st March 1678 a commission was again issued to the Earl of Carlisle, +appointing him governor of Jamaica.[402] Carlisle arrived in his new +government on 18th July,[403] but Lord Vaughan, apparently because of +ill-health, had already sailed for England at the end of March, leaving +Sir Henry Morgan, who retained his place under the new governor, deputy +in his absence.[404] Lord Carlisle, immediately upon his arrival, +invited the privateers to come in and encouraged them to stay, hoping, +according to his own account, to be able to wean them from their +familiar courses, and perhaps to use them in the threatened war with +France, for the island then had "not above 4000 whites able to bear +arms, a secret not fit to be made public."[405] If the governor was +sincere in his intentions, the results must have been a bitter +disappointment. Some of the buccaneers came in, others persevered in the +old trade, and even those who returned abused the pardon they had +received. In the autumn of 1679, several privateering vessels under +command of Captains Coxon, Sharp and others who had come back to +Jamaica, made a raid in the Gulf of Honduras, plundered the royal +storehouses there, carried off 500 chests of indigo,[406] besides cocoa, +cochineal, tortoiseshell, money and plate, and returned with their +plunder to Jamaica. Not knowing what their reception might be, one of +the vessels landed her cargo of indigo in an unfrequented spot on the +coast, and the rest sent word that unless they were allowed to bring +their booty to Port Royal and pay the customs duty, they would sail to +Rhode Island or to one of the Dutch plantations. The governor had taken +security for good behaviour from some of the captains before they sailed +from Jamaica; yet in spite of this they were permitted to enter the +indigo at the custom house and divide it in broad daylight; and the +frigate "Success" was ordered to coast round Jamaica in search of other +privateers who failed to come in and pay duty on their plunder at Port +Royal. The glut of indigo in Jamaica disturbed trade considerably, and +for a time the imported product took the place of native sugar and +indigo as a medium of exchange. Manufacture on the island was hindered, +prices were lowered, and only the king's customs received any actual +benefit.[407] + +These same privateers, however, were soon out upon a much larger design. +Six captains, Sharp, Coxon, Essex, Allison, Row, and Maggott, in four +barques and two sloops, met at Point Morant in December 1679, and on 7th +January set sail for Porto Bello. They were scattered by a terrible +storm, but all eventually reached their rendezvous in safety. There they +picked up another barque commanded by Captain Cooke, who had sailed from +Jamaica on the same design, and likewise a French privateering vessel +commanded by Captain Lessone. They set out for Porto Bello in canoes +with over 300 men, and landing twenty leagues from the town, marched for +four days along the seaside toward the city. Coming to an Indian village +about three miles from Porto Bello, they were discovered by the natives, +and one of the Indians ran to the city, crying, "Ladrones! ladrones!" +The buccaneers, although "many of them were weak, being three days +without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes," +made all speed for the town, which they entered without difficulty on +17th February 1680. Most of the inhabitants sought refuge in the castle, +whence they made a counter-attack without success upon the invaders. On +the evening of the following day, the buccaneers retreated with their +prisoners and booty down to a cay or small island about three and a half +leagues from Porto Bello, where they were joined by their ships. They +had just left in time to avoid a force of some 700 Spanish troops who +were sent from Panama and arrived the day after the buccaneers departed. +After capturing two Spanish vessels bound for Porto Bello with +provisions from Cartagena, they divided the plunder, of which each man +received 100 pieces of eight, and departed for Boca del Toro some fifty +leagues to the north. There they careened and provisioned, and being +joined by two other Jamaican privateers commanded by Sawkins and Harris, +sailed for Golden Island, whence on 5th April 1680, with 334 men, they +began their march across the Isthmus of Darien to the coasts of Panama +and the South Seas.[408] + +Lord Carlisle cannot escape the charge of culpable negligence for having +permitted these vessels in the first place to leave Jamaica. All the +leaders in the expedition were notorious privateers, men who had +repeatedly been concerned in piratical outrages against the Dutch and +Spaniards. Coxon and Harris had both come in after taking part in the +expedition against Santa Marta; Sawkins had been caught with his vessel +by the frigate "Success" and sent to Port Royal, where on 1st December +1679 he seems to have been in prison awaiting trial;[410] while Essex +had been brought in by another frigate, the "Hunter," in November, and +tried with twenty of his crew for plundering on the Jamaican coast, two +of his men being sentenced to death.[411] The buccaneers themselves +declared that they had sailed with permission from Lord Carlisle to cut +logwood.[412] This was very likely true; yet after the exactly similar +ruse of these men when they went to Honduras, the governor could not +have failed to suspect their real intentions. + +At the end of May 1680 Lord Carlisle suddenly departed for England in +the frigate "Hunter," leaving Morgan again in charge as +lieutenant-governor.[413] On his passage home the governor met with +Captain Coxon, who, having quarrelled with his companions in the +Pacific, had returned across Darien to the West Indies and was again +hanging about the shores of Jamaica. The "Hunter" gave chase for +twenty-four hours, but being outsailed was content to take two small +vessels in the company of Coxon which had been deserted by their +crews.[414] In England Samuel Long, whom the governor had suspended from +the council and dismissed from his post as chief justice of the colony +for his opposition to the new Constitution, accused the governor before +the Privy Council of collusion with pirates and encouraging them to +bring their plunder to Jamaica. The charges were doubtless conceived in +a spirit of revenge; nevertheless the two years during which Carlisle +was in Jamaica were marked by an increased activity among the +freebooters, and by a lukewarmness and negligence on the part of the +government, for which Carlisle alone must be held responsible. To accuse +him of deliberately supporting and encouraging the buccaneers, however, +may be going too far. Sir Henry Morgan, during his tenure of the chief +command of the island, showed himself very zealous in the pursuit of the +pirates, and sincerely anxious to bring them to justice; and as Carlisle +and Morgan always worked together in perfect harmony, we may be +justified in believing that Carlisle's mistakes were those of negligence +rather than of connivance. The freebooters who brought goods into +Jamaica increased the revenues of the island, and a governor whose +income was small and tastes extravagant, was not apt to be too +inquisitive about the source of the articles which entered through the +customs. There is evidence, moreover, that French privateers, being +unable to obtain from the merchants on the coast of San Domingo the +cables, anchors, tar and other naval stores necessary for their +armaments, were compelled to resort to other islands to buy them, and +that Jamaica came in for a share of this trade. Provisions, too, were +more plentiful at Port Royal than in the _cul-de-sac_ of Hispaniola, and +the French governors complained to the king that the filibusters carried +most of their money to foreign plantations to exchange for these +commodities. Such French vessels if they came to Jamaica were not +strictly within the scope of the laws against piracy which had been +passed by the assembly, and their visits were the more welcome as they +paid for their goods promptly and liberally in good Spanish +doubloons.[415] + +A general warrant for the apprehension of Coxon, Sharp and the other men +who had plundered Porto Bello had been issued by Lord Carlisle in May +1680, just before his departure for England. On 1st July a similar +warrant was issued by Morgan, and five days later a proclamation was +published against all persons who should hold any correspondence +whatever with the outlawed crews.[416] Three men who had taken part in +the expedition were captured and clapped into prison until the next +meeting of the court. The friends of Coxon, however, including, it +seems, almost all the members of the council, offered to give L2000 +security, if he was allowed to come to Port Royal, that he would never +take another commission except from the King of England; and Morgan +wrote to Carlisle seeking his approbation.[417] At the end of the +following January Morgan received word that a notorious Dutch privateer, +named Jacob Everson, commanding an armed sloop, was anchored on the +coast with a brigantine which he had lately captured. The +lieutenant-governor manned a small vessel with fifty picked men and sent +it secretly at midnight to seize the pirate. Everson's sloop was boarded +and captured with twenty-six prisoners, but Everson himself and several +others escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to the shore. The +prisoners, most of whom were English, were tried six weeks later, +convicted of piracy and sentenced to death; but the lieutenant-governor +suspended the execution and wrote to the king for instructions. On 16th +June 1681, the king in council ordered the execution of the condemned +men.[418] + +The buccaneers who, after plundering Porto Bello, crossed the Isthmus of +Darien to the South Seas, had a remarkable history. For eighteen months +they cruised up and down the Pacific coast of South America, burning and +plundering Spanish towns, giving and taking hard blows with equal +courage, keeping the Spanish provinces of Equador, Peru and Chili in a +fever of apprehension, finally sailing the difficult passage round Cape +Horn, and returning to the Windward Islands in January of 1682. Touching +at the island of Barbadoes, they learned that the English frigate +"Richmond" was lying in the road, and fearing seizure they sailed on to +Antigua. There the governor, Colonel Codrington, refused to give them +leave to enter the harbour. So the party, impatient of their dangerous +situation, determined to separate, some landing on Antigua, and Sharp +and sixteen others going to Nevis where they obtained passage to +England. On their arrival in England several, including Sharp, were +arrested at the instance of the Spanish ambassador, and tried for +committing piracy in the South Seas; but from the defectiveness of the +evidence produced they escaped conviction.[419] Four of the party came +to Jamaica, where they were apprehended, tried and condemned. One of the +four, who had given himself up voluntarily, turned State's evidence; two +were represented by the judges as fit objects of the king's mercy; and +the other, "a bloody and notorious villein," was recommended to be +executed as an example to the rest.[420] + +The recrudescence of piratical activity between the years 1679 and 1682 +had, through its evil effects, been strongly felt in Jamaica; and public +opinion was now gradually changing from one of encouragement and welcome +to the privateers and of secret or open opposition to the efforts of the +governors who tried to suppress them, to one of distinct hostility to +the old freebooters. The inhabitants were beginning to realize that in +the encouragement of planting, and not of buccaneering, lay the +permanent welfare of the island. Planting and buccaneering, side by +side, were inconsistent and incompatible, and the colonists chose the +better course of the two. In spite of the frequent trials and executions +at Port Royal, the marauders seemed to be as numerous as ever, and even +more troublesome. Private trade with the Spaniards was hindered; runaway +servants, debtors and other men of unfortunate or desperate condition +were still, by every new success of the buccaneers, drawn from the +island to swell their ranks; and most of all, men who were now outlawed +in Jamaica, driven to desperation turned pirate altogether, and began to +wage war indiscriminately on the ships of all nationalities, including +those of the English. Morgan repeatedly wrote home urging the dispatch +of small frigates of light draught to coast round the island and +surprise the freebooters, and he begged for orders for himself to go on +board and command them, for "then I shall not much question," he +concludes, "to reduce them or in some time to leave them shipless."[421] +"The governor," wrote the Council of Jamaica to the Lords of Trade and +Plantations in May 1680, "can do little from want of ships to reduce the +privateers, and of plain laws to punish them"; and they urged the +ratification of the Act passed by the assembly two years before, making +it felony for any British subject in the West Indies to serve under a +foreign prince without leave from the governor.[422] This Act, and +another for the more effectual punishment of pirates, had been under +consideration in the Privy Council in February 1678, and both were +returned to Jamaica with certain slight amendments. They were again +passed by the assembly as one Act in 1681, and were finally incorporated +into the Jamaica Act of 1683 "for the restraining and punishing of +privateers and pirates."[423] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 332: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 367.] + +[Footnote 333: Ibid., Nos. 604, 608, 729; Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 334: Ibid., Nos. 552, 602.] + +[Footnote 335: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 608, 633.] + +[Footnote 336: Ibid., No. 604.] + +[Footnote 337: Ibid., Nos. 638, 640, 663, 697. This may be the Diego +Grillo to whom Duro (_op. cit._, V. p. 180) refers--a native of Havana +commanding a vessel of fifteen guns. He defeated successively in the +Bahama Channel three armed ships sent out to take him, and in all of +them he massacred without exception the Spaniards of European birth. He +was captured in 1673 and suffered the fate he had meted out to his +victims.] + +[Footnote 338: Ibid., Nos. 697, 709, 742, 883, 944.] + +[Footnote 339: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 733, 742, 796.] + +[Footnote 340: Ibid., No. 729.] + +[Footnote 341: Ibid., Nos. 742, 777, 785, 789, 794, 796.] + +[Footnote 342: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 742, 945, 1042.] + +[Footnote 343: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 733, 742, 779, 796, 820, +1022.] + +[Footnote 344: Ibid., Nos. 650, 663, 697. Seventeen months later, after +the outbreak of the Dutch war, the Jamaicans had a similar scare over an +expected invasion of the Dutch and Spaniards, but this, too, was +dissolved by time into thin air. (C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 887, +1047, 1055, 1062). In this connection, _cf._ Egerton MSS., 2375, f. +491:--Letter written by the Governor of Cumana to the Duke of Veragua, +1673, seeking his influence with the Council of the Indies to have the +Governor of Margarita send against Jamaica 1500 or 2000 Indians, "guay +quies," as they are valient bowmen, seamen and divers.] + +[Footnote 345: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 697, 789, 794, 900, 911; +Beeston's Journal.] + +[Footnote 346: Ibid., Nos. 697, 789.] + +[Footnote 347: Ibid., Nos. 1212, 1251-5.] + +[Footnote 348: Ibid., No. 1259, _cf._ also 1374, 1385, 1394.] + +[Footnote 349: Ibid., No. 1379.] + +[Footnote 350: Ibid., 1675-76, Nos. 458, 467, 484, 521, 525, 566.] + +[Footnote 351: S.P. Spain, vol. 63, f. 56.] + +[Footnote 352: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 1389; _ibid._ 1675-76, No. +564; Add. MSS., 36,330, No. 28.] + +[Footnote 353: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 888, 940.] + +[Footnote 354: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 1178, 1180, 1226; _ibid._, +1675-76, No. 579.] + +[Footnote 355: Ibid., 1669-74, No. 1423; _ibid._, 1675-76, No. 707.] + +[Footnote 356: Ibid., 1675-76, No. 520.] + +[Footnote 357: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 358: Ibid., 1669-74, Nos. 1335, 1351, 1424; S.P. Spain, vols. +60, 62, 63.] + +[Footnote 359: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 643.] + +[Footnote 360: Ibid., Nos. 639-643.] + +[Footnote 361: Ibid., Nos. 633-635, 729.] + +[Footnote 362: Ibid., Nos. 693, 719, 720.] + +[Footnote 363: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 310, 704, iv. It was a very +profitable business for the wood then sold at L25 or L30 a ton. For a +description of the life of the logwood-cutters _cf._ Dampier, Voyages, +_ed._ 1906, ii. pp. 155-56. 178-79, 181 _ff._] + +[Footnote 364: Ibid., No. 580.] + +[Footnote 365: Ibid., Nos. 587, 638.] + +[Footnote 366: Ibid., Nos. 777, 786.] + +[Footnote 367: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74. No. 825.] + +[Footnote 368: Ibid., Nos. 819, 943.] + +[Footnote 369: Ibid., Nos. 954, 1389. Fernandez Duro (t.v., p. 181) +mentions a Spanish ordinance of 22nd February 1674, which authorized +Spanish corsairs to go out in the pursuit and punishment of pirates. +Periaguas, or large flat-bottomed canoes, were to be constructed for use +in shoal waters. They were to be 90 feet long and from 16 to 18 feet +wide, with a draught of only 4 or 5 feet, and were to be provided with a +long gun in the bow and four smaller pieces in the stern. They were to +be propelled by both oars and sails, and were to carry 120 men.] + +[Footnote 370: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, Nos. 950, 1094; Beeston's +Journal, Aug. 1679.] + +[Footnote 371: Ibid., 1675-76, No. 566.] + +[Footnote 372: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 673.] + +[Footnote 373: Ibid., No. 526. In significant contrast to Lord Vaughan's +praise of Lynch, Sir Henry Morgan, who could have little love for the +man who had shipped him and Modyford as prisoners to England, filled the +ears of Secretary Williamson with veiled accusations against Lynch of +having tampered with the revenues and neglected the defences of the +island. (Ibid., No. 521.)] + +[Footnote 374: Ibid., No. 912. In testimony of Lord Vaughan's +straightforward policy toward buccaneering, _cf._ Beeston's Journal, +June 1676.] + +[Footnote 375: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 988.] + +[Footnote 376: Leeds MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm., XI. pt. 7, p. +13)--Depositions in which Sir Henry Morgan is represented as +endeavouring to hush up the matter, saying "the privateers were poore, +honest fellows," to which the plundered captain replied "that he had not +found them soe."] + +[Footnote 377: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76; Nos. 860, 913.] + +[Footnote 378: Statutes at Large, vol. ii. (Lond. 1786), pp. 210, 247.] + +[Footnote 379: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76; Nos. 993-995, 1001.] + +[Footnote 380: Ibid., No. 1093.] + +[Footnote 381: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 500, 508.] + +[Footnote 382: Ibid., 1675-76, No. 916.] + +[Footnote 383: Ibid., No. 1126.] + +[Footnote 384: Ibid., Nos. 998, 1006.] + +[Footnote 385: Ibid., No. 1129.] + +[Footnote 386: Ibid., No. 1129 (vii., viii.); _cf._ also No. 657.] + +[Footnote 387: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, No. 1129 (xiv., xvii.).] + +[Footnote 388: C.S.P. Colon., 1675-76, Nos. 656, 741.] + +[Footnote 389: Ibid., 1677-80, No. 313; _cf._ also Nos. 478, 486.] + +[Footnote 390: Ibid., No. 368. A similar proclamation was issued in May +1681; _cf._ Ibid., 1681-85, No. 102.] + +[Footnote 391: Ibid., No. 375.] + +[Footnote 392: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 243, 365, 383; Egerton MSS., +2395, f. 591.] + +[Footnote 393: In a memoir to Mme. de Montespan, dated 8th July 1677, +the population of French San Domingo is given as between four and five +thousand, white and black. The colony embraced a strip of coast 80 +leagues in length and 9 or 10 miles wide, and it produced 2,000,000 lbs. +of tobacco annually. (Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 258).] + +[Footnote 394: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 347, 375, 383, 1497; S.P. +Spain, vol. 65, f. 102.] + +[Footnote 395: A small island east of Curacao, in latitude 12 deg. north, +longitude 67 deg. 41' west.] + +[Footnote 396: Saint Yves, G. Les campagnes de Jean d'Estrees dans la +mer des Antilles, 1676-78; _cf._ also C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 604, +642, 665, 687-90, 718, 741 (xiv., xv.), 1646-47. + +According to one story, the Dutch governor of Curacao sent out three +privateers with orders to attend the French fleet, but to run no risk of +capture. The French, discovering them, gave chase, but being +unacquainted with those waters were decoyed among the reefs.] + +[Footnote 397: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1646-47.] + +[Footnote 398: Dampier says of this occasion: "The privateers ... told +me that if they had gone to Jamaica with L30 a man in their Pockets, +they could not have enjoyed themselves more. For they kept in a Gang by +themselves, and watched when the Ships broke, to get the Goods that came +from them; and though much was staved against the Rocks, yet abundance +of Wine and Brandy floated over the Riff, where the Privateers waited to +take it up. They lived here about three Weeks, waiting an Opportunity to +transport themselves back again to Hispaniola; in all which Time they +were never without two or three Hogsheads of Wine and Brandy in their +Tents, and Barrels of Beef and Pork."