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diff --git a/19396-8.txt b/19396-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f3d841 --- /dev/null +++ b/19396-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10991 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Spanish Main, by John Masefield + +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: On the Spanish Main + Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien. + +Author: John Masefield + +Release Date: September 28, 2006 [EBook #19396] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE SPANISH MAIN *** + + + + +Produced by Frank van Drogen, Amy Cunningham and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Obvious printing errors were repaired; see the html version for details +of these changes. Other variation in spelling and hyphenation is as in +the original text. + + + + +[Illustration: CAPTAIN WILLIAM DAMPIER] + + + + +ON THE SPANISH MAIN + +OR, SOME ENGLISH FORAYS ON THE +ISTHMUS OF DARIEN. WITH A DESCRIPTION +OF THE BUCCANEERS AND A +SHORT ACCOUNT OF OLD-TIME +SHIPS AND SAILORS + +BY + +JOHN MASEFIELD + + +WITH TWENTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP + + +METHUEN & CO. +36 ESSEX STREET W.C. +LONDON + + +_First Published in 1906_ + +THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH. + + + + +TO + +JACK B. YEATS + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + PAGE + DRAKE'S VOYAGE TO THE WEST INDIES 1 + His quarrel with the Spaniards--His preliminary raids--His + landfall--The secret harbour + + CHAPTER II + + THE ATTACK ON NOMBRE DE DIOS 15 + The treasure of the Indies--The Bastimentos--A Spanish herald + + CHAPTER III + + THE CRUISE OFF THE MAIN 26 + The secret haven--The cruise of the pinnaces--Cartagena--Death + of John Drake + + CHAPTER IV + + THE ROAD TO PANAMA 55 + The Maroons--The native city--The great tree--Panama--The + silver train--The failure--Venta Cruz + + CHAPTER V + + BACK TO THE MAIN BODY 74 + The treasure train--The spoil--Captain Tetū hurt + + CHAPTER VI + + THE ADVENTURE OF THE RAFT 88 + Drake's voyage to the Catives--Homeward bound--The interrupted + sermon + + CHAPTER VII + + JOHN OXENHAM 98 + The voyage--His pinnace--Into the South Sea--Disaster--His + unhappy end + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE SPANISH RULE IN HISPANIOLA 106 + Rise of the Buccaneers--The hunters of the wild + bulls--Tortuga--Buccaneer politics--Buccaneer customs + + CHAPTER IX + + BUCCANEER CUSTOMS 129 + Mansvelt and Morgan--Morgan's raid on Cuba--Puerto del + Principe + + CHAPTER X + + THE SACK OF PORTO BELLO 148 + The Gulf of Maracaibo--Morgan's escape from the Spaniards + + CHAPTER XI + + MORGAN'S GREAT RAID 168 + Chagres castle--Across the isthmus--Sufferings of the + Buccaneers--Venta Cruz--Old Panama + + CHAPTER XII + + THE SACK OF PANAMA 197 + The burning of the city--Buccaneer excesses--An abortive + mutiny--Home--Morgan's defection + + CHAPTER XIII + + CAPTAIN DAMPIER 218 + Campeachy--Logwood cutting--The march to Santa Maria + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE BATTLE OF PERICO 245 + Arica--The South Sea cruise + + CHAPTER XV + + ACROSS THE ISTHMUS 276 + The way home--Sufferings and adventures + + CHAPTER XVI + + SHIPS AND RIGS 291 + Pavesses--Top-arming--Banners--Boats + + CHAPTER XVII + + GUNS AND GUNNERS 298 + Breech-loaders--Cartridges--Powder--The gunner's art + + CHAPTER XVIII + + THE SHIP'S COMPANY 311 + Captain--Master--Lieutenant--Warrant officers--Duties and + privileges + + CHAPTER XIX + + THE CHOOSING OF WATCHES 322 + The petty tally--Food--Work--Punishments + + CHAPTER XX + + IN ACTION 334 + + INDEX 341 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + CAPTAIN WILLIAM DAMPIER _Frontispiece_ + + NOMBRE DE DIOS 12 + + CARTAGENA 26 + + CARTAGENA IN 1586, SHOWING THE DOUBLE HARBOUR 40 + The ship in the foreground may be Drake's flagship, the + _Bonaventure_ + + AN ELIZABETHAN WARSHIP 49 + A pinnace beyond, to the left + + SHIP AND FLYING-FISH 95 + + A BUCCANEER'S SLAVE, WITH HIS MASTER'S GUN 114 + A barbecue in right lower corner + + OLD PORT ROYAL 132 + + PUERTO DEL PRINCIPE 142 + + PORTO BELLO, CIRCA 1740, SHOWING THE SITUATION AND DEFENCES OF + THE CITY 150 + + THE FIRESHIP DESTROYING THE "SPANISH ADMIRAL" 164 + Castle de la Barra in background + + CHAGRES (CIRCA 1739) 173 + + THE ISTHMUS, SHOWING MORGAN'S LINE OF ADVANCE 180 + + NEW PANAMA 195 + + THE BATTLE OF PANAMA 200 + + SIR HENRY MORGAN 210 + + A DESCRIPTION OF ARICA 266 + + A DESCRIPTION OF HILO 274 + + AN ELIZABETHAN GALLEON 293 + + AN ELIZABETHAN GALLEON 297 + + A GALLIASSE 310 + + THE "SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS" 323 + + MAP OF THE BUCCANEER CRUISING GROUNDS 340 + + + + +ON THE SPANISH MAIN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DRAKE'S VOYAGE TO THE WEST INDIES + + His quarrel with the Spaniards--His preliminary raids--His + landfall--The secret harbour + + +Francis Drake, the first Englishman to make himself "redoubtable to the +Spaniards" on the Spanish Main, was born near Tavistock about the year +1545. He was sent to sea, as a lad, aboard a Channel coaster engaged in +trade with the eastern counties, France and Zeeland. When he was +eighteen years of age he joined his cousin, John Hawkins, then a great +and wealthy merchant, engaged in the slave trade. Four years later he +sailed with Hawkins on a memorable trading voyage to the Spanish Main. +On this occasion he commanded a small vessel of fifty tons. + +The voyage was unfortunate from the beginning, for the Spaniards had +orders from their King to refuse to trade with any foreigners. Before +the English could get rid of their freight the ships of their squadron +were severely battered by a hurricane, so that they were forced to put +into San Juan d'Ulloa, the port of Vera Cruz, to refit. While they lay +there a Spanish fleet arrived, carrying a vast quantity of gold and +silver for transhipment to Spain. It was not to Hawkins' advantage to +allow this Spanish force to enter the haven, for he feared that they +would treat him as a pirate if they had an opportunity to do so. +However, the Spaniards came to terms with him, an agreement was signed +by both parties, and the Spanish ships were allowed into the port. The +next day the Spaniards treacherously attacked the English squadron, sank +one of the ships at her moorings, killed many of the men, captured a +number more, and drove the survivors to sea in Drake's ship the +_Judith_, and a larger ship called the _Minion_. It was this treacherous +attack (and, perhaps, some earlier treachery not recorded) which made +Drake an implacable enemy of the Spaniards for the next twenty-eight +years. + +After the disaster at San Juan d'Ulloa, Drake endeavoured to obtain some +recompense for the losses he had sustained. But "finding that no +recompence could be recovered out of Spain by any of his own means, or +by her Majesties letters; he used such helpes as he might by two +severall Voyages into the West Indies." In the first of these two +voyages, in 1570, he had two ships, the _Dragon_ and the _Swan_. In the +second, in 1571, he sailed in the _Swan_ without company. The _Swan_ was +a small vessel of only five and twenty tons, but she was a "lucky" ship, +and an incomparable sailer. We know little of these two voyages, though +a Spanish letter (quoted by Mr Corbett) tells us of a Spanish ship he +took; and Thomas Moone, Drake's coxswain, speaks of them as having been +"rich and gainfull." Probably Drake employed a good deal of his time in +preparing for a future raid, for when he ventured out in earnest in 1572 +he showed himself singularly well acquainted with the town he attacked. +The account from which we take our information expressly states that +this is what he did. He went, it says, "to gaine such intelligences as +might further him to get some amends for his losse. And having, in those +two Voyages, gotten such certaine notice of the persons and places aymed +at, as he thought requisite; and thereupon with good deliberation, +resolved on a third Voyage, he accordingly prepared his Ships and +Company ... as now followes further to be declared." + +There can be little doubt that the two tentative voyages were highly +profitable, for Drake was able to fit out his third expedition with a +care and completeness almost unknown at that time. The ships were +"richly furnished, with victuals and apparel for a whole year: and no +lesse heedfully provided of all manner of Munition, Artillery, +Artificers, stuffe and tooles, that were requisite for such a Man-of-war +in such an attempt." He himself, as Admiral of the expedition, commanded +the larger ship, the _Pascha_ of Plymouth, of seventy tons. His younger +brother, John Drake, sailed as captain of the _Swan_. In all there were +seventy-three men and boys in the expedition; and we read that they were +mostly young men--"the eldest ... fifty, all the rest under thirty." +They were all volunteers--a fact that shows that Drake had gained a +reputation for luck in these adventures. Forty-seven of the +seventy-three sailed aboard the _Pascha_; while the _Swan_ carried the +remaining twenty-six, probably with some inconvenience. Carefully stowed +away in the holds of the two vessels were "three dainty Pinnases, made +in Plimouth, taken asunder all in pieces, to be set up as occasion +served." This instance of Drake's forethought makes it very clear that +the expedition had been planned with extreme care. The comfort of the +men had been studied: witness the supply of "apparell." There was a +doctor aboard, though he does not seem to have been "a great proficient" +in his art; and the expedition was so unusually healthy that we feel +convinced that Drake had some specific for the scurvy. + +"On Whitsunday Eve, being the 24 of May, 1572," the two ships "set sayl +from out of the Sound of Plimouth," with intent to land at Nombre de +Dios (Name of God) a town on the northern coast of the Isthmus of +Darien, at that time "the granary of the West Indies, wherein the golden +harvest brought from Peru and Mexico to Panama was hoarded up till it +could be conveyed into Spain." The wind was steady from the north-east +the day they sailed, so that the watchers from the shore must soon have +lost sight of them. No doubt the boats of all the ships in the Sound +came off to give the adventurers a parting cheer, or, should they need +it, a tow to sea. No doubt the two ships were very gay with colours and +noisy with the firing of farewells. Then at last, as the sails began to +draw, and the water began to bubble from the bows, the trumpeters +sounded "A loath to depart," the anchor came to the cathead, and the +boats splashed back to Plymouth, their crews jolly with the parting +glasses. + +The wind that swept the two ships out of port continued steady at +north-east, "and gave us a very good passage," taking them within sight +of Porto Santo, one of the Madeiras, within twelve days of their leaving +Plymouth. The wind continued fair when they stood to the westward, after +sighting the Canaries, so that neither ship so much as shortened sail +"untill 25 dayes after," when the men in the painted tops descried the +high land of Guadaloupe. They stood to the south of Guadaloupe, as +though to pass between that island and Dominica, but seeing some Indians +busily fishing off a rocky island to the south of Dominica they +determined to recruit there before proceeding farther. This island was +probably Marygalante, a pleasant island full of trees, a sort of summer +fishing ground for the Dominican Indians. There is good anchorage off +many parts of it; and Drake anchored to the south, sending the men +ashore to live in tents for their refreshment. They also watered their +ships while lying at anchor "out of one of those goodly rivers which +fall down off the mountain." Running water was always looked upon as +less wholesome than spring water; and, perhaps, they burnt a bag of +biscuit on the beach, and put the charcoal in the casks to destroy any +possible infection. They saw no Indians on the island, though they came +across "certain poore cottages built with Palmito boughs and branches," +in which they supposed the Indians lodged when engaged upon their +fishery. Having filled the casks, and stowed them aboard again, the +ships weighed anchor, and sailed away south towards the mainland. On the +fifth day, keeping well to seaward, thirty miles from the shore, to +avoid discovery, they made the high land of Santa Martha on "the Terra +Firma." Having made the landfall they sailed westward into the Gulf of +Darien, and in six days more (during two of which the ships were +becalmed) they came to a secret anchorage which Drake had discovered in +his former voyage. He had named it Port Pheasant, "by reason of the +great store of those goodly fowls which he and his Company did then +dayly kill and feed on in that place." "It was a fine round Bay, of very +safe harbour for all winds, lying between two high points, not past half +a cable's length (or a hundred yards) over at the mouth, but within +eight or ten cables' length every way, having ten or twelve fadome +water, more or lesse, full of good fish, the soile also very fruitfull." +Drake had been there "within a year and few days before," and had left +the shore clear of tangle, with alleys and paths by which men might walk +in the woods, after goodly fowls or otherwise; but a year of that +steaming climate had spoiled his handiwork. The tangle of many-blossomed +creepers and succulent green grasses had spread across the paths "as +that we doubted at first whether this were the same place or no." We do +not know where this romantic harbour lies, for the Gulf of Darien is +still unsurveyed. We know only that it is somewhere nearly equidistant +from Santiago de Tolu (to the east) and Nombre de Dios (to the west). +Roughly speaking, it was 120 miles from either place, so that "there +dwelt no Spaniards within thirty-five leagues." Before the anchors were +down, and the sails furled Drake ordered out the boat, intending to go +ashore. As they neared the landing-place they spied a smoke in the +woods--a smoke too big to come from an Indian's fire. Drake ordered +another boat to be manned with musketeers and bowmen, suspecting that +the Spaniards had found the place, and that the landing would be +disputed. On beaching the boats they discovered "evident markes" that a +Plymouth ship, under the command of one John Garret, had been there but +a day or two before. He had left a plate of lead, of the sort supplied +to ships to nail across shot-holes, "nailed fast to a mighty great +tree," some thirty feet in girth. On the lead a letter had been cut: + + CAPTAIN DRAKE, + + if you fortune to come to this Port, make hast away; + for the Spanyards which you had with you here the last year, have + bewrayed this place, and taken away all that you left here. I + departed from hence this present 7 of July, 1572. + + Your very loving friend, + JOHN GARRET. + +The smoke was from a fire which Garret and his men had kindled in a +great hollow tree, that was probably rotted into touchwood. It had +smouldered for five days or more, sending up a thick smoke, to warn any +coming to the harbour to proceed with caution. + +The announcement that the place was known to the Spaniards did not weigh +very heavily upon Drake; nor is it likely that he suffered much from +the loss of his hidden stores, for nothing of any value could have been +left in such a climate. He determined not to leave "before he had built +his Pinnaces," and therefore, as soon as the ships were moored, he +ordered the pieces to be brought ashore "for the Carpenters to set up." +The rest of the company was set to the building of a fort upon the beach +by the cutting down of trees, "and haling them together with great +Pullies and halsers." The fort was built in the form of a pentagon, with +a sort of sea-gate opening on the bay, for the easy launching of the +pinnaces. This gate could be closed at night by the drawing of a log +across the opening. They dug no trench, but cleared the ground instead, +so that for twenty yards all round the stockhouse there was nothing to +hinder a marksman or afford cover to an enemy. Beyond that twenty yards +the forest closed in, with its wall of living greenery, with trees "of a +marvellous height" tangled over with the brilliant blossoms of many +creepers. The writer of the account seems to have been one of the +building party that sweated the logs into position. "The wood of those +trees," he writes, "is as heavie, or heavier, than Brasil or Lignum +Vitę, and is in colour white." + +The very next day an English barque came sailing into the anchorage, +with two prizes, in her wake--"a Spanish Carvell of Sivell," which had +despatches aboard her for the Governor of Nombre de Dios, and a shallop +with oars, picked up off Cape Blanco to the eastward. She was the +property of Sir Edward Horsey, at that time Governor of the Isle of +Wight, a gallant gentleman, who received "sweetmeats and Canarie wine" +from French pirates plying in the Channel. Her captain was one James +Rawse, or Rause; and she carried thirty men, some of whom had been with +Drake the year before. Captain Rause, on hearing Drake's intentions, was +eager "to joyne in consort with him." We may well imagine that Drake +cared little for his company; but conditions were agreed upon, an +agreement signed, and the two crews set to work together. Within seven +days the pinnaces had been set up, and launched, and stored with all +things necessary. Then early one morning (the 20th of July) the ships +got their anchors, and hoisted sail for Nombre de Dios, arriving three +days later at the Isles of Pines, a group of little islands covered with +fir-trees, not far to the west of the mouth of the Gulf of Darien. At +the Pine Islands they found two frigates of Nombre de Dios, "lading +plank and timber from thence," the soft fir wood being greatly in demand +on the mainland, where the trees were harder, and difficult to work. The +wood was being handled by negroes, who gave Drake some intelligence of +the state of affairs at the little town he intended to attack. They said +that the town was in a state of siege, expecting to be attacked at any +moment by the armies of the Cimmeroons, who had "neere surprised it" +only six weeks before. The Cimmeroons were "a black people, which about +eighty yeares past, fledd from the Spaniards their Masters, by reason of +their cruelty, and are since growne to a nation, under two Kings of +their owne: the one inhabiteth to the west, th'other to the East of the +way from Nombre de Dios to Panama." They were much dreaded by the +Spaniards, with whom they were at constant war. The late alarm had +caused the Governor to send to Panama for troops, and "certaine +souldiers" were expected daily to aid in the defence of the town. + +Having gathered this intelligence Drake landed the negroes on the +mainland, so that they might rejoin their countrymen if they wished to +do so. In any case, by landing them so far from home he prevented them +from giving information of his being in those waters. "For hee was loath +to put the towne to too much charge (which hee knew they would +willingly bestowe) in providing before hand, for his entertainment." But +being anxious to avoid all possibility of discovery "he hastened his +going thither, with as much speed and secrecy as possibly he could." It +had taken him three days to get to the Isles of Pines from his secret +harbour--a distance certainly not more than 120 miles. He now resolved +to leave the three ships and the carvel--all four grown more or less +foul-bottomed and slow--in the care of Captain Rause, with just +sufficient men to work them. With the three dainty pinnaces and the +oared shallop that Rause had taken, he hoped to make rather swifter +progress than he had been making. He took with him in the four boats +fifty-three of his own company and twenty of Captain Rause's men, +arranging them in order according to the military text-book: "six +Targets, six Firepikes, twelve Pikes, twenty-four Muskets and Callivers, +sixteene Bowes, and six Partizans, two Drums, and two Trumpets"--making +seventy-four men in all, the seventy-fourth being the commander, Drake. +Having furnished the boats for the sea with his usual care Drake parted +company, and sailed slowly to the westward, making about fifteen miles a +day under oars and sails. Perhaps he sailed only at night, in order to +avoid discovery and to rest his men. Early on the morning of the 28th +July they landed "at the Island of Cativaas," or Catives, off the mouth +of the St Francis River. Here Drake delivered them "their severall +armes, which hitherto he had kept very faire and safe in good caske," so +that neither the heavy dew nor the sea-water should rust them or wet the +powder. He drilled them on the shore before the heat of the sun became +too great, and after the drill he spoke to them "after his manner," +declaring "the greatnes of the hope of good things that was there, the +weaknesse of the towne being unwalled, and the hope he had of prevailing +to recompence his wrongs ... especially ... as hee should be utterly +undiscovered." In the afternoon, when the sun's strength was past, they +set sail again, standing in close to the shore "that wee might not be +descried of the watch-house." By sunset they were within two leagues of +the point of the bay to the north-north-east of the town; and here they +lowered their sails, and dropped anchor, "riding so untill it was darke +night." When the night had fallen they stood in shore again, "with as +much silence as wee could," till they were past the point of the harbour +"under the high land," and "there wee stayed all silent, purposing to +attempt the towne in the dawning of the day, after that wee had reposed +ourselves for a while." + + +NOMBRE DE DIOS + +Nombre de Dios was founded by Diego di Niqueza early in the sixteenth +century, about the year 1510. It received its name from a remark the +founder made on his first setting foot ashore: "Here we will found a +settlement in the name of God." It was never a large place, for the bay +lay exposed to the prevalent winds, being open to the north and +north-east. There was fair holding ground; but the bay was shallow and +full of rocks, and a northerly gale always raised such a sea that a ship +was hardly safe with six anchors out. The district was very unhealthy, +and the water found there was bad and in little quantity. There was, +however, a spring of good water on an island at the mouth of the +harbour. To the shoreward there were wooded hills, with marshy ground on +their lower slopes, feeding a little river emptying to the north of the +town. The houses came right down to the sea, and the trees right down to +the houses, so that "tigers [_i.e._ jaguars] often came into the town," +to carry away dogs, fowls, and children. Few ships lay there without +burying a third of their hands; for the fever raged there, as it rages +in some of the Brazilian ports at the present time. The place was also +supposed to favour the spread of leprosy. The road to Panama entered the +town at the south-east; and there was a gate at this point, though the +town was never walled about. The city seems to have been built about a +great central square, with straight streets crossing at right angles. +Like Cartagena and Porto Bello, it was as dull as a city of the dead +until the galleons came thither from Cartagena to take on board "the +chests of gold and silver" received from the Governor of Panama and the +golden lands to the south. When the galleons anchored, the merchants +went ashore with their goods, and pitched sailcloth booths for them in +the central square, and held a gallant fair till they were sold--most of +the bartering being done by torchlight, in the cool of the night. Panama +was distant some fifty-five miles; and the road thither was extremely +bad, owing to the frequent heavy rains and the consequent flooding of +the trackway. At the time of Drake's raid, there were in all some sixty +wooden houses in the place, inhabited in the _tiempo muerto_, or dead +time, by about thirty people. "The rest," we read, "doe goe to Panama +after the fleet is gone." Those who stayed must have had a weary life of +it, for there could have been nothing for them to do save to go +a-fishing. The fever never left the place, and there was always the +dread of the Cimmeroons. Out in the bay there was the steaming water, +with a few rotten hulks waiting to be cast ashore, and two or three +rocky islets sticking up for the sea to break against. There was nothing +for an inhabitant to do except to fish, and nothing for him to see +except the water, with the dripping green trees beside it, and, perhaps, +an advice boat slipping past for Cartagena. Once a year an express came +to the bay from Panama to say that the Peru fleet had arrived at that +port. A letter was then sent to Cartagena or to San Juan d'Ulloa to +order the great galleons there anchored to come to collect the treasure, +and convey it into Spain. Before they dropped anchor in the Nombre de +Dios bay that city was filled to overflowing by soldiers and merchants +from Panama and the adjacent cities. Waggons of maize and cassava were +dragged into the streets, with numbers of fowls and hogs. Lodgings rose +in value, until a "middle chamber" could not be had for less than 1000 +crowns. Desperate efforts were made to collect ballast for the supply +ships. Then the treasure trains from Panama began to arrive. Soldiers +marched in, escorting strings of mules carrying chests of gold and +silver, goatskins filled with bezoar stones, and bales of vicuna wool. +The town became musical with the bells of the mules' harness. Llamas +spat and hissed at the street corners. The Plaza became a scene of +gaiety and bustle. Folk arrived hourly by the muddy track from Panama. +Ships dropped anchor hourly, ringing their bells and firing salutes of +cannon. The grand fair then began, and the city would be populous and +stirring till the galleons had cleared the harbour on the voyage to +Spain. As soon as the fleet was gone the city emptied as rapidly as it +had filled. The merchants and merry-makers vanished back to Panama, and +the thirty odd wretched souls who stayed, began their dreary vigil until +the next year, when the galleons returned. In 1584, on the report of +Antonio Baptista, surveyor to the King of Spain, the trade was removed +to Porto Bello, a beautiful bay, discovered and named by Columbus, lying +some twenty miles farther to the west. It is a good harbour for all +winds, and offers every convenience for the careening of vessels. The +surveyor thought it in every way a superior harbour. "Neither," he +writes, "will so many die there as there daily doe in Nombre de +Dios." By the middle of the seventeenth century the ruins of the old +town were barely discernible; but all traces of them have long since +disappeared. Dampier (writing of the year 1682) says that: "I have lain +ashore in the place where that City stood; but it is all overgrown with +Wood; so as toe leave noe sign that any Town hath been there." A thick +green cane brake has overgrown the Plaza. The battery has crumbled away. +The church bell which made such a clatter has long since ceased to +sound. The latest Admiralty Chart ignores the place. + +[Illustration: NOMBRE DE DIOS] + +The Cimmeroons frequently attacked the city while it was in occupation. +Once they captured and destroyed it. + +Drake visited the town a second time in 1595. It was then a "bigge" +town, having large streets and "houses very hie, all built of timber," +"one church very faire," and "a show in their shops of great store of +merchandises that had been there."[1] There was a mill above the town, +and a little watch-house "upon the top of another hill in the woods." To +the east there was a fresh river "with houses, and all about it +gardens." The native quarter was some miles away in the woods. Drake +burned the town, a deed which caused the inhabitants to migrate to Porto +Bello. It was at Nombre de Dios that Drake contracted the flux of which +he died. The town witnessed his first triumph and final discomfiture. + +[Footnote 1: This was eleven years after the royal mandate ordering the +transference of the main trade of the place to Porto Bello. Perhaps the +town retained much of the trade, in spite of the mandate, as the +transference involved the making of a new mule track across the bogs and +crags between Venta Cruz and Porto Bello. Such a track would have taken +several years to lay.] + + _Note._--The authorities for this and the following chapters are: + + 1. "Sir Francis Drake Reviv'd" (first published in 1626), by Philip + Nichols, Preacher, helped, no doubt, by Drake himself and some of + his company. 2. The scanty notice of the raid given in Hakluyt. 3. + The story of Lopez Vaz, a Portuguese, also in Hakluyt. + + For the description of Nombre de Dios I have trusted to the account + of Drake's last voyage printed in Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 587. In the + same collection there is a translation from a very interesting + report by a Spanish commissioner to the King of Spain. This paper + gives reasons for the transference of the town to Porto Bello. One + or two Ruttiers, or Mariner's Guides, make mention of the port, and + of these the best is given in Hakluyt. It is also mentioned (but + very curtly) in Herrera's History, in Dampier's Voyages, and in the + account left by Champlain after his short visit to Panama. I know of + no plan or picture of the place. The drawing reproduced here, from + Schenk's "Hecatompolis," is purely imaginary, however pretty. For my + remarks on "Cruces," or Venta Cruz, I am indebted to friends who + have lived many years in Panama, and to an interesting article in + _The Geographical Journal_ (December-July 1903, p. 325), by Colonel + G. E. Church, M. Am. Soc. C.E. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE ATTACK ON NOMBRE DE DIOS + + The treasure of the Indies--The Bastimentos--A Spanish herald + + +It may now have been ten o'clock at night, and we may reckon that the +boats were still four or five miles from the town, the lights of which, +if any burned, must have been plainly visible to the south and +south-south-west. To many of those who rocked there in the bay the +coming tussle was to be the first engagement. The night wind may have +seemed a little chilly, and the night and the strange town full of +terrors. The men fell to talking in whispers, and the constraint and +strangeness of it all, the noise of the clucking water, the cold of the +night, and the thought of what the negro lumbermen had said, began to +get upon their nerves. They talked of the strength of the town (and +indeed, although it was an open bay, without good water, it had at that +time much of the importance of Porto Bello, in the following century). +They talked "especially" of the reported troop of soldiers from Panama, +for Spanish infantry were the finest in the world, and the presence of a +company in addition to the garrison would be enough to beat off the +little band in the boats. Drake heard these conversations, and saw his +young men getting out of hand, and "thought it best to put these +conceits out of their heads." As the moon rose he persuaded them "that +it was the day dawning"--a fiction made the more easy by the +intervention of the high land between the watchers and the horizon. By +the growing light the boats stole farther in, arriving "at the towne, a +large hower sooner than first was purposed. For wee arrived there by +three of the clock after midnight." It happened that a "ship of +_Spaine_, of sixtie Tunnes, laden with Canary wines and other +commodities" had but newly arrived in the bay, "and had not yet furld +her sprit-saile." It was the custom for ships to discharge half of their +cargoes at one of the islands in the bay, so as to draw less water when +they ventured farther in. Perhaps this ship of Spain was about to +discharge her butts and tierces. At any rate her men were on deck, and +the light of the moon enabled them to see the four pinnaces, "an +extraordinary number" in so small a port, rowing hard, "with many +Oares," towards the landing. The Spaniards sent away their "Gundeloe," +or small boat (gondola, as we should say), to warn the townsmen; but +Drake edged a little to the west, cutting in between the boat and the +shore, so as to force her "to goe to th'other side of the Bay." Drake's +boats then got ashore upon the sands, not more than twenty yards from +the houses, directly under a battery. There was no quay, and no +sea-sentry save a single gunner, asleep among the guns, who fled as they +clambered up the redoubt. Inside the little fort there were six great +pieces of brass ordnance, some demi- some whole culverin, throwing shot +of 10-18 lbs. weight for a distance of a mile. It did not take long to +dismount these guns, and spike them, by beating soft metal nails into +the touch-holes, and snapping them off flush with the orifice. But +though the men worked quickly the gunner was quicker yet. He ran through +the narrow streets, shouting the alarm, and the town woke up like one +man, expecting that the Cimmeroons were on them from the woods. Someone +ran to the church, and set the great bell swinging. The windows went up, +and the doors slammed, as the townsfolk hurried to their weapons, and +out into the streets. The place rang with cries and with the rapid +beating of the drums, for the drummers ran about the streets beating +vigorously to rouse out the soldiers. Drake made the battery harmless +and set a guard of twelve men over the boats on the sand. He then +marched hurriedly to the little hill commanding the bay, to the east of +the houses; for he had heard some talk of a battery being placed there, +"which might scour round about the town," and he wished to put it out of +action before venturing upon the city. He left half his company, about +thirty men, to keep the foot of the hill, and climbed to the summit, +where he found a "very fit place prepared," but no guns in position. He +returned to the company at the foot of the mount, and bade his brother, +with John Oxnam, or Oxenham, a gallant captain, and sixteen men, "to go +about, behind the King's Treasure House, and enter near the easter end +of the Market Place." He himself with the rest would pass up the broad +street into the market-place with sound of drum and trumpet. The +firepikes, "divided half to the one, and half to the other company, +served no less for fright to the enemy than light of our men, who by +this means might discern every place very well as if it were near day." +The drums beat up gallantly, the trumpets blew points of war, and the +poor citizens, scared from their beds, and not yet sure of their enemy, +stood shivering in the dawn, "marvelling what the matter might be." In a +few moments the two companies were entering the Plaza, making a dreadful +racket as they marched, to add to the confusion of the townsfolk, who +thought them far stronger than they really were. The soldiers of the +garrison, with some of the citizens, fell into some sort of order "at +the south east end of the Market Place, near the Governor's House, and +not far from the gate of the town." They chose this position because it +secured them a retreat, in the event of a repulse, along the road to +Panama. The western end of the Plaza had been hung with lines, from +which lighted matches dangled, so that the enemy might think that troops +were there, "whereas indeed there were not past two or three that taught +these lines to dance," and even these ran away as soon as the firepikes +displayed the fraud. The church bell was still ringing at the end of the +Plaza, and the townsfolk were still crying out as they ran for Panama, +when Drake's party stormed into the square from the road leading to the +sea. As they hove in sight the Spanish troops gave them "a jolly hot +volley of shot," aimed very low, so as to ricochet from the sand. +Drake's men at once replied with a volley from their calivers and a +flight of arrows, "fine roving shafts," which did great execution. +Without waiting to reload they at once charged in upon the Spaniards, +coming at once "to push of pike" and point and edge. The hurry of the +surprise was such that the Spaniards had no side-arms, and when once the +English had closed, their troops were powerless. As the parties met, the +company under Oxenham came into the Plaza at the double, by the eastern +road, with their trumpets blowing and the firepikes alight. The +Spaniards made no further fight of it. They flung their weapons down, +and fled along the forest road. For a little distance the cheering +sailors followed them, catching their feet in muskets and linstocks, +which the troops had flung away in their hurry. + +Having dispersed the enemy, the men reformed in the Plaza, "where a tree +groweth hard by the Cross." Some hands were detailed to stop the ringing +of the alarm bell, which still clanged crazily in the belfry; but the +church was securely fastened, and it was found impossible to stop the +ringing without setting the place on fire, which Drake forbade. While +the men were trying to get into the church, Drake forced two or three +prisoners to show him the Governor's house, where the mule trains from +Panama were unloaded. Only the silver was stored