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diff --git a/19139.txt b/19139.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6cd2eb --- /dev/null +++ b/19139.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: 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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