--Dampier, _ed._ 1906, i. p. 81.] + +[Footnote 399: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. p. 120.] + +[Footnote 400: Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 260; Charlevoix, _op. +cit._, liv. viii. p. 122.] + +[Footnote 401: Ibid., p. 119; C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 815, 869; +Beeston's Journal, 18th October 1678.] + +[Footnote 402: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 569, 575, 618.] + +[Footnote 403: Ibid., No. 770.] + +[Footnote 404: Ibid., Nos. 622, 646.] + +[Footnote 405: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 770, 815, 1516: Beeston's +Journal, 18th October 1678.] + +[Footnote 406: The Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro Ronquillo, in his +complaint to Charles II. in September 1680, placed the number at 1000. +(C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, No. 1498.)] + +[Footnote 407: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1150, 1188, 1199, 1516; +Beeston's Journal, 29th September and 6th October 1678. Lord Carlisle, +in answer to the complaints of the Spanish ambassador, pretended +ignorance of the source of the indigo thus admitted through the customs, +and maintained that it was brought into Port Royal "in lawful ships by +lawful men."] + +[Footnote 408: Sloane MSS., 2752, f. 29; S.P. Spain, vol. 65, f. 121. +According to the latter account, which seems to be derived from a +Spanish source, the loss suffered by the city amounted to about 100,000 +pieces of eight, over half of which was plunder carried away by the +freebooters. Thirteen of the inhabitants were killed and four wounded, +and of the buccaneers thirty were killed. + +Dampier writes concerning this first irruption of the buccaneers into +the Pacific:--"Before my first going over into the South Seas with +Captain Sharp ... I being then on Board Captain Coxon, in company with 3 +or 4 more Privateers, about 4 leagues to the East of Portobel, we took +the Pacquets bound thither from Cartagena. We open'd a great quantity of +the Merchants Letters, and found ... the Merchants of several parts of +Old Spain thereby informing their Correspondents of Panama and elsewhere +of a certain Prophecy that went about Spain that year, the Tenour of +which was, That there would be English Privateers that Year in the West +Indies, who would ... open a Door into the South Seas; which they +supposed was fastest shut: and the Letters were accordingly full of +Cautions to their Friends to be very watchful and careful of their +Coasts. + +"This Door they spake of we all concluded must be the Passage over Land +through the Country of the Indians of Darien, who were a little before +this become our Friends, and had lately fallen out with the Spaniards, +... and upon calling to mind the frequent Invitations we had from these +Indians a little before this time, to pass through their Country, and +fall upon the Spaniards in the South Seas, we from henceforward began to +entertain such thoughts in earnest, and soon came to a Resolution to +make those Attempts which we afterwards did, ... so that the taking +these Letters gave the first life to those bold undertakings: and we +took the advantage of the fears the Spaniards were in from that Prophecy +... for we sealed up most of the Letters again, and sent them ashore to +Portobel."--_Ed._ 1906, I. pp. 200-201.] + +[Footnote 410: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, No. 1199.] + +[Footnote 411: Ibid., No. 1188.] + +[Footnote 412: Sloane MSS., 2572, f. 29.] + +[Footnote 413: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1344, 1370.] + +[Footnote 414: Ibid., No. 1516.] + +[Footnote 415: _Cf._ Archives Coloniales--Correspondance generale de St +Domingue, vol. i.; Martinique, vol. iv.] + +[Footnote 416: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1420, 1425; Sloane MSS., +2724, f. 3.] + +[Footnote 417: Sloane MSS., 2724, f. 198. + +Coxon probably did not submit, for Dampier tells us that at the end of +May 1681, Coxon was lying with seven or eight other privateers at the +Samballas, islands on the coast of Darien, with a ship of ten guns and +100 men.--_Ed._ 1906, i. p. 57.] + +[Footnote 418: Ibid., f. 200; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 16, 51, 144, +431. Everson was not shot and killed in the water, as Morgan's account +implies, for he flourished for many years afterwards as one of the most +notorious of the buccaneer captains.] + +[Footnote 419: Ringrose's Journal. _Cf._ also S.P. Spain, vol. 67, f. +169; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 872.] + +[Footnote 420: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 431, 632, 713; Hist. MSS. +Commiss., VII., 405 b.] + +[Footnote 421: C.S.P Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 1425, 1462.] + +[Footnote 422: Ibid., No. 1361.] + +[Footnote 423: C.S.P. Colon., 1677-80, Nos. 601, 606, 607, 611; _ibid._, +1681-85, No. 160; Add. MSS., 22, 676; Acts of Privy Council, Colonial +Series I. No. 1203.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BUCCANEERS TURN PIRATE + + +On 25th May 1682, Sir Thomas Lynch returned to Jamaica as governor of +the colony.[424] Of the four acting governors since 1671, Lynch stood +apart as the one who had endeavoured with singleness and tenacity of +purpose to clear away the evils of buccaneering. Lord Vaughan had +displayed little sympathy for the corsairs, but he was hampered by an +irascible temper, and according to some reports by an avarice which +dimmed the lustre of his name. The Earl of Carlisle, if he did not +directly encourage the freebooters, had been grossly negligent in the +performance of his duty of suppressing them; while Morgan, although in +the years 1680 and 1681 he showed himself very zealous in punishing his +old associates, cannot escape the suspicion of having secretly aided +them under the governorship of Lord Vaughan. The task of Sir Thomas +Lynch in 1671 had been a very difficult one. Buccaneering was then at +flood-tide; three wealthy Spanish cities on the mainland had in turn +been plundered, and the stolen riches carried to Jamaica; the air was +alive with the exploits of these irregular warriors, and the pockets of +the merchants and tavern-keepers of Port Royal were filled with Spanish +doubloons, with emeralds and pearls from New Granada and the coasts of +Rio de la Hacha, and with gold and silver plate from the Spanish +churches and cathedrals of Porto Bello and Panama. The old governor, Sir +Thomas Modyford, had been popular in his person, and his policy had been +more popular still. Yet Lynch, by a combination of tact and firmness, +and by an untiring activity with the small means at his disposal, had +inaugurated a new and revolutionary policy in the island, which it was +the duty of his successors merely to continue. In 1682 the problem +before him, although difficult, was much simpler. Buccaneering was now +rapidly being transformed into pure piracy. By laws and repeated +proclamations, the freebooters had been offered an opportunity of +returning to civilized pursuits, or of remaining ever thereafter +outlawed. Many had come in, some to remain, others to take the first +opportunity of escaping again. But many entirely refused to obey the +summons, trusting to the protection of the French in Hispaniola, or so +hardened to their cruel, remorseless mode of livelihood that they +preferred the dangerous risks of outlawry. The temper of the inhabitants +of the island, too, had changed. The planters saw more clearly the +social and economic evils which the buccaneers had brought upon the +island. The presence of these freebooters, they now began to realize, +had discouraged planting, frightened away capital, reduced the number of +labourers, and increased drunkenness, debauchery and every sort of moral +disorder. The assembly and council were now at one with the governor as +to the necessity of curing this running sore, and Lynch could act with +the assurance which came of the knowledge that he was backed by the +conscience of his people. + +One of the earliest and most remarkable cases of buccaneer turning +pirate was that of "La Trompeuse." In June 1682, before Governor Lynch's +arrival in Jamaica, a French captain named Peter Paine (or Le Pain), +commander of a merchant ship called "La Trompeuse" belonging to the +French King, came to Port Royal from Cayenne in Guiana. He told Sir +Henry Morgan and the council that, having heard of the inhuman treatment +of his fellow Protestants in France, he had resolved to send back his +ship and pay what was due under his contract; and he petitioned for +leave to reside with the English and have English protection. The +Council, without much inquiry as to the petitioner's antecedents, +allowed him to take the oath of allegiance and settle at St. Jago, while +his cargo was unloaded and entered customs-free. The ship was then hired +by two Jamaican merchants and sent to Honduras to load logwood, with +orders to sail eventually for Hamburg and be delivered to the French +agent.[425] The action of the Council had been very hasty and +ill-considered, and as it turned out, led to endless trouble. It soon +transpired that Paine did not own the cargo, but had run away with it +from Cayenne, and had disposed of both ship and goods in his own +interest. The French ambassador in London made complaints to the English +King, and letters were sent out to Sir Thomas Lynch and to Governor +Stapleton of the Leeward Isles to arrest Paine and endeavour to have the +vessel lade only for her right owners.[426] Meanwhile a French pirate +named Jean Hamlin, with 120 desperadoes at his back, set out in a sloop +in pursuit of "La Trompeuse," and coming up with her invited the master +and mate aboard his own vessel, and then seized the ship. Carrying the +prize to some creek or bay to careen her and fit her up as a man-of-war, +he then started out on a mad piratical cruise, took sixteen or eighteen +Jamaican vessels, barbarously ill-treated the crews, and demoralized the +whole trade of the island.[427] Captain Johnson was dispatched by Lynch +in a frigate in October 1682 to find and destroy the pirate; but after a +fruitless search of two months round Porto Rico and Hispaniola, he +returned to Port Royal. In December Lynch learned that "La Trompeuse" +was careening in the neighbourhood of the Isle la Vache, and sent out +another frigate, the "Guernsey," to seize her; but the wary pirate had +in the meantime sailed away. On 15th February the "Guernsey" was again +dispatched with positive orders not to stir from the coast of Hispaniola +until the pirate was gone or destroyed; and Coxon, who seems to have +been in good odour at Port Royal, was sent to offer to a privateer named +"Yankey," men, victuals, pardon and naturalization, besides L200 in +money for himself and Coxon, if he would go after "La Trompeuse."[428] +The next news of Hamlin was from the Virgin Islands, where he was +received and entertained by the Governor of St. Thomas, a small island +belonging to the King of Denmark.[429] Making St. Thomas his +headquarters, he robbed several English vessels that came into his way, +and after first obtaining from the Danish governor a promise that he +would find shelter at St. Thomas on his return, stood across for the +Gulf of Guinea. In May 1683 Hamlin arrived on the west side of Africa +disguised as an English man-of-war, and sailing up and down the coast of +Sierra Leone captured or destroyed within several weeks seventeen ships, +Dutch and English, robbing them of gold-dust and negroes.[430] The +pirates then quarrelled over the division of their plunder and separated +into two companies, most of the English following a Captain Morgan in +one of the prizes, and the rest returning in "La Trompeuse" to the West +Indies. The latter arrived at Dominica in July, where forty of the crew +deserted the ship, leaving but sixteen white men and twenty-two negroes +on board. Finally on the 27th the pirates dropped anchor at St. Thomas. +They were admitted and kindly received by the governor, and allowed to +bring their plunder ashore.[431] Three days later Captain Carlile of +H.M.S. "Francis," who had been sent out by Governor Stapleton to hunt +for pirates, sailed into the harbour, and on being assured by the pilot +and by an English sloop lying at anchor there that the ship before him +was the pirate "La Trompeuse," in the night of the following day he set +her on fire and blew her up. Hamlin and some of the crew were on board, +but after firing a few shots, escaped to the shore. The pirate ship +carried thirty-two guns, and if she had not been under-manned Carlile +might have encountered a formidable resistance. The Governor of St. +Thomas sent a note of protest to Carlile for having, as he said, +secretly set fire to a frigate which had been confiscated to the King of +Denmark.[432] Nevertheless he sent Hamlin and his men for safety in a +boat to another part of the island, and later selling him a sloop, let +him sail away to join the French buccaneers in Hispaniola.[433] + +The Danish governor of St. Thomas, whose name was Adolf Esmit, had +formerly been himself a privateer, and had used his popularity on the +island to eject from authority his brother Nicholas Esmit, the lawful +governor. By protecting and encouraging pirates--for a consideration, of +course--he proved a bad neighbour to the surrounding English islands. +Although he had but 300 or 350 people on St. Thomas, and most of these +British subjects, he laid claim to all the Virgin Islands, harboured +runaway servants, seamen and debtors, fitted out pirate vessels with +arms and provisions, and refused to restore captured ships and crews +which the pirates brought into his port.[434] The King of Denmark had +sent out a new governor, named Everson, to dispossess Esmit, but he did +not arrive in the West Indies until October 1684, when with the +assistance of an armed sloop which Sir William Stapleton had been +ordered by the English Council to lend him, he took possession of St. +Thomas and its pirate governor.[435] + +A second difficulty encountered by Sir Thomas Lynch, in the first year +of his return, was the privateering activity of Robert Clarke, Governor +of New Providence, one of the Bahama Islands. Governor Clarke, on the +plea of retaliating Spanish outrages, gave letters of marque to several +privateers, including Coxon, the same famous chief who in 1680 had led +the buccaneers into the South Seas. Coxon carried his commission to +Jamaica and showed it to Governor Lynch, who was greatly incensed and +wrote to Clarke a vigorous note of reproof.[436] To grant such letters +of marque was, of course, contrary to the Treaty of Madrid, and by +giving the pirates only another excuse for their actions, greatly +complicated the task of the Governor of Jamaica. Lynch forwarded Coxon's +commission to England, where in August 1682 the proprietors of the +Bahama Islands were ordered to attend the council and answer for the +misdeeds of their governor.[437] The proprietors, however, had already +acted on their own initiative, for on 29th July they issued instructions +to a new governor, Robert Lilburne, to arrest Clarke and keep him in +custody till he should give security to answer accusations in England, +and to recall all commissions against the Spaniards.[438] The whole +trouble, it seems, had arisen over the wreck of a Spanish galleon in the +Bahamas, to which Spaniards from St. Augustine and Havana were +accustomed to resort to fish for ingots of silver, and from which they +had been driven away by the governor and inhabitants of New Providence. +The Spaniards had retaliated by robbing vessels sailing to and from the +Bahamas, whereupon Clarke, without considering the illegality of his +action, had issued commissions of war to privateers. + +The Bahamas, however, were a favourite resort for pirates and other men +of desperate character, and Lilburne soon discovered that his place was +no sinecure. He found it difficult moreover to refrain from hostilities +against a neighbour who used every opportunity to harm and plunder his +colony. In March 1683, a former privateer named Thomas Pain[439] had +entered into a conspiracy with four other captains, who were then +fishing for silver at the wreck, to seize St. Augustine in Florida. They +landed before the city under French colours, but finding the Spaniards +prepared for them, gave up the project and looted some small +neighbouring settlements. On the return of Pain and two others to New +Providence, Governor Lilburne tried to apprehend them, but he failed for +lack of means to enforce his authority. The Spaniards, however, were not +slow to take their revenge. In the following January they sent 250 men +from Havana, who in the early morning surprised and plundered the town +and shipping at New Providence, killed three men, and carried away money +and provisions to the value of L14,000.[440] When Lilburne in February +sent to ask the Governor of Havana whether the plunderers had acted +under his orders, the Spaniard not only acknowledged it but threatened +further hostilities against the English settlement. Indeed, later in the +same year the Spaniards returned, this time, it seems, without a +commission, and according to report burnt all the houses, murdered the +governor in cold blood, and carried many of the women, children and +negroes to Havana.[441] About 200 of the inhabitants made their way to +Jamaica, and a number of the men, thirsting for vengeance, joined the +English pirates in the Carolinas.[442] + +In French Hispaniola corsairing had been forbidden for several years, +yet the French governor found the problem of suppressing the evil even +more difficult than it was in Jamaica. M. de Pouancay, the successor of +d'Ogeron, died toward the end of 1682 or the beginning of 1683, and in +spite of his efforts to establish order in the colony he left it in a +deplorable condition. The old fraternity of hunters or cow-killers had +almost disappeared; but the corsairs and the planters were strongly +united, and galled by the oppression of the West India Company, +displayed their strength in a spirit of indocility which caused great +embarrassment to the governor. Although in time of peace the freebooters +kept the French settlements in continual danger of ruin by reprisal, in +time of war they were the mainstay of the colony. As the governor, +therefore, was dependent upon them for protection against the English, +Spanish and Dutch, although he withdrew their commissions he dared not +punish them for their crimes. The French buccaneers, indeed, occupied a +curious and anomalous position. They were not ordinary privateers, for +they waged war without authority; and they were still less pirates, for +they had never been declared outlaws, and they confined their attentions +to the Spaniards. They served under conditions which they themselves +imposed, or which they deigned to accept, and were always ready to turn +against the representatives of authority if they believed they had aught +of which to complain.