in that place; for the +gold, pearls, and jewels, "being there once entered by the King's +officer," were locked in a treasure-house, "very strongly built of lime +and stone," at a little distance from the Cross, not far from the +water-side. At the Governor's house they found the door wide open, and +"a fair gennet ready saddled" waiting for the Governor to descend. A +torch or candle was burning on the balcony, and by its light the +adventurers saw "a huge heap of silver" in the open space beneath the +dwelling-rooms. It was a pile of bars of silver, heaped against the wall +in a mass that was roughly estimated to be seventy feet in length, ten +feet across, and twelve feet high--each bar weighing about forty pounds. +The men were for breaking their ranks in order to plunder the pile; but +Drake bade them stand to their arms. The King's treasure-house, he said, +contained more gold and pearls than they could take away; and presently, +he said, they would break the place open, and see what lay within. He +then marched his men back into the Plaza. + +All this time the town was filled with confusion. Guns were being fired +and folk were crying out in the streets. It was not yet light, and +certain of the garrison, who had been quartered outside the city, ran to +and fro with burning matches, shouting out "Que gente? Que gente?" The +town at that time was very full of people, and this noise and confusion, +and the sight of so many running figures, began to alarm the boat guard +on the beach. One Diego, a negro, who had joined them on the sands, had +told them that the garrison had been reinforced only eight days before +by 150 Spanish soldiers. + +This report, coupled with the anxiety of their position, seems to have +put the boat party into a panic. They sent off messengers to Drake, +saying that the pinnaces were "in danger to be taken," and that the +force would be overwhelmed as soon as it grew light enough for the +Spaniards to see the littleness of the band which had attacked them. +Diego's words confirmed the statements of the lumbermen at the Isles of +Pines. The men of Drake's party were young. They had never fought +before. They had been on the rack, as it were, for several days. They +were now quite out of hand, and something of their panic began to spread +among the party on the Plaza. Before Drake could do more than despatch +his brother, with John Oxenham, to reassure the guard, and see how +matters stood, the situation became yet more complicated. "A mighty +shower of rain, with a terrible storm of thunder and lightning," burst +furiously upon them, making such a roaring that none could hear his own +voice. As in all such storms, the rain came down in a torrent, hiding +the town from view in a blinding downpour. The men ran for the shelter +of "a certain shade or penthouse, at the western end of the King's +Treasure House," but before they could gain the cover some of their +bowstrings were wetted "and some of our match and powder hurt." As soon +as the shelter had been reached, the bowstrings were shifted, the guns +reprimed, and the match changed upon the linstocks. While the +industrious were thus employed, a number of the hands began talking of +the reports which had reached them from the boats. They were "muttering +of the forces of the town," evidently anxious to be gone from thence, or +at least stirring. Drake heard the muttered talk going up and down the +shed, and promptly told the men that he had brought them to the mouth of +the Treasure of the World, and that if they came away without it they +might blame nobody but themselves. + +At the end of a "long half-hour" the storm began to abate, and Drake +felt that he must put an end to the panic. It was evidently dangerous +to allow the men any "longer leisure to demur of those doubts," nor was +it safe to give the enemy a chance of rallying. He stepped forward, +bidding his brother, with John Oxenham and his party, to break open the +King's treasure-house, while he, with the remainder of the hands, +maintained the Plaza. "But as he stepped forward his strength and sight +and speech failed him, and he began to faint for want of blood." He had +been hit in the leg with a bullet at the first encounter, yet in the +greatness of his heart he had not complained, although suffering +considerable pain. He had seen that many of his men had "already gotten +many good things" from the booths and houses in the Plaza, and he knew +very well that these men would take the first opportunity to slink away +down to the boats. He had, therefore, said nothing about his wound, nor +was it light enough for his men to see that he was bleeding. On his +fainting they noticed that the sand was bloody, "the blood having filled +the very first prints which our footsteps made"--a sight which amazed +and dismayed them, for they "thought it not credible" that a man should +"spare so much blood and live." They gave him a cordial to drink, +"wherewith he recovered himself," and bound his scarf about his leg "for +the stopping of the blood." They then entreated him "to be content to go +with them aboard," there to have his wound probed and dressed before +adventuring farther. This did not satisfy Drake, for he knew very well +that if the Spaniards rallied, the town would be lost, for it was +"utterly impossible, at least very unlikely, that ever they should, for +that time, return again, to recover the state in which they now were." +He begged them to leave him where he was, and to get the treasure, for +"it were more honourable for himself to jeopard his life for so great a +benefit, than to leave off so high an enterprise unperformed." But to +this the men would not listen. With Drake, their captain, alive "they +might recover wealth sufficient" at any time, but with Drake dead "they +should hardly be able to recover home." Those who had picked up a little +booty in the raid were only too glad of an excuse to get to the boats, +while those who were most eager to break the treasure-house, would not +allow Drake to put his life in hazard. Drake, poor man, was spent with +loss of blood, and could not reason with them, so that, "with force +mingled with fair entreaty, they bare him aboard his pinnace, and so +abandoned a most rich spoil for the present, only to preserve their +Captain's life." It was just daybreak when they got to the boats, so +that they were able to take stock of each other in the early morning +light before shoving off from the beach. They had lost but one man, "a +trumpeter," who was shot dead in the Plaza in the first assault, "his +Trumpet still in his hand." Many were wounded, but the Captain's wound +seems to have been the most serious. As they rowed out from the town the +surgeons among them provided remedies and salves for the wounded. As +they neared the open sea the men took the opportunity to attack "the +aforesaid ship of wines," for "the more comfort of the company." They +made her a prize with no great trouble, but before they got her clear of +the haven they received a shot or two from the dismantled battery. One +of the culverins which they had tumbled to the ground was remounted by +some of the garrison, "so as they made a shot at us." The shot did not +hit the mark, and the four boats, with their prize, got clear away to +the Isle of Bastimentos, or Isle of Victuals, about a league to the +westward of the harbour. They stayed there for the next two days, to +cure the wounded men and to refresh themselves, "in the goodly gardens +which we there found." The island was stocked with dainty roots and +fruits, "besides great plenty of poultry," for it served the citizens as +a farm and market-garden, "from which their fresh provisions were +derived." Soon after they had come to anchor, and established themselves +among the fruit-trees, a flag of truce came off from the Governor of the +city. It was carried by a Spanish captain, who had come to Nombre de +Dios with the company of troops from Panama. He was a handsome +gentleman, of a delicate carriage and of an elaborate politeness. He was +come, of course, as a spy, but he began with the assurance that he came +"of mere good will," to see the heroes who had attempted the town with +so small a party. At the first, he said, the townsfolk had thought them +Frenchmen, from whom they looked for little mercy, but that afterwards, +when the arrows had shown them that they were English, they had less +fear, for they knew the humanity of that race. Although, he said, his +curiosity to see such brave folk were sufficient warrant for his +adventuring among them, he had also a commission from the Governor. That +gentleman wished to know whether their captain was the same Captain +Drake, of whom some of the townsfolk talked as being so kind to his +prisoners. He then asked whether the arrows used in the battle in the +Plaza had been poisoned, for many Spaniards had been wounded by them, +and would fain know how to treat the wounds. Lastly he wished to know +whether they were in need of victuals or other necessaries, pledging the +Governor's word that he would do all he could to supply anything they +wanted. The questions seem to us a little transparent, and so they +seemed to Drake, but Drake was always a courteous and ceremonious +gentleman. He replied that he was the Captain Drake they meant; that "it +was never his manner to use poisoned arrows"; that the wounds could be +cured by the usual methods; and that as for wants, the Isle of +Bastimentos would supply him. He wanted nothing, he said, "but some of +that special commodity which that country yielded." And, therefore, he +advised the Governor "to hold open his eyes, for before he departed, if +God lent him life and leave, he meant to reap some of their harvest, +which they got out of the earth, and send into Spain to trouble all the +earth." The answer seems to have nettled the Spanish spy, for he asked +("if he might, without offence, move such a question") why the English +had left the town when 360 tons of silver, with gold to a far greater +value, had been lying at their mercy. Drake showed him the "true cause" +of his unwilling retreat to the pinnaces. The answer moved the Spaniard +to remark that "the English had no less reason in departing, than +courage in attempting,"--a remark made with a mental note that the +townsfolk would be well advised to leave this Drake alone on his island, +without sending boats out to attack him. Drake then entertained the spy +to dinner, "with great favour and courteous entertainment, and such +gifts as most contented him." As he made his way to his boat after +dinner he vowed and protested that "he was never so much honoured of any +in his life." He must have had a curious story for the Governor when he +got ashore to the town. + +As soon as the trumpets had sounded the departure of the flag of truce, +Drake sent for Diego, the negro, who had joined the boat party in the +morning. From Diego he learned many "intelligences of importance," none +of them, perhaps, more grateful to Drake than the news that his name was +highly honoured among the Maroons or Cimmeroons. Diego begged that Drake +would give him an opportunity of treating with the chiefs of these +savages, as by their help, he said, they "might have gold and silver +enough." The matter was debated among the company, while Drake gave +effect to another of his plans. Not more than thirty miles away along +the coast was a certain river, "the River of Chagres," which trended in +a south-easterly direction towards Panama across the isthmus. It was +navigable to within six leagues of Panama, and at the point to which it +was navigable there stood "a little town called Venta Cruz." When the +road from Panama to Nombre de Dios was impracticable, owing to the +rains, or the raids of the Maroons, the treasure was carried to Venta +Cruz, and there shipped aboard swift vessels, built for oars and sails, +which carried the precious stuff to Nombre de Dios. Drake had a mind to +look into Venta Cruz to surprise some of the treasure on its way. He, +therefore, sent away his brother, with two pinnaces and a steady man +named Ellis Hixom, to examine the Chagres River, and to bring back a +report of its fitness for boats such as theirs. Having seen them stand +to the west, Drake ordered his men aboard early in the morning of the +31st July. The sweeps were shipped and the sails hoisted, and the +pinnaces made off with their captured wine ship to rejoin Captain Rause +at the Isles of Pines, or Port Plenty. They arrived at their haven on +the evening of the 1st of August, after a sail of thirty-six hours. +Captain Rause was angry that the raid had not been more successful, and +felt that it was useless to stay longer in those seas, now that the +Spaniards knew that they were on the coast. He waited till the pinnaces +returned from Chagres River, as some of his hands were in them; but as +soon as they arrived he parted company, after dissolving partnership +with Drake. Drake seems to have been glad to see him go. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CRUISE OFF THE MAIN + + The cruise of the pinnaces--Cartagena--The secret haven--Death of + John Drake + + +While they were waiting for the pinnaces Drake had the ships set in +order, the arms scoured, and everything made ready for the next +adventure. He had taken Nombre de Dios so easily that he felt confident +of treating Cartagena, the chiefest town in those waters, in the same +way. On the 7th of August he set sail for Cartagena with his two ships +and three pinnaces, making no attempt upon the mainland as he sailed, as +he did not wish to be discovered. He met with calms and light airs on +the passage, and did not arrive off Cartagena until the evening of the +13th August. He came to anchor in seven-fathom water between the islands +of Charesha (which we cannot now identify) and St Barnards, now known as +San Barnardo. As soon as the sails were furled, Drake manned his three +pinnaces, and rowed about the island into the harbour of Cartagena, +"where, at the very entry, he found a frigate at anchor." He hooked on +to her chains, and boarded her, finding her an easy spoil, for she had +been left in the care of "only one old man." They asked this old sailor +where the rest of the company had gone. He answered that they were gone +ashore in their gundeloe that evening, to fight about a mistress, adding +that about two hours before, a pinnace had gone past under sail, with +her oars out, and the men rowing furiously. Her men had hailed his +vessel as they passed, asking whether any French or English men had been +there. Upon answer that there had been none they bade him look to +himself, and rowed on up the coast. Within an hour of their going past +the harbour the city batteries had fired many cannon, as though some +danger were toward. One of the old man's mates had then gone aloft "to +descry what might be the cause." He had looked over the narrow neck of +land which shuts the harbour from the sea, and had espied "divers +frigates and small shipping bringing themselves within the Castle." This +report showed Drake that he had been discovered, but the information did +not greatly move him. He gathered from the old mariner that a great ship +of Seville lay moored just round the next point, with her yards across, +"being bound the next morning for St Domingo," or Hispaniola. Drake +"took this old man into his pinnace to verify that which he had +informed, and rowed towards this ship." As he drew near, the Spanish +mariners hailed them, asking "whence the shallops came." Drake answered: +"From Nombre de Dios." His answer set the Spaniards cursing and damning +him for a heretic English buccaneer. "We gave no heed to their words," +says the narrative, but hooked on to the chains and ports, on the +starboard bow, starboard quarter, and port beam, and laid her aboard +without further talk. It was something of a task to get on board, for +the ship stood high in the water, being of 240 tons, (and as far as we +can judge) in ballast. Having gained the ship's waist they tossed the +gratings and hatch covers down into the lower decks. The Spaniards gave +up the ship without fighting, and retired, with their weapons, to the +hold. Two or three of their younger seamen went forward, and hid in the +manger, where they were found as soon as the dark decks were lit by a +lantern from the pinnaces. The raiders then cut the ship's cables, and +towed her "without the island into the sound right afore the town," just +beyond the shot of the citizens' great guns. As they towed her out, the +town took the alarm, the bells were rung, thirty great cannon were +fired, and the garrison, both horse and foot, well armed with calivers, +marched down "to the very point of the wood," to impeach them "if they +might" in their going out to sea. The next morning (Drake being still +within the outer harbour) he captured two Spanish frigates "in which +there were two, who called themselves King's Scrivanos [notaries] the +one of Cartagena, the other of Veragua." The boats, which were sparsely +manned, had been at Nombre de Dios at the time of the raid. They were +now bound for Cartagena with double letters of advice, "to certify that +Captain Drake had been at Nombre de Dios, and taken it; and had it not +been that he was hurt with some blessed shot, by all likelihood he had +sacked it. He was yet still upon the coast," ran the letter, "and they +should therefore carefully prepare for him." + +Sailing out of the haven (by the Boca Chica, or Little Mouth) Drake set +his pinnaces ashore, and stood away to the San Barnardo Islands, to the +south of the town, where he found "great store of fish" as a change of +diet for his men. He then cruised up and down among the islands, +considering what he should attempt. He had been discovered at the two +chief cities on the Main, but he had not yet made his voyage (_i.e._ it +had not yet paid expenses), and until he had met with the Maroons, and +earned "a little comfortable dew of Heaven," he meant to stay upon the +coast. He, therefore, planned to diminish his squadron, for with the two +ships to keep it was difficult to man the pinnaces, and the pinnaces had +proved peculiarly fitted for the work in hand. With one ship destroyed, +and the other converted into a storeship, his movements would, he +thought, be much less hampered; "but knowing the affection of his +company, how loath they were to leave either of their ships, being both +so good sailers and so well furnished; he purposed in himself some +policy to make them most willing to effect what he intended." He, +therefore, sent for Thomas Moone, who was carpenter aboard the _Swan_, +and held a conference with him in the cabin. Having pledged him to +secrecy, he gave him an order to scuttle that swift little ship in the +middle of the second watch, or two in the morning. He was "to go down +secretly into the well of the ship, and with a spike-gimlet to bore +three holes, as near the keel as he could, and lay something against it +[oakum or the like] that the force of the water entering, might make no +great noise, nor be discovered by a boiling up." Thomas Moone "at the +hearing hereof" was utterly dismayed, for to him the project seemed flat +burglary as ever was committed. Why, he asked, should the Captain want +to sink so good a ship, a ship both "new and strong," in which they had +sailed together in two "rich and gainfull" voyages? If the Captain's +brother (John Drake, who was master of the _Swan_) and the rest of the +company (twenty-six hands in all) should catch him at such practices he +thought verily they would heave him overboard. However, Drake promised +that the matter should be kept secret "till all of them should be glad +of it." On these terms Moone consented to scuttle the _Swan_ that night. + +The next morning, a little after daybreak, Drake called away his +pinnace, "proposing to go a-fishing." Rowing down to the _Swan_ he +hailed her, asking his brother to go with him. John Drake was in his +bunk at the time, and replied that "he would follow presently," or if it +would please him to stay a very little he would attend him. Drake saw +that the deed was done; for the _Swan_ was slowly settling. He would +not stay for his brother, but asked casually, "as making no great +account of it," why their barque was so deep in the sea. John Drake +thought little of the question, but sent a man down to the steward, who +had charge of the hold, to inquire "whether there were any water in the +ship, or what other cause might be?" The steward, "hastily stepping down +at his usual scuttle," was wet to the waist before he reached the foot +of the ladder. Very greatly scared he hurried out of the hold, "as if +the water had followed him," crying out that the ship was full of water. +John Drake at once called all hands to mend ship, sending some below to +find the leak and the remainder to the pumps. The men turned to "very +willingly," so that "there was no need to hasten them," and John Drake +left them at their work while he reported the "strange chance" to his +brother. He could not understand how it had happened. They had not +pumped twice in six weeks before, and now they had six feet of water in +the hold. He hoped his brother would give him "leave from attending him +in fishing," as he wished to find the leak without delay. Drake offered +to send the _Pascha's_ men abroad to take a spell at the pumps, but this +John Drake did not wish. He had men enough, he said; and he would like +his brother to continue his fishing, so that they might have fresh fish +for dinner. On getting back to the _Swan_ he found that the pumps had +gained very little on the leak, "yet such was their love to the bark, +... that they ceased not, but to the utmost of their strength laboured +all that they might, till three in the afternoon." By that time the +_Pascha's_ men, helped by Drake himself, had taken turn about at the +pump brakes, and the pumping had been carried on for eight or nine hours +without ceasing. The pumping had freed her only about a foot and a half, +and the leak was still undiscovered. The men were tired out, for the +sun was now at his hottest, and Drake adds slyly that they "had now a +less liking of her than before, and greater content to hear of some +means for remedy." We gather from what follows, that when he asked them +what they wished to do, they left it all to him. He, therefore, +suggested that John Drake should go aboard the _Pascha_ as her captain. +He himself, he said, would shift into a pinnace; while the _Swan_ should +be set on fire, and abandoned as soon as her gear was taken out of her. +The pinnaces came aboard the sinking ship, and the men pillaged her of +all her stores. Powder, tar, and the like were scattered about her +decks; and she was then set on fire, and watched until she sank. Thus +"our Captain had his desire, and men enough for his pinnaces." + +The next morning, the 16th August, the squadron bore away for the Gulf +of Darien, to find some secret harbour where they might leave the ship +at anchor, "not discoverable by the enemy," who thereby might imagine +them quite departed from the coast. Drake intended to take two of the +pinnaces along the Main as soon as they had hidden away the _Pascha_, +for he was minded to go a cruise up the Rio Grande, or Magdalena River. +In his absence John Drake was to take the third pinnace, with Diego, the +negro, as a guide, to open up communications with the Cimmeroons. By the +21st of August they arrived in the Gulf; and Drake sought out a secret +anchorage, far from any trade route, where the squadron might lie +quietly till the fame of their being on the coast might cease. They +found a place suited to their needs, and dropped their anchors in its +secret channels, in "a fit and convenient road," where a sailor might +take his ease over a rum bowl. Drake took his men ashore, and cleared a +large plot of ground "both of trees and brakes" as a site for a little +village, trimly thatched with palm leaves, which was built by Diego, +the negro, after the Indian fashion, for the "more comfort of the +company." The archers made themselves butts to shoot at, because they +had "many that delighted in that exercise and wanted not a fletcher to +keep the bows and arrows in order." The rest of the company, "every one +as he liked best," disported merrily at bowls and quoits, fleeting the +time carelessly as they did in the Golden Age. "For our Captain allowed +one half of the company to pass their time thus, every other day +interchangeable," the other half of the crew being put to the provision +of fresh food and the necessary work aboard the vessels. Drake took +especial interest in trying the powers of the pinnaces, trimming them in +every conceivable way, so as to learn their capacity under any +circumstance. The smiths set up their forge, "being furnished out of +England with anvil, iron, and coals" (surely Drake never forgot +anything), which stood the expedition "in great stead," for, no doubt, +there was much iron-work that needed repair. The country swarmed with +conies, hogs, deer, and fowl, so that the men lived upon fresh meat, or +upon the fish in the creeks, "whereof there was great plenty." The woods +were full of wholesome fruits, though, perhaps, the water of the +neighbouring rivers was not quite all that could be wished. They stayed +in this pleasant haven for fifteen days, at the end of which Drake took +his two pinnaces, leaving John Drake behind in charge of the _Pascha_ +and the remaining pinnace, and sailed away along the coast to explore +the Rio Grande. He kept the pinnaces far out at sea to avoid discovery, +and landed on the 8th of September about six miles to the westward of +the river's mouth, in order to obtain some fresh beef from the Indian +cowherds. The district was then rich pasture-land, as rich as the modern +pastures in Argentina. It was grazed over by vast herds of cattle, +savage and swift, which the Spaniards placed in charge of Indian +cowboys. When the beeves were slaughtered, their meat was dried into +charqui, or "boucanned," over a slow fire, into which the hide was +thrown. It was then sent down to Cartagena, for the provisioning of the +galleons going home. The province (Nueva Reyna) was less pestilential +than its westward neighbours. Sugar was grown there in the semi-marshy +tracts near the river. Gold was to be found there in considerable +quantities, and there were several pearl fisheries upon the coasts. The +district was more populous than any part of Spanish America, for it was +not only healthier, but more open, affording little cover for Maroons. + +[Illustration: CARTAGENA] + +On landing, Drake met some Indians in charge of a herd of steers. They +asked him in broken Spanish "What they would have." Drake gave them to +understand that he wished to buy some fresh meat, upon which they picked +out several cattle "with ease and so readily, as if they had a special +commandment over them, whereas they would not abide us to come near +them." The Indians have just that skill in handling cattle which the +negroes have in handling mules. They did Drake this service willingly, +"because our Captain, according to his custom, contented them for their +pains with such things as they account greatly of." He left them in high +good humour, promising him that if he came again he should have what he +desired of them. Drake left the shore as soon as his pinnaces were laden +with fresh meat, and sailed on up the coast till he reached the lesser, +or western, mouth of the Rio Grande, "where we entered about three of +the clock." The river runs with a great fierceness, so that the hands +were able to draw fresh water "for their beverage" a mile and a half +from the mouth. It was a current almost too fierce to row against in the +hot sun, so that five hours' hard rowing only brought them six miles on +their way upstream. They then moored the pinnaces to a great tree that +grew on the bank. They ate their suppers in that place, hoping to pass a +quiet evening, but with the darkness there came such a terrible +thunderstorm "as made us not a little to marvel at," though Drake +assured the younger men that in that country such storms soon passed. It +wetted them to the bone, no doubt, but within three-quarters of an hour +it had blown over and become calm. Immediately the rain had ceased, the +air began to hum with many wings, and forth came "a kind of flies of +that country, called mosquitoes, like our gnats," which bit them +spitefully as they lay in the bottoms of the boats. It was much too hot +to lie beneath a blanket, and the men did not know how to kindle a +"smudge" of smouldering aromatic leaves. They had no pork fat nor +paraffin to rub upon their hands and faces, according to the modern +practice, and "the juice of lemons," which gave them a little relief, +must have been a poor substitute. "We could not rest all that night," +says the narrative. At daybreak the next morning they rowed away from +that place, "rowing in the eddy" along the banks, where the current +helped them. Where the eddy failed, as in swift and shallow places, they +hauled the boats up with great labour by making a hawser fast to a tree +ahead, and hauling up to it, as on a guess-warp. The work of rowing, or +warping, was done by spells, watch and watch, "each company their +half-hour glass," till about three in the afternoon, by which time they +had come some fifteen miles. They passed two Indians who sat in a canoe +a-fishing; but the Indians took them to be Spaniards, and Drake let them +think so, for he did not wish to be discovered. About an hour later they +espied "certain houses on the other side of the river," a mile or so +from them, the river being very broad--so great, says the narrative, +"that a man can scantly be discerned from side to side." A Spaniard, +who had charge of those houses, espied them from the vantage of the +bank, and promptly kindled a smoke "for a signal to turn that way," +being lonely up there in the wilds, and anxious for news of the world. +As they rowed across the current to him he waved to them "with his hat +and his long hanging sleeves" to come ashore, but as soon as he +perceived them to be foreigners he took to his heels, and fled from the +river-side. The adventurers found that he was a sort of store or +warehouse keeper, in charge of five houses "all full of white rusk, +dried bacon, that country cheese (like Holland cheese in fashion--_i.e._ +round--but far more delicate in taste, of which they send into Spain as +special presents), many sorts of sweetmeats, and conserves; with great +store of sugar: being provided to serve the fleet returning to Spain." +As they loaded their pinnaces with these provisions they talked with a +poor Indian woman, who told them that about thirty trading vessels were +expected from Cartagena. The news caused them to use despatch in their +lading, so that by nightfall they were embarked again, and rowing +downstream against the wind. The Spaniards of Villa del Rey, a city some +two miles inland from the storehouses, endeavoured to hinder their +passage by marching their Indians to the bushes on the river-bank, and +causing them to shoot their arrows as the boats rowed past. They did not +do any damage to the adventurers, who rowed downstream a few miles, and +then moored their boats for the night. Early the next morning they +reached the mouth of the river, and here they hauled ashore to put the +pinnaces in trim. The provisions were unloaded, and the boats thoroughly +cleansed, after which the packages were stowed securely, so as to +withstand the tossings of the seas. The squadron then proceeded to the +westward, going out of their course for several miles in order to +overhaul a Spanish barque. They "imagined she had some gold or treasure +going for Spain," but on search in her hold they could find only sugar +and hides. They, therefore, let her go, and stood off again for the +secret harbour. The next day they took some five or six small frigates, +bound from Santiago de Tolu to Cartagena, with ladings of "live hogs, +hens, and maize, which we call Guinea wheat." They examined the crews of +these ships for news "of their preparations for us," and then dismissed +them, reserving only two of the half-dozen prizes "because they were so +well stored with good victuals." Three days later they arrived at the +hidden anchorage, which Drake called Port Plenty, because of abundance +of "good victuals" that they took while lying there. Provision ships +were passing continually, either to Nombre de Dios or Cartagena, with +food for the citizens or for the victualling of the plate fleets. "So +that if we had been two thousand, yea, three thousand, persons, we might +with our pinnaces easily have provided them sufficient victuals of wine, +meal, rusk, cassavi (a kind of bread made of a root called Yucca, whose +juice is poison, but the substance good and wholesome), dried beef, +dried fish, live sheep, live hogs, abundance of hens, besides the +infinite store of dainty fresh fish, very easily to be taken every day." +So much food was taken, that the company, under the direction of Diego, +the negro, were forced to build "four several magazines or storehouses, +some ten, some twenty leagues asunder," on the Main, or on the islands +near it, for its storage. They intended to stay upon the coast until +their voyage was "made," and, therefore, needed magazines of the kind +for the future plenishing of their lazarettoes. We read that Diego, the +negro, was of special service to them in the building of these houses, +for, like all the Maroons, he was extremely skilful at the craft. They +were probably huts of mud and wattle, thatched with palm leaves, "with a +Sort of Door made of Macaw-Wood, and Bamboes." From these magazines +Drake relieved two French ships "in extreme want"; while his men and +their allies the Cimmeroons lived at free quarters all the time they +stayed there. + +While the Captain had been cruising up the Magdalena, his brother, John +Drake, had been westward along the coast with Diego, "the Negro +aforesaid," in his pinnace. Diego had landed on the coast to talk with +"certain of the Cimmeroons," who exchanged hostages with Drake's party, +and agreed upon a meeting-place at a little river midway between the +Cabezas, or "Headlands," and the anchorage. Drake talked with these +hostages as soon as he arrived from the seas. He found them two "very +sensible men," most ready to help him against the common enemy. They +told him that "their Nation conceited great joy of his arrivall"; for +they had heard of Nombre de Dios and of his former raids upon the coast, +and gladly welcomed the suggested alliance. Their chief and tribe, they +said, were encamped near the aforementioned little river, the Rio Diego, +to await Drake's decision. Having compared the talk of these men with +the reports he had gathered from the Indian cowherds and Spanish +prisoners, he consulted his brother (who had seen the Maroons at the Rio +Diego camp), and asked "those of best service with him" what were +fittest to be done. John Drake advised that the ships should proceed to +the westward, to the Rio Diego, for near the mouth of that stream he had +discovered a choice hiding-place. It could be reached by many channels, +but only by the most careful pilotage, for the channels were full of +rocks and shoals. The channels twisted sluggishly among a multitude of +islands, which were gorgeous with rhododendron shrubs, and alive with +butterflies, blue and scarlet, that sunned themselves, in blots of +colour, upon the heavy green leaves. Among the blossomed branches there +were parrots screaming, and the little hummingbirds, like flying jewels, +darting from flower to flower. Up above them the great trees towered, +shutting out the sight of the sea, so that a dozen ships might have lain +in that place without being observed from the open water. The +description of this hiding-place moved Drake to proceed thither at once +with his two pinnaces, the two Maroons, and his brother John, giving +orders for the ship to follow the next morning. The pinnaces arrived +there the next day, and found the Cimmeroons encamped there, some of +them at the river's mouth, the others "in a wood by the river's side." A +solemn feast was prepared, at which the Maroons gave "good testimonies +of their joy and good will" towards the adventurers. After the feast, +the tribe marched away to the Rio Guana, intending to meet with another +tribe, at that time camped among the hills. The pinnaces returned from +Rio Diego, wondering why the ship had not arrived, and anxious for her +safety. They found her, on the 16th September, in the place where they +had left her, "but in far other state," for a tempest had set her on her +side, and sorely spoiled her trim, so that it took two days to repair +the damage done. A pinnace was then despatched to the Rio Diego +anchorage, to go "amongst the shoals and sandy places, to sound out the +channel." On the 19th of September the _Pascha_ was warily piloted to +moorings, "with much ado to recover the road among so many flats and +shoals." Her berth was about five leagues from the Cativaas, or Catives, +"betwixt an island and the Main"--the island being about half-a-mile +from the shore, some three acres in extent, "flat, and very full of +trees and bushes." + +The anchors were hardly in the ground, when the friendly tribe of +Cimmeroons appeared