[443] + +The buccaneers almost invariably carried commissions from the governors +of French Hispaniola, but they did not scruple to alter the wording of +their papers, so that a permission to privateer for three months was +easily transformed into a licence to plunder for three years. These +papers, moreover, were passed about from one corsair to another, until +long after the occasion for their issue had ceased to exist. Thus in May +or June of 1680, de Grammont, on the strength of an old commission +granted him by de Pouancay before the treaty of Nimuegen, had made a +brilliant night assault upon La Guayra, the seaport of Caracas. Of his +180 followers only forty-seven took part in the actual seizure of the +town, which was amply protected by two forts and by cannon upon the +walls. On the following day, however, he received word that 2000 men +were approaching from Caracas, and as the enemy were also rallying in +force in the vicinity of the town he was compelled to retire to the +ships. This movement was executed with difficulty, and for two hours de +Grammont with a handful of his bravest companions covered the +embarkation from the assaults of the Spaniards. Although he himself was +dangerously wounded in the throat, he lost only eight or nine men in the +whole action. He carried away with him the Governor of La Guayra and +many other prisoners, but the booty was small. De Grammont retired to +the Isle d'Aves to nurse his wound, and after a long convalescence +returned to Petit Goave.[444] + +In 1683, however, these filibusters of Hispaniola carried out a much +larger design upon the coasts of New Spain. In April of that year eight +buccaneer captains made a rendezvous in the Gulf of Honduras for the +purpose of attacking Vera Cruz. The leaders of the party were two +Dutchmen named Vanhorn and Laurens de Graff. Of the other six captains, +three were Dutch, one was French, and two were English. Vanhorn himself +had sailed from England in the autumn of 1681 in command of a merchant +ship called the "Mary and Martha," _alias_ the "St. Nicholas." He soon, +however, revealed the rogue he was by turning two of his merchants +ashore at Cadiz and stealing four Spanish guns. He then sailed to the +Canaries and to the coast of Guinea, plundering ships and stealing +negroes, and finally, in November 1682, arrived at the city of San +Domingo, where he tried to dispose of his black cargo. From San Domingo +he made for Petit Goave picked up 300 men, and sailed to join Laurens in +the Gulf of Honduras.[445] Laurens, too, had distinguished himself but a +short time before by capturing a Spanish ship bound from Havana for San +Domingo and Porto Rico with about 120,000 pieces of eight to pay off the +soldiers. The freebooters had shared 700 pieces of eight per man, and +carrying their prize to Petit Goave had compounded with the French +governor for a part of the booty.[446] + +The buccaneers assembled near Cape Catoche to the number of about 1000 +men, and sailed in the middle of May for Vera Cruz. Learning from some +prisoners that the Spaniards on shore were expecting two ships from +Caracas, they crowded the landing party of about 800 upon two of their +vessels, displayed the Spanish colours, and stood in for the city. The +unfortunate inhabitants mistook them for their own people, and even +lighted fires to pilot them in. The pirates landed at midnight on 17th +May about two miles from the town, and by daybreak had possession of the +city and its forts. They found the soldiers and sentinels asleep, and +"all the people in the houses as quiet and still as if in their graves." +For four days they held the place, plundering the churches, houses and +convents; and not finding enough plate and jewels to meet their +expectations, they threatened to burn the cathedral and all the +prisoners within it, unless a ransom was brought in from the surrounding +country. The governor, Don Luis de Cordova, was on the third day +discovered by an Englishman hidden in the hay in a stable, and was +ransomed for 70,000 pieces of eight. Meanwhile the Spanish Flota of +twelve or fourteen ships from Cadiz had for two days been lying outside +the harbour and within sight of the city; yet it did not venture to land +or to attack the empty buccaneer vessels. The proximity of such an +armament, however, made the freebooters uneasy, especially as the +Spanish viceroy was approaching with an army from the direction of +Mexico. On the fourth day, therefore, they sailed away in the very face +of the Flota to a neighbouring cay, where they divided the pillage into +a thousand or more shares of 800 pieces of eight each. Vanhorn alone is +said to have received thirty shares for himself and his two ships. He +and Laurens, who had never been on good terms, quarrelled and fought +over the division, and Vanhorn was wounded in the wrist. The wound +seemed very slight, however, and he proposed to return and attack the +Spanish fleet, offering to board the "Admiral" himself; but Laurens +refused, and the buccaneers sailed away, carrying with them over 1000 +slaves. The invaders, according to report, had lost but four men in the +action. About a fortnight later Vanhorn died of gangrene in his wound, +and de Grammont, who was then acting as his lieutenant, carried his ship +back to Petit Goave, where Laurens and most of the other captains had +already arrived.[447] + +The Mexican fleet, which returned to Cadiz on 18th December, was only +half its usual size because of the lack of a market after the visit of +the corsairs; and the Governor of Vera Cruz was sentenced to lose his +head for his remissness in defending the city.[448] The Spanish +ambassador in London, Ronquillo, requested Charles II. to command Sir +Thomas Lynch to co-operate with a commissioner whom the Spanish +Government was sending to the West Indies to inquire into this latest +outrage of the buccaneers, and such orders were dispatched to Lynch in +April 1684.[449] + +M. de Cussy, who had been appointed by the French King to succeed his +former colleague, de Pouancay, arrived at Petit Goave in April 1684, and +found the buccaneers on the point of open revolt because of the efforts +of de Franquesnay, the temporary governor, to enforce the strict orders +from France for their suppression.[450] De Cussy visited all parts of +the colony, and by tact, patience and politic concessions succeeded in +restoring order. He knew that in spite of the instructions from France, +so long as he was surrounded by jealous neighbours, and so long as the +peace in Europe remained precarious, the safety of French Hispaniola +depended on his retaining the presence and good-will of the sea-rovers; +and when de Grammont and several other captains demanded commissions +against the Spaniards, the governor finally consented on condition that +they persuade all the freebooters driven away by de Franquesnay to +return to the colony. Two commissioners, named Begon and St. Laurent, +arrived in August 1684 to aid him in reforming this dissolute society, +but they soon came to the same conclusions as the governor, and sent a +memoir to the French King advising less severe measures. The king did +not agree with their suggestion of compromise, and de Cussy, compelled +to deal harshly with the buccaneers, found his task by no means an easy +one.[451] Meanwhile, however, many of the freebooters, seeing the +determined attitude of the established authorities, decided to transfer +their activities to the Pacific coasts of America, where they would be +safe from interference on the part of the English or French Governments. +The expedition of Harris, Coxon, Sharp and their associates across the +isthmus in 1680 had kindled the imaginations of the buccaneers with the +possibilities of greater plunder and adventure in these more distant +regions. Other parties, both English and French, speedily followed in +their tracks, and after 1683 it became the prevailing practice for +buccaneers to make an excursion into the South Seas. The Darien Indians +and their fiercer neighbours, the natives of the Mosquito Coast, who +were usually at enmity with the Spaniards, allied themselves with the +freebooters, and the latter, in their painful marches through the dense +tropical wilderness of these regions, often owed it to the timely aid +and friendly offices of the natives that they finally succeeded in +reaching their goal. + +In the summer of 1685, a year after the arrival of de Cussy in +Hispaniola, de Grammont and Laurens de Graff united their forces again +at the Isle la Vache, and in spite of the efforts of the governor to +persuade them to renounce their project, sailed with 1100 men for the +coasts of Campeache. An attempt on Merida was frustrated by the +Spaniards, but Campeache itself was occupied after a feeble resistance, +and remained in possession of the French for six weeks. After reducing +the city to ashes and blowing up the fortress, the invaders retired to +Hispaniola.[452] According to Charlevoix, before the buccaneers sailed +away they celebrated the festival of St. Louis by a huge bonfire in +honour of the king, in which they burnt logwood to the value of 200,000 +crowns, representing the greater part of their booty. The Spaniards of +Hispaniola, who kept up a constant desultory warfare with their French +neighbours, were incited by the ravages of the buccaneers in the South +Seas, and by the sack of Vera Cruz and Campeache, to renewed +hostilities; and de Cussy, anxious to attach to himself so enterprising +and daring a leader as de Grammont, obtained for him, in September 1686, +the commission of "Lieutenant de Roi" of the coast of San Domingo. +Grammont, however, on learning of his new honour, wished to have a last +fling at the Spaniards before he settled down to respectability. He +armed a ship, sailed away with 180 men, and was never heard of +again.[453] At the same time Laurens de Graff was given the title of +"Major," and he lived to take an active part in the war against the +English between 1689 and 1697.[454] + +These semi-pirates, whom the French governor dared not openly support +yet feared to disavow, were a constant source of trouble to the Governor +of Jamaica. They did not scruple to attack English traders and fishing +sloops, and when pursued took refuge in Petit Goave, the port in the +_cul-de-sac_ at the west end of Hispaniola which had long been a +sanctuary of the freebooters, and which paid little respect to the +authority of the royal governor.[455] In Jamaica they believed that the +corsairs acted under regular commissions from the French authorities, +and Sir Thomas Lynch sent repeated complaints to de Pouancay and to his +successor. He also wrote to England begging the Council to ascertain +from the French ambassador whether these governors had authority to +issue commissions of war, so that his frigates might be able to +distinguish between the pirate and the lawful privateer.[456] Except at +Petit Goave, however, the French were really desirous of preserving +peace with Jamaica, and did what they could to satisfy the demands of +the English without unduly irritating the buccaneers. They were in the +same position as Lynch in 1671, who, while anxious to do justice to the +Spaniards, dared not immediately alienate the freebooters who plundered +them, and who might, if driven away, turn their arms against Jamaica. +Vanhorn himself, it seems, when he left Hispaniola to join Laurens in +the Gulf of Honduras, had been sent out by de Pouancay really to pursue +"La Trompeuse" and other pirates, and his lieutenant, de Grammont, +delivered letters to Governor Lynch to that effect; but once out of +sight he steered directly for Central America, where he anticipated a +more profitable game than pirate-hunting.[457] + +On the 24th of August 1684 Sir Thomas Lynch died in Jamaica, and Colonel +Hender Molesworth, by virtue of his commission as lieutenant-governor, +assumed the authority.[458] Sir Henry Morgan, who had remained +lieutenant-governor when Lynch returned to Jamaica, had afterwards been +suspended from the council and from all other public employments on +charges of drunkenness, disorder, and encouraging disloyalty to the +government. His brother-in-law, Byndloss, was dismissed for similar +reasons, and Roger Elletson, who belonged to the same faction, was +removed from his office as attorney-general of the island. Lynch had had +the support of both the assembly and the council, and his actions were +at once confirmed in England.[459] The governor, however, although he +had enjoyed the confidence of most of the inhabitants, who looked upon +him as the saviour of the island, left behind in the persons of Morgan, +Elletson and their roystering companions, a group of implacable enemies, +who did all in their power to vilify his memory to the authorities in +England. Several of these men, with Elletson at their head, accused the +dead governor of embezzling piratical goods which had been confiscated +to the use of the king; but when inquiry was made by Lieutenant-Governor +Molesworth, the charges fell to the ground. Elletson's information was +found to be second-hand and defective, and Lynch's name was more than +vindicated. Indeed, the governor at his death had so little ready means +that his widow was compelled to borrow L500 to pay for his funeral.[460] + +The last years of Sir Thomas Lynch's life had been troublous ones. Not +only had the peace of the island been disturbed by "La Trompeuse" and +other French corsairs which hovered about Hispaniola; not only had his +days been embittered by strife with a small, drunken, insolent faction +which tried to belittle his attempts to introduce order and sobriety +into the colony; but the hostility of the Spanish governors in the West +Indies still continued to neutralize his efforts to root out +buccaneering. Lynch had in reality been the best friend of the Spaniards +in America. He had strictly forbidden the cutting of logwood in +Campeache and Honduras, when the Spaniards were outraging and enslaving +every Englishman they found upon those coasts;[461] he had sent word to +the Spanish governors of the intended sack of Vera Cruz;[462] he had +protected Spanish merchant ships with his own men-of-war and hospitably +received them in Jamaican ports. Yet Spanish corsairs continued to rob +English vessels, and Spanish governors refused to surrender English +ships and goods which were carried into their ports.[463] On the plea of +punishing interlopers they armed small galleys and ordered them to take +all ships which had on board any products of the Indies.[464] Letters to +the governors at Havana and St. Jago de Cuba were of no avail. English +trade routes were interrupted and dangerous, the turtling, trading and +fishing sloops, which supplied a great part of the food of Jamaica, were +robbed and seized, and Lynch was compelled to construct a galley of +fifty oars for their protection.[465] Pirates, it is true, were +frequently brought into Port Royal by the small frigates employed by the +governor, and there were numerous executions;[466] yet the outlaws +seemed to increase daily. Some black vessel was generally found hovering +about the island ready to pick up any who wished to join it, and when +the runaways were prevented from returning by the statute against +piracy, they retired to the Carolinas or to New England to dispose of +their loot and refit their ships.[467] When such retreats were available +the laws against piracy did not reduce buccaneering so much as they +depopulated Jamaica of its white inhabitants. + +After 1680, indeed, the North American colonies became more and more the +resort of the pirates who were being driven from West Indian waters by +the stern measures of the English governors. Michel Landresson, _alias_ +Breha, who had accompanied Pain in his expedition against St. Augustine +in 1683, and who had been a constant source of worriment to the +Jamaicans because of his attacks on the fishing sloops, sailed to Boston +and disposed of his booty of gold, silver, jewels and cocoa to the godly +New England merchants, who were only too ready to take advantage of so +profitable a trade and gladly fitted him out for another cruise.[468] +Pain himself appeared in Rhode Island, displayed the old commission to +hunt for pirates given him by Sir Thomas Lynch, and was protected by the +governor against the deputy-collector of customs, who endeavoured to +seize him and his ship.[469] The chief resort of the pirates, however, +was the colony of Carolina. Indented by numerous harbours and inlets, +the shores of Carolina had always afforded a safe refuge for refitting +and repairing after a cruise, and from 1670 onwards, when the region +began to be settled by colonists from England, the pirates found in the +new communities a second Jamaica, where they could sell their cargoes +and often recruit their forces. In the latter part of 1683 Sir Thomas +Lynch complained to the Lords of the Committee for Trade and +Plantations;[470] and in February of the following year the king, at the +suggestion of the committee, ordered that a draft of the Jamaican law +against pirates be sent to all the plantations in America, to be passed +and enforced in each as a statute of the province.[471] On 12th March +1684 a general proclamation was issued by the king against pirates in +America, and a copy forwarded to all the colonial governors for +publication and execution.[472] Nevertheless in Massachusetts, in spite +of these measures and of a letter from the king warning the governors to +give no succour or aid to any of the outlaws, Michel had been received +with open arms, the proclamation of 12th March was torn down in the +streets, and the Jamaica Act, though passed, was never enforced.[473] In +the Carolinas, although the Lords Proprietors wrote urging the governors +to take every care that no pirates were entertained in the colony, the +Act was not passed until November 1685.[474] There were few, if any, +convictions, and the freebooters plied their trade with the same +security as before. Toward the end of 1686 three galleys from St. +Augustine landed about 150 men, Spaniards, Indians and mulattos, a few +leagues below Charleston, and laid waste several plantations, including +that of Governor Moreton. The enemy pushed on to Port Royal, completely +destroyed the Scotch colony there, and retired before a force could be +raised to oppose them. To avenge this inroad the inhabitants immediately +began preparations for a descent upon St. Augustine; and an expedition +consisting of two French privateering vessels and about 500 men was +organized and about to sail, when a new governor, James Colleton, +arrived and ordered it to disband.[475] Colleton was instructed to +arrest Governor Moreton on the charge of encouraging piracy, and to +punish those who entertained and abetted the freebooters;[476] and on +12th February 1687 he had a new and more explicit law to suppress the +evil enacted by the assembly.[477] On 22nd May of the same year James +II. renewed the proclamation for the suppression of pirates, and offered +pardon to all who surrendered within a limited time and gave security +for future good behaviour.[478] The situation was so serious, however, +that in August the king commissioned Sir Robert Holmes to proceed with a +squadron to the West Indies and make short work of the outlaws;[479] and +in October he issued a circular to all the governors in the colonies, +directing the most stringent enforcement of the laws, "a practice having +grown up of bringing pirates to trial before the evidence was ready, and +of using other evasions to insure their acquittal."[480] On the +following 20th January another proclamation was issued by James to +insure the co-operation of the governors with Sir Robert Holmes and his +agents.[481] The problem, however, was more difficult than the king had +anticipated. The presence of the fleet upon the coast stopped the evil +for a time, but a few years later, especially in the Carolinas under the +administration of Governor Ludwell (1691-1693), the pirates again +increased in numbers and in boldness, and Charleston was completely +overrun with the freebooters, who, with the connivance of the merchants +and a free display of gold, set the law at defiance. + +In Jamaica Lieutenant-Governor Molesworth continued in the policy and +spirit of his predecessor. He sent a frigate to the Bay of Darien to +visit Golden Isle and the Isle of Pines (where the buccaneers were +accustomed to make their rendezvous when they crossed over to the South +Seas), with orders to destroy any piratical craft in that vicinity, and +he made every exertion to prevent recruits from leaving Jamaica.[482] +The stragglers who returned from the South Seas he arrested and +executed, and he dealt severely with those who received and entertained +them.[483] By virtue of the king's proclamation of 1684, he had the +property in Port Royal belonging to men then in the South Seas forfeited +to the crown.[484] A Captain Bannister, who in June 1684 had run away +from Port Royal on a privateering venture with a ship of thirty guns, +had been caught and brought back by the frigate "Ruby," but when put on +trial for piracy was released by the grand jury on a technicality. Six +months later Bannister managed to elude the forts a second time, and for +two years kept dodging the frigates which Molesworth sent in pursuit of +him. Finally, in January 1687, Captain Spragge sailed into Port Royal +with the buccaneer and three of his companions hanging at the yard-arms, +"a spectacle of great satisfaction to all good people, and of terror to +the favourers of pirates."[485] It was during the government of +Molesworth that the "Biscayners" began to appear in American waters. +These privateers from the Bay of Biscay seem to have been taken into the +King of Spain's service to hunt pirates, but they interrupted English +trade more than the pirates did. They captured and plundered English +merchantmen right and left, and carried them to Cartagena, Vera Cruz, +San Domingo and other Spanish ports, where the governors took charge of +their prisoners and allowed them to dispose of their captured goods. +They held their commissions, it seems, directly from the Crown, and so +pretended to be outside the pale of the authority of the Spanish +governors. The latter, at any rate, declared that they could give no +redress, and themselves complained to the authorities in Jamaica of the +independence of these marauders.[486] In December 1688 the king issued a +warrant to the Governor of Jamaica authorizing him to suppress the +Biscayans with the royal frigates.[487] + +On 28th October 1685 the governorship of the island was assigned to Sir +Philip Howard,[488] but Howard died shortly after, and the Duke of +Albemarle was appointed in his stead.[489] Albemarle, who arrived at +Port Royal in December 1687,[490] completely reversed the policy of his +predecessors, Lynch and Molesworth. Even before he left England he had +undermined his health by his intemperate habits, and when he came to +Jamaica he leagued himself with the most unruly and debauched men in the +colony. He seems to have had no object but to increase his fortune at +the expense of the island. Before he sailed he had boldly petitioned for +powers to dispose of money without the advice and consent of his +council, and, if he saw fit, to reinstate into office Sir Henry Morgan +and Robert Byndloss. The king, however, decided that the suspension of +Morgan and Byndloss should remain until Albemarle had reported on their +case from Jamaica.[491] When the Duke entered upon his new government, +he immediately appointed Roger Elletson to be Chief Justice of the +island in the place of Samuel Bernard. Three assistant-judges of the +Supreme Court thereupon resigned their positions on the bench, and one +was, in revenge, dismissed by the governor from the council. Several +other councillors were also suspended, contrary to the governor's +instructions against arbitrary dismissal of such officers, and on 18th +January 1688 Sir Henry Morgan, upon the king's approval of the Duke's +recommendation, was re-admitted to the council-chamber.[492] The old +buccaneer, however, did not long enjoy his restored dignity. About a +month later he succumbed to a sharp illness, and on 26th August was +buried in St. Catherine's Church in Port Royal.[493] + +In November 1688 a petition was presented to the king by the planters +and merchants trading to Jamaica protesting against the new regime +introduced by Lord Albemarle:--"The once flourishing island of Jamaica +is likely to be utterly undone by the irregularities of some needy +persons lately set in power. Many of the most considerable inhabitants +are deserting it, others are under severe fines and imprisonments from +little or no cause.... The provost-marshal has been dismissed and an +indebted person put in his place; and all the most substantial officers, +civil and military, have been turned out and necessitous persons set up +in their room. The like has been done in the judicial offices, whereby +the benefit of appeals and prohibitions is rendered useless. Councillors +are suspended without royal order and without a hearing. Several persons +have been forced to give security not to leave the island lest they +should seek redress; others have been brought before the council for +trifling offences and innumerable fees taken from them; money has been +raised twenty per cent. over its value to defend creditors. Lastly, the +elections have been tampered with by the indebted provost-marshal, and +since the Duke of Albemarle's death are continued without your royal +authority."[494] The death of Albemarle, indeed, at this opportune time +was the greatest service he rendered to the colony. Molesworth was +immediately commanded to return to Jamaica and resume authority. The +duke's system was entirely reversed, and the government restored as it +had been under the administration of Sir Thomas Lynch. Elletson was +removed from the council and from his position as chief justice, and +Bernard returned in his former place. All of the rest of Albemarle's +creatures were dismissed from their posts, and the supporters of Lynch's +regime again put in control of a majority in the council.[495] This +measure of plain justice was one of the last acts of James II. as King +of England. On 5th November 1688 William of Orange landed in England at +Torbay, and on 22nd December James escaped to France to live as a +pensioner of Louis XIV. The new king almost immediately wrote to Jamaica +confirming the reappointment of Molesworth, and a commission to the +latter was issued on 25th July 1689.[496] Molesworth, unfortunately for +the colony, died within a few days,[497] and the Earl of Inchiquin was +appointed on 19th September to succeed him.[498] Sir Francis Watson, +President of the Council in Jamaica, obeyed the instructions of William +III., although he was a partizan of Albemarle; yet so high was the +feeling between the two factions that the greatest confusion reigned in +the government of the island until the arrival of Inchiquin in May +1690.[499] + +The Revolution of 1688, by placing William of Orange on the English +throne, added a powerful kingdom to the European coalition which in 1689 +attacked Louis XIV. over the question of the succession of the +Palatinate. That James II. should accept the hospitality of the French +monarch and use France as a basis for attack on England and Ireland was, +quite apart from William's sympathy with the Protestants on the +Continent, sufficient cause for hostilities against France. War broke +out in May 1689, and was soon reflected in the English and French +colonies in the West Indies. De Cussy, in Hispaniola, led an expedition +of 1000 men, many of them filibusters, against St. Jago de los +Cavalleros in the interior of the island, and took and burnt the town. +In revenge the Spaniards, supported by an English fleet which had just +driven the French from St. Kitts, appeared in January 1691 before Cap +Francois, defeated and killed de Cussy in an engagement near the town, +and burned and sacked the settlement. Three hundred French filibusters +were killed in the battle. The English fleet visited Leogane and Petit +Goave in the _cul-de-sac_ of Hispaniola, and then sailed to Jamaica. De +Cussy before his death had seized the opportunity to provide the +freebooters with new commissions for privateering, and English shipping +suffered severely.[500] Laurens with 200 men touched at Montego Bay on +the north coast in October, and threatened to return and plunder the +whole north side of the island. The people were so frightened that they +sent their wives and children to Port Royal; and the council armed +several vessels to go in pursuit of the Frenchmen.[501] It was a new +experience to feel the danger of invasion by a foreign foe. The +Jamaicans had an insight into the terror which their Spanish neighbours +felt for the buccaneers, whom the English islanders had always been so +ready to fit out, or to shield from the arm of the law. Laurens in the +meantime was as good as his word. He returned to Jamaica in the +beginning of December with several vessels, seized eight or ten English +trading sloops, landed on the north shore and plundered a +plantation.[502] War with France was formally proclaimed in Jamaica on +the 13th of January 1690.[503] + +Two years later, in January 1692, Lord Inchiquin also succumbed to +disease in Jamaica, and in the following June Colonel William Beeston +was chosen by the queen to act as lieutenant-governor.[504] Inchiquin +before he left England had solicited for the power to call in and pardon +pirates, so as to strengthen the island during the war by adding to its +forces men who would make good fighters on both land and sea. The +Committee on Trade and Plantations reported favourably on the proposal, +but the power seems never to have been granted.[505] In January 1692, +however, the President of the Council of Jamaica began to issue +commissions to privateers, and in a few months the surrounding seas were +full of armed Jamaican sloops.[506] On 7th June of the same year the +colony suffered a disaster which almost proved its destruction. A +terrible earthquake overwhelmed Port Royal and "in ten minutes threw +down all the churches, dwelling-houses and sugar-works in the island. +Two-thirds of Port Royal were swallowed up by the sea, all the forts and +fortifications demolished and great part of its inhabitants miserably +knocked on the head or drowned."[507] The French in Hispaniola took +advantage of the distress caused by the earthquake to invade the island, +and nearly every week hostile bands landed and plundered the coast of +negroes and other property.[508] In December 1693 a party of 170 swooped +down in the night upon St. Davids, only seven leagues from Port Royal, +plundered the whole parish, and got away again with 370 slaves.[509] In +the following April Ducasse, the new French governor of Hispaniola, sent +400 buccaneers in six small vessels to repeat the exploit, but the +marauders met an English man-of-war guarding the coast, and concluding +"that they would only get broken bones and spoil their men for any other +design," they retired whence they had come.[510] Two months later, +however, a much more serious incursion was made. An expedition of +twenty-two vessels and 1500 men, recruited in France and instigated, it +is said, by Irish and Jacobite refugees, set sail under Ducasse on 8th +June with the intention of conquering the whole of Jamaica. The French +landed at Point Morant and Cow Bay, and for a month cruelly desolated +the whole south-eastern portion of the island. Then coasting along the +southern shore they made a feint on Port Royal, and landed in Carlisle +Bay to the west of the capital. After driving from their breastworks the +English force of 250 men, they again fell to ravaging and burning, but +finding they could make no headway against the Jamaican militia, who +were now increased to 700 men, in the latter part of July they set sail +with their plunder for Hispaniola.[511] Jamaica had been denuded of men +by the earthquake and by sickness, and Lieutenant-Governor Beeston had +wisely abandoned the forts in the east of the island and concentrated +all his strength at Port Royal.[512] It was this expedient which +doubtless saved the island from capture, for Ducasse feared to attack +the united Jamaican forces behind strong intrenchments. The harm done to +Jamaica by the invasion, however, was very great. The French wholly +destroyed fifty sugar works and many plantations, burnt and plundered +about 200 houses, and killed every living thing they found. Thirteen +hundred negroes were carried off besides other spoil. In fighting the +Jamaicans lost about 100 killed and wounded, but the loss of the French +seems to have been several times that number. After the French returned +home Ducasse reserved all the negroes for himself, and many of the +freebooters who had taken part in the expedition, exasperated by such a +division of the spoil, deserted the governor and resorted to +buccaneering on their own account.[513] + +Colonel, now become Sir William, Beeston, from his first arrival in +Jamaica as lieutenant-governor, had fixed his hopes upon a joint +expedition with the Spaniards against the French at Petit Goave; but the +inertia of the Spaniards, and the loss of men and money caused by the +earthquake, had prevented his plans from being realized.[514] In the +early part of 1695, however, an army of 1700 soldiers on a fleet of +twenty-three ships sailed from England under command of Commodore Wilmot +for the West Indies. Uniting with 1500 Spaniards from San Domingo and +the Barlovento fleet of three sail, they captured and sacked Cap +Francois and Port de Paix in the French end of the island. It had been +the intention of the allies to proceed to the _cul-de-sac_ and destroy +Petit Goave and Leogane, but they had lost many men by sickness and bad +management, and the Spaniards, satisfied with the booty already +obtained, were anxious to return home. So the English fleet sailed away +to Port Royal.[515] These hostilities so exhausted both the French in +Hispaniola and the English in Jamaica that for a time the combatants lay +back to recover their strength. + +The last great expedition of this war in the West Indies serves as a +fitting close to the history of the buccaneers. On 26th September 1696 +Ducasse received from the French Minister of Marine, Pontchartrain, a +letter informing him that the king had agreed to the project of a large +armament which the Sieur de Pointis, aided by private capital, was +preparing for an enterprise in the Mexican Gulf.[516] Ducasse, although +six years earlier he had written home urging just such an enterprise +against Vera Cruz or Cartagena, now expressed his strong disapproval of +the project, and dwelt rather on the advantages to be gained by the +capture of Spanish Hispaniola, a conquest which would give the French +the key to the Indies. A second letter from Pontchartrain in January +1697, however, ordered him to aid de Pointis by uniting all the +freebooters and keeping them in the colony till 15th February. It was a +difficult task to maintain the buccaneers in idleness for two months and +prohibit all cruising, especially as de Pointis, who sailed from Brest +in the beginning of January, did not reach Petit Goave till about 1st +March.[517] The buccaneers murmured and threatened to disband, and it +required all the personal ascendancy of Ducasse to hold them together. +The Sieur de Pointis, although a man of experience and resource, capable +of forming a large design and sparing nothing to its success, suffered +from two very common faults--vanity and avarice. He sometimes allowed +the sense of his own merits to blind him to the merits of others, and +considerations of self-interest to dim the brilliance of his +achievements. Of Ducasse he was insanely jealous, and during the whole +expedition he tried in every way to humiliate him. Unable to bring +himself to conciliate the unruly spirit of the buccaneers, he told them +plainly that he would lead them not as a companion in fortune but as a +military superior, and that they must submit themselves to the same +rules as the men on the king's ships. The freebooters rebelled under the +haughtiness of their commander, and only Ducasse's influence was able to +bring them to obedience.[518] On 18th March the ships were all gathered +at the rendezvous at Cape Tiburon, and on the 13th of the following +month anchored two leagues to the east of Cartagena.[519] De Pointis had +under his command about 4000 men, half of them seamen, the rest +soldiers. The reinforcements he had received from Ducasse numbered 1100, +and of these 650 were buccaneers commanded by Ducasse himself. He had +nine frigates, besides seven vessels belonging to the buccaneers, and +numerous smaller boats.[520] The appearance of so formidable an armament +in the West Indies caused a great deal of concern both in England and in +Jamaica. Martial law was proclaimed in the colony and every means taken +to put Port Royal in a state of defence.[521] Governor Beeston, at the +first news of de Pointis' fleet, sent advice to the governors of Porto +Bello and Havana, against whom he suspected that the expedition was +intended.[522] A squadron of thirteen vessels was sent out from England +under command of Admiral Nevill to protect the British islands and the +Spanish treasure fleets, for both the galleons and the Flota were then +in the Indies.[523] Nevill touched at Barbadoes on 17th April,[524] and +then sailed up through the Leeward Islands towards Hispaniola in search +of de Pointis. The Frenchman, however, had eluded him and was already +before Cartagena. + +Cartagena, situated at the eastward end of a large double lagoon, was +perhaps the strongest fortress in the Indies, and the Spaniards within +opposed a courageous defence.[525] After a fortnight of fighting and +bombardment, however, on the last day of April the outworks were carried +by a brilliant assault, and on 6th May the small Spanish garrison, +followed by the _Cabildo_ or municipal corporation, and by many of the +citizens of the town, in all about 2800 persons, marched out with the +honours of war. Although the Spaniards had been warned of the coming of +the French, and before their arrival had succeeded in withdrawing the +women and some of their riches to Mompos in the interior, the treasure +which fell into the hands of the invaders was enormous, and has been +variously estimated at from six million crowns to twenty millions +sterling. Trouble soon broke out between de Pointis and the buccaneers, +for the latter wanted the whole of the plunder to be divided equally +among the men, as had always been their custom, and they expected, +according to this arrangement, says de Pointis in his narrative, about a +quarter of all the booty. De Pointis, however, insisted upon the order +which he had published before the expedition sailed from Petit Goave, +that the buccaneers should be subject to the same rule in the division +of the spoil as the sailors in the fleet, i.e., they should receive +one-tenth of the first million and one-thirtieth of the rest. Moreover, +fearing that the buccaneers would take matters into their own hands, he +had excluded them from the city while his officers gathered the plunder +and carried it to the ships. On the repeated remonstrances of Ducasse, +de Pointis finally announced that the share allotted to the men from +Hispaniola was 40,000 crowns. The buccaneers, finding themselves so +miserably cheated, broke out into open mutiny, but were restrained by +the influence of their leader and the presence of the king's frigates. +De Pointis, meanwhile, seeing his own men decimated by sickness, put all +the captured guns on board the fleet and made haste to get under sail +for France. South of Jamaica he fell in with the squadron of Admiral +Nevill, to which in the meantime had been joined some eight Dutch +men-of-war; but de Pointis, although inferior in numbers, outsailed the +English ships and lost but one or two of his smaller vessels. He then +man[oe]uvred past Cape S. Antonio, round the north of Cuba and through +the Bahama Channel to Newfoundland, where he stopped for fresh wood and +water, and after a brush with a small English squadron under Commodore +Norris, sailed into the harbour of Brest on 19th August 1697.