upon the shore, with several others whom they had +met in the mountains. They were all fetched aboard, "to their great +comfort and our content," and a council was held forthwith. Drake then +asked the chiefs how they could help him to obtain some gold and silver. +They replied that nothing could be done for another five months, because +the autumn, the rainy season, was upon them, during which time no +treasure would be moved from Panama. Had they known that he wanted gold, +they said, they would have satisfied him, for they had taken a great +store from the Spaniards in a foray, and had flung it into the rivers, +which were now too high for them to hope to recover it by diving. He +must, therefore, wait, they said, till the rains had ceased in the +coming March, when they could attack a treasure train together. The +answer was a little unexpected, but not unpleasant, for Drake was +willing to remain on the coast for another year if need were. He at once +resolved to build himself a fort upon the island, "for the planting of +all our ordnance therein, and for our safeguard, if the enemy in all +this time, should chance to come." The Cimmeroons cut down a number of +Palmito boughs and branches, and soon had two large sheds built, both +trim and watertight, for the housing of the company. The boats were then +sent ashore to the Main to bring over timber for the building of the +fortress. This stronghold was built in the shape of a triangle, with a +deep ditch all round it. + +[Illustration: CARTAGENA IN 1586, SHOWING THE DOUBLE HARBOUR + THE SHIP IN THE FOREGROUND MAY BE DRAKE'S FLAGSHIP, THE + _BONAVENTURE_] + +The building was a full thirteen feet in height, built of tree boles +from the Main, with earth from the trench to take the place of mortar. +The ship's guns were hoisted out of the ship and rafted over to the +fortress, and there mounted at the embrasures. For platforms for the +guns they used the planks of one of the frigates captured near +Cartagena. When the heavy work of lumber handling had been finished, but +before the fort was ready for use, Drake took John Oxenham, with two of +the pinnaces, upon a cruise to the east. He feared that a life of ease +ashore would soon make his mariners discontented and eager to be home. +It was, therefore, necessary to invent distractions for them. Instead of +going at once towards his quarry he sailed along leisurely, close to the +coast, stopping a night at one little island for a feast on a kind of +bird like spur-kites, the flesh of which was very delicate. He stopped +another night at another island, because "of a great kind of shellfish +of a foot long," which the company called whelks. As soon as these +delectable islands had been left astern, the pinnaces "hauled off into +the sea," across the bright, sunny water, blue and flashing, gleaming +with the silver arrows of the flying-fish, in order to make the Isles of +San Barnardo. They chased two frigates ashore before they came to +moorings, after which they scrubbed and trimmed their boats, spent a day +fishing from the rocks, and set sail again for Santiago de Tolu. Here +they landed in a garden, close to the city, to the delight of some +Indians who were working there. After bargaining together for the garden +stuff the Indians left their bows and arrows with the sailors while they +ran to pluck "many sorts of dainty fruits and roots," such as the garden +yielded. Drake paid for the green stuff, and had it taken aboard, after +inquiring strictly as to the state of the country and the plate fleets. +The company then rowed away for Cartagena, eating their "mellions and +winter cherries" with a good appetite. They rowed through the Boca +Chica, or Little Mouth, into the splendid harbour, where they set sail, +"having the wind large," towards the inner haven and the city. They +anchored "right over against the goodly Garden Island," where the fruit +was a sore temptation to the seamen, who longed to rob the trees. Drake +would not allow them to land, for he feared an ambush, and, indeed, a +few hours later, as they passed by the point of the island, they were +fired at from the orchards with "a volley of a hundred shot," one of +which wounded a sailor. There was little to be done in the harbour, so +they put to sea again. They took a barque the next morning about six +miles from the port. She was a ship of fifty tons, laden with soap and +sweetmeats, bound from St Domingo towards Cartagena. She was armed with +"swords, targets and some small shot, besides four iron bases." Her +captain and passengers had slipped ashore in the boat as soon as they +had spied the pinnaces, but the captain's silken flag, woven in colours, +with his coat-of-arms, had been left behind as a spoil. Having sent her +company ashore, "saving a young Negro two or three years old, which we +brought away," they sailed her into Cartagena harbour, with the pinnaces +towing astern. They anchored at the mouth of the inner haven to await +events. During the afternoon the Scrivano, or King's notary, +aforementioned, rode down "to the point by the wood side" with a little +troop of horsemen. The Scrivano displayed a flag of truce, and came +aboard, to worry Drake with his oily lawyer's manner and elaborate, +transparent lies. He promised to obtain fresh meat for him as a slight +return for "his manifold favours, etc." but Drake saw that it was but a +plot of the Governor's to keep him in the port till they could trap him. +He thanked the supple liar, kept a good lookout throughout the night, +and stood to sea as soon as the sun rose. He took two frigates the next +day, just outside the harbour. They were small boats in ballast, one of +twelve, one of fifty tons, bound for St Domingo. He brought them to +anchor in a bravery, "within saker shot of the east Bulwark," and then +dismissed their mariners ashore. On the 21st October, the morning after +this adventure, the Spaniards sent a flag of truce to the headland at +the mouth of the Boca Chica. Drake manned one of his pinnaces, and rowed +ashore to see what they wanted. When about 200 yards from the point the +Spaniards fled into the wood, as though afraid of the boat's +guns--hoping, no doubt, that Drake would follow, and allow them to +ambush him. Drake dropped his grapnel over the stern of the pinnace, and +veered the boat ashore, little by little, till the bows grated on the +sand. As she touched he leaped boldly ashore, in sight of the Spanish +troops, "to declare that he durst set his foot a land." The Spaniards +seem to have made a rush towards him, whereupon he got on board again, +bade his men warp the boat out by the cable, and "rid awhile," some 100 +yards from the shore, in the smooth green water, watching the fish +finning past the weeds. Seeing that Drake was less foolish than they had +hoped, the Spaniards came out upon the sands, at the edge of the wood, +and bade one of their number take his clothes off, to swim to the boat +with a message. The lad stripped, and swam off to the boat, "as with a +Message from the Governor," asking them why they had come to the coast, +and why they stayed there. Drake replied that he had come to trade, "for +he had tin, pewter, cloth, and other merchandise that they needed," with +which reply the youth swam back to the soldiers. After some talk upon +the sands, the men-at-arms sent him back with an answer. "The King," +they said, "had forbidden them to traffic with any foreign nation, for +any commodities, except powder and shot; of which, if he had any store, +they would be his merchants." Drake answered that he had come all the +way from England to exchange his commodities for gold and silver, and +had little will to return "without his errand." He told them that, in +his opinion, they were "like to have little rest" if they would not +traffic with him fairly in the way of business. He then gave the +messenger "a fair shirt for a reward," and despatched him back to his +masters. The lad rolled the shirt about his head in the Indian fashion, +and swam back "very speedily," using, perhaps, the swift Indian stroke. +He did not return that day, though Drake waited for him until sunset, +when the pinnace pulled slowly back to the two frigates, "within saker +shot [or three-quarters of a mile] of the east Bulwark." The adventurers +lay there all that night, expecting to be attacked. The guns were +loaded, and cartridges made ready, and a strict lookout was kept. At +dawn they saw two sails running down towards them from the Boca Chica on +a fresh easterly breeze. Drake manned his two pinnaces, leaving the +frigates empty, expecting to have a fight for their possession. Before +he came within gunshot of the Spaniards he had to use his oars, for the +wind fell, thereby lessening the advantage the Spanish had. As the boats +neared each other Drake's mariners "saw many heads peeping over board" +along the gunwales of the enemy. They perceived then that the two ships +had been manned to occupy Drake's attention, while another squadron made +a dash from the town, "from the eastern Bulwark," to retake his two +prizes. But Drake "prevented both their drifts." He bade John Oxenham +remain there with the one pinnace, "to entertain these two Men of war," +while he, with the other, rowed furiously back to the two prizes. Quick +as he had been the Spaniards had been quicker. They had rowed out in a +large canoe, which had made two trips, so that one frigate was now full +of Spaniards, who had cut her cables, while the canoe towed her towards +the batteries. As Drake ranged up alongside, the towline was cast adrift +by the men in the canoe; while the gallants on the deck leaped +overboard, to swim ashore, leaving their rapiers, guns, and powder +flasks behind them. Drake watched them swim out of danger, and then set +the larger ship on fire. The smaller of the two he scuttled where she +lay, "giving them to understand by this, that we perceived their secret +practices." As soon as the frigates were disposed of, the pinnace +returned to John Oxenham, who was lying to by the two men-of-war, +waiting for them to open fire. As the Captain's pinnace drew near, the +wind shifted to the north, and blew freshly, so that both the English +boats, being to shoreward of the enemy, were forced to run before it, +into the harbour, "to the great joy of the Spaniards," who thought they +were running away. Directly they were past the point, "and felt smooth +water," they obtained the weather-gage, exchanged a few shots, and +dropped their anchors, keeping well to windward of the enemy. The +Spaniards also anchored; but as the wind freshened into "a norther" they +thought it best to put ashore, and, therefore, retired to the town. + +For the next four days it blew very hard from the west, with cold rain +squalls, to the great discomfort of all hands, who could keep neither +warm nor dry. On the fifth day (27th October) a frigate came in from the +sea, and they at once attacked her, hoping to find shelter aboard her +after the four days of wet and cold. The Spaniards ran her ashore on the +point by the Boca Chica, "unhanging her rudder and taking away her +sails, that she might not easily be carried away." However, the boats +dashed alongside, intending to board her. As they came alongside, a +company of horse and foot advanced on to the sands from the woods, +opening fire on them as soon as they had formed. The pinnaces replied +with their muskets and heavy guns, sending a shot "so near a brave +cavalier" that the whole party retreated to the coverts. From the thick +brush they were able to save the frigate from capture without danger to +themselves; so Drake abandoned her, and set to sea again, in the teeth +of the gale, intending to win to Las Serenas, some rocks six miles to +sea, off which he thought he could anchor, with his masts down, until +the weather moderated. But when he arrived off the rocks, a mighty sea +was beating over them, so that he had to run back to Cartagena, where +he remained six days, "notwithstanding the Spaniards grieved greatly at +our abode there so long." + +On the 2nd of November the Governor of Cartagena made a determined +attempt to destroy him or drive him out to sea. He manned three +vessels--"a great shallop, a fine gundeloe and a great canoe"--with +Spanish musketeers and Indians with poisoned arrows. These attacked with +no great spirit, for as soon as the pinnaces advanced they retreated, +and presently "went ashore into the woods," from which an ambush "of +some sixty shot" opened a smart fire. As the ambush began to blaze away +from the bushes, Drake saw that two pinnaces and a frigate, manned with +musketeers and archers, were warping towards him from the town, in the +teeth of the wind. As this second line of battle neared the scene of +action, the Spaniards left the ambush in the wood, and ran down the +sands to the gundeloe and canoe, which they manned, and again thrust +from the shore. Drake then stood away into the haven, out of shot of the +shore guns, and cast anchor in the great open space, with the two +pinnaces lying close together, one immediately ahead of the other. He +rigged the sides of the pinnaces with bonnets, the narrow lengths of +canvas which were laced to the feet of sails to give them greater +spread. With these for his close-fights, or war-girdles, he waved to the +Spaniards to attack. They rowed up cheering, all five boats of them, +"assuring their fellows of the day." Had they pushed the attack home, +the issue might have been different, but the sight of the close-fights +frightened them. They lay on their oars "at caliver-shot distance," and +opened a smart musketry fire, "spending powder apace," without pausing, +for two or three hours. One man was wounded on Drake's side. The Spanish +loss could not be told, but Drake's men could plainly see that the +Spanish pinnaces had been shot through and through. One lucky shot went +into a Spanish powder tub, which thereupon exploded. Drake at once +weighed anchor, intending to run them down while they were in confusion. +He had the wind of them, and would have been able to do this without +difficulty, but they did not wait his coming. They got to their oars in +a hurry, and rowed to their defence in the woods--the fight being at an +end before the frigate could warp to windward into action. + +Being weary of these continual fruitless tussles, "and because our +victuals grew scant," Drake sailed from the port the following morning, +in slightly better weather, hoping to get fresh provisions at the Rio +Grande, where he had met with such abundance a few days before. The wind +was still fresh from the west, so that he could not rejoin his ship nor +reach one of his magazines. He took two days in sailing to the +Magdalena, but when he arrived there he found the country stripped. "We +found bare nothing, not so much as any people left," for the Spaniards +had ordered everyone to retire to the hills, driving their cattle with +them, "that we might not be relieved by them." The outlook was now +serious, for there was very little food left, and that of most +indifferent quality, much of it being spoiled by the rains and the salt +water. On the day of their landfall they rowed hard for several hours to +capture a frigate, but she was as bare of food as they. "She had neither +meat nor money," and so "our great hope" was "converted into grief." +Sailors get used to living upon short allowance. The men tightened their +belts to stay their hunger, and splashed salt water on their chests to +allay their thirst. They ran for Santa Martha, a little city to the +east, where they hoped "to find some shipping in the road, or limpets on +the rocks, or succour against the storm in that good harbour." They +found no shipping there, however, and little succour against the storm. +They anchored "under the western point, where is high land," but they +could not venture in, for the town was strongly fortified (later +raiders were less squeamish). The Spaniards had seen them come to +moorings, and managed to send some thirty or forty musketeers among the +rocks, within gunshot of them. These kept up a continual musket fire, +which did bodily hurt to none, but proved a sad annoyance to sailors who +were wearied and out of victuals. They found it impossible to reply to +the musketry, for the rocks hid the musketeers from view. There was +nothing for it but to "up kedge and cut," in the hope of finding some +less troublous berth. As they worked across the Santa Martha bay the +culverins in the city batteries opened fire. One shot "made a near +escape," for it fell between the pinnaces as they lay together in +"conference of what was best to be done." + +The company were inclined to bring the cruise to an end, and begged that +they might "put themselves a land, some place to the Eastward, to get +victuals." They thought it would be better to trust to the courtesy of +the country people than to keep the seas as they were, in the cold and +heavy weather, with a couple of leaky, open boats. Drake disliked this +advice, and recommended that they should run on for Rio de la Hacha, or +even as far as Curaēoa, where they would be likely to meet with victual +ships indifferently defended. The men aboard John Oxenham's pinnace +answered that they would willingly follow him throughout the world, but +they did not see, they said, how the pinnaces could stand such weather +as they had had. Nor did they see how they were going to live with such +little food aboard, for they had "only one gammon of bacon and thirty +pounds of biscuit for eighteen men"--a bare two days' half allowance. +Drake replied that they were better off than he was, "who had but one +gammon of bacon and forty pounds of biscuit for his twenty-four men; and +therefore [he went on] he doubted not but they would take such part as +he did, and willingly depend upon God's Almighty providence, which never +faileth them that trust in Him." He did not wait for any further talk, +but hoisted his fore-sail and put his helm up for Curaēoa, knowing that +the other pinnace would not refuse to follow him. With "sorrowful hearts +in respect of the weak pinnace, yet desirous to follow their captain," +the weary crew stood after him on the same course. They had not gone +more than three leagues when, lo!--balm in Gilead--"a sail plying to the +westward" under her foresail and main-sail. There was "great joy" in +that hunger-bitten company, who promptly "vowed together, that we would +have her, or else it should cost us dear." Coming up with her they found +her to be a Spanish ship of more than ninety tons. Drake "waved amain" +to her, the usual summons to surrender; but she "despised our summons," +and at once opened fire on them, but without success, for the sea was +running very high. The sea was too high for them to board her, so they +set small storm-sails, and stood in chase, intending to "keep her +company to her small content till fairer weather might lay the sea." +They followed her for two hours, when "it pleased God" to send a great +shower, which, of course, beat down the sea into "a reasonable calm," so +that they could pepper her with their guns "and approach her at +pleasure." She made but a slight resistance after that, and "in short +time we had taken her; finding her laden with victuals well powdered +[salted] and dried: which at that present we received as sent us of +God's great mercy." + +[Illustration: AN ELIZABETHAN WAR-SHIP + A PINNACE BEYOND, TO THE LEFT] + +After a stormy night at sea, Drake sent Ellis Hixom, "who had then +charge of his pinnace, to search out some harbour along the coast." +Hixom soon discovered a little bay, where there was good holding ground, +with sufficient depth of water to float the prize. They entered the new +port, and dropped their anchors there, promising the Spaniards their +clothes, as well as their liberty, if they would but bring them to a +clear spring of water and a supply of fresh meat. The Spaniards, who +knew the coast very well, soon brought them to an Indian village, where +the natives "were clothed and governed by a Spaniard." They stayed there +all the day, cutting wood for their fire, filling water casks, and +storing the purchased meat. The Indians helped them with all their +might, for Drake, following his custom, gave them "content and +satisfaction" for the work they did for him. Towards night Drake called +his men aboard, leaving the Spanish prisoners ashore, according to his +promise, "to their great content." The wood, water casks, and sides of +meat were duly stored, the anchors were brought to the bows, and the +adventurers put to sea again towards the secret harbour. That day one of +their men died from "a sickness which had begun to kindle among us, two +or three days before." What the cause of this malady was "we knew not of +certainty," but "we imputed it to the cold which our men had taken, +lying without succour in the pinnaces." It may have been pleurisy, or +pneumonia, or some low fever. The dead man was Charles Glub, "one of our +Quarter Masters, a very tall man, and a right good mariner, taken away +to the great grief of Captain and company"--a sufficiently beautiful +epitaph for any man. "But howsoever it was," runs the touching account, +"thus it pleased God to visit us, and yet in favour to restore unto +health all the rest of our company that were touched with this disease, +which were not a few." + +The 15th of November broke bright and fine, though the wind still blew +from the west. Drake ordered the _Minion_, the smaller of his two +pinnaces, to part company, "to hasten away before him towards his ships +at Port Diego ... to carry news of his coming, and to put all things in +a readiness for our land journey if they heard anything of the Fleet's +arrival." If they wanted wine, he said, they had better put in at San +Barnardo, and empty some of the caches in the sand there, where they had +buried many bottles. Seven days later Drake put in at San Barnardo for +the same commodity, "finding but twelve _botijos_ of wine of all the +store we left, which had escaped the curious search of the enemy who had +been there, for they were deep in the ground." Perhaps the crew of the +_Minion_ were the guilty ones. About the 27th of November the Captain's +party arrived at Port Diego, where they found all things in good order, +"but received very heavy news of the death of John Drake, our Captain's +brother, and another young man called Richard Allen, which were both +slain at one time [on the 9th October, the day Drake left the isle of +shell-fish] as they attempted the boarding of a frigate." Drake had been +deeply attached to this brother, whom he looked upon as a "young man of +great hope." His death was a sore blow to him, all the more because it +happened in his absence, when he could neither warn him of the risks he +ran nor comfort him as he lay a-dying. + +He had been in the pinnace, it seems, with a cargo of planks from the +Spanish wreck, carrying the timber for the platform of the battery. It +was a bright, sunny morning, and the men were rowing lazily towards the +fort, "when they saw this frigate at sea." The men were in merry heart, +and eager for a game at handystrokes. They were "very importunate on +him, to give chase and set upon this frigate, which they deemed had been +a fit booty for them." He told them that they "wanted weapons to +assail"; that, for all they knew, the frigate might be full of men and +guns; and that their boat was cumbered up with planks, required for his +brother's service. These answers were not enough for them, and "still +they urged him with words and supposals." "If you will needs," said +he;--"Adventure. It shall never be said that I will be hindmost, +neither shall you report to my brother that you lost your voyage by any +cowardice you found in me." The men armed themselves as they could with +stretchers from the boat, or anything that came to hand. They hove the +planks overboard to make a clear fighting space, and "took them such +poor weapons as they had: viz., a broken pointed rapier, one old visgee, +and a rusty caliver. John Drake took the rapier and made a gauntlet of +his pillow, Richard Allen the visgee, both standing at the head of the +pinnace called Eion. Robert took the caliver, and so boarded." It was a +gallant, mad attempt, but utterly hopeless from the first. The frigate +was "armed round about with a close fight of hides," and "full of pikes +and calivers, which were discharged in their faces, and deadly wounded +those that were in the fore ship, John Drake in the belly, and Richard +Allen in the head." Though they were both sorely hurt, they shoved the +pinnace clear with their oars, and so left the frigate, and hurried home +to their ship, where "within an hour after" this young man of great hope +ended his days, "greatly lamented of all the company." He was buried in +that place, with Richard Allen his shipmate, among the brilliant shrubs, +over which the parrots chatter. + +For the next four or five weeks the company remained at Fort Diego with +the Maroons, their allies. They fared sumptuously every day on the food +stored within the magazine; while "daily out of the woods" they took +wild hogs, the "very good sort of a beast called warre," that Dampier +ate, besides great store of turkeys, pheasants, and numberless guanas, +"which make very good Broath." The men were in good health, and well +contented; but a day or two after the New Year (January 1573) "half a +score of our company fell down sick together, and the most of them died +within two or three days." They did not know what the sickness was, nor +do they leave us much information to enable us to diagnose it. They +called it a calenture, or fever, and attributed it to "the sudden change +from cold to heat, or by reason of brackish water which had been taken +in by our pinnace, through the sloth of their men in the mouth of the +river, not rowing further in where the water was good." We cannot wonder +that they died from drinking the water of that sluggish tropical river, +for in the rainy season such water is often poisonous to the fish in the +sea some half-a-mile from the shore. It comes down from the hills thick +with pestilential matter. It sweeps away the rotting leaves and +branches, the dead and drowned animals, from the flooded woods and +savannahs. "And I believe," says Dampier, "it receives a strong Tincture +from the Roots of several Kind of Trees, Herbs, etc., and especially +where there is any stagnancy of the Water, it soon corrupts; and +possibly the Serpents and other poisonous Vermin and Insects may not a +little contribute to its bad qualities." Whatever it was, the disease +raged among the men with great violence--as many as thirty being down +with it at the one time. Among those who died was Joseph Drake, another +brother of the Captain, "who died in our Captain's arms." The many +deaths caused something like a panic among the men, and Drake, in his +distress, determined to hold a post-mortem upon his brother's corpse +"that the cause [of the disease] might be the better discerned, and +consequently remedied." The operation was performed by the surgeon, "who +found his liver swollen, his heart as it were sodden, and his guts all +fair." The corpse of one dead from yellow-fever displays very similar +symptoms; and the muddy foreshore on which they were camped would, +doubtless, swarm with the yellow-fever mosquito. The sick seem to have +recovered swiftly--a trait observable in yellow-fever patients. This, +says the narrative, "was the first and last experiment that our Captain +made of anatomy in this voyage." The surgeon who made this examination +"over-lived him not past four days"--a fact which very possibly saved +the lives of half the company. He had had the sickness at its first +beginning among them, but had recovered. He died, we are told, "of an +overbold practice which he would needs make upon himself, by receiving +an over-strong purgation of his own device, after which taken he never +spake; nor his Boy recovered the health which he lost by tasting it, +till he saw England." He seems to have taken the draught directly after +the operation, as a remedy against infection from the corpse. The boy, +who, perhaps, acted as assistant at the operation, may have thought it +necessary to drink his master's heeltaps by way of safeguard. + +While the company lay thus fever-stricken at the fort, the Maroons had +been wandering abroad among the forest, ranging the country up and down +"between Nombre de Dios and us, to learn what they might for us." During +the last few days of January 1573 they came in with the news that the +plate fleet "had certainly arrived in Nombre de Dios." On the 30th of +January, therefore, Drake ordered the _Lion_, one of the three pinnaces, +to proceed "to the seamost islands of the Cativaas," a few miles from +the fort, to "descry the truth of the report" by observing whether many +frigates were going towards Nombre de Dios from the east, as with +provisions for the fleet. The _Lion_ remained at sea for a few days, +when she captured a frigate laden with "maize, hens, and pompions from +Tolu." She had the Scrivano of Tolu aboard her, with eleven men and one +woman. From these they learned that the fleet was certainly at Nombre de +Dios, as the Indians had informed them. The prisoners were "used very +courteously," and "diligently guarded from the deadly hatred of the +Cimmeroons," who used every means in their power to obtain them from +the English, so that "they might cut their throats to revenge their +wrongs and injuries." Drake warned his allies not to touch them "or give +them ill countenance"; but, feeling a little doubtful of their safety, +he placed them aboard the Spanish prize, in charge of Ellis Hixom, and +had the ship hauled ashore to the island, "which we termed Slaughter +Island (because so many of our men died there)." He was about to start +upon "his journey for Panama by land," and he could not follow his usual +custom of letting his prisoners go free. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ROAD TO PANAMA + + The Maroons--The native city--The great tree--Panama--The silver + train--The failure--Venta Cruz + + +When the Spanish prize had been warped to her berth at Slaughter Island, +Drake called his men together, with the chiefs of the Maroons, to a +solemn council of war about the fire. He then discussed with them, with +his usual care, the equipment necessary for an undertaking of the kind +in hand. He was going to cross the isthmus with them, those "20 leagues +of death and misery," in order to surprise one of the recuas, or +treasure trains, as it wandered north upon the road from Panama to +Nombre de Dios. It was, as he says, "a great and long journey," through +jungles, across swamps, and up precipitous crags. Any error in equipment +would be paid for in blood. It was essential, therefore, that they +should strictly debate "what kind of weapons, what store of victuals, +and what manner of apparel" would be fittest for them. The Maroons +"especially advised" him "to carry as great store of shoes as possibly +he might, by reason of so many rivers with stone and gravel as they were +to pass." This advice was followed by all hands, who provided themselves +with a good store of boots and spare leather, thereby saving themselves +from much annoyance from jiguas, or jiggers, and the venomous leeches of +the swamps. The sickness had destroyed twenty-eight of the company. +Three had died of wounds or in battle, and one had died from cold and +exposure in the pinnace. Of the remaining forty-two Drake selected +eighteen of the best. A number were still ill abed, and these he left +behind in the care of Ellis Hixom and his little band of shipkeepers. +The dried meat and biscuit were then packed carefully into bundles. The +eighteen took their weapons, with such necessaries as they thought they +might require. Drake called Hixom aside, and gave him "straight charge, +in any case not to trust any messenger that should come in his name with +any tokens, unless he brought his handwriting: which he knew could not +be counterfeited by the Cimaroons or Spaniards." A last farewell was +taken; thirty brawny Cimmeroons swung the packs upon their shoulders, +shaking their javelins in salute. The shipkeepers sounded "A loath to +depart," and dipped their colours. The forty-eight adventurers then +formed into order, and marched away into the forest on their perilous +journey. + +Having such stalwart carriers, the English were able to march light, +"not troubled with anything but our furniture." The Maroons carried +"every one of them two sorts of arrows" in addition to the packs of +victuals, for they had promised to provide fresh food upon the march for +all the company. "Every day we were marching by sun-rising," says the +narrative, taking the cool of the morning before the sun was hot. At +"ten in the forenoon" a halt was called for dinner, which they ate in +quiet "ever near some river." This halt lasted until after twelve. Then +they marched again till four, at which time they sought out a river-bank +for their camping ground. Often they slept in old huts built by the +Indians "when they travelled through these woods," but more frequently +the Maroons built them new ones, having a strange skill in that craft. +Then they would light little fires of wood inside the huts, giving a +clear red glow, with just sufficient smoke to keep away mosquitoes. They +would sup pleasantly together there, snugly sheltered from the rain if +any fell; warm if it were cold, as on the hills; and cool if it were +hot, as in the jungle. When the Indians had lit their little "light +Wood" candles these huts must have been delightful places, full of jolly +talk and merry music. Outside, by the river-brink, the frogs would +croak; and, perhaps, the adventurers heard "the shriekings of Snakes and +other Insects," such as scared Lionel Wafer there about a century later. +Those who ventured out into the night were perplexed by the innumerable +multitude of fireflies that spangled the darkness with their golden +sparks. In the mornings the brilliant blue and green macaws aroused them +with their guttural cries "like Men who speak much in the Throat." The +chicaly bird began his musical quick cuckoo cry, the corrosou tolled out +his bell notes, the "waggish kinds of Monkeys" screamed and chattered in +the branches, playing "a thousand antick Tricks." Then the sun came up +in his splendour above the living wall of greenery, and the men buckled +on their gear, and fell in for the road. + +As they marched, they sometimes met with droves of peccary or warree. +Then six Maroons would lay their burdens down, and make a slaughter of +them, bringing away as much of the dainty wild pork as they could carry. +Always they had an abundance of fresh fruit, such as "Mammeas" ("very +wholesome and delicious"), "Guavas, Palmitos, Pinos, Oranges, Lemons and +divers others." Then there were others which were eaten "first dry +roasted," as "Plantains, Potatoes, and such like," besides bananas and +the delicious sapadilloes. On one occasion "the Cimaroons found an +otter, and prepared it to be drest: our Captain marvelling at it. Pedro, +our chief Cimaroon, asked him, "Are you a man of war, and in want; and +yet doubt whether this be meat, that hath blood? Herewithal [we read] +our Captain rebuked himself secretly, that he had so slightly +considered of it before." + +After three days' wandering in the woods the Maroons brought them to a +trim little Maroon town, which was built on the side of a hill by a +pretty river. It was surrounded by "a dyke of eight feet broad, and a +thick mud wall of ten feet high, sufficient to stop a sudden surpriser. +It had one long and broad street, lying east and west, and two other +cross streets of less breadth and length," containing in all some "five +or six and fifty households." It was "kept so clean and sweet, that not +only the houses, but the very streets were pleasant to behold"--a thing, +doubtless, marvellous to one accustomed to an Elizabethan English town. +"In this town we saw they lived very civilly and cleanly," for, as soon +as the company marched in, the thirty carriers "washed themselves in the +river and changed their apparel," which was "very fine and fitly made," +after the Spanish cut. The clothes, by all accounts, were only worn on +state occasions. They were long cotton gowns, either white or rusty +black, "shap'd like our Carter's Frocks." + +The town was thirty-five leagues from Nombre de Dios and forty-five from +Panama. It had been surprised the year before Drake came there (1572) by +150 Spanish troops under "a gallant gentleman," who had been guided +thither by a recreant Maroon. He attacked a little before the dawn, and +cut down many women and children, but failed to prevent the escape of +nearly all the men. In a little while they rallied, and attacked the +Spaniards with great fury, killing their guide and four-fifths of their +company. The wretched remnant straggled back as best they could "to +return answer to them which sent them." The natives living there at the +time of Drake's visit kept a continual watch some three miles from the +town, to prevent a second surprise. Any Spaniards whom they met they +"killed like beasts." + +The adventurers passed a night in the town, and stayed until noon of the +day following. The Maroons told them stories of their battles with the +Spaniards, while Drake inquired into "their affection in religion." He +learned that they had no kind of priests; "only they held the Cross in +great reputation"--having, perhaps, learned so much of Christianity from +the Spaniards. Drake seems to have done a little earnest missionary +work, for he persuaded them "to leave their crosses, and to learn the +Lord's Prayer, and to be instructed in some measure concerning God's +true worship." After dinner on the 7th of February the company took to +the roads again, refusing to take any of the countless recruits who +offered their services. Four Maroons went on ahead to mark a trail by +breaking branches or flinging a bunch of leaves upon the ground. After +these four, marched twelve more Maroons as a sort of vanguard. Then came +Drake with his men and the two Maroon chiefs. Another troop of twelve +Maroons brought up the rear. The Maroons marched in strict silence, +"which they also required us to keep," for it is the custom among nearly +all savage folk to remain silent on the trail. + +The way now led them through parts less swampy, and, therefore, less +densely tangled over than those nearer the "North Sea." "All the way was +through woods very cool and pleasant," says the narrative, "by reason of +those goodly and high trees, that grow there so thick." They were +mounting by slow degrees to the "ridge between the two seas," and the +woodland was getting clear of undergrowth. As later buccaneers have +noted, the upper land of the isthmus is wooded with vast trees, whose +branches shut out the sun. Beneath these trees a man may walk with +pleasure, or indeed ride, for there is hardly any undergrowth. The +branches are so thick together that the lower ground receives no +sunlight, and, therefore, little grows there. The heat of the sun is +shut out, and "it is cooler travelling there ... in that hot region, +than it is in ... England in the summer time." As the men began to +ascend, the Maroons told them that not far away there grew a great tree +about midway between the oceans, "from which we might at once discern +the North Sea from whence we came, and the South Sea whither we were +going." On the 11th of February, after four days of slow but steady +climbing, they "came to the height of the desired hill, a very high +hill, lying East and West, like a ridge between the two seas." It was +ten o'clock in the forenoon, the hour at which the dinner halt was made. +Pedro, the Maroon chief, now took Drake's hand, and "prayed him to +follow him if he was desirous to see at once the two seas which he had +so longed for." Drake followed Pedro to the hilltop, to the "goodly and +great high Tree," of which the Maroons had spoken. He found that they +had hacked out steps upon the bole, "to ascend up near unto the top," +where they had built a pleasant little hut of branches thatched from the +sun, "wherein ten or twelve men might easily sit." "South and north of +this Tree" the Maroons had felled certain trees "that the prospect might +be the clearer." At its base there was a number of strong houses "that +had been built long before," perhaps by an older people than the +Cimmeroons. The tree seems to have been a place of much resort among +that people, as it lay in their paths across the isthmus, and towards +the west. + +Drake climbed the tree with Pedro to the little sunny bower at the top. +A fresh breeze which was blowing, had blown away the mists and the heat +haze, so that the whole isthmus lay exposed before him, in the golden +sunlight. There to the north, like a bright blue jewel, was "the +Atlantic Ocean whence now we came." There to the south, some thirty +miles away, was "that sea of which he had heard such golden reports." +He looked at the wonderful South Sea, and "besought Almighty God of His +goodness, to give him life and leave to sail once in an English ship, in +that sea." The prayer was granted to him, for in five years' time he was +off that very coast with such a spoil as no ship ever took before. +Having glutted his eyes with the sight, Drake called up all his English +followers, and "acquainted John Oxenham especially with this his +petition and purpose, if it would please God to grant him that +happiness." Oxenham answered fervently that "unless our Captain did beat +him from his company, he would follow him, by God's grace." He fulfilled +his vow a few months later, with disaster to himself and his associates. + +"Thoroughly satisfied with the sight of the seas," the men descended to +their dinner with excellent appetite. They then pushed on lightly as +before, through continual forest, for another two days. On the 13th of +February, when they had gained the west side of the Cheapo River, the +forest broke away into little knots of trees green and goodly, which +showed like islands in a rolling ocean of green grass. They were come to +the famous savannahs, over which roamed herds of black cattle, swift and +savage. Everywhere about them was the wiry stipa grass, and "a kind of +grass with a stalk as big as a great wheaten reed, which hath a blade +issuing from the top of it, on which though the cattle feed, yet it +groweth every day higher, until the top be too high for an ox to reach." +The inhabitants of the country were wont to burn the grass every year, +but "after it is thus burnt" it "springeth up fresh like green corn" +within three days. "Such," says the narrative, "is the great +fruitfulness of the soil: by reason of the evenness of the day and the +night, and the rich dews which fall every morning." As the raiders +advanced along this glorious grass-land they sometimes caught sight of +Panama. Whenever they topped a rise they could see the city, though +very far away; and at last, "on the last day," they saw the ships riding +in the road, with the blue Pacific trembling away into the sky beyond +them. Now was the woodcock near the gin, and now the raiders had to +watch their steps. There was no cover on those rolling sweeps of grass. +They were within a day's journey of the city. The grass-land (as Drake +gathered from his guides) was a favourite hunting-ground of the city +poulterers, for there, as Drake puts it, "the Dames of Panama are wont +to send forth hunters and fowlers, for taking of sundry dainty fowl, +which the land yieldeth." Such a body of men as theirs might readily be +detected by one of these sportsmen, and one such detection would surely +ruin the attempt. They therefore, crept like snakes "out of all ordinary +way," worming themselves through the grass-clumps till they came to a +little river-bed, in which a trickle of water ran slowly across the +sun-bleached pebbles. They were minded to reach a grove or wood about a +league from Panama. The sun beat upon them fiercely, and it was +necessary for them to travel in the heat of the day. In that open +country the midday heat was intense, but they contrived to gain the +shelter of the wood by three that afternoon. "This last day," says the +narrative, "our Captain did behold and view the most of all that fair +city, discerning the large street which lieth directly from the sea into +the land, South and North." + +Having gained the shelter of the wood, Drake chose out a Maroon "that +had served a master in Panama" to venture into the city as a spy. He +dressed the man "in such apparel as the Negroes of Panama do use to +wear," and sent him off to the town an hour before night, "so that by +the closing in of the evening he might be in the city." He gave the man +strict charge to find out "the certain night, and the time of the night, +when the carriers laded the Treasure from the King's Treasure House to +Nombre de Dios." The first stage of the journey (from Panama to Venta +Cruz) was always undertaken in the cool of the night, "because the +country is all champion, and consequently by day very hot." From Venta +Cruz to Nombre de Dios "they travel always by day and not by night, +because all that way is full of woods and therefore very cool." Drake's +plan was to waylay one of the treasure trains on the night journey +towards Venta Cruz. The Maroon soon returned to the little wood where +the men were lying. He had entered the town without trouble, and had met +with some old companions, who had told him all he wished to know. A +treasure train was to start that very night, for a great Spanish +gentleman, the treasurer of Lima, "was intending to pass into Spain" in +a swift advice ship which stayed for him at Nombre de Dios. "His +daughter and family" were coming with him, "having fourteen mules in +company, of which eight were laden with gold, and one with jewels." +After this troop, two other recuas, "of fifty mules in each," would take +the road, carrying victuals and wine for the fleet, "with some little +quantity of silver." + +As soon as the news had been conveyed to Drake, he marched his men away +from Panama towards Venta Cruz, some four leagues' journey. He halted +them about two leagues to the south of Venta Cruz, in a clump of tall +grass, and then examined a Spanish prisoner whom his scouts had caught. +Two of the Maroons, stealing forward along the line of march, had +scented the acrid smoke of a burning match carried by some arquebusier. +They had crept up "by scent of the said match," and had heard a sound of +snoring coming from the grass by the roadside. A Spanish sentry had +fallen asleep upon his post, "and being but one they fell upon him, +stopped his mouth from crying, put out his match," and bound him so +effectually "that they well near strangled him." He was in the pay of +the King's treasurer, who had hired him, with others, to guard the +treasure train upon its march from Venta Cruz. He had fallen asleep +while waiting for the mules to arrive, as he knew that he would get no +sleep until the company he marched with was safe in Nombre de Dios. He +was in terror of his life, for he believed that he had fallen into the +hands of the Maroons, from whom he might expect no mercy. When he +learned that he was a prisoner to Francis Drake he plucked up courage, +"and was bold to make two requests unto him." First, he asked that Drake +would order the Maroons to spare his life, for he knew that they "hated +the Spaniards, especially the soldiers, extremely," but a word from such +a Captain would be enough to save him. The second request was also +personal. He assured them, upon the faith of a soldier, that "they +should have that night more gold, besides jewels, and pearls of great +price, than all they could carry"; if not, he swore, let them deal with +him as they would. But, he added, if the raiders are successful, "then +it might please our Captain to give unto him, as much as might suffice +for him and his mistress to live upon, as he had heard our Captain had +done to divers others"--promising, in such a case, to make his name as +famous as any of them which had received the like favour. + +Being now "at the place appointed" Drake divided his men into two +companies. With eight Englishmen and fifteen Cimmeroons he marched to +some long grass about fifty paces from the road. He sent John Oxenham, +with Pedro and the other company of men, to the other side of the road, +at the same distance from it, but a little farther to the south, in +order that, "as occasion served, the former company might take the +foremost mules by the heads," while Oxenham's party did that service for +those which followed. The arrangement also provided "that if we should +have need to use our weapons that night, we might be sure not to +endamage our fellows." Having reached their stations, the men lay down +to wait, keeping as quiet as they could. In about an hour's time they +heard the clanging of many mule bells, making a loud music, in the +direction of Venta Cruz. Mules were returning from that town to Panama; +for with the fleet at Nombre de Dios there was much business between the +two seaports, and the mule trains were going and coming several times a +day. As they listened, they heard more mule bells ringing far away on +the road from Panama. The treasurer with his company was coming. + +Now, Drake had given strict orders that no man should show himself, or +as much as budge from his station, "but let all that came from Venta +Cruz [which was nothing but merchandise] to pass quietly." Yet one of +the men, probably one of Oxenham's men, of the name of Robert Pike, now +disobeyed those orders. "Having drunken too much aqua-vitę without +water," he forgot himself. He rose from his place in the grass, +"enticing a Cimaroon with him," and crept up close to the road, "with +intent to have shown his forwardness on the foremost mules." Almost +immediately a cavalier came trotting past from Venta Cruz upon a fine +horse, with a little page running at the stirrup. As he trotted by, +Robert Pike "rose up to see what he was." The Cimmeroon promptly pulled +him down, and sat upon him; but his promptness came too late to save the +situation. All the English had put their shirts over their other +apparel, "that we might be sure to know our own men in the pell mell in +the night." The Spanish cavalier had glanced in Robert Pike's direction, +and had seen a figure rising from the grass "half all in white" and very +conspicuous. He had heard of Drake's being on the coast, and at once +came to the conclusion that that arch-pirate had found his way through +the woods to reward himself for his disappointment at Nombre de Dios. +He was evidently a man of great presence of mind. He put spurs to his +horse, and galloped off down the road, partly to escape the danger, but +partly also to warn the treasure train, the bells of which were now +clanging loudly at a little distance from the ambuscade. + +Drake heard the trotting horse's hoofs clatter out into a furious +gallop. He suspected that he had been discovered, "but could not imagine +by whose fault, neither did the time give him the leasure to search." It +was a still night, and he had heard no noise, yet something had startled +the cavalier. Earnestly hoping that the rider had been alarmed by the +silence of the night and the well-known danger of the road, he lay down +among the grass again to wait for the mules to come. The bells clanged +nearer and nearer, till at last the mules were trotting past the ambush. +The captains blew their whistles to the attack. The raiders rose from +the grass-clumps with a cheer. There was a rush across the narrow +trackway at the drivers, the mules were seized, and in a moment, two +full recuas were in the raiders' hands. + +So far all had gone merrily. The sailors turned to loot the mule packs, +congratulating themselves upon their glorious good fortune. It must have +been a strange scene to witness--the mules scared and savage, the jolly +seamen laughing as they pulled the packs away, the Maroons grinning and +chattering, and the harness and the bells jingling out a music to the +night. As the packs were ripped open a mutter of disappointment began to +sound among the ranks of the spoilers. Pack after pack was found to +consist of merchandise--vicuna wool, or dried provender for the +galleons. The amount of silver found amounted to a bare two horse loads. +Gold there was none. The jewels of the King's treasurer were not to be +discovered. The angry sailors turned upon the muleteers for an +explanation. The chief muleteer, "a very sensible fellow," was taken to +Drake, who soon learned from him the reason why the catch was so poor. +The cavalier who had noticed Robert Pike was the saviour of the +treasure. As soon as the figure half all in white had risen ghost-like +by the road, he had galloped to the treasure mules to report what he had +seen to the treasurer. The thing he had seen was vague, but it was yet +too unusual to pass unnoticed. Drake, he said, was a person of devilish +resource, and it was highly probable, he thought, that the pirates had +come "in covert through the woods" to recoup themselves for their former +disappointments. A white shirt was the usual uniform for men engaged in +night attacks. No Maroon would wear such a thing in that locality, and, +therefore, it would be well to let the food train pass ahead of the +treasure. The loss of the food train would be a little matter, while it +would surely show them whether an ambush lay in wait or not. The +treasurer had accordingly drawn his company aside to allow the food +mules to get ahead of him. As soon as the noise upon the road advised +him that the enemy had made their spring, he withdrew quietly towards +Panama. "Thus," says the narrative, "we were disappointed of a most rich +booty: which is to be though God would not should be taken, for that, by +all likelihood, it was well gotten by that Treasurer." + +We are not told what happened to Robert Pike, but it is probable that he +had a bad five minutes when the muleteer's story reached the sailors. It +was bad enough to have marched all day under a broiling sun, and to lose +a royal fortune at the end; but that was not all, nor nearly all: they +were now discovered to the enemy, who lay in considerable force in their +front and rear. They were wearied out with marching, yet they knew very +well that unless they "shifted for themselves betimes" all the +Spaniards of Panama would be upon them. They had a bare two or three +hours' grace in which to secure themselves. They had marched four +leagues that night, and by marching back those same four leagues they +might win to cover by the morning. If they marched forward they might +gain the forest in two leagues; but Venta Cruz lay in the road, and +Venta Cruz was guarded day and night by a company of Spanish troops. To +reach the forest by the latter road they would have to make a way with +their swords, but with men so tired and out of heart it seemed the +likelier route of the two. It was better, Drake thought, "to encounter +his enemies while he had strength remaining, than to be encountered or +chased when they should be worn out with weariness." He bade all hands +to eat and drink from the provisions found upon the mules, and while +they took their supper he told them what he had resolved to do. He +called upon Pedro, the Maroon, by name, asking "whether he would give +his hand not to forsake him." Pedro swore that he would rather die at +his feet than desert him in such a pass--a vow which assured Drake of +the loyalty of his allies. As soon as supper was over, he bade the men +mount upon the mules, so that they might not weary themselves with +marching. An hour's trot brought them to the woods within a mile of +Venta Cruz, where they dismounted, and went afoot, after bidding the +muleteers not to follow if they cared for whole skins. The road was here +some ten or twelve feet broad, "so as two Recuas may pass one by +another." It was paved with cobbles, which had been beaten into the mud +by Indian slaves. On either side of it was the dense tropical forest, +"as thick as our thickest hedges in England that are oftenest cut." +Among the tangle, about half-a-mile from the town, the Spaniards had +taken up a strong position. The town guard of musketeers had been +reinforced by a number of friars from a religious house. They lay +there, hidden in the jungle, blowing their matches to keep them burning +clearly. Two Maroons, whom Drake had sent forward as scouts, crept back +to him with the news that the enemy were there in force, for they had +smelt the reek of the smouldering matches and heard the hushed noise of +many men moving in the scrub. Drake gave orders that no man should fire +till the Spaniards had given them a volley, for he thought they would +first parley with him, "as indeed fell out." Soon afterwards, as the men +neared the Spanish ambush, a Spanish captain rose from the road, and +"cried out, Hoo!" Drake answered with, "Hallo!"--the sailor's reply to a +hail. The Spaniard then put the query "Que gente?" to which Drake +answered "Englishmen." The Spaniard, "in the name of the King of Spain +his master," then charged him to surrender, passing his word as a +gentleman soldier that the whole company should be treated courteously. +Drake made a few quick steps towards the Spaniard, crying out that "for +the honour of the Queen of England, his mistress, he must have passage +that way." As he advanced, he fired his pistol towards him, in order to +draw the Spanish fire. Immediately the thicket burst out into flame; for +the ambush took the shot for a signal, and fired off their whole volley. +Drake received several hail-shot in his body. Many of the men were +wounded, and one man fell sorely hurt. As the volley crackled out its +last few shots, Drake blew his whistle, as a signal to his men to fire. +A volley of shot and arrows was fired into the thicket, and the company +at once advanced, "with intent to come to handy strokes." As they +stormed forward to the thicket, the Spaniards fled towards a position of +greater strength. Drake called upon his men to double forward to prevent +them. The Maroons at once rushed to the front, "with their arrows ready +in their bows, and their manner of country dance or leap, singing Yó +péhó! Yó péhó, and so got before us where they continued their leap and +song after the manner of their own country wars." The Spaniards heard +the war-cry ringing out behind them, and fell back rapidly upon the +town. Near the town's end a party of them rallied, forming a sort of +rearguard to cover the retreat. As they took up a position in the woods, +the Maroons charged them upon both flanks, while the English rushed +their centre. There was a mad moment of fighting in the scrub. A Maroon +went down with a pike through the body; but he contrived to kill the +pikeman before he died. Several Englishmen were hurt. The Spaniards' +loss is not mentioned, but it was probably severe. They broke and fled +before the fury of the attack, and the whole body of fighting men, +"friars and all," were thrust back into the town by the raiders. As they +ran, the raiders pressed them home, shouting and slaying. The gates were +open. The Spanish never had another chance to rally, and the town was +taken with a rush a very few minutes after the captain's challenge in +the wood. + + +VENTA CRUZ + +Venta Cruz, the modern Cruces, stood, and still stands, on the west or +left bank of the Chagres River. It marks the highest point to which +boats may penetrate from the North Sea. Right opposite the town the +river broadens out to a considerable width, affording berths for a +number of vessels of slight draught. At the time of Drake's raid it was +a place of much importance. The land route from Panama to Nombre de Dios +was, as we have said, boggy, dangerous, and pestilential. The freight +charges for mule transport across the isthmus were excessive, ranging +from twenty-five to thirty dollars of assayed silver for a mule load of +200 pounds weight--a charge which works out at nearly £70 a ton. Even in +the dry season the roads were bad, and the mule trains were never safe +from the Maroons. Many merchants, therefore, sent their goods to Venta +Cruz in flat-bottomed boats of about fifteen tons. These would sail from +Nombre de Dios to the mouth of the Chagres River, where they struck +sail, and took to their sweeps. The current was not very violent except +in the upper reaches, and the boats were generally able to gain Venta +Cruz in a few days--in about three days in dry weather and about twelve +in the rains. A towing-path was advocated at one time; but it does not +seem to have been laid, though the river-banks are in many places flat +and sandy, and free from the dense undergrowth of the tropics. As soon +as the boats arrived at Venta Cruz they were dragged alongside the jetty +on the river-bank, and their cargoes were transferred to some strong +stone warehouses. In due course the goods were packed on mules, and +driven away down the road to Panama, a distance of some fifteen or +eighteen miles, which the mules would cover in about eight hours. The +town at the time of Drake's raid contained about forty or fifty houses, +some of them handsome stone structures decorated with carven work. The +river-bank was covered with a great many warehouses, and there were +several official buildings, handsome enough, for the Governor and the +King's officers. There was a monastery full of friars, "where we found +above a thousand bulls and pardons, newly sent from Rome." Perhaps there +was also some sort of a barrack for the troops. The only church was the +great church of the monastery. The town was not fortified, but the +houses made a sort of hedge around it; and there were but two +entrances--the one from the forest, by which Drake's party entered; the +other leading over a pontoon bridge towards the hilly woods beyond the +Chagres. Attached to the monastery, and tended by the monks and their +servants, was a sort of sanatorium and lying-in hospital. Nombre de Dios +was so unhealthy, so full of malaria and yellow fever, "that no Spaniard +or white woman" could ever be delivered there without the loss of the +child on the second or third day. It was the custom of the matrons of +Nombre de Dios to proceed to Venta Cruz or to Panama to give birth to +their children. The babes were left in the place where they were born, +in the care of the friars, until they were five or six years old. They +were then brought to Nombre de Dios, where "if they escaped sickness the +first or second month, they commonly lived in it as healthily as in any +other place." Life in Venta Cruz must have been far from pleasant. The +Maroons were a continual menace, but the town was too well guarded, and +too close to Panama, for them to put the place in serious danger. The +inhabitants had to keep within the township; for the forest lay just +beyond the houses, and lonely wanderers were certain to be stabbed by +lurking Maroons or carried off by jaguars. In the season the mule trains +were continually coming and going, either along the swampy track to +Nombre de Dios or from Nombre de Dios to Panama. Boats came sleepily up +the Chagres to drop their anchors by the jetty, with news from the Old +World and the commodities which the New World did not yield. It must, +then, have been one of the most eventful places in the uncomfortable +isthmus; but no place can be very pleasant which has an annual rainfall +of 120 inches and a mean annual temperature of about 80°. The country +adjacent is indescribably beautiful; the river is clear and brilliant; +the woods are gorgeous with many-coloured blossoms, and with birds and +butterflies that gleam in green and blue among the leaves. During the +rains the river sometimes rises forty feet in a night, and sweeps into +the town with masses of rotting verdure from the hills. There is always +fever in the place, but in the rainy season it is more virulent than in +the dry. At present the town has few white inhabitants. The fair stone +houses which Drake saw are long since gone, having been destroyed in one +of the buccaneering raids a century later. The modern town is a mere +collection of dirty huts, inhabited by negroes, half-breeds, and +Indians. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BACK TO THE MAIN BODY + + The treasure train--The spoil--Captain Tetū hurt + + +As soon as the town was in his hands, Drake set guards on the bridge +across the Chagres and at the gate by which he had entered the town. He +gave orders to the Maroons that they were not to molest women or unarmed +men. He gave them free permission to take what they would from the +stores and houses, and then went in person to comfort some gentlewomen +"which had lately been delivered of children there." They were in terror +of their lives, for they had heard the shouts and firing, and had +thought that the Maroons were coming. They refused to listen to the +various comforters whom Drake had sent to them, and "never ceased most +earnestly entreating" that Drake himself would come to them. Drake +succeeded in reassuring them that nothing "to the worth of a garter" +would be taken from them. They then dried their tears, and were +comforted. + +The raiders stayed in the town about an hour and a half, during which +time they succeeded in getting together a little comfortable dew of +heaven--not gold, indeed, nor silver, but yet "good pillage." Drake +allowed them this latitude so that they might not be cast down by the +disappointment of the night. He gave orders, however, that no heavy loot +should be carried from the town, because they had yet many miles to go, +and were still in danger of attack. While the men were getting their +spoils together, ready for marching, and eating a hasty breakfast in +the early morning light, a sudden fusillade began at the Panama gate. +Some ten or twelve cavaliers had galloped in from Panama, supposing that +the pirates had left the town. They had come on confidently, right up to +the muzzles of the sentries' muskets. They had then been met with a +shattering volley, which killed and wounded half their number and sent +the others scattering to the woods. Fearing that they were but a +scouting party, and that a troop of horse might be following to support +them, Drake gave the word to fall in for the road. The spoil, such as it +was, was shouldered; Drake blew a blast upon his whistle; the men formed +up into their accustomed marching order, and tramped away from Venta +Cruz, across the Chagres bridge, just as the dawn set the parrots +screeching and woke the monkeys to their morning song. They seem to have +expected no pursuit; but Drake was not a man to run unnecessary risks. +His men, including the Maroons, were "grown very valiant," yet they were +granted no further chance to show their valour. Drake told them that +they had now been "well near a fortnight" from the ship, with her +company of sick and sorry sailors. He was anxious to rejoin her without +delay, so the word was given to force the marching. He refused to visit +the Indian villages, though the Maroons begged him earnestly to do so. +His one wish was to rejoin Ellis Hixom. He "hustled" his little company +without mercy, encouraging them "with such example and speech that the +way seemed much shorter." He himself, we are told, "marched most +cheerfully," telling his comrades of the golden spoils they would win +before they sailed again for England. There was little ease on that +march to the coast, for Drake would allow no one to leave the ranks. +When provisions ran out they had to march on empty stomachs. There was +no hunting of the peccary or the deer, as on the jolly progress +westward. "We marched many days with hungry stomachs," says the +narrative, and such was the hurry of the march that many of the men +"fainted with sickness of weariness." Their clothes were hanging on +their backs in shreds and tatters. Their boots had long since cracked +and rotted. Many of them were marching with their feet wrapped up in +rags. Many of them were so footsore they could scarcely put their feet +upon the ground. Swaying, limping, utterly road-weary, they came +tottering into a little village which the Maroons had built as a +rest-house for them, about three leagues from the ship. They were quite +exhausted. Their feet were bloody and swollen. The last stages had been +marched with great bodily suffering, "all our men complaining of the +tenderness of their feet." Drake complained also, "sometimes without +cause, but sometimes with cause indeed; which made the rest to bear the +burden the more easily." Some of the men were carried in by the Maroons. +Indeed, the Maroons had saved the whole party from collapse, for they +not only built them shelter huts at night, carried the weary, and found, +or made, them a road to travel by, but they also bore the whole burden +of the company's arms and necessaries. Their fellows who had stayed with +Ellis Hixom had built the little town in the woods, for the refreshment +of all hands, in case they should arrive worn out with marching. At +sunset on the evening of Saturday, the 22nd of February, the weary crew +arrived at the little town, to the great joy of the Maroons who kept +watch and ward there. The tired men lay down to rest, while Drake +"despatched a Cimaroon with a token and certain order to the Master." + +The day had dawned before this messenger arrived upon the sands near +which the ship was moored. He hailed her, crying out that he came with +news, and immediately a boat pushed off, manned by men "which longed to +hear of our Captain's speeding." As soon as he appeared before Ellis +Hixom, he handed over Drake's golden toothpick, "which he said our +Captain had sent for a token to Ellis Hixom, with charge to meet him at +such a river." The sight of the golden toothpick was too much for Ellis +Hixom. He knew it to be his Captain's property, but coming as it did, +without a sign in writing, it convinced him that "something had befallen +our Captain otherwise than well." The Maroon saw him staring "as +amazed," and told him that it was dark when Drake had packed him off, so +that no letter could be sent, "but yet with the point of his knife, he +wrote something upon the toothpick, 'which,' he said, 'should be +sufficient to gain credit to the messenger.'" Looking closely at the +sliver of gold, Hixom saw a sentence scratched upon it: "By me, Francis +Drake," which convinced him that the message was genuine. He at once +called away one of the pinnaces, storing her with "what provision he +could," and promptly set sail for the mouth of the Tortugos River, a few +miles along the coast, to the west of where he lay, for there Drake +intended to await him. + +At about three o'clock that afternoon, Drake marched his men, or all +who were fit to march, out of the forest to the sandy beach at the +river's mouth. Half-an-hour later the tattered ragamuffins saw the +pinnace running in to take them off, "which was unto us all a double +rejoicing: first that we saw them, and next, so soon." The whole +company stood up together on the beach to sing some of the psalms of +thanksgiving--praising God "most heartily, for that we saw our pinnace +and fellows again." To Ellis Hixom and his gang of shipkeepers the +raiders appeared "as men strangely changed," though Drake was less +changed than the others, in spite of the wound he got at Venta Cruz. +The three weeks' march in that abominable country, and the last few +days of "fasting and sore travail," would have been enough to "fore +pine and waste" the very strongest, while "the grief we drew inwardly, +for that we returned without that gold and treasure we hoped for, did +no doubt show her print and footsteps in our faces." The next day the +pinnace rowed "to another river in the bottom of the bay" to pick up +the stragglers who had stayed to rest with the Maroons. The company was +then reunited in the secret haven. Wonderful tales were told of the +journey across the isthmus, of the South Sea, with its lovely city, and +of the rush through the grass in the darkness, when the mule bells came +clanging past, that night near Venta Cruz. The sick men recovering from +their calentures "were thoroughly revived" by these tales. They +importuned Drake to take them with him on the next foray; for Drake +gave out that he meant not to leave off thus, but would once again +attempt the same journey. In the general rejoicing and merry-making it +is possible that Robert Pike remained aloof in the darkness of the +'tween decks, deprived of his allowance of aqua-vitę. + +Drake noted the eager spirit among his men, and determined to give it +vent. He called them together to a consultation, at which they discussed +what was best to be done until the mule trains again set forth from +Panama. There was Veragua, "a rich town lying to the Westward, between +Nombre de Dios and Nicaragua, where is the richest mine of fine gold +that is on this North side." At Veragua also there were little rivers, +in which "oftentimes they find pieces of gold as big as peas." Then, if +Veragua were thought ill of, as too difficult, there were treasure ships +to intercept as they wallowed home for Spain from Nombre de Dios. Or the +men might keep themselves employed in capturing victual frigates for the +stocking of the ship before they attacked another recua. This last +scheme was flouted by many as unnecessary. They had food enough, they +said, and what they lacked the country would supply, but the treasure, +the comfortable dew of heaven, for which they had come so far, was the +main thing, and to get that they were ready to venture on the galleons, +soldiers or no soldiers. At this point the Maroons were called in to +give their opinion. Most of them had served the Spaniards as slaves in +one town or another of the Main. Several of them had worked under the +whip of a wealthy Spaniard in Veragua, a creature of the name of Pezoro, +who was "bad and cruel, not only to his slaves, but unto all men." This +gentleman lived in a strong stone house at a little distance from the +town. He had amassed a vast quantity of treasure, for he owned a gold +mine, which he worked with 100 slaves. He lived with a guard of +soldiers, but the Maroons felt confident that by attacking from the +shore side of the house they could easily break in upon him. His gold +was stored in his house "in certain great chests." If they succeeded in +surprising the house, it would be an easy matter to make a spoil of the +whole. Drake did not care for the scheme, as it involved a long march +through the woods. He hesitated to put his men to so much labour, for he +had now