[526] + +The buccaneers, even before de Pointis sailed for France, had turned +their ships back toward Cartagena to reimburse themselves by again +plundering the city. De Pointis, indeed, was then very ill, and his +officers were in no condition to oppose them. After the fleet had +departed the freebooters re-entered Cartagena, and for four days put it +to the sack, extorting from the unfortunate citizens, and from the +churches and monasteries, several million more in gold and silver. +Embarking for the Isle la Vache, they had covered but thirty leagues +when they met with the same allied fleet which had pursued de Pointis. +Of the nine buccaneer vessels, the two which carried most of the booty +were captured, two more were driven ashore, and the rest succeeded in +escaping to Hispaniola. Ducasse, who had returned to Petit Goave when de +Pointis sailed for France, sent one of his lieutenants on a mission to +the French Court to complain of the ill-treatment he had received from +de Pointis, and to demand his own recall; but the king pacified him by +making him a Chevalier of St. Louis, and allotting 1,400,000 francs to +the French colonists who had aided in the expedition. The money, +however, was slow in reaching the hands of those to whom it was due, and +much was lost through the malversations of the men charged with its +distribution.[527] + + * * * * * + +With the capture of Cartagena in 1697 the history of the buccaneers may +be said to end. More and more during the previous twenty years they had +degenerated into mere pirates, or had left their libertine life for more +civilised pursuits. Since 1671 the English government had been +consistent in its policy of suppressing the freebooters, and with few +exceptions the governors sent to Jamaica had done their best to uphold +and enforce the will of the councils at home. Ten years or more had to +elapse before the French Court saw the situation in a similar light, and +even then the exigencies of war and defence in French Hispaniola +prevented the governors from taking any effective measures toward +suppression. The problem, indeed, had not been an easy one. The +buccaneers, whatever their origin, were intrepid men, not without a +sense of honour among themselves, wedded to a life of constant danger +which they met and overcame with surprising hardiness. When an +expedition was projected against their traditional foes, the Spaniards, +they calculated the chances of profit, and taking little account of the +perils to be run, or indeed of the flag under which they sailed, +English, French and Dutch alike became brothers under a chief whose +courage they perfectly recognised and whom they servilely obeyed. They +lived at a time when they were in no danger of being overhauled by +ubiquitous cruisers with rifled guns, and so long as they confined +themselves to His Catholic Majesty's ships and settlements, they had +trusted in the immunity arising from the traditional hostility existing +between the English and the Spaniards of that era. And for the Spaniards +the record of the buccaneers had been a terrible one. Between the years +1655 and 1671 alone, the corsairs had sacked eighteen cities, four towns +and more than thirty-five villages--Cumana once, Cumanagote twice, +Maracaibo and Gibraltar twice, Rio de la Hacha five times, Santa Marta +three times, Tolu eight times, Porto Bello once, Chagre twice, Panama +once, Santa Catalina twice, Granada in Nicaragua twice, Campeache three +times, St. Jago de Cuba once, and other towns and villages in Cuba and +Hispaniola for thirty leagues inland innumerable times. And this fearful +tale of robbery and outrage does not embrace the various expeditions +against Porto Bello, Campeache, Cartagena and other Spanish ports made +after 1670. The Marquis de Barinas in 1685 estimated the losses of the +Spaniards at the hands of the buccaneers since the accession of Charles +II. to be sixty million crowns; and these figures covered merely the +destruction of towns and treasure, without including the loss of more +than 250 merchant ships and frigates.[528] If the losses and suffering +of the Spaniards had been terrible, the advantages accruing to the +invaders, or to the colonies which received and supported them, scarcely +compensated for the effort it cost them. Buccaneering had denuded +Jamaica of its bravest men, lowered the moral tone of the island, and +retarded the development of its natural resources. It was estimated that +there were lost to the island between 1668 and 1671, in the designs +against Tobago, Curacao, Porto Bello, Granada and Panama, about 2600 +men,[529] which was a large number for a new and very weak colony +surrounded by powerful foes. Says the same writer later on: "People have +not married, built or settled as they would in time of peace--some for +fear of being destroyed, others have got much suddenly by privateers +bargains and are gone. War carries away all freemen, labourers and +planters of provisions, which makes work and victuals dear and scarce. +Privateering encourages all manner of disorder and dissoluteness; and if +it succeed, does but enrich the worst sort of people and provoke and +alarm the Spaniards."[530] + +The privateers, moreover, really injured English trade as much as they +injured Spanish navigation; and if the English in the second half of the +seventeenth century had given the Spaniards as little cause for enmity +in the West Indies as the Dutch had done, they perhaps rather than the +Dutch would have been the convoys and sharers in the rich Flotas. The +Spaniards, moreover, if not in the court at home, at least in the +colonies, would have readily lent themselves to a trade, illicit though +it be, with the English islands, a trade, moreover, which it was the +constant aim of English diplomacy to encourage and maintain, had they +been able to assure themselves that their English neighbours were their +friends. But when outrage succeeded upon outrage, and the English +Governors seemed, in spite of their protestations of innocence, to make +no progress toward stopping them, the Spaniards naturally concluded that +the English government was the best of liars and the worst of friends. +From another point of view, too, the activity of the buccaneers was +directly opposed to the commercial interests of Great Britain. Of all +the nations of Europe the Spaniards were those who profited least from +their American possessions. It was the English, the French and the Dutch +who carried their merchandize to Cadiz and freighted the +Spanish-American fleets, and who at the return of these fleets from +Porto Bello and Vera Cruz appropriated the greater part of the gold, +silver and precious stuffs which composed their cargoes. And when the +buccaneers cut off a Spanish galleon, or wrecked the Spanish cities on +the Main, it was not so much the Spaniards who suffered as the foreign +merchants interested in the trade between Spain and her colonies. If the +policy of the English and French Governments toward the buccaneers +gradually changed from one of connivance or encouragement to one of +hostility and suppression, it was because they came to realise that it +was easier and more profitable to absorb the trade and riches of Spanish +America through the peaceful agencies of treaty and concession, than by +endeavouring to enforce a trade in the old-fashioned way inaugurated by +Drake and his Elizabethan contemporaries. + +The pirate successors of the buccaneers were distinguished from their +predecessors mainly by the fact that they preyed on the commerce of all +flags indiscriminately, and were outlawed and hunted down by all nations +alike. They, moreover, widely extended their field of operations. No +longer content with the West Indies and the shores of the Caribbean Sea, +they sailed east to the coast of Guinea and around Africa to the Indian +Ocean. They haunted the shores of Madagascar, the Red Sea and the +Persian Gulf, and ventured even as far as the Malabar Coast, +intercepting the rich trade with the East, the great ships from Bengal +and the Islands of Spice. And not only did the outlaws of all nations +from America and the West Indies flock to these regions, but sailors +from England were fired by reports of the rich spoils obtained to +imitate their example. One of the most remarkable instances was that of +Captain Henry Avery, _alias_ Bridgman. In May 1694 Avery was on an +English merchantman, the "Charles II.," lying near Corunna. He persuaded +the crew to mutiny, set the captain on shore, re-christened the ship the +"Fancy," and sailed to the East Indies. Among other prizes he captured, +in September 1695, a large vessel called the "Gunsway," belonging to the +Great Mogul--an exploit which led to reprisals and the seizure of the +English factories in India. On application of the East India Company, +proclamations were issued on 17th July, 10th and 21st August 1696, by +the Lords Justices of England, declaring Avery and his crew pirates and +offering a reward for their apprehension.[531] Five of the crew were +seized on their return to England in the autumn of the same year, were +tried at the Old Bailey and hanged, and several of their companions were +arrested later.[532] + +In the North American colonies these new pirates still continued to find +encouragement and protection. Carolina had long had an evil reputation +as a hot-bed of piracy, and deservedly so. The proprietors had removed +one governor after another for harbouring the freebooters, but with +little result. In the Bahamas, which belonged to the same proprietors, +the evil was even more flagrant. Governor Markham of the Quaker colony +of Pennsylvania allowed the pirates to dispose of their goods and to +refit upon the banks of the Delaware, and William Penn, the proprietor, +showed little disposition to reprimand or remove him. Governor Fletcher +of New York was in open alliance with the outlaws, accepted their gifts +and allowed them to parade the streets in broad daylight. The merchants +of New York, as well as those of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, who +were prevented by the Navigation Laws from engaging in legitimate trade +with other nations, welcomed the appearance of the pirate ships laden +with goods from the East, provided a ready market for their cargoes, and +encouraged them to repeat their voyages. + +In 1699 an Act was passed through Parliament of such severity as to +drive many of the outlaws from American waters. It was largely a revival +of the Act of 28, Henry VIII., was in force for seven years, and was +twice renewed. The war of the Spanish Succession, moreover, gave many +men of piratical inclinations an opportunity of sailing under lawful +commissions as privateers against the French and Spaniards. In this long +war, too, the French filibusters were especially numerous and active. In +1706 there were 1200 or 1300 who made their headquarters in Martinique +alone.[533] While keeping the French islands supplied with provisions +and merchandise captured in their prizes, they were a serious +discouragement to English commerce in those regions, especially to the +trade with the North American colonies. Occasionally they threatened the +coasts of Virginia and New England, and some combined with their West +Indian cruises a foray along the coasts of Guinea and into the Red Sea. +These corsairs were not all commissioned privateers, however, for some +of them seized French shipping with as little compunction as English or +Dutch. Especially after the Treaty of Utrecht there was a recrudescence +of piracy both in the West Indies and in the East, and it was ten years +or more thereafter before the freebooters were finally suppressed. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 424: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 501, 552. _Cf._ also Nos. +197, 227.] + +[Footnote 425: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 364-366, 431, 668.] + +[Footnote 426: Ibid., Nos. 476, 609, 668. Paine was sent from Jamaica +under arrest to Governor de Cussy in 1684, and thence was shipped on a +frigate to France. (Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 334.)] + +[Footnote 427: Ibid., Nos. 668, 769, 963.] + +[Footnote 428: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 769, 963, 993.] + +[Footnote 429: Ibid., Nos. 1065, 1313.] + +[Footnote 430: Ibid., No. 1313.] + +[Footnote 431: Ibid., Nos. 1190, 1216.] + +[Footnote 432: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1173.] + +[Footnote 433: Ibid., Nos. 1168, 1190, 1223, 1344; _cf._ also Nos. 1381, +1464, 1803. + +In June 1684 we learn that "Hamlin, captain of La Trompeuse, got into a +ship of thirty-six guns on the coast of the Main last month, with sixty +of his old crew and as many new men. They call themselves pirates, and +their ship La Nouvelle Trompeuse, and talk of their old station at Isle +de Vaches." (Ibid., No. 1759.)] + +[Footnote 434: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 777, 1188, 1189, 1223, 1376, +1471-1474, 1504, 1535, 1537, 1731.] + +[Footnote 435: Ibid., Nos. 1222, 1223, 1676, 1678, 1686, 1909; _cf._ +also Nos. 1382, 1547, 1665.] + +[Footnote 436: Ibid., Nos. 552, 599, 668, 712. + +Coxon continued to vacillate between submission to the Governor of +Jamaica and open rebellion. In October 1682 he was sent by Sir Thos. +Lynch with three vessels to the Gulf of Honduras to fetch away the +English logwood-cutters. "His men plotted to take the ship and go +privateering, but he valiently resisted, killed one or two with his own +hand, forced eleven overboard, and brought three here (Port Royal) who +were condemned last Friday." (Ibid., No. 769. Letter of Sir Thos. Lynch, +6th Nov. 1682.) A year later, in November 1683, he had again reverted to +piracy (_ibid._, No. 1348), but in January 1686 surrendered to +Lieut.-Governor Molesworth and was ordered to be arrested and tried at +St. Jago de la Vega (_ibid._, 1685-88, No. 548). He probably in the +meantime succeeded in escaping from the island, for in the following +November he was reported to be cutting logwood in the Gulf of Campeache, +and Molesworth was issuing a proclamation declaring him an outlaw +(_ibid._, No. 965). He remained abroad until September 1688 when he +again surrendered to the Governor of Jamaica (_ibid._, No. 1890), and +again by some hook or crook obtained his freedom.] + +[Footnote 437: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 660, 673.] + +[Footnote 438: Ibid., Nos. 627, 769.] + +[Footnote 439: He is not to be confused with the Peter Paine who brought +"La Trompeuse" to Port Royal. Thomas Pain, a few months before he +arrived in the Bahamas, had come in and submitted to Sir Thomas Lynch, +and had been sent out again by the governor to cruise after pirates. +(C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 769, 1707.)] + +[Footnote 440: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1509, 1540, 1590, 1924, +1926.] + +[Footnote 441: Ibid., Nos. 1927, 1938.] + +[Footnote 442: Ibid., Nos. 1540, 1833.] + +[Footnote 443: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. p. 130. In 1684 there +were between 2000 and 3000 filibusters who made their headquarters in +French Hispaniola. They had seventeen vessels at sea with batteries +ranging from four to fifty guns. (C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 668; Bibl. +Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 336.)] + +[Footnote 444: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. pp. 128-30.] + +[Footnote 445: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 963, 998, 1065.] + +[Footnote 446: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 709, 712.] + +[Footnote 447: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1163; Charlevoix, liv. viii. +p. 133; Narrative contained in "The Voyages and Adventures of Captain +Barth, Sharpe and others in the South Sea." Lon. 1684. + +Governor Lynch wrote in July 1683: "All the governors in America have +known of this very design for four or five months." Duro, quoting from a +Spanish MS. in the Coleccion Navarrete, t. x. No. 33, says that the +booty at Vera Cruz amounted to more than three million reales de plata +in jewels and merchandise, for which the invaders demanded a ransom of +150,000 pieces of eight. They also carried away, according to the +account, 1300 slaves. (_Op. cit._, v. p. 271.) A real de plata was +one-eighth of a peso or piece of eight.] + +[Footnote 448: S.P. Spain, vol. 69, f. 339.] + +[Footnote 449: Ibid., vol. 70, f. 57; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1633.] + +[Footnote 450: During de Franquesnay's short tenure of authority, +Laurens, driven from Hispaniola by the stern measures of the governor +against privateers, made it understood that he desired to enter the +service of the Governor of Jamaica. The Privy Council empowered Lynch to +treat with him, offering pardon and permission to settle on the island +on giving security for his future good behaviour. But de Cussy arrived +in the meantime, reversed the policy of de Franquesnay, received Laurens +with all the honour due to a military hero, and endeavoured to engage +him in the services of the government (Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. +viii. pp. 141, 202; C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1210, 1249, 1424, 1461, +1649, 1718 and 1839).] + +[Footnote 451: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. viii. pp. 139-145; C.S.P. +Colon., 1685-88, No. 378.] + +[Footnote 452: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. ix. pp. 197-99; Duro., _op. +cit._, v. pp. 273-74; C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 193, 339, 378, 778.] + +[Footnote 453: According to Charlevoix, de Grammont was a native of +Paris, entered the Royal Marine, and distinguished himself in several +naval engagements. Finally he appeared in the West Indies as the +commander of a frigate armed for privateering, and captured near +Martinique a Dutch vessel worth 400,000 livres. He carried his prize to +Hispaniola, where he lost at the gaming table and consumed in debauchery +the whole value of his capture; and not daring to return to France he +joined the buccaneers.] + +[Footnote 454: "Laurens-Cornille Baldran, sieur de Graff, lieutenant du +roi en l'isle de Saint Domingue, capitaine de fregate legere, chevalier +de Saint Louis"--so he was styled after entering the service of the +French king (Vaissiere, _op cit._, p. 70, note). According to Charlevoix +he was a native of Holland, became a gunner in the Spanish navy, and for +his skill and bravery was advanced to the post of commander of a vessel. +He was sent to American waters, captured by the buccaneers, and joined +their ranks. Such was the terror inspired by his name throughout all the +Spanish coasts that in the public prayers in the churches Heaven was +invoked to shield the inhabitants from his fury. Divorced from his first +wife, whom he had married at Teneriffe in 1674, he was married again in +March 1693 to a Norman or Breton woman named Marie-Anne Dieu-le-veult, +the widow of one of the first inhabitants of Tortuga (_ibid._). The +story goes that Marie-Anne, thinking one day that she had been +grievously insulted by Laurens, went in search of the buccaneer, pistol +in hand, to demand an apology for the outrage. De Graff, judging this +Amazon to be worthy of him, turned about and married her (Ducere, _op. +cit._, p. 113, note). In October 1698 Laurens de Graff, in company with +Iberville, sailed from Rochefort with two ships, and in Mobile and at +the mouths of the Mississippi laid the foundations of Louisiana (Duro, +_op. cit._, v. p. 306). De Graff died in May 1704. _Cf._ also Bibl. +Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325 f. 311.] + +[Footnote 455: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1958, 1962, 1964, 1991, +2000. + +Dampier writes (1685) that "it hath been usual for many years past for +the Governor of Petit Guaves to send blank Commissions to Sea by many of +his Captains, with orders to dispose of them to whom they saw +convenient.... I never read any of these French Commissions ... but I +have learnt since that the Tenor of them is to give a Liberty to Fish, +Fowl and Hunt. The Occasion of this is, that ... in time of Peace these +Commissions are given as a Warrant to those of each side (i.e., French +and Spanish in Hispaniola) to protect them from the adverse Party: But +in effect the French do not restrain them to Hispaniola, but make them a +pretence for a general ravage in any part of America, by Sea or +Land."