seen something of this woodland marching, and knew how desperate +a toil it was. He thought that they would be better employed in +gathering victuals and looking out for treasure transports. They might +practise both crafts at the same time by separating into two companies. +John Oxenham, in the _Bear_ frigate, could sail "Eastwards towards Tolu, +to see what store of victuals would come athwart his halse." In the +meanwhile he would take the _Minion_ pinnace to the west, to "lie off +and on the Cabezas" in order to intercept any treasure transports coming +from Veragua or Nicaragua to Nombre de Dios. Those of the Maroons who +cared to stay aboard the _Pascha_ were free to do so. The rest were +dismissed "most courteously" with "gifts and favours" of the sorts most +pleasing to them, such as knives, iron, coloured ribbons and cloth. + +The companies were picked; the pinnaces received their stores; sails +were bent and set, and the two boats sailed away to their stations. Off +the Cabezas the _Minion_ fell in with a frigate from Nicaragua "in which +was some gold and a Genoese pilot." Drake treated this pilot in his +usual liberal manner till he won him over to his interests. He had been +in Veragua harbour, he said, but eight days before. He knew the channel +perfectly, so that he could carry Drake in, at night if need were, at +any state of the tide. The townsfolk, he said, were in a panic on +account of Drake's presence in those seas; they were in such a state of +terror that they could not decide upon a scheme to defend the town in +case he attacked it. Signor Pezoro was thinking of removing himself to +the South Seas. The harbour lay open to any enemy, for the only guns in +the place were up at the town, about fifteen miles from the haven's +mouth. If Drake made a sudden dash, he said, he would be able to cut out +a frigate in the harbour. She was fitting for the sea there, and was +very nearly ready to sail. She had aboard her "above a million of gold," +which, with a little promptness and courage, might become the property +of the raiders. On hearing of this golden booty, Drake thought of all +that the Maroons had told him. He was minded to return to the anchorage, +to fetch off some of those who had lived with Senor Pezoro, in order +that he might have a check upon the pilot's statements, and a guide, if +need were, to the city. The Genoese dissuaded him from this scheme, +pointing out that a return to the ship would waste several days, during +which the frigate might get away to sea. Drake, therefore, took the +packets of gold from the Nicaraguan prize, and dismissed her "somewhat +lighter to hasten her journey." He then got his oars out, and made all +haste to the west, under a press of sail, "to get this harbour, and to +enter it by night." He hoped to cut out the treasure ship and to have a +look at the house of Senor Pezoro--two investments which would "make" +the voyage if all went well. But as the boat drew near to the mouth of +the harbour "we heard the report of two Chambers, and farther off, about +a league within the bay, two others as it were answering them." The +Spaniards had espied the boat, and had fired signal guns to warn the +shipping and the town. The report of the guns called the Spaniards to +arms--an exercise they were more ready to since the Governor of Panama +had warned them to expect Drake. "The rich Gnuffe Pezoro," it was +thought, had paid the cost of the sentries. "It was not God's will that +we should enter at that time," says the narrative. The wind shifted +opportunely to the westward; and Drake put his helm up, and ran away to +the east, where he picked up the _Bear_, "according to appointment." +Oxenham had had a very prosperous and pleasant cruise, for off Tolu he +had come across a victual frigate "in which there were ten men [whom +they set ashore], great store of maize, twenty-eight fat hogs, and two +hundred hens." The lading was discharged into the _Pascha_ on the 19th +and 20th of March as a seasonable refreshment to the company. The +frigate pleased Drake, for though she was small (not twenty tons, in +fact) she was strong, new, and of a beautiful model. As soon as her +cargo was out of her, he laid her on her side, and scraped and tallowed +her "to make her a Man of war." He then fitted her with guns from the +_Pascha_, and stored her with provisions for a cruise. The Spaniards +taken in her had spoken of "two little galleys built in Nombre de Dios, +to waft [tow] the Chagres Fleet to and fro." They were "not yet both +launched," and the Chagres fleet lay waiting for them within the mouth +of the Chagres River. Drake "purposed now to adventure for that Fleet." +The day on which he made his plan was Easter Sunday, the 22nd March. +"And to hearten his company" for that bold attempt "he feasted them that +Easter Day with great cheer and cheerfulness" on the dainties taken from +the Spaniards. + +The next day, he manned "the new tallowed frigate of Tolu," and sailed +away west (with Oxenham in the _Bear_ in company) "towards the +Cativaas," where they landed to refresh themselves. As they played about +upon the sand, flinging pebbles at the land-crabs, they saw a sail to +the westward coming down towards them. They at once repaired aboard, and +made sail, and "plied towards" the stranger, thinking her to be a +Spaniard. The stranger held on her course as though to run the raiders +aboard, "till he perceived by our confidence that we were no Spaniards, +and conjectured we were those Englishmen of whom he had heard long +before." He bore up suddenly under the lee of the English ships, "and in +token of amity shot off his lee ordnance"--a salute which Drake at once +acknowledged by a similar discharge. As the ships neared each other, the +stranger hailed Drake, saying that he was Captain Tetū, or Le Testu, a +Frenchman of Newhaven (or Havre), in desperate want of water. He had +been looking for Drake, he said, for the past five weeks, "and prayed +our Captain to help him to some water, for that he had nothing but wine +and cider aboard him, which had brought his men into great +sickness"--gastritis or dysentery. Drake at once sent a boat aboard with +a cask or two of drink, and some fresh meat, "willing him to follow us +to the next port, where he should have both water and victuals." + +As soon as they had brought their ships to anchor, the French captain +sent Drake "a case of pistols, and a fair gilt scimitar (which had been +the late King's of France) whom Monsieur Montgomery hurt in the eye." +The Frenchman had received it from "Monsieur Strozze," or Strozzi, a +famous general of banditti. Drake accepted the gift in the magnificent +manner peculiar to him, sending the bearer back to Tetū with a chain of +gold supporting a tablet of enamel. Having exchanged gifts, according to +the custom of the sea, Captain Tetū came off to visit Drake. He was a +Huguenot privateer, who had been in France at the time of the Massacre +of St Bartholomew, the murder of Coligny, "and divers others murders." +He had "thought those Frenchmen the happiest which were farthest from +France," and had, therefore, put to sea to escape from persecution. He +was now cruising off the Spanish Main, "a Man of war as we were." He had +heard much of Drake's spoils upon the coast, and "desired to know" how +he too might win a little Spanish gold. His ship was a fine craft of +more than eighty tons, manned by seventy men and boys. He asked Drake to +take him into partnership, so that they might share the next adventure. + +The offer was not very welcome to Drake, for the French company was more +than double the strength of the English. Drake had but thirty-one men +left alive, and he regarded Tetū with a good deal of jealousy and a good +deal of distrust. Yet with only thirty-one men he could hardly hope to +succeed in any great adventure. If he joined with the French, he thought +there would be danger of their appropriating most of the booty after +using him and his men as their tools. The English sailors were of the +same opinion; but it was at last decided that Tetū, with twenty picked +hands, should be admitted to partnership, "to serve with our Captain for +halves." It was something of a risk, but by admitting only twenty of the +seventy men the risk was minimised. They were not enough to overpower +Drake in case they wished to make away with all the booty, yet they made +him sufficiently strong to attempt the schemes he had in hand. An +agreement was, therefore, signed; a boat was sent to the secret +anchorage to bring the Cimmeroons; and the three ships then sailed away +to the east, to the magazines of food which Drake had stored some weeks +before. + +Here they lay at anchor for five or six days to enable the sick +Frenchmen to get their health and strength after their weeks of misery. +The Huguenot ship was revictualled from the magazines and then taken +with the _Bear_ into the secret haven. The third pinnace, the _Lion_, +had been sunk a few days before, but the other two, the _Eion_ and the +_Minion_, with the new Tolu frigate, were set in order for the next +adventure. Drake chose fifteen of his remaining thirty hands, and sent +them down into the pinnaces with a few Maroons. The twenty Frenchmen +joined him, under their captain, and the expedition then set sail for +Rio Francisco, fifteen miles from Nombre de Dios. As they sailed, the +Maroons gave out that the frigate was too deep a ship to cross the Rio +Francisco bar, which had little water on it at that season of the year. +They, therefore, sailed her back, and left her at the Cabezas, "manned +with English and French, in the charge of Richard Doble," with strict +orders not to venture out until the return of the pinnaces. + +Putting her complement into the pinnaces, they again set sail for the +mouth of the Francisco River. They crossed the bar without difficulty, +and rowed their boats upstream. They landed some miles from the sea, +leaving the pinnaces in charge of some Maroons. These had orders to +leave the river, and hide themselves in the Cabezas, and to await the +raiders at the landing-place, without fail, in four days' time. + +As soon as Drake had landed, he ordered the company in the formation he +had used on his march to Panama. He enjoined strict silence upon all, +and gave the word to march. They set forward silently, through the +cane-brakes and lush undergrowth, upon the long, seven leagues march to +the town of Nombre de Dios. They marched all day uncomplainingly, so +that at dusk they had crept to within a mile of the trackway, a little +to the south of the town. They were now on some gently rising ground, +with the swamps and Nombre de Dios at their feet. It made a good +camping-ground; and there they passed the night of the 31st of March, +resting and feasting "in great stillness, in a most convenient place." +They were so close to the town that they could hear the church bells +ringing and the clatter of the hammers in the bay, where the carpenters +were at work upon the treasure ships. They were working there busily, +beating in the rivets all night, in the coolness, to fit the ships for +sea. Nearer to them, a little to the west, was the trackway, so that +they could hear the mule trains going past to Panama with a great noise +of ringing bells. + +Early on the morning of the 1st of April they heard a great clang of +bells among the woods. The mule trains were coming in from Venta +Cruz--three mule trains according to the Cimmeroons, laden with "more +gold and silver than all of us could bear away." The adventurers took +their weapons, and crept through the scrub to the trackway "to hear the +bells." In a few minutes, when each side of the track had been manned by +the adventurers, the treasure trains trotted up with a great clang and +clatter. There were three complete recuas, "one of 50 mules, the other +two of 70 each, every of which carried 300 lbs. of silver; which in all +amounted to near thirty tons." The trains were guarded by a half company +of Spanish foot, "fifteen to each company." The soldiers marched by the +side of the trains, blowing on their matches to keep the smouldering +ends alight. As the leading mules came up with the head of the ambush +Drake blew a blast upon his whistle. The raiders rose from their +hiding-place, and fired a volley of shot and arrows at the troops. At +the same moment tarry hands were laid upon the heads of the leading +mules, so that "all the rest stayed and lay down as their manner is." +The Spanish soldiers, taken by surprise, were yet a credit to their +colours. They fell into confusion at the first assault, but immediately +rallied. A brisk skirmish began, over the bodies of the mules, with +sharp firing of muskets and arrows. Captain Tetū was hit in the belly +with a charge of hail-shot; a Maroon was shot dead; and then the sailors +cleared the road with a rush, driving the Spanish pell-mell towards the +town. Then with feverish hands they cast adrift the mule packs "to ease +some of the mules, which were heaviest loaden, of their carriage." They +were among such wealth as few men have looked upon at the one time. How +much they took will never now be known, but each man there had as much +pure gold, in bars and quoits, as he could carry. They buried about +fifteen tons of silver "partly in the burrows which the great land-crabs +had made in the earth, and partly under old trees which were fallen +thereabout, and partly in the sand and gravel of a river, "not very deep +of water." Some of it, no doubt, remains there to this day. + +In about two hours' time, they were ready to return to their pinnaces. +They formed into order, and hurried away towards the woods, making as +much haste as the weight of plunder would allow. As they gained the +shelter of the forest they heard a troop of horse, with some +arquebusiers, coming hurriedly to the rescue of the mules. They +attempted no pursuit, for no Spaniard cared to enter the forest to +attack a force in which Maroons were serving. The raiders were, +therefore, able to get clear away into the jungle. All that day and the +next day they hurried eastward through the scrub. They made a brief +pause, as they tramped, to lay down Captain Tetū, whose wound prevented +him from marching. He could go no farther, and begged that he might be +left behind in the forest, "in hope that some rest would recover him +better strength." Two French sailors stayed with him to protect him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE ADVENTURE OF THE RAFT + + Drake's voyage to the Catives--Homeward bound--The interrupted + sermon + + +When the retreating force had gone about two leagues, they discovered +that a Frenchman was missing from the ranks. He had not been hurt in the +fight; but there was no time to search for him (as a matter of fact, he +had drunk too much wine, and had lost himself in the woods), so again +they pressed on to the pinnaces and safety. On the 3rd of April, utterly +worn out with the hurry of the retreat, they came to the Francisco +River. They were staggering under the weight of all their plunder, and, +to complete their misery, they were wet to the skin with a rain-storm +which had raged all night. To their horror they found no pinnaces +awaiting them, but out at sea, not far from the coast, were seven +Spanish pinnaces which had been beating up the inlets for them. These +were now rowing as though directly from the rendezvous at the Cabezas, +so that the draggled band upon the shore made no doubt that their +pinnaces had been sunk, their friends killed or taken, and the retreat +cut off. + +Drake's chief fear, on seeing these Spanish boats, was that "they had +compelled our men by torture to confess where his frigate and ships +were." To the disheartened folk about him it seemed that all hope of +returning home was now gone, for they made no doubt that the ships were +by this time destroyed. Some of them flung down their gold in despair, +while all felt something of the general panic. The Maroons recommended +that the march should be made by land, "though it were sixteen days' +journey," promising them that, if the ships were taken, they might +sojourn among them in the forest as long as they wished. The sailors +were in too great "distress and perplexity" to listen to counsel; but +Drake had a genius for handling situations of the kind, and he now came +forward to quell the uproar. The men were babbling and swearing in open +mutiny, and the case demanded violent remedy. He called for silence, +telling the mutineers that he was no whit better off than they were; +that it was no time to give way to fear, but a time to keep a stiff +upper lip, and play the man. He reminded them that, even if the +Spaniards had taken the pinnaces, "which God forbid," "yet they must +have time to search them, time to examine the mariners, time to execute +their resolution after it is determined." "Before all these times be +taken," he exclaimed angrily, "we may get to our ships if ye will." They +might not hope to go by land, he said, for it would take too long, and +the ways would be too foul. But why should they not go by water? There +was the river at their feet, roaring down in full spate, tumbling the +trunks of trees destroyed in last night's storm. Why in the world should +they not make a raft of the trees, "and put ourselves to sea"? "I will +be one," he concluded, "who will be the other?" The appeal went home to +the sailors. An Englishman named John Smith at once came forward, with a +couple of Frenchmen "who could swim very well." The Maroons formed into +a line beside the river, and the tree trunks were caught and hauled +ashore to form the body of the raft. The branches were trimmed with the +hatchets they had brought to clear a path through the forest. The boles +were fastened together with thongs stolen from the recua, and with the +pliant bejuca growing all about them. The men worked merrily, convinced +that Drake would find a way to bring the ship to them. As soon as the +raft was built, a mast was stepped in her, on which a biscuit sack was +hoisted for a sail. A young tree, working in a crutch, served them as a +steering oar. The four men went aboard, a line was laid out to the bar, +and the curious raft was hauled off into the sea. The last of the storm +of the night before was still roaring up aloft. A high sea was running, +and the wind blew strong from the west. Drake put his helm up, and stood +off before it, crying out to the company that "if it pleased God, he +should put his foot in safety aboard his frigate, he would, God willing, +by one means or other get them all aboard, in despite of all the +Spaniards in the Indies." + +Those who have sailed on a raft in calm water will appreciate the +courage of Drake's deed. The four men aboard her had to squat in several +inches of salt water, holding on for their lives, while the green seas +came racing over them "to the arm pits" at "every surge of the wave." +The day was intensely hot in spite of the wind, and "what with the +parching of the sun and what with the beating of the salt water, they +had all of them their skins much fretted away." With blistered and +cracking faces, parched with the heat and the salt, and shivering from +the continual immersion, they sailed for six hours, making about a knot +and a half an hour. When they had made their third league "God gave them +the sight of two pinnaces" beating towards them under oars and sail, and +making heavy weather of it. The sight of the boats was a great joy to +the four sufferers on the raft. They edged towards them as best they +could, crying out that all was safe, "so that there was no cause of +fear." It was now twilight, and the wind, already fierce, was blowing up +into a gale. In the failing light, with the spray sweeping into their +eyes, the men aboard the pinnaces could not see the raft, nor could +they make headway towards her with the wind as it was. As Drake watched, +he saw them bear up for a cove to the lee of a point of land, where they +could shelter for the night. He waited a few moments to see if they +would put forth again, but soon saw that they had anchored. He then ran +his raft ashore to windward of them, on the other side of the headland. +He was very angry with the pinnaces' hands for their disobedience of +orders. Had they done as he had commanded them, they would have been in +the Francisco River the night before, and all the pains and danger of +the raft would have been unnecessary. Drake, therefore, resolved to play +a trick upon them. As soon as he landed, he set off running to the haven +where the boats lay, followed by John Smith and the two Frenchmen--all +running "in great haste," "as if they had been chased by the enemy." The +hands in the pinnaces saw the four men hurrying towards them, and at +once concluded that the Spaniards had destroyed the expedition, and that +these four hunted wretches were the sole survivors. In an agony of +suspense they got the four men into the boats, eagerly asking where the +others were, and in what state. To these inquiries "he answered coldly, +'Well'"--an answer which convinced them that their mates were either +dead or in the hands of the Spaniards. Drake watched their misery for a +little while, and then being "willing to rid all doubts, and fill them +with joy," he took from the bosom of his shirt "a quoit of gold," giving +thanks to God that the voyage was at last "made." Some Frenchmen were in +the boat, and to these he broke the news of Captain Tetū's wound and how +he had been left behind in the forest, "and two of his company with +him." He then bade the men to get the grapnels up, as he was determined +to row to the Rio Francisco that night. After the anchors were raised, +and the oars shipped, a few hours of desperate rowing brought them to +the river's mouth, where the company had camped about a fire. By the +dawn of the next day the whole expedition was embarked, and the pinnaces +(their planking cracking with the weight of treasure) were running +eastward with a fresh wind dead astern. They picked up the frigate that +morning, and then stood on for the ships, under sail, with great joy. +Soon they were lying safe at anchor in the shelter of the secret haven +at Fort Diego. All the gold and silver were laid together in a heap, and +there in the full view of all hands, French and English, Drake weighed +it on the steward's meat scales, dividing it into two equal portions, to +the satisfaction of everyone. The French took their portion aboard their +ship as soon as it had been allotted to them. They then begged Drake for +some more sea-stores, to fit them for the sea, and he gave them a +quantity of provisions from his secret magazines. They then filled their +water casks, and stood away to the west, to cruise for a few days off +the Cabezas in the hope of obtaining news of Captain Tetū. + +As soon as they had gone, Drake ordered his old ship, the _Pascha_, to +be stripped of all things necessary for the fitting of the frigate, the +Spanish prize. The long months at Port Diego had left her very foul, and +it was easier to dismantle her than to fit her for the sea. While she +was being stripped to equip the frigate, Drake organised another +expedition to recover Captain Tetū and the buried silver. His men would +not allow him to take a part in this final adventure, so Oxenham, and +one Thomas Sherwell, were placed in command. Drake accompanied them as +far as the Francisco River, taking an oar in one of the pinnaces which +conveyed them. As they rowed lightly up the stream, the reeds were +thrust aside, and one of Captain Tetū's two comrades came staggering +out, and fell upon his knees. In a broken voice he thanked God that +ever Drake was born to deliver him thus, after he had given up all hope. + +He told them that he had been surprised by the Spaniards half-an-hour +after he had taken up his post beside his wounded captain. As the +Spaniards came upon them, he took to his heels, followed by his mate. He +had been carrying a lot of pillage, but as he ran he threw it all away, +including a box of jewels, which caught his mate's eye as it fell in the +grass. "His fellow took it up, and burdened himself so sore that he +could make no speed," so that the Spaniards soon overtook him, and +carried him away with Captain Tetū. Having taken two of the three +Frenchmen, the Spaniards were content to leave the chase, and the poor +survivor had contrived to reach the Rio Francisco after several days of +wandering in the woods. As for the silver which they had buried so +carefully in the sands, "he thought that it was all gone ... for that +... there had been near two thousand Spaniards and Negroes there to dig +and search for it." Notwithstanding this report, John Oxenham with a +company of twenty-seven men, marched west to view the place. He found +that the earth "every way a mile distant had been digged and turned up," +for the Spaniards had put their captives to the torture to learn what +had been done with the treasure. Most of it had been recovered by this +means, "yet nevertheless, for all that narrow search," a little of the +dew of heaven was still glimmering in the crab-holes. The company was +able to rout out some quantity of refined gold, with thirteen bars of +silver, weighing some forty pounds apiece. With this spoil upon their +backs, they returned to the Rio Francisco, where the pinnaces took them +off to the frigate. + +Now that the voyage was made, it was "high time to think of homeward," +before the Spaniards should fit out men-of-war against them. Drake was +anxious to give the _Pascha_ to the Spanish prisoners, as some +compensation for their weeks of captivity. He could not part with her, +however, till he had secured another vessel to act as tender, or +victualler, to his little frigate. He determined to make a cast to the +east, as far as the Rio Grande, to look for some suitable ship. The +Huguenot privateer, which had been lying off the Cabezas, sailed +eastward in his company, having abandoned Captain Tetū and his two +shipmates to the mercies of the Spaniards. They stood along the coast +together as far as the Isles of San Barnardo, where the French ship +parted company. The Spanish plate fleet, with its guard of galleons, was +riding at the entry to Cartagena, and the Frenchmen feared that by +coming too near they might be taken. They, therefore, saluted Drake with +guns and colours, and shaped their course for Hispaniola and home. + +[Illustration: SHIP AND FLYING FISH] + +But Drake held on in his way in a bravery, determined to see the Rio +Grande before returning home. He sailed past Cartagena almost within +gunshot, "in the sight of all the Fleet, with a flag of St George in the +main top of our frigate, with silk streamers and ancients down to the +water, sailing forward with a large wind." Late that night they arrived +off the mouth of the Rio Grande, where they shortened sail, "and lay off +and on." At midnight the wind veered round to the eastward, so that the +victuallers at anchor in the river were able to set sail for Cartagena. +About two o'clock in the morning a frigate slipped over the bar under +small sail, and ran past Drake towards the west. The English at once +opened fire upon her with their shot and arrows, to which the Spaniards +replied with their quick-firing guns. While the English gunners plied +her with missiles a pinnace laid her aboard, at which the Spaniards +leaped overboard and swam for the shore. The newly taken frigate +proved to be some seven or eight tons larger than the one in which the +English had come to the east. She was laden with maize, hens, and hogs, +and a large quantity of honey from the wild bees of Nueva Reyna. As soon +as the day dawned, the two frigates sailed away again to the Cabezas to +prepare for the voyage home. + +The prize's cargo was discharged upon the beach. Both frigates were then +hove down, and the Spanish prisoners (taken some weeks before) were +allowed to depart aboard the _Pascha_. The barnacles were scrubbed and +burned off the frigates; their bends were resheathed and retallowed; the +provisions were stowed in good trim; water casks were filled; and all +things set in order for the voyage. The dainty pinnaces, which had done +them such good service, and carried them so many weary miles, were then +torn to pieces, and burned, "that the Cimaroons might have the +iron-work." Lastly, Drake asked Pedro and three Maroon chiefs to go +through both the frigates "to see what they liked." He wished them to +choose themselves some farewell gifts, and promised them that they +should have what they asked, unless it were essential to the safety of +the vessels. We are not told the choice of the three Maroon chiefs, but +we read that Pedro chose the "fair gilt scimitar," the gift of Captain +Tetū, which had once belonged to Henri II. of France. Drake had not +meant to part with it, but Pedro begged for it so prettily, through the +mouth of one Francis Tucker, that Drake gave it him "with many good +words," together with a quantity of silk and linen for the wives of +those who had marched with him. They then bade adieu to the delighted +Pedro and his fellows, for it was time to set sail for England. With a +salute of guns and colours, with the trumpets sounding, and the ships' +companies to give a cheer, the two little frigates slipped out of their +harbour, and stood away under all sail for Cape St Antonio. They took a +small barque laden with hides upon the way, but dismissed her as being +useless to them after they had robbed her of her pump. At Cape St +Antonio they salted and dried a number of turtles, as provisions for the +voyage. Then they took their departure cheerfully towards the north, +intending to call at Newfoundland to fill with water. The wind blew +steadily from the south and west to blow them home, so that this scheme +was abandoned. Abundant rain supplied their water casks, the wind held +steady, the sun shone, and the blue miles slipped away. "Within +twenty-three days" they passed "from the Cape of Florida to the Isles of +Scilly," the two Spanish frigates being admirable sailers. With the silk +streamers flying in a bravery the two ships sailed into Plymouth "on +Sunday, about sermon time, August the 9th, 1573." There they dropped +anchor to the thunder of the guns, to the great joy of all the +townsfolk. "The news of our Captain's return ... did so speedily pass +over all the church, and surpass their minds with desire and delight to +see him, that very few or none remained with the Preacher, all hastening +to see the evidence of God's love and blessing towards our Gracious +Queen and country, by the fruit of our Captain's labour and success. +_Soli Deo Gloria._" + +We may take leave of him at this point, with the Plymouth bells ringing +him a welcome and the worshippers flocking down to see him land. + + _Note._--"There were at the time," says the narrative, "belonging to + Cartagena, Nombre de Dios, Rio Grande, Santa Marta, Rio de la Hacha, + Venta Cruz, Veragua, Nicaragua, the Honduras, Jamaica, etc.; above + 200 frigates; some of 120 tons, others but of 10 or 12 tons, but the + most of 30 or 40 tons, which all had intercourse between Cartagena + and Nombre de Dios. The most of which, during our abode in those + parts, we took; and some of them twice or thrice each." + + Most of these frigates were provision ships, but in all of them, no + doubt, there was a certain amount of gold and silver, besides uncut + jewels or pearls from the King's Islands. We do not know the amount + of Drake's plunder, but with the spoil of all these frigates, added + to the loot of the recua, it must have been very considerable. He + may have made as much as £40,000, or more, or less. It is as well to + put the estimate low. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JOHN OXENHAM + + The voyage--His pinnace--Into the South Sea--Disaster--His unhappy + end + + +The John Oxenham, or Oxnam, who followed Drake to Nombre de Dios, and +stood with him that sunny day watching the blue Pacific from the +tree-top, was a Devonshire gentleman from South Tawton. He was of good +family and well to do. He may, perhaps, have given money towards the +fitting out of Drake's squadron. It is at least certain that he held in +that voyage a position of authority considerably greater than that of +"soldier, mariner, and cook"--the rates assigned to him by Sir Richard +Hawkins. On his return from the Nombre de Dios raid, he disappears, and +it is uncertain whether he followed Drake to Ireland, or settled down at +home in Devonshire. He did not forget the oath he had sworn to his old +Captain, to follow him to the South Sea in God's good time. But after +waiting a year or two, and finding that Drake was not ready to attempt +that adventure, he determined to go at his own charge, with such men as +he could find. He was well known in the little Devon seaports as a bold +sailor and fiery sea-captain. He was "a fine figure of a man," and the +glory of Drake's raid was partly his. He was looked upon as one of the +chief men in that foray. He had, therefore, little difficulty in getting +recruits for a new voyage to the Main. + +In the year 1574 he set sail from Plymouth in a fine ship of 140 tons, +with a crew of seventy men and boys. He made a fair passage to the +Main, and anchored in Drake's old anchorage--either that of the secret +haven, in the Gulf of Darien, or that farther west, among the Catives. +Here he went ashore, and made friends with the Maroons, some of whom, no +doubt, were old acquaintances, still gay with beads or iron-work which +he had given them two years before. They told him that the treasure +trains "from Panama to Nombre de Dios" were now strongly guarded by +Spanish soldiers, so that he might not hope to win such a golden booty +as Drake had won, by holding up a recua on the march. Oxenham, +therefore, determined "to do that which never any man before +enterprised"--by leaving his ship, marching over the watershed, building +a pinnace in the woods, and going for a cruise on the South Sea. He +dragged his ship far into the haven, struck her topmasts, and left her +among the trees, beached on the mud, and covered with green boughs so as +to be hidden from view. Her great guns were swung ashore, and buried, +and the graves of them strewn with leaves and brushwood. He then armed +his men with their calivers and their sacks of victual, "and so went +with the Negroes," dragging with them two small guns, probably +quick-firing guns, mounted on staves of wood or iron. Hawkins says that +he left four or five men behind him as shipkeepers. After a march of +"about twelve leagues into the maine-land" the Maroons brought him to a +river "that goeth to the South Sea." Here the party halted, and built +themselves little huts of boughs to live in while they made themselves a +ship. + +They cut down some trees here, and built themselves a pinnace "which was +five and fortie foot by the keele." They seem to have brought their +sails and tackling with them, but had they not done so they could have +made shift with the rough Indian cloth and the fibrous, easily twisted +bark of the maho-tree. Having built this little ship, they went aboard +of her, and dropped downstream to the Pacific--the first English crew, +but not the first Englishman, to sail those waters. Six negroes came +with them to act as guides. As soon as they had sailed out of the +river's mouth, they made for the Pearl Islands, or Islands of the King, +"which is five and twentie leagues from Panama." Here they lay very +close, in some snug inlet hidden from the sea. Some of them went inland +to a rocky cliff, to watch the seas for ships coming northward from Peru +with treasure from the gold and silver mines. The islands are in the +fairway between Panama and Lima, but ten days passed before the watchers +saw a sail, and cried out to those in the boat. "There came a small +Barke by, which came from Peru, from a place called Quito"; and the +pinnace dashed alongside of her, and carried her by the sword, before +her sailors learned what was the matter. She was laden with "sixtie +thousand pezos of golde, and much victuals." John Oxenham took her +lading, and kept the barque by him, while he stayed on at the islands. +At the end of six days, another "barke" came by, from Lima, "in whiche +he tooke an hundred thousand pezos of silver in barres." This was +plunder enough to "make" any voyage, and with this John Oxenham was +content. Before he sailed away, however, he marched upon one or two of +the Pearl fisheries, where he found a few pearls. He then sailed +northward to the river's mouth taking his prizes with him, with all the +prisoners. + +At the river's mouth he very foolishly "sent away the two prizes that +hee tooke"--a piece of clemency which knotted the rope under his ear. He +then sailed up the river, helping his pinnace by poles, oars, and warps, +but making slow progress. + +Before he reached this river, the negroes of the Pearl Islands sent word +to the Governor of Panama that English pirates had been in those seas +plundering their fisheries. "Within two days" the Governor despatched +four galleys, "with negroes to rowe," and twenty-five musketeers in each +galley, under the Captain John de Ortega, to search the Pearl Islands +very thoroughly for those robbers. They reached the islands, learned in +which direction the pirate ships had gone, and rowed away north to +overtake them. As they