--Edition 1906, I. pp. 212-13.] + +[Footnote 456: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 668, 769, 942, 948, 1281, +1562, 1759; _ibid._, 1685-88, No. 558. + +In a memoir of MM. de St. Laurent and Begon to the French King in +February 1684, they report that in the previous year some French +filibusters discovered in a patache captured from the Spaniards a letter +from the Governor of Jamaica exhorting the Spaniards to make war on the +French in Hispaniola, and promising them vessels and other means for +entirely destroying the colony. This letter caused a furious outburst of +resentment among the French settlers against the English (_cf._ also +C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 1348). Shortly after, according to the +memoir, an English ship of 30 guns appeared for several days cruising in +the channel between Tortuga and Port de Paix. The sieur de Franquesnay, +on sending to ask for an explanation of this conduct, received a curt +reply to the effect that the sea was free to everyone. The French +governor thereupon sent a barque with 30 filibusters to attack the +Englishman, but the filibusters returned well beaten. In despair de +Franquesnay asked Captain de Grammont, who had just returned from a +cruise in a ship of 50 guns, to go out against the intruder. With 300 of +the corsairs at his back de Grammont attacked the English frigate. The +reception accorded by the latter was as vigorous as before, but the +result was different, for de Grammont at once grappled with his +antagonist, boarded her and put all the English except the captain to +the sword.--Bibl. Nat., Nouv. Acq., 9325 f. 332. + +No reference to this incident is found in the English colonial records.] + +[Footnote 457: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, No. 963.] + +[Footnote 458: Ibid., Nos. 1844, 1852.] + +[Footnote 459: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1246, 1249, 1250, 1294, +1295, 1302, 1311, 1348, 1489, 1502, 1503, 1510, 1562, 1563, 1565.] + +[Footnote 460: Ibid., No. 1938; _ibid._, 1685-88, Nos. 33, 53, 57, 68, +128, 129, 157.] + +[Footnote 461: Ibid., 1681-85, Nos. 668, 769; _ibid._, 1685-88, No. +986.] + +[Footnote 462: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1163, 1198; Bibl. Nat., +Nouv. Acq., 9325, f. 332.] + +[Footnote 463: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1796, 1854, 1855, 1943; +_ibid._, 1685-88, Nos. 218, 269, 569, 591, 609, 706, 739.] + +[Footnote 464: Ibid., 1681-85, Nos. 1163, 1198, 1249, 1630.] + +[Footnote 465: Ibid., Nos. 963, 992, 1938, 1949, 2025, 2067.] + +[Footnote 466: Ibid., Nos. 963, 992, 1759.] + +[Footnote 467: Ibid., Nos. 1259, 1563.] + +[Footnote 468: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1845, 1851, 1862, 2042. + +His ship is called in these letters "La Trompeuse." Unless this is a +confusion with Hamlin's vessel, there must have been more than one "La +Trompeuse" in the West Indies. Very likely the fame or ill-fame of the +original "La Trompeuse" led other pirate captains to flatter themselves +by adopting the same name. Breha was captured in 1686 by the Armada de +Barlovento and hung with nine or ten of his companions (Charlevoix, _op. +cit._, liv. ix. p. 207).] + +[Footnote 469: Ibid., Nos. 1299, 1862.] + +[Footnote 470: Ibid., No. 1249.] + +[Footnote 471: C.S.P. Colon., 1681-85, Nos. 1560, 1561.] + +[Footnote 472: Ibid., Nos. 1605, 1862.] + +[Footnote 473: Ibid., Nos. 1634, 1845, 1851, 1862.] + +[Footnote 474: Ibid., 1685-88, Nos. 363, 364, 639, 1164.] + +[Footnote 475: Ibid., Nos. 1029, 1161; Hughson: Carolina Pirates, p. +24.] + +[Footnote 476: Ibid., 1681-85, No. 1165.] + +[Footnote 477: Hughson, _op. cit._, p. 22.] + +[Footnote 478: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1277, 1278.] + +[Footnote 479: Ibid., No. 1411.] + +[Footnote 480: Ibid., No. 1463.] + +[Footnote 481: Ibid., No. 1602; _cf._ also _ibid._, 1693-96, No. 2243.] + +[Footnote 482: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 116, 269, 805.] + +[Footnote 483: Ibid., Nos. 1066, 1212.] + +[Footnote 484: Ibid., Nos. 965, 1066, 1128.] + +[Footnote 485: Ibid., 1681-85, Nos. 1759, 1852, 2067; _ibid._, 1685-88, +No. 1127 and _cf._ Index. + +For the careers of John Williams (_alias_ Yankey) and Jacob Everson +(_alias_ Jacobs) during these years _cf._ C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. +259, 348, 897, 1449, 1476-7, 1624, 1705, 1877; Hist. MSS. Comm., xi. pt. +5, p. 136 (Earl of Dartmouth's MSS.).] + +[Footnote 486: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1406, 1656, 1670, 1705, +1723, 1733; _ibid._, 1689-92, Nos. 52, 515; Hist. MSS. Commiss., xi. pt. +5, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 487: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, No. 1959.] + +[Footnote 488: Ibid., No. 433.] + +[Footnote 489: Ibid., Nos. 706, 1026.] + +[Footnote 490: Ibid., No. 1567.] + +[Footnote 491: Ibid., Nos. 758, 920, 927, 930, 1001, 1187, 1210.] + +[Footnote 492: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, Nos. 1567, 1646, 1655, 1656, +1659, 1663, 1721, 1838, 1858.] + +[Footnote 493: Dict. of Nat. Biog.] + +[Footnote 494: C.S.P. Colon., 1685-88, No. 1941; _cf._ also 1906.] + +[Footnote 495: Ibid., No. 1940.] + +[Footnote 496: Ibid., 1689-92, Nos. 6, 29, 292.] + +[Footnote 497: Ibid., No. 299.] + +[Footnote 498: Ibid., No. 493.] + +[Footnote 499: Ibid., Nos. 7, 50, 52, 54, 85, 120, 176-178, 293, +296-299, 514, 515, 874, 880, 980, 1041.] + +[Footnote 500: C.S.P. Colon., 1689-92, Nos. 293, 467; Ibid., 1693-96, +Nos. 1931, vii., 1934.] + +[Footnote 501: Ibid., 1689-92, Nos. 515, 616, 635, 769.] + +[Footnote 502: C.S.P. Colon., 1689-92, Nos. 873, 980, 1021, 1041.] + +[Footnote 503: Ibid., No. 714.] + +[Footnote 504: Ibid., Nos. 2034, 2043, 2269, 2496, 2498, 2641, 2643.] + +[Footnote 505: Ibid., Nos. 72-76, 2034.] + +[Footnote 506: Ibid., Nos. 2034, 2044, 2047, 2052, 2103.] + +[Footnote 507: Ibid., Nos. 2278, 2398, 2416, 2500.] + +[Footnote 508: Ibid., 1693-96, Nos. 634, 635, 1009, 1236.] + +[Footnote 509: C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 778, 876; Archives +Coloniales, Corresp. Gen. de St. Dom. III. Letter of Ducasse, 30 March +1694.] + +[Footnote 510: C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 1109, 1236 (i.).] + +[Footnote 511: Ibid., Nos. 1074, 1083, 1106, 1109, 1114, 1121, 1131, +1194, 1236; Charlevoix, I. x. p. 256 _ff._; Stowe MSS., 305 f., 205 b; +Ducere: Les corsaires sous l'ancien regime, p. 142.] + +[Footnote 512: The number of white men on the island at this time was +variously estimated from 2000 to 2400 men. (C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. +1109 and 1258.)] + +[Footnote 513: C.S.P. Colon, 1693-96, No. 1516.] + +[Footnote 514: Ibid., Nos. 207, 876, 1004.] + +[Footnote 515: C.S.P. Colon., 1693-96, Nos. 1946, 1973, 1974, 1980, +1983, 2022. According to Charlevoix, it was the dalliance and cowardice +of Laurens de Graff, who was in command at Cap Francois, and feared +falling into the hands of his old enemies the English and Spaniards, +which had much to do with the success of the invasion. After the +departure of the allies Laurens was deprived of his post and made +captain of a light corvette. (Charlevoix, I. x. p. 266 _ff._)] + +[Footnote 516: Ducere, _op. cit._ p. 148.] + +[Footnote 517: Narrative of de Pointis.] + +[Footnote 518: Narrative of de Pointis; C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, No. +824.] + +[Footnote 519: Narrative of de Pointis; C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, No. +868.] + +[Footnote 520: Narrative of de Pointis.] + +[Footnote 521: C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, Nos. 373-376, 413, 661, 769.] + +[Footnote 522: Ibid., Nos. 715, 868.] + +[Footnote 523: C.S.P. Colon., 1696-97, Nos. 375, 453.] + +[Footnote 524: Ibid., 944. 978.] + +[Footnote 525: The mouth of the harbour, called Boca Chica, was defended +by a fort with 4 bastions and 33 guns; but the guns were badly mounted +on flimsy carriages of cedar, and were manned by only 15 soldiers. +Inside the harbour was another fort called Santa Cruz, well-built with 4 +bastions and a moat, but provided with only a few iron guns and without +a garrison. Two other forts formed part of the exterior works of the +town, but they had neither garrison nor guns. The city itself was +surrounded by solid walls of stone, with 12 bastions and 84 brass +cannon, to man which there was a company of 40 soldiers. Such was the +war footing on which the Spanish Government maintained the "Key of the +Indies." (Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 287.)] + +[Footnote 526: Narrative of de Pointis. _Cf._ Charlevoix, _op cit._, +liv. xi., for the best account of the whole expedition.] + +[Footnote 527: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. xi. p. 352. + +In one of the articles of capitulation which the Governor of Cartagena +obtained from de Pointis, the latter promised to leave untouched the +plate, jewels and other treasure of the churches and convents. This +article was not observed by the French. On the return of the expedition +to France, however, Louis XIV. ordered the ecclesiastical plate to be +sequestered, and after the conclusion of the Peace of Ryswick sent it +back to San Domingo to be delivered to the governor and clergy of the +Spanish part of the island. (Duro, _op. cit._, v. pp. 291, 296-97).] + +[Footnote 528: Duro, _op. cit._, v. p. 310.] + +[Footnote 529: C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 697.] + +[Footnote 530: Ibid.; _cf._ C.S.P. Colon., 1669-74, No. 138: "The number +of tippling houses is now doubly increased, so that there is not now +resident upon the place ten men to every house that selleth strong +liquors. There are more than 100 licensed houses, besides sugar and rum +works that sell without licence."] + +[Footnote 531: Crawford: Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Handlist of +Proclamations.] + +[Footnote 532: Firth: Naval Songs and Ballads, pp. l.-lii.; _cf._ also +Archives Coloniales, Corresp. Gen. de St Dom., vols. iii.-ix.; Ibid., +Martinique, vols. viii.-xix.] + +[Footnote 533: Archives Coloniales, Corresp. Gen. de Martinique, vol. +xvi.] + + + + +APPENDIX I + + +An account of the English buccaneers belonging to Jamaica and Tortuga in +1663, found among the Rawlinson MSS., makes the number of privateering +ships fifteen, and the men engaged in the business nearly a thousand. +The list is as follows:-- + +_Captain Ship Men Guns_ +Sir Thomas Whetstone a Spanish prize 60 7 +Captain Smart Griffon, frigate 100 14 +Captain Guy James, frigate 90 14 +Captain James American, frigate 70 6 +Captain Cooper his frigate 80 10 +Captain Morris a brigantine 60 7 +Captain Brenningham his frigate 70 6 +Captain Mansfield a brigantine 60 4 +Captain Goodly a pink 60 6 +Captain Blewfield, belonging + to Cape Gratia de Dios, + living among the Indians a barque 50 3 +Captain Herdue a frigate 40 4 + +There were four more belonging to Jamaica, of which no account was +available. The crews were mixed of English, French and Dutch. + + + + +APPENDIX II + + +List of filibusters and their vessels on the coasts of French San +Domingo in 1684:-- + +_Captain Ship Men Guns_ + +Le sieur Grammont le Hardy 300 52 +" capitaine Laurens de Graff " Neptune 210 54 +" " Michel la Mutine 200 44 +" " Janquais " Dauphine 180 30 +" " le Sage le Tigre 130 30 +" " Dedran " Chasseur 120 20 +" sieur du Mesnil la Trompeuse 100 14 +" capitaine Jocard l'Irondelle 120 18 +" " Brea la Fortune 100 14 +La prise du cap^ne. Laurens -- 80 18 +Le sieur de Bernanos la Schitie 60 8 +" capitaine Cachemaree le St Joseph 70 6 +" " Blot la Quagone 90 8 +" " Vigeron " Louse (barque) 30 4 +" " Petit le Ruze (bateau) 40 4 +" " Lagarde la Subtille 30 2 +" " Verpre le Postilion 25 2 + +(Paris, Archives Coloniales, Corresp. gen. de St. Dom., vol. i.--Memoire +sur l'estat de Saint Domingue a M. de Seignelay par M. de Cussy.) + + + + +SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +Manuscript Sources in England + +_Public Record Office:_ + +State Papers. Foreign. Spain. Vols. 34-72. (Abbreviated in the footnotes +as S.P. Spain.) + +_British Museum:_ + +Additional MSS. Vols. 11,268; 11,410-11; 12,410; 12,423; 12,429-30; +13,964; 13,975; 13,977; 13,992; 18,273; 22,676; 36,314-53. + +Egerton MSS. Vol. 2395. + +Sloane MSS. Vols. 793 or 894; 2724; 2752; 4020. + +Stowe MSS. Vols. 305f; 205b. + +_Bodleian Library:_ + +Rawlinson MSS. Vols. a. 26, 31, 32, 175, 347. + +Tanner MSS. Vols. xlvii.; li. + + +Manuscript Sources in France + +_Archives du ministere des Colonies:_ + +Correspondance generale de Saint-Domingue. Vols. i.-ix. + +Historique de Saint-Domingue. Vols. i.-iii. + +Correspondance generale de Martinique. Vols. i.-xix. + +_Archives du ministere des affaires etrangeres:_ + +Memoires et documents. Fonds divers. Amerique. Vols. v., xiii., xlix., +li. + +Correspondance politique. Angleterre. + +_Bibliotheque nationale:_ + +Manuscrits, nouvelles acquisitions. Vols. 9325; 9334. + +Renaudat MSS. + + +Printed Sources + +Calendar of State Papers. Colonial series. America and the West Indies. +1574-1699. (Abbreviated in the footnotes as C.S.P. Colon.) + +Calendar of State Papers. Venetian. 1603-1617. (Abbreviated in the +footnotes as C.S.P. Ven.) + +Dampier, William: Voyages. Edited by J. Masefield. 2 vols. London, 1906. + +Gage, Thomas: The English American ... or a new survey of the West +Indies, etc. London, 1648. + +Historical Manuscripts Commission: Reports. London, 1870 (in progress). + +Margry, Pierre: Relations et memoires inedits pour servir a l'histoire +de la France dans les pays d'outremer. Paris, 1867. + +Pacheco, Cardenas, y Torres de Mendoza: Coleccion de documentos +relativos al describrimiento, conquista y colonizacion de las posesiones +espanoles en America y Oceania. 42 vols. Madrid, 1864-83; _continued as_ +Coleccion de documentos ineditos ... de ultramar. 13 vols. Madrid, +1885-1900. + +Pointis, Jean Bernard Desjeans, sieur de: Relation de l'expedition de +Carthagene faite par les Francois en 1697. Amsterdam, 1698. + +Present state of Jamaica ... to which is added an exact account of Sir +Henry Morgan's voyage to ... Panama, etc. London, 1683. + +Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, mandadas imprimir y +publicar por rey Carlos II. 4 vols. Madrid, 1681. + +Sharp, Bartholomew: The voyages and adventures of Captain B. Sharp ... +in the South Sea ... Also Captain Van Horn with his buccanieres +surprising of la Vera Cruz, etc. London, 1684. + +Thurloe, John. A collection of the State papers of, etc. Edited by +Thomas Birch. 7 vols. London, 1742. + +Venables, General. The narrative of, etc. Edited by C.H. Firth. London, +1900. + +Wafer, Lionel: A new voyage and description of the Isthmus of America, +etc. London, 1699. + +Winwood, Sir Ralph. Memorials of affairs of State ... collected from the +original papers of, etc. Edited by Edmund Sawyer. London, 1725. + + * * * * * + +Among the printed sources one of the earliest and most important is the +well-known history of the buccaneers written by Alexander Olivier +Exquemelin (corrupted by the English into Esquemeling, by the French +into Oexmelin). Of the author himself very little is known. Though +sometimes claimed as a native of France, he was probably a Fleming or a +Hollander, for the first edition of his works was written in the Dutch +language. He came to Tortuga in 1666 as an _engage_ of the French West +India Company, and after serving three years under a cruel master was +rescued by the governor, M. d'Ogeron, joined the filibusters, and +remained with them till 1674, taking part in most of their exploits. He +seems to have exercised among them the profession of barber-surgeon. +Returning to Europe in 1674, he published a narrative of the exploits in +which he had taken part, or of which he at least had a first-hand +knowledge. This "history" is the oldest and most elaborate chronicle we +possess of the extraordinary deeds and customs of these freebooters who +played so large a part in the history of the West Indies in the +seventeenth century, and it forms the basis of all the popular modern +accounts of Morgan and other buccaneer captains. Exquemelin, although he +sadly confuses his dates, seems to be a perfectly honest witness, and +his accounts of such transactions as fell within his own experience are +closely corroborated by the official narratives. + +(Biographies of Exquemelin are contained in the "Biographie Universelle" +of Michaud, vol. xxxi. p. 201, and in the "Nouvelle Biographie Generale" +of Hoefer, vol. xxxviii. p. 544. But both are very unsatisfactory and +display a lamentable ignorance of the bibliography of his history of the +buccaneers. According to the preface of a French edition of the work +published at Lyons in 1774 and cited in the "Nouvelle Biographie," +Exquemelin was born about 1645 and died after 1707.) + +The first edition of the book, now very rare, is entitled: + + De Americaensche Zee-Roovers. Behelsende eene pertinente + en waerachtige Beschrijving van alle de voornaemste + Roveryen en onmenschliycke wreend heden die Englese en + France Rovers tegens de Spanjaerden in America gepleeght + hebben; Verdeelt in drie deelen ... Beschreven door A. + O. Exquemelin ... t'Amsterdam, by Jan ten Hoorn, anno + 1678, in 4º. + +(Brit. Mus., 1061. _Cf._ 20 (2). The date, 1674, of the first Dutch +edition cited by Dampierre ("Essai sur les sources de l'histoire des +Antilles Francaises," p. 151) is doubtless a misprint.) + +(Both Dampierre (_op. cit._, p. 152) and Sabin ("Dict. of Books relating +to America," vi. p. 310) cite, as the earliest separate account of the +buccaneers, Claes G. Campaen's "Zee-Roover," Amsterdam, 1659. This +little volume, however, does not deal with the buccaneers in the West +Indies, but with privateering along the coasts of Europe and Africa.) + +This book was reprinted several times and numerous translations were +made, one on the top of the other. What appears to be a German +translation of Exquemelin appeared in 1679 with the title: + + Americanische Seeraeuber. Beschreibung der groessesten + durch die Franzoesische und Englische Meer-Beuter wider + die Spanier in Amerika veruebten Raubery Grausamheit ... + Durch A. O. Nuernberg, 1679. 12º. + +("Historie der Boecaniers of Vrybuyters van America ... Met Figuuren, 3 +Deel. t'Amsterdam, 1700," 4º.--Brit. Mus., 9555. c. 19.) + +This was followed two years later by a Spanish edition, also taken from +the Dutch original: + + Piratas de la America y luz a la defensa de las costas + de Indias Occidentales. Dedicado a Don Bernadino Antonio + de Pardinas Villar de Francos ... por el zelo y cuidado + de Don Antonio Freyre ... Traducido de la lingua + Flamenca en Espanola por el Dor. de Buena-Maison ... + Colonia Agrippina, en casa de Lorenzo Struickman. Ano de + 1681. 12º. + +(Brit. Mus., G. 7179. The appended description of the Spanish Government +in America was omitted and a few Spanish verses were added in one or two +places, but otherwise the translation seems to be trustworthy. The +portraits and the map of the isthmus of Panama are the same as in the +Dutch edition, but the other plates are different and better. In the +Bibl. Nat. there is another Spanish edition of 1681 in quarto.) + +This Spanish text, which seems to be a faithful rendering of the Dutch, +was reprinted with a different dedication in 1682 and in 1684, and again +in Madrid in 1793. It is the version on which the first English edition +was based. The English translation is entitled: + + Bucaniers of America; or a true account of the ... + assaults committed ... upon the coasts of the West + Indies, by the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga ... + especially the ... exploits of Sir Henry Morgan ... + written originally in Dutch by J. Esquemeling ... now + ... rendered into English. W. Crooke; London, 1684. 