came near the land, they fell in with the two +prizes, the men of which were able to tell them how the pirates had gone +up the river but a few days before. + +John de Ortega came to the river's mouth with his four galleys, and +"knew not which way to take, because there were three partitions in the +river, to goe up in." He decided at last to go up the greatest, and was +actually rowing towards it, when "he saw comming down a lesser river +many feathers of hennes, which the Englishmen had pulled to eate." These +drifting feathers, thrown overboard so carelessly, decided the Spanish +captain. He turned up the lesser river "where he saw the feathers," and +bade his negroes give way heartily. Four days later, he saw the English +pinnace drawn up on the river-bank "upon the sands," guarded by six of +her crew. The musketeers at once fired a volley, which killed one of the +Englishmen, and sent the other five scattering to the cover of the +woods. There was nothing in the pinnace but bread and meat. All the gold +pezoes and the bars of silver had been landed. + +The presence of the boat guard warned the Spanish captain that the main +body of the pirates was near at hand. He determined to land eighty of +his musketeers to search those woods before returning home. "Hee had not +gone half a league" before he found one of the native huts, thatched +with palm leaves, in which were "all the Englishmen's goods and the gold +and silver also." The Englishmen were lying about the hut, many of them +unarmed, with no sentry keeping a lookout for them. Taken by surprise as +they were, they ran away into the woods, leaving all things in the hands +of the Spaniards. The Spaniards carried the treasure back to the +galleys, and rowed slowly down the river "without following the +Englishmen any further." + +It appeared later, that Oxenham had ordered his men to carry the gold +and silver from the place where they had hauled the pinnace ashore, to +the place where the ship was hidden. To this the mariners joyfully +assented, "for hee promised to give them part of it besides their +wages." Unfortunately, they wished this "part of it" paid to them at +once, before they shifted an ingot--a want which seemed to reflect upon +John Oxenham's honour. He was naturally very angry "because they would +not take his word" to pay them something handsome when he reached home. +He was a choleric sea-captain, and began, very naturally, to damn them +for their insolence. "He fell out with them, and they with him," says +Hakluyt. One of them, stung by his Captain's curses, "would have killed +the Captaine" there and then, with his caliver,[2] or sailor's knife. +This last act was too much. Oxenham gave them a few final curses, and +told them that, if such were their temper, they should not so much as +touch a quoit of the treasure, but that he would get Maroons to carry +it. He then left them, and went alone into the forest to find Maroons +for the porterage. As he came back towards the camp, with a gang of +negroes, he met the five survivors of the boat guard "and the rest also +which ran from the house," all very penitent and sorry now that the +mischief had been done. They told him of the loss of the treasure, and +looked to him for guidance and advice, promising a better behaviour in +the future. Oxenham told them that if they helped him to recover the +treasure, they should have half of it, "if they got it from the +Spaniards." "The Negroes promised to help him with their bows and +arrows," and with this addition to their force they set off down the +river-bank in pursuit. + +[Footnote 2: _Caliver_, a light, hand musket. A musket without a crutch, +or rest.] + +After three days' travelling, they came upon the Spaniards, in camp, on +the bank of the river, apparently in some strong position, sheltered +with trees. Oxenham at once fell on "with great fury," exposing himself +and his men to the bullets of the musketeers. The Spaniards were used to +woodland fighting. Each musketeer retired behind a tree, and fired from +behind it, without showing more than his head and shoulders, and then +but for a moment. The Englishmen charged up the slope to the muzzles of +the guns, but were repulsed with loss, losing eleven men killed and five +men taken alive. The number of wounded is not stated. The negroes, who +were less active in the charge, lost only five men. The Spaniards loss +was two killed "and five sore hurt." The English were beaten off the +ground, and routed. They made no attempt to rally, and did not fall on a +second time. + +The Spanish captain asked his prisoners why they had not crossed the +isthmus to their ship in the days before the pursuit began. To this the +prisoners answered with the tale of their mutinies, adding that their +Captain would not stay longer in those parts now that his company had +been routed. The Spaniards then buried their dead, retired on board +their galleys, and rowed home to Panama, taking with them their +prisoners and the English pinnace. When they arrived in that city, the +prisoners were tortured till they confessed where their ship was hidden. +Advice was then sent to Nombre de Dios, where four pinnaces were at once +equipped to seek out the secret haven. They soon found the ship, "and +brought her to Nombre de Dios," where her guns and buried stores were +divided among the King's ships employed in the work of the coast. While +this search for the ship was being made, the Viceroy of Peru sent out +150 musketeers to destroy the "fiftie English men" remaining alive. +These troops, conducted by Maroons, soon found the English in a camp by +the river, "making of certaine Canoas to goe into the North Sea, and +there to take some Bark or other." Many of them were sick and ill, "and +were taken." The rest escaped into the forest, where they tried to make +some arrangement with the negroes. The negroes, it seems, were angry +with Oxenham for his failure to keep his word to them. They had agreed +to help him on condition that they might have all the Spanish prisoners +to torture "to feed their insatiable revenges." Oxenham had released his +prisoners, as we have seen, and the Maroons had been disappointed of +their dish of roasted Spaniards' hearts. They were naturally very angry, +and told John Oxenham, when he came to them for help, that his +misfortunes were entirely due to his own folly. Had he kept his word, +they said, he would have reached his ship without suffering these +reverses. After a few days, being weary of keeping so many foreigners, +they betrayed the English sailors to the Spaniards. "They were brought +to Panama," to the justice of that city, who asked John Oxenham "whether +hee had the Queene's licence, or the licence of any other Prince or +Lord, for his attempt." To this John Oxenham answered that he had no +licence saving his sword. He was then condemned to death with the rest +of his company, with the exception of two (or five) ships' boys. After a +night or two in Panama prison, within sound of the surf of the Pacific, +the mariners were led out, and shot. Oxenham and the master and the +pilot were sent to Lima, where they were hanged as pirates in the +square of the city. A force of musketeers was then sent into the +interior, to reduce the Maroons "which had assisted those English men." +The punitive force "executed great justice," till "the Negroes grew wise +and wary," after which there was no more justice to be done. The ships' +boys, who were spared, were probably sold as slaves in Lima, or Panama. +They probably lived in those towns for the rest of their lives, and may +have become good Catholics, and wealthy, after due probation under the +whip. + +Sir Richard Hawkins, who was in Panama in 1593, and who may have heard a +Spanish version of the history, tells us that aboard the treasure ship +taken by Oxenham were "two peeces of speciall estimation: the one a +table of massie gold, with emralds ... a present to the King; the other +a lady of singular beautie." According to Sir Richard, John Oxenham fell +in love with this lady, and it was through her prayers that he released +the other prisoners. He is said to have "kept the lady" when he turned +the other prisoners away. The lady's "sonne, or a nephew," who was among +those thus discharged, made every effort to redeem his mother (or aunt). +He prayed so vehemently and "with such diligence," to the Governor at +Panama, that the four galleys were granted to him "within few howers." +The story is not corroborated; but Oxenham was very human, and Spanish +beauty, like other beauty, is worth sinning for. + +A year or two later, Captain Andrew Barker of Bristol, while cruising +off the Main, captured a Spanish frigate "between Chagre and Veragua." +On board of her, pointing through the port-holes, were four cast-iron +guns which had been aboard John Oxenham's ship. They were brought to +England, and left in the Scilly Islands, A.D. 1576. + + _Note._--The story of John Oxenham is taken from "Purchas his + Pilgrimes," vol. iv. (the original large 4to edition); and from + Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 526. Another version of the tale is given in + Sir R. Hawkins' "Observations." He is also mentioned in Hakluyt's + account of Andrew Barker. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE SPANISH RULE IN HISPANIOLA + + Rise of the buccaneers--The hunters of the wild + bulls--Tortuga--Buccaneer politics--Buccaneer customs + + +In 1492, when Columbus landed on Hayti, he found there about 1,000,000 +Indians, of a gentle refinement of manners, living peaceably under their +kings or caciques. They were "faint-hearted creatures," "a barbarous +sort of people, totally given to sensuality and a brutish custom of +life, hating all manner of labour, and only inclined to run from place +to place." The Spaniards killed many thousands of them, hunted a number +with their bloodhounds, sent a number to work the gold-mines, and caused +about a third of the population to commit suicide or die of famine. They +discouraged sensuality and a distaste for work so zealously that within +twenty years they had reduced the population to less than a twentieth +part of its original 1,000,000 of souls. They then called the island +Hispaniola, and built a city, on the south coast, as the capital. This +city they called Nueva Ysabel, in honour of the Queen of Spain, but the +name was soon changed to that of St Domingo.[3] + +[Footnote 3: See particularly Burney, Exquemeling, Edwards, and Hazard.] + +Those Indians who were not enslaved, retired to the inmost parts of the +island, to the shelter of the thickest woods, where they maintained +themselves by hunting. The swine and cattle, which had belonged to their +fellows in their prosperous days, ran wild, and swarmed all over the +island in incredible numbers. The dogs of the caciques also took to the +woods, where they ranged in packs of two or three score, hunting the +wild swine and the calves. The Spaniards seem to have left the interior +of the island to the few survivors, as they had too few slaves to +cultivate it. They settled themselves at St Domingo, and at various +places upon the coast, such as Santiago and St John of Goave. They +planted tobacco, sugar, chocolate, and ginger, and carried on a +considerable trade with the cities on the Main and in the mother +country. + +Hayti, or Hispaniola, is in the fairway of ships coming from Europe +towards the Main. It was at one time looked upon as the landfall to be +made before proceeding west to Vera Cruz or south to Cartagena. The +French, English, and Hollanders, who visited those seas "maugre the King +of Spain's beard," discovered it at a very early date. They were not +slow to recognise its many advantages. The Spanish, who fiercely +resented the presence of any foreigners in a part of the world +apportioned to Spain by the Pope, did all they could to destroy them +whenever they had the opportunity. But the Spanish population in the +Indies was small, and spread over a vast area, and restricted, by +Government rules, to certain lines of action. They could not patrol the +Indies with a number of guarda costas sufficient to exclude all foreign +ships, nor could they set guards, in forts, at every estancia or +anchorage in the vast coast-line of the islands. Nor could they enforce +the Spanish law, which forbade the settlers to trade with the merchants +of other countries. It often happened that a ship from France, Holland, +or England arrived upon the coasts of Hispaniola, or some other Spanish +colony, off some settlement without a garrison. The settlers in these +out-of-the-way places were very glad to trade with such ships, for the +freight they brought was cheaper and of better quality than that which +paid duty to their King. The goods were landed, and paid for. The ships +sent their crews ashore to fill fresh water or to reprovision, and then +sailed home for Europe, to return the next year with new goods. On the +St Domingo or Hispaniola coasts there are countless creeks and inlets, +making good harbours, where these smuggling ships might anchor or +careen. The land was well watered and densely wooded, so that casks +could be filled, and firewood obtained, without difficulty on any part +of the coast. Moreover, the herds of wild cattle and droves of wild +boars enabled the ships to reprovision without cost. Before the end of +the sixteenth century, it had become the custom for privateers to +recruit upon the coast of Hispaniola, much as Drake recruited at Port +Plenty. The ships used to sail or warp into some snug cove, where they +could be laid upon the careen to allow their barnacles to be burned +away. The crews then landed, and pitched themselves tents of sails upon +the beach, while some of their number took their muskets, and went to +kill the cattle in the woods. In that climate, meat does not keep for +more than a few hours, and it often happened that the mariners had +little salt to spare for the salting of their kill. They, therefore, +cured the meat in a manner they had learned from the Carib Indians. The +process will be described later on. + +The Spanish guarda costas, which were swift small vessels like the +frigates Drake captured on the Main, did all they could to suppress the +illegal trafficking. Their captains had orders to take no prisoners, and +every "interloper" who fell into their hands was either hanged, like +Oxenham, or shot, like Oxenham's mariners. The huntsmen in the woods +were sometimes fired at by parties of Spaniards from the towns. There +was continual war between the Spaniards, the surviving natives, and the +interlopers. But when the Massacre of St Bartholomew drove many +Huguenots across the water to follow the fortunes of captains like Le +Testu, and when the news of Drake's success at Nombre de Dios came to +England, the interlopers began to swarm the seas in dangerous +multitudes. Before 1580, the western coast of Hispaniola had become a +sort of colony, to which the desperate and the adventurous came in +companies. The ships used to lie at anchor in the creeks, while a number +of the men from each ship went ashore to hunt cattle and wild boars. +Many of the sailors found the life of the hunter passing pleasant. There +were no watches to keep, no master to obey, no bad food to grumble at, +and, better still, no work to do, save the pleasant work of shooting +cattle for one's dinner. Many of them found the life so delightful that +they did not care to leave it when the time came for their ships to sail +for Europe. Men who had failed to win any booty on the "Terra Firma," +and had no jolly drinking-bout to look for on the quays at home, were +often glad to stay behind at the hunting till some more fortunate +captain should put in in want of men. Shipwrecked men, men who were of +little use at sea, men "who had disagreed with their commander," began +to settle on the coast in little fellowships.[4] They set on foot a +regular traffic with the ships which anchored there. They killed great +quantities of meat, which they exchanged (to the ships' captains) for +strong waters, muskets, powder and ball, woven stuffs, and iron-ware. +After a time, they began to preserve the hides, "by pegging them out +very tite on the Ground,"--a commodity of value, by which they made much +money. The bones they did not seem to have utilised after they had split +them for their marrow. The tallow and suet were sold to the ships--the +one to grease the ships' bottoms when careened, the other as an article +for export to the European countries. It was a wild life, full of +merriment and danger. The Spaniards killed a number of them, both +French and English, but the casualties on the Spanish side were probably +a good deal the heavier. The huntsmen became more numerous. For all that +the Spaniards could do, their settlements and factories grew larger. The +life attracted people, in spite of all its perils, just as tunny fishing +attracted the young gallant in Cervantes. A day of hunting in the woods, +a night of jollity, with songs, over a cup of drink, among adventurous +companions--_qué cosa tan bonita!_ We cannot wonder that it had a +fascination. If a few poor fellows in their leather coats lay out on the +savannahs with Spanish bullets in their skulls, the rum went none the +less merrily about the camp fires of those who got away. + +[Footnote 4: See Exquemeling, Burney, and the Abbé Raynal.] + +In 1586, on New Year's Day to be exact, Sir Francis Drake arrived off +Hispaniola with his fleet. He had a Greek pilot with him, who helped him +up the roads to within gunshot of St Domingo. The old Spanish city was +not prepared for battle, and the Governor made of it "a New Year's gift" +to the valorous raiders. The town was sacked, and the squadron sailed +away to pillage Cartagena and St Augustine. Drake's raid was so +successful that privateers came swarming in his steps to plunder the +weakened Spanish towns. They settled on the west and north-west coasts +of Hispaniola, compelling any Spanish settlers whom they found to retire +to the east and south. The French and English had now a firm foothold in +the Indies. Without assistance from their respective Governments they +had won the right to live there, "maugre the King of Spain's beard." In +a few years' time, they had become so prosperous that the Governments of +France and England resolved to plant a colony in the Caribbee Islands, +or Lesser Antilles. They thought that such a colony would be of benefit +to the earlier adventurers by giving them official recognition and +protection. A royal colony of French and English was, therefore, +established on the island of St Christopher, or St Kitts, one of the +Caribbees, to the east of Hispaniola, in the year 1625. The island was +divided between the two companies. They combined very amicably in a +murderous attack upon the natives, and then fell to quarrelling about +the possession of an island to the south. + +As the Governments had foreseen, their action in establishing a colony +upon St Kitts did much to stimulate the settlements in Hispaniola. The +hunters went farther afield, for the cattle had gradually left the +western coast for the interior. The anchorages by Cape Tiburon, or "Cape +Shark," and Samana, were filled with ships, both privateers and traders, +loading with hides and tallow or victualling for a raid upon the Main. +The huntsmen and hidecurers, French and English, had grown wealthy. Many +of them had slaves, in addition to other valuable property. Their +growing wealth made them anxious to secure themselves from any sudden +attack by land or sea. + +At the north-west end of Hispaniola, separated from that island by a +narrow strip of sea, there is a humpbacked little island, a few miles +long, rather hilly in its centre, and very densely wooded. At a distance +it resembles a swimming turtle, so that the adventurers on Hispaniola +called it Tortuga, or Turtle Island. Later on, it was known as Petit +Guaves. Between this Tortuga and the larger island there was an +excellent anchorage for ships, which had been defended at one time by a +Spanish garrison. The Spaniards had gone away, leaving the place +unguarded. The wealthier settlers seized the island, built themselves +factories and houses, and made it "their head-quarters, or place of +general rendezvous." After they had settled there, they seem to have +thought themselves secure.[5] In 1638 the Spaniards attacked the place, +at a time when nearly all the men were absent at the hunting. They +killed all they found upon the island, and stayed there some little +time, hanging those who surrendered to them after the first encounter. +Having massacred some 200 or 300 settlers, and destroyed as many +buildings as they could, the Spaniards sailed away, thinking it +unnecessary to leave a garrison behind them. In this they acted +foolishly, for their atrocities stirred the interlopers to revenge +themselves. A band of them returned to Tortuga, to the ruins which the +Spaniards had left standing. Here they formed themselves into a +corporate body, with the intention to attack the Spanish at the first +opportunity. Here, too, for the first time, they elected a commander. It +was at this crisis in their history that they began to be known as +buccaneers, or people who practise the boucan, the native way of curing +meat. It is now time to explain the meaning of the word and to give some +account of the modes of life of the folk who brought it to our language. + +[Footnote 5: Burney.] + +The Carib Indians, and the kindred tribes on the Brazilian coast, had a +peculiar way of curing meat for preservation. They used to build a +wooden grille or grating, raised upon poles some two or three feet high, +above their camp fires. This grating was called by the Indians barbecue. +The meat to be preserved, were it ox, fish, wild boar, or human being, +was then laid upon the grille. The fire underneath the grille was kept +low, and fed with green sticks, and with the offal, hide, and bones of +the slaughtered animal. This process was called boucanning, from an +Indian word "boucan," which seems to have signified "dried meat" and +"camp-fire." Buccaneer, in its original sense, meant one who practised +the boucan. + +Meat thus cured kept good for several months. It was of delicate +flavour, "red as a rose," and of a tempting smell. It could be eaten +without further cookery. Sometimes the meat was cut into pieces, and +salted, before it was boucanned--a practice which made it keep a little +longer than it would otherwise have done. Sometimes it was merely cut in +strips, roughly rubbed with brine, and hung in the sun to dry into +charqui, or jerked beef. The flesh of the wild hog made the most +toothsome boucanned meat. It kept good a little longer than the beef, +but it needed more careful treatment, as stowage in a damp lazaretto +turned it bad at once. The hunters took especial care to kill none but +the choicest wild boars for sea-store. Lean boars and sows were never +killed. Many hunters, it seems, confined themselves to hunting boars, +leaving the beeves as unworthy quarry. + +When hunting, the buccaneers went on foot, in small parties of four or +five. The country in which they hunted was densely wooded, so that they +could not ride. Each huntsman carried a gun of a peculiar make, with a +barrel four and a half feet long and a spade-shaped stock. The long +barrel made the gun carry very true. For ramrods they carried three or +four straight sticks of lance wood--a wood almost as hard as iron, and +much more easily replaced. The balls used, weighed from one to two +ounces apiece. The powder was of the very best make known. It was +exported specially from Normandy--a country which sent out many +buccaneers, whose phrases still linger in the Norman patois. For powder +flask they used a hollow gourd, which was first dried in the sun. When +it had dried to a fitting hardness it was covered with cuir-bouilli, or +boiled leather, which made it watertight. A pointed stopper secured the +mouth, and made a sort of handle to the whole, by which it could be +secured to the strap which the hunter slung across his shoulders. Each +hunter carried a light tent, made of linen or thin canvas. The tents +rolled up into a narrow compass, like a bandolier, so that they could be +carried without trouble. The woods were so thick that the leggings of +the huntsmen had to be of special strength. They were made of bull or +boar hide, the hair worn outwards.[6] Moccasins, or shoes for hunting, +were made of dressed bull's hide. The clothes worn at sea or while out +hunting were "uniformly slovenly." A big heavy hat, wide in the brim and +running up into a peak, protected the wearer from sunstroke. A dirty +linen shirt, which custom decreed should not be washed, was the usual +wear. It tucked into a dirty pair of linen drawers or knickerbockers, +which garments were always dyed a dull red in the blood of the beasts +killed. A sailor's belt went round the waist, with a long machete or +sheath-knife secured to it at the back. Such was the attire of a master +hunter, buccaneer, or Brother of the Coast. Many of them had valets or +servants sent out to them from France for a term of three years. These +valets were treated with abominable cruelty, and put to all manner of +bitter labour. A valet who had served his time was presented with a gun +and powder, two shirts and a hat--an equipment which enabled him to +enter business on his own account. Every hunting party was arranged on +the system of share and share alike. The parties usually made their +plans at the Tortuga taverns. They agreed with the sugar and tobacco +planters to supply the plantations with meat in exchange for tobacco. +They then loaded up their valets with hunters' necessaries, and sailed +for Hispaniola. Often they remained in the woods for a year or two, +sending their servants to the coast from time to time with loads of meat +and hides. They hunted, as a rule, without dogs, though some sought out +the whelps of the wild mastiffs and trained them to hunt the boars. +They stalked their quarry carefully, and shot it from behind a tree. In +the evenings they boucanned their kill, pegged out the hides as tightly +as they could, smoked a pipe or two about the fire, and prepared a +glorious meal of marrow, "toute chaude"--their favourite dish. After +supper they pitched their little linen tents, smeared their faces with +grease to keep away the insects, put some wood upon the fire, and +retired to sleep, with little thought of the beauty of the fireflies. +They slept to leeward of the fires, and as near to them as possible, so +that the smoke might blow over them, and keep off the mosquitoes. They +used to place wet tobacco leaf and the leaves of certain plants among +the embers in order that the smoke might be more pungent. + +[Footnote 6: See Burney, and Exquemeling.] + +[Illustration: A BUCCANEER'S SLAVE, WITH HIS MASTER'S GUN + A BARBECUE IN RIGHT LOWER CORNER] + +When the hunt was over, the parties would return to the coast to dispose +of all they carried home, and to receive all they had earned during +their absence. It was a lucrative business, and two years' hunting in +the woods brought to each hunter a considerable sum of money. As soon as +they touched their cash, they retired to Tortuga, where they bought new +guns, powder, bullets, small shot, knives, and axes "against another +going out or hunting." When the new munitions had been paid for, the +buccaneers knew exactly how much money they could spend in +self-indulgence. Those who have seen a cowboy on a holiday, or a sailor +newly home from the seas, will understand the nature of the "great +liberality" these hunters practised on such occasions. One who saw a +good deal of their way of life[7] has written that their chief vice, or +debauchery, was that of drunkenness, "which they exercise for the most +part with brandy. This they drink as liberally as the Spaniards do clear +fountain water. Sometimes they buy together a pipe of wine; this they +stave at the one end, and never cease drinking till they have made an +end of it. Thus they celebrate the festivals of Bacchus so long as they +have any money left." The island of Tortuga must have witnessed some +strange scenes. We may picture a squalid little "cow town," with +tropical vegetation growing up to the doors. A few rough bungalow +houses, a few huts thatched with palm leaves, a few casks standing in +the shade of pent roofs. To seaward a few ships of small tonnage lying +at anchor. To landward hilly ground, broken into strips of tillage, +where some wretches hoe tobacco under the lash. In the street, in the +sunlight, lie a few savage dogs. At one of the houses, a buccaneer has +just finished flogging his valet; he is now pouring lemon juice, mixed +with salt and pepper, into the raw, red flesh. At another house, a gang +of dirty men in dirty scarlet drawers are drinking turn about out of a +pan of brandy. The reader may complete the sketch should he find it +sufficiently attractive. + +[Footnote 7: Exquemeling.] + +When the buccaneers elected their first captain, they had made but few +determined forays against the Spaniards. The greater number of them were +French cattle hunters dealing in boucanned meat, hides, and tallow. A +few hunted wild boars; a few more planted tobacco of great excellence, +with a little sugar, a little indigo, and a little manioc. Among the +company were a number of wild Englishmen, of the stamp of Oxenham, who +made Tortuga their base and pleasure-house, using it as a port from +which to sally out to plunder Spanish ships. After a cruise, these +pirates sometimes went ashore for a month or two of cattle hunting. +Often enough, the French cattle hunters took their places on the ships. +The sailors and huntsmen soon became amphibious, varying the life of the +woods with that of a sailor, and sometimes relaxing after a cruise with +a year's work in the tobacco fields. In 1638, when the Spanish made +their raid, there were considerable numbers (certainly several hundreds) +of men engaged in these three occupations. After the raid they +increased in number rapidly; for after the raid they began to revenge +themselves by systematic raids upon the Spaniards--a business which +attracted hundreds of young men from France and England. After the raid, +too, the French and English Governments began to treat the planters of +the St Kitts colony unjustly, so that many poor men were forced to leave +their plots of ground there. These men left the colonies to join the +buccaneers at Tortuga, who soon became so numerous that they might have +made an independent state had they but agreed among themselves. This +they could not do, for the French had designs upon Tortuga. A French +garrison was landed on the island, seemingly to protect the French +planters from the English, but in reality to seize the place for the +French crown. Another garrison encamped upon the coast of the larger +island. The English were now in a position like that of the spar in the +tale.[8] They could no longer follow the business of cattle hunting; +they could no longer find an anchorage and a ready market at Tortuga. +They were forced, therefore, to find some other rendezvous, where they +could refit after a cruise upon the Main. They withdrew themselves more +and more from the French buccaneers, though the two parties frequently +combined in enterprises of danger and importance. They seem to have +relinquished Tortuga without fighting. They were less attached to the +place than the French. Their holdings were fewer, and they had but a +minor share in the cattle hunting. But for many years to come they +regarded the French buccaneers with suspicion, as doubtful allies. When +they sailed away from Tortuga they sought out other haunts on islands +partly settled by the English. + +[Footnote 8: Precarious, and not at all permanent.] + +In 1655, when an English fleet under Penn and Venables came to the +Indies to attack the Spaniards, a body of English buccaneers who had +settled at Barbadoes came in their ships to join the colours. In all, +5000 of them mustered, but the service they performed was of poor +quality. The combined force attacked St Domingo, and suffered a severe +repulse. They then sailed for Jamaica, which they took without much +difficulty. The buccaneers found Jamaica a place peculiarly suited to +them: it swarmed with wild cattle; it had a good harbour; it lay +conveniently for raids upon the Main. They began to settle there, at +Port Royal, with the troops left there by Cromwell's orders. They +planted tobacco and sugar, followed the boucan, and lived as they had +lived in the past at Hispaniola. Whenever England was at war with Spain +the Governor of the island gave them commissions to go privateering +against the Spanish. A percentage of the spoil was always paid to the +Governor, while the constant raiding on the Main prevented the Spaniards +from attacking the new colony in force. The buccaneers were thus of +great use to the Colonial Government. They brought in money to the +Treasury and kept the Spanish troops engaged. The governors of the +French islands acted in precisely the same way. They gave the French +buccaneers every encouragement. When France was at peace with Spain they +sent to Portugal ("which country was then at war with Spain") for +Portuguese commissions, with which the buccaneer captains could go +cruising. The English buccaneers often visited the French islands in +order to obtain similar commissions. When England was at war with Spain +the French came to Port Royal for commissions from the English Governor. +It was not a very moral state of affairs; but the Colonial governors +argued that the buccaneers were useful, that they brought in money, and +that they could be disowned at any time should Spain make peace with all +the interloping countries. + +The buccaneers now began "to make themselves redoubtable to the +Spaniards, and to spread riches and abundance in our Colonies." They +raided Nueva Segovia, took a number of Spanish ships, and sacked +Maracaibo and western Gibraltar. Their captains on these raids were +Frenchmen and Portuguese. The spoils they took were enormous, for they +tortured every prisoner they captured until he revealed to them where he +had hidden his gold. They treated the Spaniards with every conceivable +barbarity, nor were the Spaniards more merciful when the chance offered. + +The buccaneers, French and English, had a number of peculiar customs or +laws by which their strange society was held together. They seem to have +had some definite religious beliefs, for we read of a French captain who +shot a buccaneer "in the church" for irreverence at Mass. No buccaneer +was allowed to hunt or to cure meat upon a Sunday. No crew put to sea +upon a cruise without first going to church to ask a blessing on their +enterprise. No crew got drunk, on the return to port after a successful +trip, until thanks had been declared for the dew of heaven they had +gathered. After a cruise, the men were expected to fling all their loot +into a pile, from which the chiefs made their selection and division. +Each buccaneer was called upon to hold up his right hand, and to swear +that he had not concealed any portion of the spoil. If, after making +oath, a man were found to have secreted anything, he was bundled +overboard, or marooned when the ship next made the land. Each buccaneer +had a mate or comrade, with whom he shared all things, and to whom his +property devolved in the event of death.