4º. + +(Brit. Mus., 1198, a. 12 (or) 1197, h. 2.; G. 7198.) + +The first English edition of Exquemelin was so well received that within +three months a second was published, to which was added the account of a +voyage by Captain Cook and a brief chapter on the exploits of Barth. +Sharp in the Pacific Ocean. In the same year, moreover, there appeared +an entirely different English version, with the object of vindicating +the character of Morgan from the charges of brutality and lust which had +appeared in the first translation and in the Dutch original. It was +entitled: + + The History of the Bucaniers; being an impartial + relation of all the battels, sieges, and other most + eminent assaults committed for several years upon the + coasts of the West Indies by the pirates of Jamaica and + Tortuga. More especially the unparalleled achievements + of Sir Henry Morgan ... very much corrected from the + errors of the original, by the relations of some English + gentlemen, that then resided in those parts. _Den + Engelseman is een Duyvil voor een Mensch._ London, + printed for Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultry. + 1684. + +(Brit. Mus., G. 13,674.) + +The first edition of 1684 was reprinted with a new title-page in 1695, +and again in 1699. The latter included, in addition to the text of +Exquemelin, the journals of Basil Ringrose and Raveneau de Lussan, both +describing voyages in the South Seas, and the voyage of the Sieur de +Montauban to Guinea in 1695. This was the earliest of the composite +histories of the buccaneers and became the model for the Dutch edition +of 1700 and the French editions published at Trevoux in 1744 and 1775. + +The first French translation of Exquemelin appeared two years after the +English edition of 1684. It is entitled: + + Histoire des Aventuriers qui se sont signalez dans les + Indes contenant ce qu'ils ont fait de plus remarquable + depuis vingt annees. Avec la vie, les Moeurs, les + Coutumes des Habitans de Saint Domingue et de la Tortue + et une Description exacte de ces lieux; ... Le tout + enrichi de Cartes Geographiques et de Figures en + Taille-douce. Par Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin. A Paris, + chez Jacques Le Febre. MDCLXXXVI., 2 vols. 12º. + +(Brit. Mus., 9555, aa. 4.) + +This version may have been based on the Dutch original; although the +only indication we have of this is the fact that the work includes at +the end a description of the government and revenues of the Spanish +Indies, a description which is found in none of the earlier editions of +Exquemelin, except in the Dutch original of 1678. The French text, +however, while following the outline of Exquemelin's narrative, is +greatly altered and enlarged. The history of Tortuga and French +Hispaniola is elaborated with details from another source, as are also +the descriptions of the manners and customs of the cattle-hunters and +the freebooters. Accounts of two other buccaneers, Montbars and +Alexandre Bras-le-Fer, are inserted, but d'Ogeron's shipwreck on Porto +Rico and the achievements of Admiral d'Estrees against the Dutch are +omitted. In general the French editor, the Sieur de Frontignieres, has +re-cast the whole story. A similar French edition appeared in Paris in +1688, (Brit. Mus., 278, a. 13, 14.) and in 1713 a facsimile of this last +was published at Brussels by Serstevens (Dampierre, p. 153). Sabin (_op. +cit._, vi. 312) mentions an edition of 1699 in three volumes which +included the journal of Raveneau de Lussan. In 1744, and again in 1775, +another French edition was published in four volumes at Trevoux, to +which was added the voyage of Montauban to the Guinea Coast, and the +expeditions against Vera Cruz in 1683, Campeache in 1685, and Cartagena +in 1697. The third volume contained the journal of R. de Lussan, and the +fourth a translation of Johnson's "History of the Pirates." (Brit. Mus., +9555, aa. 1.) A similar edition appeared at Lyons in 1774, but I have +had no opportunity of examining a copy. (Nouvelle Biographie Generale, +tom. xxxviii. 544. The best bibliography of Exquemelin is in Sabin, _op. +cit._, vi. 309.) + + +Secondary Works + +Of the secondary works concerned with the history of the buccaneers, the +oldest are the writings of the French Jesuit historians of the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Dutertre (Histoire generale des +Antilles. Paris, 1667-71), a chronicler of events within his own +experience as well as a reliable historian, unfortunately brings his +narrative to a close in 1667, but up to that year he is the safest guide +to the history of the French Antilles. Labat, in his "Nouveau Voyage aux +Isles de l'Amerique" (Paris, 1722), gives an account of eleven years, +between 1694 and 1705, spent in Martinique and Guadeloupe, and although +of little value as an historian, he supplies us with a fund of the most +picturesque and curious details about the life and manners of the people +in the West Indies at the end of the seventeenth century. A much more +important and accurate work is Charlevoix's "Histoire de l'Isle +Espagnole ou de S. Domingue" (Paris, 1732), and this I have used as a +general introduction to the history of the French buccaneers. Raynal's +"Histoire philosophique et politique des etablissements et du commerce +europeen dans les deux Indes" (Amsterdam, 1770) is based for the origin +of the French Antilles upon Dutertre and Labat and is therefore +negligible for the period of the buccaneers. Adrien Dessalles, who in +1847 published his "Histoire generale des Antilles," preferred, like +Labat and Raynal, to depend on the historians who had preceded him +rather than endeavour to gain an intimate knowledge of the sources. + +In the English histories of Jamaica written by Long, Bridges, and +Gardner, whatever notice is taken of the buccaneers is meagre and +superficial, and the same is true of Bryan Edwards' "History, civil and +commercial, of the British colonies in the West Indies." Thomas Southey, +in his "Chronological History of the West Indies" (Lond. 1827), devotes +considerable space to their achievements, but depends entirely upon the +traditional sources. In 1803 J.W. von Archenholz published "Die +Geschichte der Flibustier," a superficial, diffuse and even puerile +narrative, giving no references whatever to authorities. (It was +translated into French (Paris, 1804), and into English by Geo. Mason +(London, 1807).) In 1816 a "History of the Buccaneers in America" was +published by James Burney as the fourth volume of "A chronological +History of the Discoveries in the South Seas or Pacific Ocean." Burney +casts but a rapid glance over the West Indies, devoting most of the +volume to an account of the voyages of the freebooters along the coast +of South America and in the East Indies. Walter Thornbury in 1858 wrote +"The Buccaneers, or the Monarchs of the Main," a hasty compilation, +florid and overdrawn, and without historical judgment or accuracy. In +1895 M. Henri Lorin presented a Latin thesis to the Faculty of History +in Paris, entitled:--"De praedonibus Insulam Santi Dominici +celebrantibus saeculo septimo decimo," but he seems to have confined +himself to Exquemelin, Le Pers, Labat, Dutertre and a few documents +drawn from the French colonial archives. The best summary account in +English of the history and significance of the buccaneers in the West +Indies is contained in Hubert H. Bancroft's "History of Central America" +(ii. chs. 26, 28-30). Within the past year there has appeared an +excellent volume by M. Pierre de Vaissiere describing creole life and +manners in the French colony of San Domingo in the century and a half +preceding the Revolution. (Vaissiere, Pierre de: Saint Dominigue. +(1629-1789). Paris, 1909.) It is a reliable monograph, and like his +earlier volume, "Gentilshommes campagnards de l'ancienne France," is +written in a most entertaining style. De Vaissiere contributes much +valuable information, especially in the first chapter, about the origins +and customs of the French "flibustiers." + +I have been able to find only two Spanish works which refer at all to +the buccaneers. One is entitled: + + Piraterias y agresiones de los ingleses y de otros + pueblos de Europa en la America espanola desde el siglo + XVI. al XVIII., deducidas de las obras de D. Dionisio de + Alcedo y Herrera. Madrid, 1883. 4º. + +Except for a long introduction by Don Justo Zaragoza based upon +Exquemelin and Alcedo, it consists of a collection of extracts referring +to freebooters on the coasts of Peru and Chili, and deals chiefly with +the eighteenth century. The other Spanish work is an elaborate history +of the Spanish navy lately published in nine volumes by Cesareo +Fernandez Duro, and entitled:-- + + Armada espanola desde la union de los reinos de Castilla + y de Aragon. Madrid, 1895. + +There are numerous chapters dealing with the outrages of the French and +English freebooters in the West Indies, some of them based upon Spanish +sources to which I have had no access. But upon comparison of Duro's +narrative, which in so far as it relates to the buccaneers is often +meagre, with the sources available to me, I find that he adds little to +what may be learned on the subject here in England. + +One of the best English descriptions of the Spanish colonial +administration and commercial system is still that contained in book +viii. of Robertson's "History of America" (Lond. 1777). The latest and +best summary account, however, is in French, in the introduction to vol. +i. of "La traite negriere aux Indes de Castille" (Paris, 1906), by +Georges Scelle. Weiss, in vol. ii. of his history of "L'Espagne depuis +Philippe II. jusqu'aux Bourbons" (Paris, 1844), treats of the causes of +the economic decadence of Spain, and gives an account of the contraband +trade in Spanish America, drawn largely from Labat. On this general +subject Leroy-Beaulieu, "De la colonization chez les peuples modernes" +(Paris, 1874), has been especially consulted. + +The best account of the French privateers of the sixteenth century in +America is in an essay entitled: "Les corsairs francais au XVI^e siecle +dans les Antilles" (Paris, 1902), by Gabriel Marcel. It is a short +monograph based on the collections of Spanish documents brought together +by Pacheco and Navarrete. The volume by E. Ducere entitled, "Les +corsairs sous l'ancien regime" (Bayonne, 1895), is also valuable for the +history of privateering. For the history of the Elizabethan mariners I +have made use of the two works by J. S. Corbett: "Drake and the Tudor +Navy" (Lond. 1898), and "The successors of Drake" (Lond. 1900). Other +works consulted were: + +Arias de Miranda, Jose: Examen critico-historico del influyo que tuvo en +el comercio, industria y poblacion de Espana su dominacion en America. +Madrid, 1854. + +Blok, Pieter Johan: History of the people of the Netherlands. Translated +by C. A. Bierstadt and Ruth Putnam. 4 vols. New York, 1898. + +Brown, Alex.: The Genesis of the United States. 2 vols. Lond., 1890. + +Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of: Bibliotheca Lindesiana. +Handlist of proclamations. 3 vols. Aberdeen, 1893-1901. + +Dumont, Jean: Corps universel diplomatique. 13 vols. Hague, 1726-39. + +Froude, James Anthony: History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the +defeat of the Spanish armada. 12 vols. 1870-75. English seamen in the +sixteenth century. Lond., 1901. + +Gardiner, Samuel Rawson: History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, +1649-1660. 3 vols. Lond., 1894-1903. + +Geographical and historical description of ... Cartagena, Porto Bello, +La Vera Cruz, the Havana and San Augustin. Lond., 1741. + +Gibbs, Archibald R.: British Honduras ... from ... 1670. Lond., 1883. + +Hakluyt, Richard: The principal navigations ... of the English nation, +etc. 3 vols. Lond., 1598-1600. + +Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio: Historia general de las Indias. 4 vols. +Madrid, 1601-15. + +Hughson, Shirley C.: The Carolina pirates and colonial commerce. +Baltimore, 1894. + +Lucas, C. P.: A historical geography of the British colonies. 4 vols. +Oxford, 1905. Vol. ii. The West Indies. + +Monson, Sir William: The naval tracts of ... Edited ... by M. Oppenheim. +Vols. i. and ii. Lond., 1902--(in progress). + +Oviedo y Valdes, Gonzalo Fernandez de: Historia general de las Indias. +Salamanca, 1547. + +Peytraud, Lucien: L'Esclavage aux Antilles francaises avant 1789, etc. +Paris, 1897. + +Saint-Yves, G.: Les compagnes de Jean d'Estrees dans la mer des +Antilles, 1676-78. Paris, 1900. + +Strong, Frank: Causes of Cromwell's West Indian expedition. (Amer. Hist. +Review. Jan. 1899). + +Veitia Linaje, Josef de: Norte de la Contratacion de las Indias +Occidentales. Sevilla, 1672. + +Vignols, Leon: La piraterie sur l'Atlantique au XVIII^e siecle. Rennes, +1891. + + + + +INDEX + + +Acapulco, 21 + +Aix-la-Chapelle, peace of, 156 + +_Ajoupa_, 68, 79 + +Albemarle, first duke of, _see_ Monck, George + + " second duke of, _see_ Monck, Christopher + +Albuquerque, Duke of, 109, 199 + +Alexander VI., Bull of Pope, 3, 30 + +Allison, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Antigua, 48, 55, 229 + +Araya salt-mine, 53-54 + +Archenholz, J.W. von, 283 + +Arlington, Earl of, _see_ Bennett, Sir Henry + +Arundell, James, 114, 117 + +Assiento of negroes, 26, 36-7, 103, 184 _n._ + +Association, Island, _see_ Tortuga + +Aston, Lord of Forfar, 102 + +Avery, Captain Henry, 270-71 + +Aves, Isle d', _see_ Isle d'Aves + +Aylett, Captain (buccaneer), 156 + +_Azogues_, 22, 101 + +Azores, 3, 4, 15, 20, 42, 84 + + +Bahama Islands, 2, 237, 238 and _n._, 271 + +Bahia, 49 + +Bancroft, Hubert H., 284 + +Banister, Major James, 205 + +Bannister, Captain (buccaneer) 254 + +_Barbacoa_, 68 + +Barbadoes, 47, 50, 67, 74, 85 and _n._, 87, 92, 99, 104, 120, etc. + +Barbuda, 48 + +Barinas, Marques de, 268 + +Barker, Andrew, 40 + +Barlovento, Armada de, 109, 251 _n._, 261 + +Barnard, Captain (buccaneer), 111 + +Barnes, Captain ( " ), 219 + +Barre, Charles, 215 + +Barry, Colonel Samuel, 118 and _n._ + +Beckford, Peter, 217 + +Beeston, Captain (afterwards Sir), William, 97 _n._, 108 _n._, 118, 135 +and _n._, 142, 155, 158, 200, 202, 259, etc. + +Begon, M. Michel (Intendant of the French Islands), 244, 247 _n._ + +Benavides, Don Juan de, 50 + +Bennett, Sir Henry (afterwards Earl of Arlington), 100, 122, 128, 132, +133, 142, 143 _n._, 160, 186, 198, etc. + +Berkeley, Sir Thomas, 41 + +Bermuda, 20, 75, 92, 201 + +Bernanos, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Bernard, Samuel, 255, 257 + +Bigford, Captain (buccaneer), 156 + +"Biscayners," 254-5 + +Blake, Captain, R.N., 93 + +Blewfield, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Blot, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Boston (Mass.), 251 + +Bradley, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph (buccaneer), 164-5 + +Brayne, Lieutenant-General William, 96, 114, 127 + +Brazil, 3, 25, 36, 47, 49 and _n._, 102 + +Breda, treaties of, 141 + +Breha, Captain, _see_ Landresson, Michel + +Brenningham, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Brest, corsairs of, 42, 262, 265 + +Bridges, George W., 283 + +Browne, Captain James (buccaneer), 217-18 + +Browne, Richard (buccaneer), 156, 190 _n._, 195, 196 + +Buccaneers, cruelties of, 147-50, 153 _n._, 185 _ff._ + + " customs of, 70-78, 163 _n._ + + " derivation of the word, 66 + +Buccaneers, laws against, _see_ Laws against privateers and pirates + + " numbers of, 124, 240 _n._, 271 + + " origins of, 67, 69, 78-80, 125-27 + + " suppression of, 200 _ff._ + + " vessels of, 75 + +Buenos Ayres, 10, 22 + +Bull of Pope Alexander VI., _see_ Alexander VI. + +Burney, James, 283 + +Burough, Cornelius, 99 + +Butler, Gregory (Commissioner of Jamaica), 85 _n._ + +Byndloss, Colonel Robert, 215, 248, 255 + + +Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, 3 + +Cachemaree, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Cadiz, 9 _n._, 12 and _n._, 13 and _n._, 16, 20, 22, 25 _n._, 26, 40, 96 +_n._, etc. + +Campeache, city of, 12 _n._, 22, 107-8, 109, 111, 210, 222, 245 + + " province of, 21, 107, 137 _n._, 138, 143, 155, 201, 204, 207, +208, etc. + +Campo y Espinosa, Don Alonso del, 157, 158 + +Canary Islands, 14, 15, 42, 241 + +Cap Francois, 220, 221, 258, 261, 262 _n._ + +Caracas, 10, 12 _n._, 15, 16, 22, 50, 154, 222, 240, 242 + +Cardenas, Alonso de, 52, 53 + +Carey, Colonel Theod., 129, 130 + +Carleill, General Christopher, 39 + +Carleton, Sir Dudley, Viscount Dorchester, 102 + +Carlile, Captain Charles, R.N., 236 + +Carlisle, Earl of, _see_ Howard, Charles + +Carolinas, 3, 47, 239, 250, 251, 252, 253, 271 + +Cartagena (New Granada), 9 _n._, 11, 14 and _n._, 15, 16, 19, 23, 38, +39, 262, etc. + +Cartago (Costa Rica), 136 and _n._ + +_Casa de Contratacion_, 11, 12, 13 _n._, 22, 25 and _n._, 42 + +Catherine of Braganza, 100 + +Cattle-hunters, 57-58, 62, 65, 66-69 + +Cavallos (Honduras), 21 + +Cayenne (Guiana), 233, 234 + +Cecil, Robert, Viscount Cranborne and Earl of Salisbury, 32 _n._, 51 + +"Centurion," 104, 105, 108 and _n._ + +Chagre, port of, 43, 195, 267 + + " river, 17 _n._, 164, 168, 175, 193 + +Chaloner, Captain, 54 + +Charles I., King of England, 50, 52, 102 + + " II., King of England, 97, 100, 101, 103, 109, 110, 117, 119, +120, 121, etc. + + " II., King of Spain, 268 + + " V., Emperor, 10, 13 _n._, 45, 46 + +Charleston (Carolina), 252, 253 + +Charlevoix, Pierre-Francois-Xavier, 58, 62, 70, 78, 81, 245, 246 _n._, +262 _n._, 283, 284 _n._ + +_Chasse-partie_, 73 + +Chili, 10, 11, 17, 48, 229 + +_Cinquantaines_, 63 + +Clandestine trade, 8 and _n._, 25-27, 36-38, 102-104 + +Clarke, Robert (Governor of the Bahamas), 237-8 + +Clifford, George, Earl of Cumberland, 34, 40, 41 + +Codrington, Christopher (Deputy-Governor of Nevis), 229 + +Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, Marquis de Seignelay, 8 _n._, 9 _n._ + +Coligny, Admiral Gaspard de, 47 + +Colleton, James (Governor of Carolina), 252 + +Collier, Edward (buccaneer), 155, 156, 160, 182 _n._, 190 _n._, 196 + +Colombia, U.S. of, _see_ New Granada + +Columbus, Christopher, 2, 42 + +_Consulado_, 12, 13 + +Contraband trade, _see_ Clandestine trade + +Cooke, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Cooper, Captain (buccaneer), 111, 273 + +Corbett, Julian S., 286 + +Cordova, Don Luis de, 242 + +Cornwallis, Sir Charles, 51, 54 + +Coro (Venezuela), 98 + +Cortez, Hernando, 3, 46 + +Costa Rico, 136 and _n._ + +Cottington, Francis, Lord, 101-2 + +Council of the Indies, 13 and _n._, 14, 22, 25 _n._, 102 + +"Cour Volant," 155-6, and _n._ + +Coventry, Sir Henry (Secretary of State), 215 + +Coxon, Captain John (buccaneer), 220, 223, 224, 225 _n._, 226, 227-8 and +_n._, 235, 237 and _n._, 238, 245, etc. + +Cranborne, Viscount, _see_ Cecil, Robert + +Criminals transported to the colonies, 5, 92, 125-6 + +Cromwell, Oliver, 85, 87-90, 92, 100 + +Cuba, 2, 19, 21, 23, 26, 32, 42, 46, 49, 77, etc. + +Cumana (Venezuela), 16, 53, 98, 267 + +Cumanagote (Venezuela), 267 + +Cumberland, Earl of, _see_ Clifford, George + +Curacao, 48, 67, 128, 129, 131, 134, 135, 143, 220, 221, etc. + +Cussy, Sieur Tarin de (Governor of French Hispaniola), 243-4 and _n._, +245, 246, 258 + + +Dalyson, Captain William, 99 _n._ + +Dampier, William, 73 _n._, 108 _n._, 221 _n._, 225 _n._, 228 _n._, 247 +_n._ + +Daniel, Captain (buccaneer), 74 + +Darien, Isthmus of, 3, 22, 39, 40, 43, 145, 163, 191 _n._, 225 and _n._, +226, etc. + +Deane, John (buccaneer), 213-14 + +Dedran, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Dempster, Captain (buccaneer), 154 + +Deschamps, Jeremie, Seigneur de Rausset (Governor of Tortuga), 116 and +_n._, 117, 119 + +Deseada, 14, 15, 20 + +Desjeans, Jean-Bernard, Sieur de Pointis, 262 _ff._ + +Dessalles, Adrien, 283 + +Diaz Pimienta, Don Francisco, 55, 56 _n._ + +Diego Grillo (buccaneer), 201 and _n._ + +Dieppe, corsairs of, 42, 48 + +Dominica, 20, 38, 74, 235 + +"Don Francisco," 207 + +"Don Juan Morf," 60 and _n._, 61 + +Dorchester, Viscount _see_ Carleton, Sir Dudley + +Doyley, Colonel Edward (Governor of Jamaica), 91, 96-97, 98, 99 and +_n._, 100, 101, 107, 116, 122, 124, etc. + +Drake, Sir Francis, 31, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 50, 89 and _n._, 195, 210, +etc. + +Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (Governor of French Hispaniola), 260-61, 262, +263, 265, 266 + +Ducere, Eduard, 285-6 + +Duro, Cesario Fernandez, 135 _n._, 211 _n._, 243 _n._, 285 + +Dutch wars, _see_ War + + " West India Company, 47, 49 + +Dutertre, Jean-Baptiste, 70, 114, 116 _n._, 118 _n._, 282, 284 + + +East Indies, _see_ Indies, East + +Edmondes, Sir Thomas, 54 + +Edwards, Bryan, 283 + +Elizabeth, Queen, 29, 31, 34, 38, 39, 46, 50, 101, 136 + +Elletson, Robert, 248, 249, 