[9] In many cases the +partnership lasted during life. A love for his partner was usually the +only tender sentiment a buccaneer allowed himself. + +[Footnote 9: Similar pacts of comradeship are made among merchant +sailors to this day.] + +When a number of buccaneers grew tired of plucking weeds[10] from the +tobacco ground, and felt the allurement of the sea, and longed to go +a-cruising, they used to send an Indian, or a negro slave, to their +fellows up the coast, inviting them to come to drink a dram with them. A +day was named for the rendezvous, and a store was cleared, or a tobacco +drying-house prepared, or perhaps a tent of sails was pitched, for the +place of meeting. Early on the morning fixed for the council, a barrel +of brandy was rolled up for the refreshment of the guests, while the +black slaves put some sweet potatoes in a net to boil for the +gentlemen's breakfasts. Presently a canoa or periagua would come round +the headland from the sea, under a single sail--the topgallant-sail of +some sunk Spanish ship. In her would be some ten or a dozen men, of all +countries, anxious for a cruise upon the Main. Some would be Englishmen +from the tobacco fields on Sixteen-Mile Walk. One or two of them were +broken Royalists, of gentle birth, with a memory in their hearts of +English country houses. Others were Irishmen from Montserrat, the +wretched Kernes deported after the storm of Tredah. Some were French +hunters from the Hispaniola woods, with the tan upon their cheeks, and a +habit of silence due to many lonely marches on the trail. The new-comers +brought their arms with them: muskets with long single barrels, heavy +pistols, machetes, or sword-like knives, and a cask or two of powder and +ball. During the morning other parties drifted in. Hunters, and +planters, and old, grizzled seamen came swaggering down the trackways to +the place of meeting. Most of them were dressed in the dirty shirts and +blood-stained drawers of the profession, but some there were who wore a +scarlet cloak or a purple serape which had been stitched for a Spaniard +on the Main. Among the party were generally some Indians from +Campeachy--tall fellows of a blackish copper colour, with javelins in +their hands for the spearing of fish. All of this company would gather +in the council chamber, where a rich planter sat at a table with some +paper scrolls in front of him. + +[Footnote 10: Exquemeling gives many curious details of the life of +these strange people. See the French edition of "Histoire des +Avanturiers."] + +As soon as sufficient men had come to muster, the planter[11] would +begin proceedings by offering a certain sum of money towards the +equipment of a roving squadron. The assembled buccaneers then asked him +to what port he purposed cruising. He would suggest one or two, giving +his reasons, perhaps bringing in an Indian with news of a gold mine on +the Main, or of a treasure-house that might be sacked, or of a plate +ship about to sail eastward. Among these suggestions one at least was +certain to be plausible. Another buccaneer would then offer to lend a +good canoa, with, perhaps, a cask or two of meat as sea-provision. +Others would offer powder and ball, money to purchase brandy for the +voyage, or roll tobacco for the solace of the men. Those who could offer +nothing, but were eager to contribute and to bear a hand, would pledge +themselves to pay a share of the expenses out of the profits of the +cruise. When the president had written down the list of contributions he +called upon the company to elect a captain. This was seldom a difficult +matter, for some experienced sailor--a good fellow, brave as a lion, and +fortunate in love and war--was sure to be among them. Having chosen the +captain, the company elected sailing masters, gunners, chirurgeons (if +they had them), and the other officers necessary to the economy of ships +of war. They then discussed the "lays" or shares to be allotted to each +man out of the general booty. + +[Footnote 11: Exquemeling gives these details.] + +Those who lent the ships and bore the cost of the provisioning, were +generally allotted one-third of all the plunder taken. The captain +received three shares, sometimes six or seven shares, according to his +fortune. The minor officers received two shares apiece. The men or +common adventurers received each one share. No plunder was allotted +until an allowance had been made for those who were wounded on the +cruise. Compensation varied from time to time, but the scale most +generally used was as follows[12]:--"For the loss of a right arm six +hundred pieces of eight, or six slaves; for the loss of a left arm five +hundred pieces of eight, or five slaves; for a right leg five hundred +pieces of eight, or five slaves; for a left leg four hundred pieces of +eight, or four slaves; for an eye one hundred pieces of eight, or one +slave; for a finger of the hand the same reward as for the eye." + +[Footnote 12: Exquemeling.] + +In addition to this compensation, a wounded man received a crown a day +(say three shillings) for two months after the division of the spoil. If +the booty were too little to allow of the declaration of a dividend, the +wounded were put ashore at the port of rendezvous, and the adventurers +kept the seas until they had enough to bring them home. + +In the years of buccaneer prosperity, when Port Royal was full of +ruffians eager to go cruising, the proceedings may often have been less +regular. A voyage was sometimes arranged in the taverns, where the gangs +drank punch, or rumbo, a draught of rum and water (taken half-and-half, +and sweetened with crude sugar) so long as their money lasted. If a gang +had a ship, or the offer of a ship, and had but little silver left them +from their last cruise, they would go aboard with their muskets, shot, +and powder casks, trusting to fortune to obtain stores. Nearly every +ship's company had a Mosquito Indian, or more than one, to act as guide +ashore, in places where a native's woodcraft was essential to a white +man's safety. At sea these Indians supplied the mariners with fish, for +they were singularly skilful with the fish spear. When a gang of +buccaneers put to sea without provisions, they generally steered to the +feeding grounds of the sea-turtles, or to some place where the sea-cows, +or manatees, were found.[13] Here the Indians were sent out in small +canoas, with their spears and tortoise irons. The spears were not unlike +our modern harpoons. The tortoise irons were short, heavy arrow heads, +which penetrated the turtle's shell when rightly thrown. The heads were +attached to a stick, and to a cord which they made of a fibrous bark. +When the blow had gone home, the stick came adrift, leaving the iron in +the wound, with the cord still fast to it. When the turtles had been +hauled aboard, their flesh was salted with the brine taken from the +natural salt-pans to be found among the islands. When a manatee was +killed, the hide was stripped away, and hung to dry. It was then cut +into thongs, and put to various uses. The buccaneers made grummets, or +rings, of it, for use in their row boats instead of tholes or rowlocks. +The meat of manatee, though extremely delicate, did not take salt so +readily as that of turtles. Turtle was the stand-by of the hungry +buccaneer when far from the Main or the Jamaican barbecues. In addition +to the turtle they had a dish of fish whenever the Indians were so +fortunate as to find a shoal, or when the private fishing lines, of +which each sailor carried several, were successful. Two Mosquito +Indians, it was said, could keep 100 men in fish with no other weapons +than their spears and irons. In coasting along the Main, a buccaneer +captain could always obtain sufficient food for his immediate need, for +hardly any part of the coast was destitute of land-crabs, oysters, +fruit, deer, peccary, or warree. But for a continued cruise with a +large crew this hand-to-mouth supply was insufficient. + +[Footnote 13: Dampier.] + +The buccaneers sometimes began a cruise by sailing to an estancia in +Hispaniola, or on the Main, where they might supply their harness casks +with flesh. They used to attack these estancias, or "hog-yards," at +night. They began by capturing the swine or cattle-herds, and +threatening them with death should they refuse to give them the meat +they needed. Having chosen as many beeves or swine as seemed sufficient +for their purpose, they kicked the herds for their pains, and put the +meat in pickle.[14] They then visited some other Spanish house for a +supply of rum or brandy, or a few hat-loads of sugar in the crude. +Tobacco they stole from the drying-rooms of planters they disliked. +Lemons, limes, and other anti-scorbutics they plucked from the trees, +when fortune sent them to the coast. Flour they generally captured from +the Spanish. They seldom were without a supply, for it is often +mentioned as a marching ration--"a doughboy, or dumpling," boiled with +fat, in a sort of heavy cake, a very portable and filling kind of +victual. At sea their staple food was flesh--either boucanned meat or +salted turtle. Their allowance, "twice a day to every one," was "as much +as he can eat, without either weight or measure." Water and strong +liquors were allowed (while they lasted) in the same liberal spirit. +This reckless generosity was recklessly abused. Meat and drink, so +easily provided, were always improvidently spent. Probably few buccaneer +ships returned from a cruise with the hands on full allowance. The rule +was "drunk and full, or dry and empty, to hell with bloody misers"--the +proverb of the American merchant sailor of to-day. They knew no mean in +anything. That which came easily might go lightly: there was more where +that came from. + +[Footnote 14: Exquemeling.] + +When the ship had been thus victualled the gang went aboard her to +discuss where they should go "to seek their desperate fortunes." The +preliminary agreement was put in writing, much as in the former case, +allotting each man his due share of the expected spoil. We read that the +carpenter who "careened, mended, and rigged the vessel" was generally +allotted a fee of from twenty-five to forty pounds for his pains--a sum +drawn from the common stock or "purchase" subsequently taken by the +adventurers. For the surgeon "and his chest of medicaments" they +provided a "competent salary" of from fifty to sixty pounds. Boys +received half-a-share, "by reason that, when they 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." All shares were allotted on the good old rule: "No prey, No +pay," so that all had a keen incentive to bestir themselves. They were +also "very civil and charitable to each other," observing "among +themselves, very good orders." They sailed together like a company of +brothers, or rather, since that were an imperfect simile, like a company +of jolly comrades. Locks and keys were forbidden among them, as they are +forbidden in ship's fo'c's'les to this day; for every man was expected +to show that he put trust in his mates. A man caught thieving from his +fellow was whipped about the ship by all hands with little whips of +ropeyarn or of fibrous maho bark. His back was then pickled with some +salt, after which he was discharged the company. If a man were in want +of clothes, he had but to ask a shipmate to obtain all he required. They +were not very curious in the rigging or cleansing of their ships; nor +did they keep watch with any regularity. They set their Mosquito Indians +in the tops to keep a good lookout; for the Indians were long-sighted +folk, who could descry a ship at sea at a greater distance than a white +man. They slept, as a rule, on "mats" upon the deck, in the open air. +Few of them used hammocks, nor did they greatly care if the rain +drenched them as they lay asleep. + +After the raids of Morgan, the buccaneers seem to have been more humane +to the Spaniards whom they captured. They treated them as Drake treated +them, with all courtesy. They discovered that the cutting out of +prisoners' hearts, and eating of them raw without salt, as had been the +custom of one of the most famous buccaneers, was far less profitable +than the priming of a prisoner with his own aqua-vitę. The later +buccaneers, such as Dampier, were singularly zealous in the collection +of information of "the Towns within 20 leagues of the sea, on all the +coast from Trinidado down to La Vera Cruz; and are able to give a near +guess of the strength and riches of them." For, as Dampier says, "they +make it their business to examine all Prisoners that fall into their +hands, concerning the Country, Town, or City that they belong to; +whether born there, or how long they have known it? how many families? +whether most Spaniards? or whether the major part are not +Copper-colour'd, as Mulattoes [people half white, half black], Mustesoes +[mestizos, or people half white, half Indian. These are not the same as +mustees, or octoroons], or Indians? whether rich, and what their riches +do consist in? and what their chiefest manufactures? If fortified, how +many Great Guns, and what number of small Arms? whether it is possible +to come undescried on them? How many Look-outs or Centinels? for such +the Spaniards always keep; and how the Look-outs are placed? Whether +possible to avoid the Look-outs or take them? If any River or Creek +comes near it, or where the best Landing? or numerous other such +questions, which their curiosities lead them to demand. And if they +have had any former discourse of such places from other Prisoners, they +compare one with the other; then examine again, and enquire if he or any +of them, are capable to be guides to conduct a party of men thither: if +not, where and how any Prisoner may be taken that may do it, and from +thence they afterwards lay their Schemes to prosecute whatever design +they take in hand." + +If, after such a careful questioning as that just mentioned, the rovers +decided to attack a city on the Main at some little distance from the +sea, they would debate among themselves the possibility of reaching the +place by river. Nearly all the wealthy Spanish towns were on a river, if +not on the sea; and though the rivers were unwholesome, and often rapid, +it was easier to ascend them in boats than to march upon their banks +through jungle. If on inquiry it were found that the suggested town +stood on a navigable river, the privateers would proceed to some island, +such as St Andreas, where they could cut down cedar-trees to make them +boats. St Andreas, like many West Indian islands, was of a stony, sandy +soil, very favourable to the growth of cedar-trees. Having arrived at +such an island, the men went ashore to cut timber. They were generally +good lumbermen, for many buccaneers would go to cut logwood in Campeachy +when trade was slack. As soon as a cedar had been felled, the limbs were +lopped away, and the outside rudely fashioned to the likeness of a boat. +If they were making a periagua, they left the stern "flat"--that is, cut +off sharply without modelling; if they were making a canoa, they pointed +both ends, as a Red Indian points his birch-bark. The bottom of the boat +in either case was made flat, for convenience in hauling over shoals or +up rapids. The inside of the boat was hollowed out by fire, with the +help of the Indians, who were very expert at the management of the +flame. For oars they had paddles made of ash or cedar plank, spliced to +the tough and straight-growing lance wood, or to the less tough, but +equally straight, white mangrove. Thwarts they made of cedar plank. +Tholes or grummets for the oars they twisted out of manatee hide. Having +equipped their canoas or periaguas they secured them to the stern of +their ship, and set sail towards their quarry. + + _Authorities._--Captain James Burney: "Voyages and Discoveries in + the South Sea"; "History of the Buccaneers." Pčre Charlevoix: + "Histoire de l'Isle Espagnole"; "Histoire et description de la N. + France." B. Edwards: "Historical Survey of the Island of San + Domingo." Gage: "Histoire de l'Empire Mexicain"; "The English + American." S. Hazard: "Santo Domingo, Past and Present." Justin: + "Histoire Politique de l'Isle de Haļti." Cal. State Papers: "America + and West Indies." Abbé Raynal: "History of the Settlements and + Trades of the Europeans in the East and West Indies." A. O. + Exquemeling: "History of the Buccaneers." A. de Herrera: + "Description des Indes Occidentales (d'Espagnol)." J. de Acosta: + "History of the Indies." Cieēa de Leon: "Travels." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BUCCANEER CUSTOMS + + Mansvelt and Morgan--Morgan's raid on Cuba--Puerto del Principe + + +Throughout the years of buccaneering, the buccaneers often put to sea in +canoas and periaguas,[15] just as Drake put to sea in his three +pinnaces. Life in an open boat is far from pleasant, but men who passed +their leisure cutting logwood at Campeachy, or hoeing tobacco in +Jamaica, or toiling over gramma grass under a hot sun after cattle, were +not disposed to make the worst of things. They would sit contentedly +upon the oar bench, rowing with a long, slow stroke for hours together +without showing signs of fatigue. Nearly all of them were men of more +than ordinary strength, and all of them were well accustomed to the +climate. When they had rowed their canoa to the Main they were able to +take it easy till a ship came by from one of the Spanish ports. If she +seemed a reasonable prey, without too many guns, and not too high +charged, or high built, the privateers would load their muskets, and row +down to engage her. The best shots were sent into the bows, and excused +from rowing, lest the exercise should cause their hands to tremble. A +clever man was put to the steering oar, and the musketeers were bidden +to sing out whenever the enemy yawed, so as to fire her guns. It was in +action, and in action only, that the captain had command over his men. +The steersman endeavoured to keep the masts of the quarry in a line, +and to approach her from astern. The marksmen from the bows kept up a +continual fire at the vessel's helmsmen, if they could be seen, and at +any gun-ports which happened to be open. If the helmsmen could not be +seen from the sea, the canoas aimed to row in upon the vessel's +quarters, where they could wedge up the rudder with wooden chocks or +wedges. They then laid her aboard over the quarter, or by the after +chains, and carried her with their knives and pistols. The first man to +get aboard received some gift of money at the division of the spoil. + +[Footnote 15: Dampier and Exquemeling.] + +When the prize was taken, the prisoners were questioned, and despoiled. +Often, indeed, they were stripped stark naked, and granted the privilege +of seeing their finery on a pirate's back. Each buccaneer had the right +to take a shift of clothes out of each prize captured. The cargo was +then rummaged, and the state of the ship looked to, with an eye to using +her as a cruiser. As a rule, the prisoners were put ashore on the first +opportunity, but some buccaneers had a way of selling their captives +into slavery. If the ship were old, leaky, valueless, in ballast, or +with a cargo useless to the rovers, she was either robbed of her guns, +and turned adrift with her crew, or run ashore in some snug cove, where +she could be burnt for the sake of the iron-work. If the cargo were of +value, and, as a rule, the ships they took had some rich thing aboard +them, they sailed her to one of the Dutch, French, or English +settlements, where they sold her freight for what they could get--some +tenth or twentieth of its value. If the ship were a good one, in good +condition, well found, swift, and not of too great draught (for they +preferred to sail in small ships), they took her for their cruiser as +soon as they had emptied out her freight. They sponged and loaded her +guns, brought their stores aboard her, laid their mats upon her deck, +secured the boats astern, and sailed away in search of other plunder. +They kept little discipline aboard their ships. What work had to be done +they did, but works of supererogation they despised and rejected as a +shade unholy. The night watches were partly orgies. While some slept, +the others fired guns and drank to the health of their fellows. By the +light of the binnacle, or by the light of the slush lamps in the cabin, +the rovers played a hand at cards, or diced each other at "seven and +eleven," using a pannikin as dice-box. While the gamblers cut and +shuffled, and the dice rattled in the tin, the musical sang songs, the +fiddlers set their music chuckling, and the sea-boots stamped approval. +The cunning dancers showed their science in the moonlight, avoiding the +sleepers if they could. In this jolly fashion were the nights made +short. In the daytime, the gambling continued with little intermission; +nor had the captain any authority to stop it. One captain, in the +histories, was so bold as to throw the dice and cards overboard, but, as +a rule, the captain of a buccaneer cruiser was chosen as an artist, or +navigator, or as a lucky fighter. He was not expected to spoil sport. +The continual gambling nearly always led to fights and quarrels. The +lucky dicers often won so much that the unlucky had to part with all +their booty. Sometimes a few men would win all the plunder of the +cruise, much to the disgust of the majority, who clamoured for a +redivision of the spoil. If two buccaneers got into a quarrel they +fought it out on shore at the first opportunity, using knives, swords, +or pistols, according to taste. The usual way of fighting was with +pistols, the combatants standing back to back, at a distance of ten or +twelve paces, and turning round to fire at the word of command. If both +shots missed, the question was decided with cutlasses, the man who drew +first blood being declared the winner. If a man were proved to be a +coward he was either tied to the mast, and shot, or mutilated, and sent +ashore. No cruise came to an end until the company declared themselves +satisfied with the amount of plunder taken. The question, like all other +important questions, was debated round the mast, and decided by vote. + +At the conclusion of a successful cruise, they sailed for Port Royal, +with the ship full of treasure, such as vicuna wool, packets of pearls +from the Hatch, jars of civet or of ambergris, boxes of "marmalett" and +spices, casks of strong drink, bales of silk, sacks of chocolate and +vanilla, and rolls of green cloth and pale blue cotton which the Indians +had woven in Peru, in some sandy village near the sea, in sight of the +pelicans and the penguins. In addition to all these things, they usually +had a number of the personal possessions of those they had taken on the +seas. Lying in the chests for subsequent division were swords, +silver-mounted pistols, daggers chased and inlaid, watches from Spain, +necklaces of uncut jewels, rings and bangles, heavy carved furniture, +"cases of bottles" of delicately cut green glass, containing cordials +distilled of precious mints, with packets of emeralds from Brazil, +bezoar stones from Patagonia, paintings from Spain, and medicinal gums +from Nicaragua. All these things were divided by lot at the main-mast as +soon as the anchor held. As the ship, or ships, neared port, her men +hung colours out--any colours they could find--to make their vessel gay. +A cup of drink was taken as they sailed slowly home to moorings, and as +they drank they fired off the cannon, "bullets and all," again and yet +again, rejoicing as the bullets struck the water. Up in the bay, the +ships in the harbour answered with salutes of cannon; flags were dipped +and hoisted in salute; and so the anchor dropped in some safe reach, and +the division of the spoil began. + +[Illustration: OLD PORT ROYAL] + +After the division of the spoil in the beautiful Port Royal harbour, +in sight of the palm-trees and the fort with the colours flying, the +buccaneers packed their gear, and dropped over the side into a boat. +They were pulled ashore by some grinning black man with a scarlet scarf +about his head and the brand of a hot iron on his shoulders. At the +jetty end, where the Indians lounged at their tobacco and the +fishermen's canoas rocked, the sunburnt pirates put ashore. Among the +noisy company which always gathers on a pier they met with their +companions. A sort of Roman triumph followed, as the "happily returned" +lounged swaggeringly towards the taverns. Eager hands helped them to +carry in their plunder. In a few minutes the gang was entering the +tavern, the long, cool room with barrels round the walls, where there +were benches and a table and an old blind fiddler jerking his elbow at a +jig. Noisily the party ranged about the table, and sat themselves upon +the benches, while the drawers, or potboys, in their shirts, drew near +to take the orders. I wonder if the reader has ever heard a sailor in +the like circumstance, five minutes after he has touched his pay, +address a company of parasites in an inn with the question: "What's it +going to be?" + +After the settlement of Jamaica by the English, the buccaneers became +more enterprising. One buccaneer captain, the most remarkable of all of +them, a man named Mansvelt, probably a Dutchman from Curaēoa, attempted +to found a pirate settlement upon the island of Santa Katalina, or Old +Providence. Mansvelt was a fortunate sea-captain, with considerable +charm of manner. He was popular with the buccaneers, and had a name +among them, for he was the first of them to cross the isthmus and to +sail the South Sea. His South-Sea cruise had come to little, for +provisions ran short, and his company had been too small to attempt a +Spanish town. He had, therefore, retreated to the North Sea to his +ships, and had then gone cruising northward along the Nicaragua coast +as far as the Blewfields River. From this point he stood away to the +island of Santa Katalina, or Old Providence--an island about six miles +long, with an excellent harbour, which, he thought, might easily be +fortified. A smaller island lies directly to the north of it, separated +from it by a narrow channel of the sea. Twenty years before his visit it +had been the haunt of an old captain of the name of Blewfields, who had +made it his base while his men went logwood cutting on the mainland. +Blewfields was now dead, either of rum or war, and the Spaniards had +settled there, and had built themselves a fort or castle to command the +harbour. Having examined the place, Mansvelt sailed away to Jamaica to +equip a fleet to take it. He saw that the golden times which the +buccaneers were then enjoying could not last for ever, and that their +occupation might be wrecked by a single ill-considered treaty, dated +from St James's or the Court of France. He thought that the islands +should be seized as a general rendezvous for folk of that way of life. +With a little trouble the harbour could be made impregnable. The land +was good, and suited for the growing of maize or tobacco--the two +products most in demand among them. The islands were near the Main, +being only thirty-five leagues from the Chagres River, the stream from +which the golden harvest floated from the cities of the south. They were +close to the coast of Nicaragua, where the logwood grew in clumps, +waiting for the axes of the lumbermen. With the islands in their hands, +the buccaneers could drive the Spaniards off the isthmus--or so Mansvelt +thought. It would at anyrate have been an easy matter for them to have +wrecked the trade routes from Panama to Porto Bello, and from Porto +Bello to Vera Cruz. + +While Mansvelt lay at Port Royal, scraping and tallowing his ships, +getting beef salted and boucanned, and drumming up his men from the +taverns, a Welshman, of the name of Henry Morgan, came sailing up to +moorings with half-a-dozen captured merchantmen. But a few weeks before, +he had come home from a cruise with a little money in his pockets. He +had clubbed together with some shipmates, and had purchased a small ship +with the common fund. She was but meanly equipped, yet her first cruise +to the westward, on the coast of Campeachy, was singularly lucky. +Mansvelt at once saw his opportunity to win recruits. A captain so +fortunate as Morgan would be sure to attract followers, for the +buccaneers asked that their captains should be valorous and lucky. For +other qualities, such as prudence and forethought, they did not +particularly care. Mansvelt at once went aboard Morgan's ship to drink a +cup of sack with him in the cabin. He asked him to act as vice-admiral +to the fleet he was then equipping for Santa Katalina. To this Henry +Morgan very readily consented, for he judged that a great company would +be able to achieve great things. In a few days, the two set sail +together from Port Royal, with a fleet of fifteen ships, manned by 500 +buccaneers, many of whom were French and Dutch. + +As soon as they arrived at Santa Katalina, they anchored, and sent their +men ashore with some heavy guns. The Spanish garrison was strong, and +the fortress well situated, but in a few days they forced it to +surrender. They then crossed by a bridge of boats to the lesser island +to the north, where they ravaged the plantations for fresh supplies. +Having blown up all the fortifications save the castle, they sent the +Spanish prisoners aboard the ships. They then chose out 100 trusty men +to keep the island for them. They left these on the island, under the +command of a Frenchman of the name of Le Sieur Simon. They also left +the Spanish slaves behind, to work the plantations, and to grow maize +and sweet potatoes for the future victualling of the fleet. Mansvelt +then sailed away towards Porto Bello, near which city he put his +prisoners ashore. He cruised to the eastward for some weeks, snapping up +provision ships and little trading vessels; but he learned that the +Governor of Panama, a determined and very gallant soldier, was fitting +out an army to encounter him, should he attempt to land. The news may +have been false, but it showed the buccaneers that they were known to be +upon the coast, and that their raid up "the river of Colla" to "rob and +pillage" the little town of Nata, on the Bay of Panama, would be +fruitless. The Spanish residents of little towns like Nata buried all +their gold and silver, and then fled into the woods when rumours of the +pirates came to them. To attack such a town some weeks after the +townsfolk had received warning of their intentions would have been worse +than useless. + +Mansvelt, therefore, returned to Santa Katalina to see how the colony +had prospered while he had been at sea. He found that Le Sieur Simon had +put the harbour "in a very good posture of defence," having built a +couple of batteries to command the anchorage. In these he had mounted +his cannon upon platforms of plank, with due munitions of cannon-balls +and powder. On the little island to the north he had laid out +plantations of maize, sweet potatoes, plantains, and tobacco. The +first-fruits of these green fields were now ripe, and "sufficient to +revictual the whole fleet with provisions and fruits." + +Mansvelt was so well satisfied with the prospects of the colony that he +determined to hurry back to Jamaica to beg recruits and recognition from +the English Governor. The islands had belonged to English subjects in +the past, and of right belonged to England still. However, the Jamaican +Governor disliked the scheme. He feared that by lending his support he +would incur the wrath of the English Government, while he could not +weaken his position in Jamaica by sending soldiers from his garrison. +Mansvelt, "seeing the unwillingness" of this un-English Governor, at +once made sail for Tortuga, where he hoped the French might be less +squeamish. He dropped anchor, in the channel between Tortuga and +Hispaniola early in the summer of 1665. He seems to have gone ashore to +see the French authorities. Perhaps he drank too strong a punch of rum +and sugar--a drink very prejudicial in such a climate to one not used to +it. Perhaps he took the yellow fever, or the coast cramp; the fact +cannot now be known. At any rate he sickened, and died there, "before he +could accomplish his desires"--"all things hereby remaining in +suspense." One account, based on the hearsay of a sea-captain, says that +Mansvelt was taken by the Spaniards, and brought to Porto Bello, and +there put to death by the troops. + +Le Sieur Simon remained at his post, hoeing his tobacco plants, and +sending detachments to the Main to kill manatee, or to cut logwood. He +looked out anxiously for Mansvelt's ships, for he had not men enough to +stand a siege, and greatly feared that the Spaniards would attack him. +While he stayed in this perplexity, wondering why he did not hear from +Mansvelt, he received a letter from Don John Perez de Guzman, the +Spanish captain-general, who bade him "surrender the island to his +Catholic Majesty," on pain of severe punishment. To this Le Sieur Simon +made no answer, for he hoped that Mansvelt's fleet would soon be in +those waters to deliver him from danger. Don John, who was a very +energetic captain-general, determined to retake the place. He left his +residence at Panama, and crossed the isthmus to Porto Bello, where he +found a ship, called the _St Vincent_, "that belonged to the Company of +the Negroes" (the Isthmian company of slavers), lying at anchor, waiting +for a freight. We are told that she was a good ship, "well mounted with +guns." He provisioned her for the sea, and manned her with about 400 +men, mostly soldiers from the Porto Bello forts. Among the company were +seven master gunners and "twelve Indians very dexterous at shooting with +bows and arrows." The city of Cartagena furnished other ships and men, +bringing the squadron to a total of four vessels and 500 men-at-arms. +With this force the Spanish commander arrived off Santa Katalina, coming +to anchor in the port there on the evening of a windy day, the 10th of +August 1665. As they dropped anchor they displayed their colours. As +soon as the yellow silk blew clear, Le Sieur Simon discharged "three +guns with bullets" at the ships, "the which were soon answered in the +same coin." The Spaniard then sent a boat ashore to summon the garrison, +threatening death to all if the summons were refused. To this Le Sieur +Simon replied that the island was a possession of the English Crown, +"and that, instead of surrendering it, they preferred to lose their +lives." As more than a fourth of the little garrison was at that time +hunting on the Main, or at sea, the answer was heroic. Three days later, +some negroes swam off to the ships to tell the Spaniards of the +garrison's weakness. After two more days of council, the boats were +lowered from the ships, and manned with soldiers. The guns on the +gun-decks were loaded, and trained. The drums beat to quarters both on +the ships and in the batteries. Under the cover of the warship's guns, +the boats shoved off towards the landing-place, receiving a furious fire +from the buccaneers. The "weather was very calm and clear," so that the +smoke from the guns did not blow away fast enough to allow the +buccaneers to aim at the boats. The landing force formed into three +parties, two of which attacked the flanks, and the third the centre. +The battle was very furious, though the buccaneers were outnumbered and +had no chance of victory. They ran short of cannon-balls before they +surrendered, but they made shift for a time with small shot and scraps +of iron, "also the organs of the church," of which they fired +"threescore pipes" at a shot. The fighting lasted most of the day, for +it was not to the advantage of the Spaniards to come to push of pike. +Towards sunset the buccaneers were beaten from their guns. They fought +in the open for a few minutes, round "the gate called Costadura," but +the Spaniards surrounded them, and they were forced to lay down their +arms. The Spanish colours were set up, and two poor Spaniards who had +joined the buccaneers were shot to death upon the Plaza. The English +prisoners were sent aboard the ships, and carried into Porto Bello, +where they were put to the building of a fortress--the Iron Castle, a +place of great strength, which later on the English blew to pieces. Some +of the men were sent to Panama "to work in the castle of St Jerome"--a +wonderful, great castle, which was burned at the sack of Panama almost +before the mortar dried. + +While the guns were roaring over Santa Katalina, as Le Sieur Simon +rammed his cannon full of organ pipes, Henry Morgan was in lodgings at +Port Royal, greatly troubled at the news of Mansvelt's death. He was +busily engaged at the time with letters to the merchants of New England. +He was endeavouring to get their help towards the fortification of the +island he had helped to capture. "His principal intent," writes one who +did not love the man, "was to consecrate it as a refuge and sanctuary to +the Pirates of those parts," making it "a convenient receptacle or store +house of their preys and robberies." It is pleasant to speculate as to +the reasons he urged to the devout New England Puritans. He must have +chuckled to himself, and shared many a laugh with his clerk, to think +that perhaps a Levite, or a Man of God, a deacon, or an elder, would +untie the purse-strings of the sealed if he did but agonise about the +Spanish Inquisition with sufficient earthquake and eclipse. He heard of +the loss of the island before the answers came to him, and the news, of +course, "put him upon new designs," though he did not abandon the scheme +in its entirety. He had his little fleet at anchor in the harbour, +gradually fitting for the sea, and his own ship was ready. Having +received his commission from the Governor, he gave his captains orders +to meet him on the Cuban coast, at one of the many inlets affording safe +anchorage. Here, after several weeks of cruising, he was joined by "a +fleet of twelve sail," some of them of several hundred tons. These were +manned by 700 fighting men, part French, part English. + +At the council of war aboard the admiral's ship, it was suggested that +so large a company should venture on Havana, which city, they thought, +might easily be taken, "especially if they could but take a few of the +ecclesiastics." Some of the pirates had been prisoners in the Havana, +and knew that a town of 30,000 inhabitants would hardly yield to 700 +men, however desperate. "Nothing of consequence could be done there," +they pronounced, even with ecclesiastics, "unless with fifteen hundred +men." One of the pirates then suggested the town of Puerto del Principe, +an inland town surrounded by tobacco fields, at some distance from the +sea. It did a thriving trade with the Havana; and he who suggested that +it should be sacked, affirmed upon his honour, like Boult over Maria, +that it never yet "was sacked by any Pirates." Towards this virginal +rich town the buccaneers proceeded, keeping close along the coast until +they made the anchorage of Santa Maria. Here they dropped anchor for the +night. + +When the men were making merry over the punch, as they cleaned their +arms, and packed their satchels, a Spanish prisoner "who had overheard +their discourse, while they thought