255, 257 + +_Engages_, 59, 79-80, 124 + +Equador, 17, 229 + +Esmit, Adolf (Governor of St. Thomas), 234-37 + + " Nicholas (Governor of St. Thomas), 236 + +Esnambuc, Mons. d', 63 + +Essex, Captain Cornelius (buccaneer), 224, 226 + +Estrees, Jean, Comte d', 9 _n._, 220-221 + +Everson, Captain Jacob (buccaneer), 228 and _n._, 254 _n._ + +Everson, Jory (Governor of St. Thomas), 237 + +Exquemelin, Alexander Olivier, 70, 77, 78, 79, 124, 131 _n._, 135 _n._, +136 _n._, 137 _n._, 277-82 + + +Fanshaw, Sir Richard, 103, 106, 120, 121, 140, 141 + +Ferdinand and Isabella, Kings of Spain, 3, 10 + +Fitzgerald, Philip, 206-7 + +Fletcher, Benjamin (Governor of New York), 271 + +_Flibustiers_, derivation of the word, 66; _see_ Buccaneers + +Fload, Captain (Governor of Tortuga), 64 _n._ + +Flores, _see_ Azores. + +Florida, 2, 47, 54. + +Flota, 20, 38-9, 49, 77, 95, 96 and _n._, 103, 109, 242; + _cf. also_ Treasure fleets + +Fontenay, Chevalier de (Governor of Tortuga), 81-84, 113, 116 + +Fortescue, Major-General Richard, 92, 96, 127 + +Franquesnay, Sieur de (Governor of French Hispaniola), 222, 244 and +_n._, 247 _n._ + +French wars, _see_ War + +French West India Company, 48, 117, 123, 162 + +Frobisher, Martin, 39 + +Frogge, William, 174 _n._, 177 _n._, 184 _n._, 186, 196 _n._ + +Fuemayor, Rui Fernandez de, 61 and _n._ + + +Gage, Thomas, 16 _n._, 18, 23, 55 _n._, 90 + +Galicia, Company of, 12 _n._ + +Galleons, 14-20, 21, 22, 23, 25 _n._, 55, 56 _n._, 62, 76; + _cf. also_ Treasure fleets. + +Galleons' passage, 15 + +Gardner, William J., 283 + +Gautemala, 10, 16, 17 _n._, 22, 77 + +Gaves, Don Gabriel de, 60 + +"Gens de la cote," 69 + +Gibraltar (Venezuela), 157, 267 + +Godolphin, Sir William, 103, 160, 186, 197, 198, 199, 207, 208, 209-10 + +"Golden Hind," 39 + +Golden Island, 225, 253 + +Goodly, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Goodson, Vice-Admiral William, 92-96, 98 _n._, 99, 104 + +Graff, Laurens-Cornille Baldran, Sieur de, 241-43, 244 _n._, 245, 246 +and _n._, 248, 258-59, 262 _n._, 274 + +Grammont, Sieur de (buccaneer), 73, 221-2, 240-1, 243, 244, 245, 246 and +_n._, 248 and _n._ + +Granada (Nicaragua), 16 _n._, 136, 138-9, 162, 267, 268 + +Granjeria de las Perlas (New Granada), 44 + +Grenville, Sir Richard, 40 + +Guadaloupe, 14, 20, 48, 67, 131, 282 + +"Guanahani," 2 + +Guiana, 10, 41, 47, 54 + +Guinea, coast of, 36, 37, 38, 235, 241, 270, 272 + +Guipuzcoa, Company of, 12 _n._ + +"Gunsway," 270 + +Guy, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Guzman, Gonzalo de, 43 + + " Don Juan Perez de, _see_ Perez de Guzman. + + +Hamlin, Captain Jean (buccaneer), 234-6 and _n._, 251 _n._ + +Hampton, Thomas, 37-38 + +Haro, Don Francisco de, 183 _n._ + + " Don Luis de, 100 + +Harris, Captain Peter (buccaneer), 225, 226, 245 + +Harrison, Captain, (buccaneer), 162 + +Hattsell, Captain, ( " ), 136 + +Havana, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 42, 43, 45, etc. + +Havre, corsairs, of, 48 + +Hawkins, Sir John, 31, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 210. + + " William, 36 + +Heath, Attorney-General Sir Robert, 52 + +Henrietta Island, 55, 59 _n._ + +Henry II., King of France, 53 + + " IV., " 9 _n._, 48 + + " VIII. King of England, 36 and _n._ + +Herdue, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Heyn, Admiral Piet, 49, 96 + +Hilton, Captain (Governor of Tortuga), 59, 60 + +Hispaniola, 2, 20 and _n._ 26, 32, 34, 35, 37, 46, 55, 57, etc. + +Holland, Earl of, _see_ Rich, Henry + +Holmes, Admiral Sir Robert, 253 + +Honduras, 50, 107, 208, 211, 223, 226, 234, 249 + +Hopton, Sir Arthur, 53 + +Howard, Charles, Earl of Carlisle (Governor of Jamaica), 205, 211, 212, +222-28, 232 + + " Sir Philip, 255 + +Humanes, Conde de, 102 + + +Ibarra, Don Carlos, 62 _n._ + +Inchiquin, Earl of, _see_ O'Brien, William + +Indian Ocean, pirates in, _see_ Pirates + +Indians, _see_ Spain, cruelties to Indians + +Indies, Council of the, _see_ Council + + " exclusion of foreigners from, _see_ Spain + +Indies, East, pirates in, _see_ Pirates + + " West, colonisation of, 45-48 + + " " first English ship in, 34-35 + +"Indults," 25 + +Interlopers, _see_ Clandestine trade + +Isabella, Queen, _see_ Ferdinand and Isabella + +Isle d'Aves, 220 and _n._, 221, 222, 241 + + " la Vache, 155, 156, 160, 161, 162, 205, 212, 235, 236 _n._, 245, +etc. + + +Jackman, Captain (buccaneer), 137, 143 + +Jackson, Captain William, 50, 67, 85 + +Jacobs, Captain (buccaneer), _see_ Everson + +Jamaica, 2, 19, 46, 50, 57, 73, 77, 85, 86, 90, etc. + + " assembly of, 110, 217, 218, 227, 230, 231, 233, 248 + + " Council of, 104, 106, 107, 111, 118, 132, 159, 196, 202, 203, etc. + +James, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + + " ("President of Tortuga"), 64 _n._ + +James I., King of England, 46, 50, 51, 101 _n._ + + " II., King of England, 253, 255, 257, 258 + +Jamestown (Virginia), 47 + +Jenkins, Sir Leoline, 208 + +Jimenez, Don Jose Sanchez, 139 + +Jocard, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Johnson, Captain (buccaneer), 202-3 + + " " R.N., 234 + +"Judith," 39 + +_Juzgado de Indias_, 13 _n._ + + +Kingston (Jamaica), 50, 86 + +Knollys, Francis, 39, 40 + + +Labat, Jean-Baptiste, 70, 73-5, 282, 284, 285 + +Lagarde, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +La Guayra (Venezuela), 240-41 + +Lancers, _see Cinquantaines_ + +Landresson, Captain Michel, _alias_ Breha (buccaneer), 251 and _n._, +252, 274 + +Langford, Captain Abraham, 118-19 + +Las Casas, Bartolome de, Bishop of Chiapa, 32 + +Laurens de Graff, _see_ Graff. + +La Vivon, Mons., 155-6 and _n._ + +Laws against privateers and pirates, 110, 217, 218, 220, 227, 230-31, +251-53, 271 + +Le Clerc, Captain Francois, 42 + +Legane (Hispaniola), 124, 258, 261 + +Legrand, Pierre (buccaneer), 135 _n._ + +"Le Pain," _see_ Paine, Peter + +Le Pers (Jesuit writer), 284 and _n._ + +Lerma, Duque de, 9 _n._ + +Leroy-Beaulieu, Pierre-Paul, 1, 285 + +Le Sage, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Lessone, " ( " ), 224 + +Levasseur, Mons., 63-66, 78, 80-82, 116 + +Ley, James, Earl of Marlborough, 52, 53 + +Lilburne, Robert (Governor of Bahamas), 238-39 + +Lima (Peru), 16, 17, 25 + +Linhares, Conde de, 102 + +Logwood, 201, 208-12, 226, 234, 249 + +Long, Edward, 127, 283 + + " Samuel, 226 + +Lonvilliers, Mons. de, 81 + +Lorin, Henri, 284 + +Louis XIV., King of France, 9 _n._, 116, 219, 257, 258, 266 _n._ + +Ludbury, Captain (buccaneer), 162 + +Ludwell, Philip (Governor of Carolina), 253 + +Lynch, Sir Thomas (Governor of Jamaica), 111, 121, 197, 198, 200-205, +209, 213, 216, 232-38, 243, and _n._, etc. + +Lyttleton, Sir Charles (Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), 106, 109, 110, +111, 112, 118, 127 + + +Madeira, 42 + +Maggott, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Maintenon, Marquis de, 222 + +Maldonado de Aldana, 108 + +Mansfield, Captain Edward (buccaneer), 73, 131, and _n._, 134-36, 138, +143, 163 _n._, 164, 273 + +"Mansvelt," _see_ Mansfield + +Maracaibo (Venezuela), 15, 22, 50, 156-8, 159, 161, 210, 222, 267 + +Marcel, Gabriel, 285 + +Margarita Island, 2, 15, 16, 38, 222 + + " patache, 15, 16, 19 and _n._ + +Margot, Port (Hispaniola), 64, 65, 83, 84, 123 + +Marie-Anne of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain, 141, 159, 184 _n._, 198, +199, 208, 211 + +Markham, William (Governor of Pennsylvania), 271 + +Marlborough, Earl of, _see_ Ley, James + +"Marston Moor," 87, 97, 98 and _n._, 99 + +Marteen, Captain David (buccaneer), 134 + +Martin, 81-82, 83 _n._ + +Martinique, 48, 67, 73, 74, 75, 220, 246 _n._, 272, 282 + +"Mary of Guildford," 36 _n._ + +Mary, Queen of England, 259 + +Massachusetts, 252, 271 + +_Matelotage_, 69 + +Medina Coeli, Duque de, 199 + + " de los Torres, Duque de, 141 + +Merida (Yucatan), 210, 245 + +Mesnil, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Mexico, _see_ New Spain + +Michel, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + + " le Basque (buccaneer), 124, 156 + +Milton, John (Latin Secretary of State), 89 _n._ + +Mitchell, Captain (buccaneer), 108 _n._ + +Modyford, Colonel Charles, 203 + + " Sir James, 127, 137, 143 _n._, 163 _n._ + + " Sir Thomas (Governor of Jamaica), 119-23, +127, 128, 131-35, 136 _n._, 137 and _n._, 140, 142, 143 _n._, 144, etc. + +Moledi, Don Patricio, 111 + +Molesworth, Hender (Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), 237 _n._, 248, 249, +253-54, 255, 257 + +Molina, Conde de, 158, 197 _n._ + +Mompos (New Granada), 264 + +Mona, Island of, 20, 34 + +Monck, Christopher, second Duke of Albemarle (Governor of Jamaica), 255-57 + + " George, first Duke of Albemarle, 132, 133, 142, 143 _n._, 154, 159 + +Montagu, Edward, Earl of Sandwich, 103, 141, 142 + +Montemayor, Don Juan Francisco de, 82 + +Montespan, Marquise de, 218 _n._ + +Montserrat, 48, 129 + +Moralis, Don Pedro de, 105 + +Moreton, Joseph (Governor of Carolina), 252 + +Morgan, Captain (buccaneer), 235 + + " Colonel Blodre (buccaneer), 163 _n._, 182 _n._ + + " Colonel Edward, 120, 121, 129, 130, 133, 137 _n._, 143 + + " Sir Henry (buccaneer and Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica), +73, 137 and _n._, 143-96, 204-6, 210, 212-16, 222, 226, 227, 228, etc. + + " Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas, 130 _n._, 137 _n._ + +Morris, Captain John (buccaneer), 137, 143, 161, 182 _n._, 273 + +Mosquito Coast, 19, 55, 76, 138, 245 + +Munden, Captain Robert, 118 + +Myngs, Captain Christopher, R.N., 98 and _n._, 99 and _n._, 105, 106, +107, 108 and _n._, 109, 121 + + +Nata de los Santos (Darien), 136 _n._, 191 _n._ + +Nau, Jean-David (buccaneer), 124 and _n._, 156, 157 + +Navigation Laws, 99, 101 _n._, 102, 214, 271 + +"Navio del Oro," 17 + +Negro slave-trade, 36-38; + _cf. also_ Clandestine trade + +Negroes, Assiento of, _see_ Assiento + +Netherlands, truce of 1609, 52 + + " wars of, _see_ War + +Nevill, Vice-Admiral John, 264, 265 + +Nevis, 47, 63, 86, 129, 229 + +New England, 86, 92, 93, 116, 201, 250, 272 + +Newfoundland, 35, 265 + +New Granada, 11, 16, 42, 232 + +New Providence Island (Bahamas), 237-39 + +New Spain, 3, 10, 21, 22, 32, 33, 46, 76, 90, 111, etc. + +New York, 129, 201, 271 + +Nicaragua, 19, 76, 137, 162 + + " Lake, 16, 138 + +Nimuegen, peace of, 240 + +Nombre de Dios (Darien), 14 _n._, 17 _n._, 40 + +Norris, Commodore Sir John, 265 + + +O'Brien, William, Earl of Inchiquin (Governor of Jamaica), 257, 259 + +Ogeron, Bertrand d' (Governor of French Hispaniola), 118, 123-4, 216, +217, 218, 239 + +Olivares, Conde de, 9 _n._ + +Olonnais (buccaneer), _see_ Nau, Jean-David + +Orinoco River, 2, 32 _n._, 47, 85 _n._, 111 + +Oxenham, John, 40 + +"Oxford," 155 + + +Pain, Captain Thomas (buccaneer), 238 and _n._, 239, 259 + +Paine, Peter, 233-34 and _n._, 238 _n._ + +Panama, city of, 10, 16, 17 and _n._, 18, 40, 97, 120, 136 _n._, 139, +140, etc. + + " Isthmus of, _see_ Darien + + " President of, _see_ Perez de Guzman + +Payta (Peru), 17, 188 + +Penalva, Conde de, 113 + +Penn, Admiral William, 85 and _n._, 86, 87, 93, 113 + + " William (proprietor of Penns.), 271 + +Pennsylvania, 271 + +Perez de Guzman, Don Juan (President of Panama), 139, 164, 170 _n._, 184 +_n._, 186, 191 and _n._, 192 _n._ + + " Diego, 44 + +Pernambuco, 49 + +Perry, Mr. 61 _n._ + +Peru, 3, 10, 11, 16, 17, 22, 25, 32, 42, 46, etc. + +Petit, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Petit-Goave (Hispaniola), 118, 119, 124, 221, 241, 242, 243, 244, 247 +and _n._, 248, etc. + +Philip II., King of Spain, 14, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 40, 46, 101 + +Philip III., King of Spain, 51 + + " IV., King of Spain, 9 _n._, 55, 141 + +Philippine Islands, 3, 21 + +"Piece of eight," value of, 77 _n._ + +"Pie de Palo," _see_ Heyn, Admiral Piet _and_ Le Clerc, Francois + +Pirates, depredations in the East, 270, 272 + + " laws against, _see_ Laws + + " trials of, 202, 203, 213-15, 218, 226, 228, 229 + +Pizarro, Francisco, 3, 46 + +Place, Sieur de la (Deputy-Governor of Tortuga), 117, 124 + +Plenneville, Clement de, 118 + +Poincy, Mons. de (Governor of the French West Indies), 63, 64, 80, 81 + +Pointis, Sieur de, _see_ Desjeans + +Pontchartrain, Louis Phelypeaux, Comte de, 262 + +Port de Paix (Hispaniola), 65, 247 _n._, 261 + +Porto Bello, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17 and _n._, 18, 19, 23, 76, 143-54, etc. + +Porto Rico, 2, 20 and _n._, 22, 31 _n._, 34, 35, 41, 46, 56, 57, etc. + +Port Royal (Carolina), 47, 252 + + " (Jamaica), 97, 98 and _n._, 101, 107, 108 and _n._, 111, +112, 121, 127, 128, etc. + +Pouancay, Mons. de (Governor of French Hispaniola), 216, 219, 220, 221, +222, 239, 240, 244, 247, 248, etc. + +Prince, Captain Lawrence (buccaneer), 162, 182 _n._ + +Privateers, laws against, _see_ Laws + +Providence Company, 55, 59 and _n._, 60, 61 _n._, 62, 64 _n._ + +Providence Island, 55 and _n._, 56 _n._, 64, 76, 86, 135-7, 139-40, 143, +163 and _n._, etc. + +Puerta de Plata (Hispaniola), 115 + +Puerto Cabello (Venezuela), 98 + + " Principe (Cuba), 117, 144 and _n._, 145, 222 + + +Queen Regent of Spain, _see_ Marie-Anne of Austria + +Quito, province of, _see_ Equador + + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, 34, 40, 41, 47, 89 + +Rancherias (New Granada), 16, 40 + +Rausset, Sieur de, _see_ Deschamps + +Raynal, Guillaume, Thomas-Francois, 283 + +Red Sea, pirates in, _see_ Pirates + +Rhode Island, 223, 251, 271 + +Rich, Henry, Earl of Holland, 59 + + " Robert, Earl of Warwick, 50 and _n._, 52 + +Rio Garta, 138 + +Rio de la Hacha (New Granada), 38, 40, 44, 93, 98 _n._, 161, 232, 267 + +Rio Nuevo (Jamaica), 91 + +Riskinner, Captain Nicholas (Governor of Tortuga), 62 + +Rivero Pardal, Manuel, 159, 161 + +Roanoke Island (Carolina), 47 + +Roatan Island, 76, 138 + +Robertson, William, 285 + +Rogers, Captain Thomas (buccaneer), 174 _n._ + +Ronquillo, Don Pedro, 223 _n._, 243 + +Row, Captain (buccaneer), 224 + +Roxas de Valle-Figueroa, Don Gabriel, 82-83 + +Ruyter, Admiral Michel-Adriaanszoon van, 129 + +Ryswick, treaty of, 266 _n._ + + +Saba, 129, 130 and _n._ + +St. Augustine (Florida), 238, 251, 252 + +St. Christopher, _see_ St. Kitts + +St. Eustatius, 48, 67, 129, 130 and _n._, 133, 143 + +St. Jago de Cuba, 21, 42, 44, 91, 100, 104-6, 108 _n._, 109, 145, 159, +etc. + + " de la Vega (Jamaica), 50, 85, 86, 234, 237 _n._ + + " de los Cavalleros (Hispaniola), 114-15, 258 + +St. Kitts, 47, 48, 50, 54, 56, 58, 60, 63, 67, 80, etc. + +St. Laurent, Mons. de, 244, 247 _n._ + +St. Malo, corsairs of, 48 + +St. Martins, 130 + +St. Thomas, 235-7 + +Salisbury, Earl of, _see_ Cecil, Robert + +Samana, 77 _n._ + +Samballas Islands, 228 _n._ + +"Samson," 36 _n._ + +Sancti Spiritus (Cuba), 134, 135 and _n._ + +San Domingo, city of, 9 _n._, 21, 22, 35, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 60, 86, +etc. + + " French, _see_ Hispaniola + +Sandwich, Earl of, _see_ Montagu, Edward + +San Juan de Porto Rico, 21, 40, 41, 49 + + " d'Ulloa, _see_ Vera Cruz + + " River (Nicaragua), 16, 136, 138, 162 + +San Lorenzo, castle of (Chagre), 164-8, 170 _n._, 193, 194 and _n._ + +San Lucar, 11, 13, 15, 20 + +Santa Catalina, _see_ Providence Island + +Santa Cruz, 20, 48, 56, 117 + +Santa Marta (New Granada), 15, 40, 44, 93, 97, 161, 219-20, 226, 267 + +Santa Marta de la Vitoria (Tabasco), 139 _n._ + + " Tomas (Orinoco), 111, 222 + +Sasi Arnoldo, Don Christopher, 91, 105 + +"Satisfaction," 156 _n._ + +Sawkins, Captain (buccaneer), 225, 226 + +Scaliger, Joseph-Juste, 28 + +Scelle, Georges, 3, 285 + +Searle, Daniel (Governor of Barbadoes), 85 _n._ + +Searles, Captain Robert (buccaneer), 122, 131 + +Sedgwick, Major-General Robert, 96, 104 + +Seignelay, Marquis de, _see_ Colbert + +Seville, 11, 22, 26, 54, 103, 106, 109, 159 _n._, 207, etc. + +Sharp, Captain Bartholomew (buccaneer), 223, 224, 225 _n._, 228, 229, +245 + +Shirley, Sir Anthony, 85 + +"Sloop-trade," 27 + +Smart, Captain (buccaneer), 273 + +Smith, Major Samuel, 137, 139, 140 + +Sore, Jacques, 42, 45 + +Southey, Thomas, 283 + +Spain, colonial laws, 5, 10, 12, 13, 24 + + " colonial system, 1 _ff._ + + " commercial system, 6-13 + + " cruelties to English mariners, 29, 53-54, 88, 89 _n._, 207 + + " cruelties to Indians, 4, 9, 10, 32, 33, 89 _n._ + + " decline of, 1 _ff._, 46 + + " discovery and exploration in South America, 2-3 + + " exclusion of foreigners from Spanish Indies, 24 + + " privateers of, 207, 211 and _n._ + + " trade relations with England, 101-104 + + " treaty of 1667 with England, 141 + + " " 1670 with England, 196-7, 200, 209 + + " truce of 1609 with the Netherlands, _see_ Netherlands + + " venality of Spanish colonial governors, 26 _n._ + + " weakness of Spanish ships, 23 + +Spragge, Captain, R.N., 254 + +Stanley, Captain (buccaneer), 140 + +Stapleton, Sir William (Governor of Leeward Islands), 234, 236, 237 + +Stedman, Captain (buccaneer), 131 and _n._ + +Style, John, 153 _n._ + + +Tabasco River, 138, 139 _n._ + +Tavoga Island, 179, 188 + +Tavogilla Island, 179, 188 + +Taylor, John, 102 + +Terrier, Jean, 42 + +Thibault, 81-82, 83 _n._ + +Thomas, Dalby, 33 + +Thornbury, Walter, 284 + +Thurloe, John (Secretary of State), 104 + +Thurston, Captain (buccaneer), 201 + +Tobago, 15, 48, 67, 131, 268 + +Toledo, Don Federico de, 54, 58 + +Tolu (New Granada), 97, 267 + +Tortola, 130 + +Tortuga, 2, 55, 58-66, 69, 70, 73, 77, 80, 81, 113, etc. + +Trade, clandestine, _see_ Clandestine trade + +Treasure fleets, 13-24, 31, 85; + _cf. also_ Flota _and_ Galleons + +Treval, Mons. de, 82 + +Trinidad, 2, 15, 32 _n._, 46, 131, 222 + +"Trompense, La," 233-36, 238 _n._, 248, 249, 251 _n._ + + " La Nouvelle," 236 _n_. + +Truxillo (Honduras), 21, 22, 50, 77, 138, 222 + +Turrialva (Costa Rica), 136 + + +Utrecht, Treaty of, 272 + + +Vache, Isle la, _see_ Isle la Vache + +_Vaisseaux de registre_, 11, 22 and _n._ + +Vaissiere, Pierre de, 284 + +Valladolid (Yucatan), 210 + +Valle-Figueroa, Don Gabriel Roxas de, _see_ Roxas de Valle-Figueroa + +Van Horn, Captain Nicholas (buccaneer), 241-43, 248 + +Vaughan, John, Lord (Governor of Jamaica), 205, 211, 212-22, 232 + +Venables, General Robert, 85 and _n._, 86, 87, 88, 89, 96, 113 + +Venezuela, 16, 23, 156 + +Venta Cruz (Darien), 17 _n._, 164, 170 _n._, 174 and _n._, 177 _n._, 192 +_n._, 193 + +Vera Cruz (New Spain), 11, 12 _n._, 14, 21, 22, 38, 49, 103, 109, 111, +etc., 241 + +Veragua, 136 and _n._ + +Vernon, Admiral Edward, 195 + +Verpre, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Vervins, Treaty of, 48 + +_Viande boucannee_, 66 + +Vigneron, Captain (buccaneer), 274 + +Villa de Mosa (Tabasco), 138 and _n._ + +Villalba y Toledo, Don Francisco de, 77 + +Villars, Marquis de, 9 _n._ + +Virgin Islands, 40, 235, 236 + +Virginia, 47, 51, 54, 112, 129, 201, 207, 272 + + +War between England and France, 1666-67, 131, 141 + +War between England and Netherlands, 1665-67, 127-41 + +War between France and Netherlands, 1674-78, 219 _ff._ + +War of the Spanish Succession, 271-72 + + " Succession of the Palatinate, 258 _ff._ + +Watson, Sir Francis, 257 + +Watts, Elias (Governor of Tortuga), 114, 116 and _n._, 117 + +Watts, Colonel William (Governor of St. Kitts), 130 _n._ + +Weiss, Charles, 285 + +West Indies, _see_ Indies, West + +Whitstone, Sir Thomas (buccaneer), 140, 273 + +Wilgress, Captain, 201 + +William III., King of England, 257, 258 + +Williams, Captain John, _alias_ Yankey (buccaneer), 235, 254 _n._, 274 + + " Captain Morris (buccaneer), 122 and _n._ + +Williamson, Sir Joseph (Secretary of State), 213 _n._, 217 + +Willoughby, William, Lord (Governor of Barbadoes), 131 + +Wilmot, Commodore Robert, 261 + +Windebank, Sir Francis (Secretary of State), 53 + +Windsor, Thomas, Lord (Governor of Jamaica), 97, 101 and _n._, 104, 105, +106-7, 111, 117, 118, 137 + +Winslow, Edward (Commissioner of Jamaica), 85 _n._ + +Winter, Sir William, 40 + +Witherborn, Captain Francis (buccaneer), 202 + +Wormeley, Captain Christopher (Governor of Tortuga), 59, 62 and _n._ + + +Yallahs, Captain (buccaneer) 201, 211 + +"Yankey," _see_ Williams, Captain John + +Yucatan, 2, 23, 82 _n._, 208, 210, 211 + + +Zuniga, Don Pedro de, 51 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Buccaneers in the West Indies in +the XVII Century, by Clarence Henry Haring + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST *** + +***** This file should be named 19139.txt or 19139.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/3/19139/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, David King, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print 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