he did not understand the English +tongue," slipped through a port-hole to the sea, and swam ashore. By +some miracle he escaped the ground sharks, and contrived to get to +Puerto del Principe some hours before the pirates left their ships. The +Governor of the town, to whom he told his story, at once raised all his +forces, "both freemen and slaves," to prejudice the enemy when he +attacked. The forest ways were blocked with timber baulks, and several +ambuscades were laid, with cannon in them, "to play upon them on their +march." In all, he raised and armed 800 men, whom he disposed in order, +either in the jungle at the ambuscades or in a wide expanse of grass +which surrounded the town. + +In due course Morgan sent his men ashore, and marched them through the +wood towards the town. They found the woodland trackways blocked by the +timber baulks, so they made a detour, hacking paths for themselves with +their machetes, until they got clear of the wood. When they got out of +the jungle they found themselves on an immense green field, covered with +thick grass, which bowed and shivered in the wind. A few pale cattle +grazed here and there on the savannah; a few birds piped and twittered +in the sunshine. In front of them, at some little distance, was the town +they had come to pillage. It lay open to them--a cluster of houses, none +of them very large, with warehouses and tobacco drying-rooms and +churches with bells in them. Outside the town, some of them lying down, +some standing so as to get a view of the enemy, were the planters and +townsfolk, with their pikes and muskets, waiting for the battle to +begin. Right in the pirates' front was a troop of horsemen armed with +lances, swords, and pistols, drawn up in very good order, and ready to +advance. The pirates on their coming from the wood formed into a +semicircle or half-moon shape, the bow outwards, the horns curving to +prevent the cavalry from taking them in flank. They had drums and +colours in their ranks. The drums beat out a bravery, the colours were +displayed. The men halted for a moment to get their breath and to +reprime their guns. Then they advanced slowly, to the drubbing of the +drums, just as the Spanish horsemen trotted forward. As the Spaniards +sounded the charge, the buccaneers fired a volley of bullets at them, +which brought a number of cavaliers out of their saddles. Those horsemen +who escaped the bullets dashed down upon the line, and fired their +pistols at close quarters, afterwards wheeling round, and galloping back +to reform. They charged again and again, "like valiant and courageous +soldiers," but at every charge the pirates stood firm, and withered them +with file-firing. As they retired after each rush, the marksmen in the +ranks picked them off one by one, killing the Governor, in his plumed +hat, and strewing the grass with corpses. They also manoeuvred during +this skirmish so as to cut off the horsemen from the town. After four +hours of battle the cavalry were broken and defeated, and in no heart to +fight further. They made a last charge on their blown horses, but their +ranks went to pieces at the muzzles of the pirates' guns. They broke +towards the cover of the woods, but the pirates charged them as they +ran, and cut them down without pity. Then the drums beat out a bravery, +and the pirates rushed the town in the face of a smart fire. The +Spaniards fought in the streets, while some fired from the roofs and +upper windows. So hot was the tussle that the pirates had to fight from +house to house. The townsmen did not cease their fire, till the pirates +were gathering wood to burn the town, in despair of taking it. + +[Illustration: PUERTO DEL PRINCIPE] + +As soon as the firing ceased, the townsfolk were driven to the +churches, and there imprisoned under sentinels. Afterwards the pirates +"searched the whole country round about the town, bringing in day by day +many goods and prisoners, with much provision." The wine and spirits of +the townsfolk were set on tap, and "with this they fell to banqueting +among themselves, and making great cheer after their customary way." +They feasted so merrily that they forgot their prisoners, "whereby the +greatest part perished." Those who did not perish were examined in the +Plaza, "to make them confess where they had hidden their goods." Those +who would not tell where they had buried their gold were tortured very +barbarously by burning matches, twisted cords, or lighted palm leaves. +Finally, the starving wretches were ordered to find ransoms, "else they +should be all transported to Jamaica" to be sold as slaves. The town was +also laid under a heavy contribution, without which, they said, "they +would turn every house into ashes." + +It happened that, at this juncture, some buccaneers, who were raiding in +the woods, made prisoner a negro carrying letters from the Governor of +the Havana. The letters were written to the citizens, telling them to +delay the payment of their ransoms as long as possible, for that he was +fitting out some soldiers to relieve them. The letters warned Henry +Morgan that he had better be away with the treasure he had found. He +gave order for the plunder to be sent aboard in the carts of the +townsfolk. He then called up the prisoners, and told them very sharply +that their ransoms must be paid the next day, "forasmuch as he would not +wait one moment longer, but reduce the whole town to ashes, in case they +failed to perform the sum he demanded." As it was plainly impossible for +the townsfolk to produce their ransoms at this short notice he +graciously relieved their misery by adding that he would be contented +with 500 beeves, "together with sufficient salt wherewith to salt +them." He insisted that the cattle should be ready for him by the next +morning, and that the Spaniards should deliver them upon the beach, +where they could be shifted to the ships without delay. Having made +these terms, he marched his men away towards the sea, taking with him +six of the principal prisoners "as pledges of what he intended." Early +the next morning the beach of Santa Maria bay was thronged with cattle +in charge of negroes and planters. Some of the oxen had been yoked to +carts to bring the necessary salt. The Spaniards delivered the ransom, +and demanded the six hostages. Morgan was by this time in some anxiety +for his position. He was eager to set sail before the Havana ships came +round the headland, with their guns run out, and matches lit, and all +things ready for a fight. He refused to release the prisoners until the +vaqueros "had helped his men to kill and salt the beeves." The work of +killing and salting was performed "in great haste," lest the Havana +ships should come upon them before the beef was shipped. The hides were +left upon the sands, there being no time to dry them before sailing. A +Spanish cowboy can kill, skin, and cut up a steer in a few minutes. The +buccaneers were probably no whit less skilful. By noon the work was +done. The beach of Santa Maria was strewn with mangled remnants, over +which the seagulls quarrelled. But before Morgan could proceed to sea, +he had to quell an uproar which was setting the French and English by +the ears. The parties had not come to blows, but the French were +clamouring for vengeance with drawn weapons. A French sailor, who was +working on the beach, killing and pickling the meat, had been plundered +by an Englishman, who "took away the marrowbones he had taken out of the +ox." Marrow, "toute chaude," was a favourite dish among these people. +The Frenchman could not brook an insult of a kind as hurtful to his +dinner as to his sense of honour. He challenged the thief to single +combat: swords the weapon, the time then. The buccaneers knocked off +their butcher's work to see the fight. As the poor Frenchman turned his +back to make him ready, his adversary stabbed him from behind, running +him quite through, so that "he suddenly fell dead upon the place." +Instantly the beach was in an uproar. The Frenchmen pressed upon the +English to attack the murderer and to avenge the death of their fellow. +There had been bad blood between the parties ever since they mustered at +the quays before the raid began. The quarrel now raging was an excuse to +both sides. Morgan walked between the angry groups, telling them to put +up their swords. At a word from him, the murderer was seized, set in +irons, and sent aboard an English ship. Morgan then seems to have made a +little speech to pacify the rioters, telling the French that the man +should be hanged ("hanged immediately," as they said of Admiral Byng) as +soon as the ships had anchored in Port Royal bay. To the English, he +said that the criminal was worthy of punishment, "for although it was +permitted him to challenge his adversary, yet it was not lawful to kill +him treacherously, as he did." After a good deal of muttering, the +mutineers returned aboard their ships, carrying with them the last of +the newly salted beef. The hostages were freed, a gun was fired from the +admiral's ship, and the fleet hove up their anchors, and sailed away +from Cuba, to some small sandy quay with a spring of water in it, where +the division of the plunder could be made. The plunder was heaped +together in a single pile. It was valued by the captains, who knew by +long experience what such goods would fetch in the Jamaican towns. + +To the "resentment and grief" of all the 700 men these valuers could not +bring the total up to 50,000 pieces of eight--say £12,000--"in money and +goods." All hands were disgusted at "such a small booty, which was not +sufficient to pay their debts at Jamaica." Some cursed their fortune; +others cursed their captain. It does not seem to have occurred to them +to blame themselves for talking business before their Spanish prisoners. +Morgan told them to "think upon some other enterprize," for the ships +were fit to keep the sea, and well provisioned. It would be an easy +matter, he told them, to attack some town upon the Main "before they +returned home," so that they should have a little money for the taverns, +to buy them rum with, at the end of the cruise. But the French were +still sore about the murder of their man: they raised objections to +every scheme the English buccaneers proposed. Each proposition was +received contemptuously, with angry bickerings and mutterings. At last +the French captains intimated that they desired to part company. Captain +Morgan endeavoured to dissuade them from this resolution by using every +flattery his adroit nature could suggest. Finding that they would not +listen to him, even though he swore by his honour that the murderer, +then in chains, should be hanged as soon as they reached home, he +brought out wine and glasses, and drank to their good fortune. The booty +was then shared up among the adventurers. The Frenchmen got their shares +aboard, and set sail for Tortuga to the sound of a salute of guns. The +English held on for Port Royal, in great "resentment and grief." When +they arrived there they caused the murderer to be hanged upon a gallows, +which, we are told, "was all the satisfaction the French Pirates could +expect." + + _Note._--If we may believe Morgan's statement to Sir T. Modyford, + then Governor of Jamaica, he brought with him from Cuba reliable + evidence that the Spaniards were planning an attack upon that colony + (see State Papers: West Indies and Colonial Series). If the + statements of his prisoners were correct, the subsequent piratical + raid upon the Main had some justification. Had the Spaniards matured + their plans, and pushed the attack home, it is probable that we + should have lost our West Indian possessions. + + _Authorities._--A. O. Exquemeling: "Bucaniers of America," eds. + 1684-5 and 1699. Cal. State Papers: "West Indies." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SACK OF PORTO BELLO + + The Gulf of Maracaibo--Morgan's escape from the Spaniards + + +It was a melancholy home-coming. The men had little more than ten pounds +apiece to spend in jollity. The merchants who enjoyed their custom were +of those kinds least anxious to give credit. The ten pounds were but +sufficient to stimulate desire. They did not allow the jolly mariner to +enjoy himself with any thoroughness. In a day or two, the buccaneers +were at the end of their gold, and had to haunt the street corners, +within scent of the rum casks, thinking sadly of the pleasant liquor +they could not afford to drink. Henry Morgan took this occasion to +recruit for a new enterprise. He went ashore among the drinking-houses, +telling all he met of golden towns he meant to capture. He always +"communicated vigour with his words," for, being a Welshman, he had a +certain fervour of address, not necessarily sincere, which touched his +simplest phrase with passion. In a day or two, after a little talk and a +little treating, every disconsolate drunkard in the town was "persuaded +by his reasons, that the sole execution of his orders, would be a +certain means of obtaining great riches." This persuasion, the writer +adds, "had such influence upon their minds, that with inimitable courage +they all resolved to follow him." Even "a certain Pirate of Campeachy," +a shipowner of considerable repute, resolved to follow Morgan "to seek +new fortunes and greater advantages than he had found before." The +French might hold aloof, they all declared, but an Englishman was still +the equal of a Spaniard; while after all a short life and a merry one +was better than work ashore or being a parson. With this crude +philosophy, they went aboard again to the decks they had so lately left. +The Campeachy pirate brought in a ship or two, and some large canoas. In +all they had a fleet of nine sail, manned by "four hundred and three +score military men." With this force Captain Morgan sailed for Costa +Rica. + +When they came within the sight of land, a council was called, to which +the captains of the vessels went. Morgan told them that he meant to +plunder Porto Bello by a night attack, "being resolved" to sack the +place, "not the least corner escaping his diligence." He added that the +scheme had been held secret, so that "it would not fail to succeed +well." Besides, he thought it likely that a city of such strength would +be unprepared for any sudden attack. The captains were staggered by this +resolution, for they thought themselves too weak "to assault so strong +and great a city." To this the plucky Welshman answered: "If our number +is small, our hearts are great. And the fewer persons we are, the more +union and better shares we shall have in the spoil." This answer, with +the thought of "those vast riches they promised themselves," convinced +the captains that the town could be attempted. It was a "dangerous +voyage and bold assault" but Morgan had been lucky in the past, and the +luck might still be with him. He knew the Porto Bello country, having +been there with a party (perhaps Mansvelt's party) some years before. At +any rate the ships would be at hand in the event of a repulse. + +It was something of a hazard, for the Spanish garrison was formed of all +the desperate criminals the colonial police could catch. These men made +excellent soldiers, for after a battle they were given the plunder of +the men they had killed. Then Panama, with its great garrison, was +perilously near at hand, being barely sixty miles away, or two days' +journey. Lastly, the town was strongly fortified, with castles guarding +it at all points. The garrison was comparatively small, mustering about +three companies of foot. To these, however, the buccaneers had to add +300 townsfolk capable of bearing arms. Following John Exquemeling's +plan, we add a brief description of this famous town, to help the reader +to form a mental picture of it. + +Porto Bello stands on the south-eastern side of a fine bay, "in the +province of Costa Rica." At the time when Morgan captured it (in June +1668) it was one of the strongest cities in the possession of the King +of Spain. It was neglected until 1584, when a royal mandate caused the +traders of Nombre de Dios to migrate thither. It then became the port of +the galleons,[16] where the treasures of the south were shipped for +Spain. The city which Morgan sacked was built upon a strip of level +ground planted with fruit-trees, at a little distance from the sea, but +within a few yards of the bay. The westward half of the town was very +stately, being graced with fine stone churches and the residence of the +lieutenant-general. Most of the merchants' dwellings (and of these there +may have been 100) were built of cedar wood. Some were of stone, a thing +unusual in the Indies, and some were partly stone, with wooden upper +storeys. There was a fine stone convent peopled by Sisters of Mercy, and +a dirty, ruinous old hospital for "the sick men belonging to the ships +of war." On the shore there was a quay, backed by a long stone +custom-house. The main street ran along the shore behind this +custom-house, with cross-streets leading to the two great squares. The +eastward half of the city, through which the road to Panama ran, was +called Guinea; for there the slaves and negroes used to live, in huts +and cottages of sugar-cane and palm leaves. There, too, was the slave +mart, to which the cargoes of the Guinea ships were brought. A little +river of clear water divided the two halves of the town. Another little +river, bridged in two places, ran between the town and Castle Gloria. +The place was strongly fortified. Ships entering the bay had to pass +close to the "Iron Castle," built upon the western point. Directly they +stood away towards the town they were exposed to the guns of Castle +Gloria and Fort Jeronimo--the latter a strong castle built upon a +sandbank off the Guinea town. The constant population was not large, +though probably 300 white men lived there all the year round, in +addition to the Spanish garrison. The native quarter was generally +inhabited by several hundred negroes and mulattoes. When the galleons +arrived there, and for some weeks before, the town was populous with +merchants, who came across from Panama to buy and sell. Tents were +pitched in the Grand Plaza, in front of the Governor's house, for the +protection of perishable goods, like Jesuits'-bark. Gold and silver bars +became as common to the sight as pebbles. Droves of mules came daily in +from Panama, and ships arrived daily from all the seaports in the +Indies. As soon as the galleons sailed for Spain, the city emptied as +rapidly as it had filled. It was too unhealthy a place for white folk, +who continued there "no longer than was needful to acquire a fortune." + +[Footnote 16: With reservations. See p. 13, _note_.] + +[Illustration: PORTO BELLO + CIRCA 1740. SHOWING THE SITUATION AND DEFENCES OF THE CITY] + +Indeed, Porto Bello was one of the most pestilential cities ever built, +"by reason of the unhealthiness of the Air, occasioned by certain +Vapours that exhale from the Mountains." It was excessively hot, for it +lay (as it still lies) in a well, surrounded by hills, "without any +intervals to admit the refreshing gales." It was less marshy than Nombre +de Dios, but "the sea, when it ebbs, leaves a vast quantity of black, +stinking mud, from whence there exhales an intolerable noisome vapour." +At every fair-time "a kind of pestilential fever" raged, so that at +least 400 folk were buried there annually during the five or six weeks +of the market. The complaint may have been yellow fever; (perhaps the +cholera), perhaps pernicious fever, aggravated by the dirty habits of +the thousands then packed within the town. The mortality was especially +heavy among the sailors who worked aboard the galleons, hoisting in or +out the bales of merchandise. These mariners drank brandy very freely +"to recruit their spirits," and in other ways exposed themselves to the +infection. The drinking water of the place was "too fine and active for +the stomachs of the inhabitants," who died of dysentery if they presumed +to drink of it. The town smoked in a continual steam of heat, unrelieved +even by the torrents of rain which fall there every day. The woods are +infested with poisonous snakes, and abound in a sort of large toad or +frog which crawls into the city after rains. The tigers "often make +incursions into the street," as at Nombre de Dios, to carry off children +and domestic animals. There was good fishing in the bay, and the land +was fertile "beyond wonder," so that the cost of living there, in the +_tiempo muerto_, was very small. There is a hill behind the town called +the Capiro, about which the streamers of the clouds wreathe whenever +rain is coming. The town was taken by Sir Francis Drake in 1595, by +Captain Parker in 1601, by Morgan in 1668, by Coxon in 1679, and by +Admiral Vernon in 1740. + +Having told his plans, the admiral bade his men make ready. During the +afternoon he held towards the west of Porto Bello, at some distance from +the land. The coast up to the Chagres River, and for some miles beyond, +is low, so that there was not much risk of the ships being sighted from +the shore. As it grew darker, he edged into the land, arriving "in the +dusk of the evening" at a place called Puerto de Naos, or Port of +Ships, a bay midway between Porto Bello and the Chagres, and about ten +leagues from either place. + +They sailed westward up the coast for a little distance to a place +called Puerto Pontin, where they anchored. Here the pirates got their +boats out, and took to the oars, "leaving in the ships only a few men to +keep them, and conduct them the next day to the port." By the light of +lamps and battle lanterns the boats rowed on through the darkness, till +at midnight they had came to a station called Estera longa Lemos, a +river-mouth a few miles from Porto Bello, "where they all went on +shore." After priming their muskets, they set forth towards the city, +under the guidance of an English buccaneer, who had been a prisoner at +Porto Bello but a little while before. When they were within a mile or +two of the town, they sent this Englishmen with three or four companions +to take a solitary sentry posted at the city outskirts. If they could +not take him, they were to kill him, but without giving the alarm to the +inhabitants. By creeping quietly behind him, the party took the sentry, +"with such cunning that he had no time to give warning with his musket, +or make any other noise." A knife point pressing on his spine, and a gag +of wood across his tongue, warned him to attempt no outcry. Some +rope-yarn was passed about his wrists, and in this condition he was +dragged to Captain Morgan. As soon as he was in the admiral's presence, +he was questioned as to the number of soldiers then in the forts, "with +many other circumstances." It must have been a most uncomfortable trial, +for "after every question, they made him a thousand menaces to kill him, +in case he declared not the truth." When they had examined him to their +satisfaction, they recommenced their march, "carrying always the said +sentry bound before them." Another mile brought them to an outlying +fortress, which was built apparently between Porto Bello and the sea, +to protect the coast road and a few outlying plantations. It was not yet +light, so the pirates crept about the fort unseen, "so that no person +could get either in or out." When they had taken up their ground, Morgan +bade the captured sentry hail the garrison, charging them to surrender +on pain of being cut to pieces. The garrison at once ran to their +weapons, and opened a fierce fire on the unseen enemy, thus giving +warning to the city that the pirates were attacking. Before they could +reload, the buccaneers, "the noble Sparks of Venus," stormed in among +them, taking them in their confusion, hardly knowing what was toward. +Morgan was furious that the Spaniards had not surrendered at discretion +on his challenge. The pirates were flushed with the excitement of the +charge. Someone proposed that they "should be as good as their words, in +putting the Spaniards to the sword, thereby to strike a terror into the +rest of the city." They hustled the Spanish soldiers "into one room," +officers and men together. The cellars of the fort were filled with +powder barrels. Some ruffian took a handful of the powder, and spilled a +train along the ground, telling his comrades to stand clear. His mates +ran from the building applauding his device. In another moment the +pirate blew upon his musket match to make the end red, and fired the +train he had laid, "and blew up the whole castle into the air, with all +the Spaniards that were within." "Much the better way of the two," says +one of the chroniclers, who saw the explosion. + +"This being done," says the calm historian, "they pursued the course of +their victory" into the town. By this time, the streets were thronged +with shrieking townsfolk. Men ran hither and thither with their poor +belongings. Many flung their gold and jewels into wells and cisterns, or +stamped them underground, "to excuse their being totally robbed." The +bells were set clanging in the belfries; while, to increase the +confusion, the Governor rode into the streets, calling on the citizens +to rally and stand firm. As the dreadful panic did not cease, he rode +out of the mob to one of the castles (Castle Gloria), where the troops +were under arms. It was now nearly daybreak, or light enough for them to +see their enemy. As the pirates came in sight among the fruit-trees, the +Governor trained his heavy guns upon them, and opened a smart fire. Some +lesser castles, or the outlying works of Castle Gloria, which formed the +outer defences of the town, followed his example; nor could the pirates +silence them. One party of buccaneers crept round the fortifications to +the town, where they attacked the monastery and the convent, breaking +into both with little trouble, and capturing a number of monks and nuns. +With these they retired to the pirates' lines. + +For several hours, the pirates got no farther, though the fire did not +slacken on either side. The pirates lay among the scrub, hidden in the +bushes, in little knots of two and three. They watched the castle +embrasures after each discharge of cannon, for the Spaniards could not +reload without exposing themselves as they sponged or rammed. Directly a +Spaniard appeared, he was picked off from the bushes with such precision +that they lost "one or two men every time they charged each gun anew." +The losses on the English side were fully as severe; for, sheltered +though they were, the buccaneers lost heavily. The lying still under a +hot sun was galling to the pirates' temper. They made several attempts +to storm, but failed in each attempt owing to the extreme gallantry of +the defence. Towards noon they made a furious attack, carrying +fireballs, or cans filled with powder and resin, in their hands +"designing, if possible, to burn the doors of the castle." As they came +beneath the walls, the Spaniards rolled down stones upon them, with +"earthen pots full of powder" and iron shells filled full of chain-shot, +"which forced them to desist from that attempt." Morgan's party was +driven back with heavy loss. It seemed to Morgan at this crisis that the +victory was with the Spanish. He wavered for some minutes, uncertain +whether to call off his men. "Many faint and calm meditations came into +his mind" seeing so many of his best hands dead and the Spanish fire +still so furious. As he debated "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." A few minutes later the +conquerors came swaggering up to join him, "proclaiming victory with +loud shouts of joy." + +Leaving his musketeers to fire at the Spanish gunners, Morgan turned +aside to reconnoitre. Making the capture of the lesser fort his excuse, +he sent a trumpet, with a white flag, to summon the main castle, where +the Governor had flown the Spanish standard. While the herald was gone +upon his errand, Morgan set some buccaneers to make a dozen scaling +ladders, "so broad that three or four men at once might ascend by them." +By the time they were finished, the trumpeter returned, bearing the +Governor's answer that "he would never surrender himself alive." When +the message had been given, Captain Morgan formed his soldiers into +companies, and bade the monks and nuns whom he had taken, to place the +ladders against the walls of the chief castle. He thought that the +Spanish Governor would hardly shoot down these religious persons, even +though they bore the ladders for the scaling parties. In this he was +very much mistaken. The Governor was there to hold the castle for his +Catholic Majesty, and, like "a brave and courageous soldier," he +"refused not to use his utmost endeavours to destroy whoever came near +the walls." As the wretched monks and nuns came tottering forward with +the ladders, they begged of him, "by all the Saints of Heaven," to haul +his colours down, to the saving of their lives. Behind them were the +pirates, pricking them forward with their pikes and knives. In front of +them were the cannon of their friends, so near that they could see the +matches burning in the hands of the gunners. "They ceased not to cry to +him," says the narrative; but they could not "prevail with the obstinacy +and fierceness that had possessed the Governor's mind"--"the Governor +valuing his honour before the lives of the Mass-mumblers." As they drew +near to the walls, they quickened their steps, hoping, no doubt, to get +below the cannon muzzles out of range. When they were but a few yards +from the walls, the cannon fired at them, while the soldiers pelted them +with a fiery hail of hand-grenades. "Many of the religious men and nuns +were killed before they could fix the ladders"; in fact, the poor folk +were butchered there in heaps, before the ladders caught against the +parapet. Directly the ladders held, the pirates stormed up with a shout, +in great swarms, like a ship's crew going aloft to make the sails fast. +They had "fireballs in their hands and earthen pots full of powder," +which "they kindled and cast in among the Spaniards" from the summits of +the walls. In the midst of the smoke and flame which filled the fort the +Spanish Governor stood fighting gallantly. His wife and child were +present in that house of death, among the blood and smell, trying to +urge him to surrender. The men were running from their guns, and the +hand-grenades were bursting all about him, but this Spanish Governor +refused to leave his post. The buccaneers who came about him called upon +him to surrender, but he answered that he would rather die like a brave +soldier than be hanged as a coward for deserting his command, "so that +they were enforc'd to kill him, nothwithstanding the cries of his Wife +and Daughter." + +The sun was setting over Iron Castle before the firing came to an end +with the capture of the Castle Gloria. The pirates used the last of the +light for the securing of their many prisoners. They drove them to some +dungeon in the castle, where they shut them up under a guard. The +wounded "were put into a certain apartment by itself," without +medicaments or doctors, "to the intent their own complaints might be the +cure of their diseases." In the dungeons of the castle's lower battery +they found eleven English prisoners chained hand and foot. They were the +survivors of the garrison of Providence, which the Spaniards +treacherously took two years before. Their backs were scarred with many +floggings, for they had been forced to work like slaves at the laying of +the quay piles in the hot sun, under Spanish overseers. They were +released at once, and tenderly treated, nor were they denied a share of +the plunder of the town. + +"Having finish'd this Jobb" the pirates sought out the "recreations of +Heroick toil." "They fell to eating and drinking" of the provisions +stored within the city, "committing in both these things all manner of +debauchery and excess." They tapped the casks of wine and brandy, and +"drank about" till they were roaring drunk. In this condition they ran +about the town, like cowboys on a spree, "and never examined whether it +were Adultery or Fornication which they committed." By midnight they +were in such a state of drunken disorder that "if there had been found +only fifty courageous men, they might easily have retaken the City, and +killed the Pirats." The next day they gathered plunder, partly by +routing through the houses, partly by torturing the townsfolk. They seem +to have been no less brutal here than they had been in Cuba, though the +Porto Bello houses yielded a more golden spoil than had been won at +Puerto Principe. They racked one or two poor men until they died. Others +they slowly cut to pieces, or treated to the punishment called +"woolding," by which the eyes were forced from their sockets under the +pressure of a twisted cord. Some were tortured with burning matches "and +such like slight torments." A woman was roasted to death "upon a baking +stone"--a sin for which one buccaneer ("as he lay sick") was +subsequently sorry. + +While they were indulging these barbarities, they drank and swaggered +and laid waste. They stayed within the town for fifteen days, sacking it +utterly, to the last ryal. They were too drunk and too greedy to care +much about the fever, which presently attacked them, and killed a +number, as they lay in drunken stupor in the kennels. News of their riot +being brought across the isthmus, the Governor of Panama resolved to +send a troop of soldiers, to attempt to retake the city, but he had +great difficulty in equipping a sufficient force. Before his men were +fit to march, some messengers came in from the imprisoned townsfolk, +bringing word from Captain Morgan that he wanted a ransom for the city, +"or else he would by fire consume it to ashes." The pirate ships were by +this time lying off the town, in Porto Bello bay. They were taking in +fresh victuals for the passage home. The ransom asked was 100,000 pieces +of eight, or £25,000. If it had not been paid the pirates could have put +their threat in force without the slightest trouble. Morgan made all +ready to ensure his retreat in the event of an attack from Panama. He +placed an outpost of 100 "well-arm'd" men in a narrow part of the +passage over the isthmus. All the plunder of the town was sent on board +the ships. In this condition he awaited the answer of the President. + +As soon as that soldier had sufficient musketeers in arms, he marched +them across the isthmus to relieve the city. They attempted the pass +which Morgan had secured, but lost very heavily in the attempt. The +buccaneers charged, and completely routed them, driving back the entire +company along the road to Panama. The President had "to retire for that +time," but he sent a blustering note to Captain Morgan, threatening him +and his with death "when he should take them, as he hoped soon to do." +To this Morgan replied that he would not deliver the castles till he had +the money, and that if the money did not come, the castles should be +blown to pieces, with the prisoners inside them. We are told that "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." He +decided to let the townsfolk make what terms they could. In a few days +more these wretched folk contrived to scrape together the required sum +of money, which they paid over as their ransom. + +Before the expedition sailed away, a messenger arrived from Panama with +a letter from the Governor to Captain Morgan. It made no attempt to +mollify his heart nor to reduce him to reason, but it expressed a wonder +at the pirates' success. He asked, as a special favour, that Captain +Morgan would send him "some small patterns" of the arms with which the +city had been taken. He thought it passing marvellous that a town so +strongly fortified should have been won by men without great guns. +Morgan treated the messenger to a cup of drink, and gave him a pistol +and some leaden bullets "to carry back to the President, his Master." +"He desired him to accept that pattern of the arms wherewith he had +taken Porto Bello." He requested him to keep them for a twelvemonth, +"after which time he promised to come to Panama and fetch them away." +The Spaniard returned the gift to Captain Morgan, "giving him thanks for +lending him such weapons as he needed not." He also sent a ring of gold, +with the warning "not to give himself the trouble of coming to Panama," +for "he should not speed so well there" as he had sped at Porto Bello. + +"After these transactions" Captain Morgan loosed his top-sail, as a +signal to unmoor. His ships were fully victualled for the voyage, and +the loot was safely under hatches. As a precaution, he took with him the +best brass cannon from the fortress. The iron guns were securely spiked +with soft metal nails, which were snapped off flush with the +touch-holes. The anchors were weighed to the music of the fiddlers, a +salute of guns was fired, and the fleet stood out of Porto Bello bay +along the wet, green coast, passing not very far from the fort which +they had blown to pieces. In a few days' time they raised the Keys of +Cuba, their favourite haven, where "with all quiet and repose" they made +their dividend. "They found in ready money two hundred and fifty +thousand pieces of eight, besides all other merchandises, as cloth, +linen, silks and other goods." The spoil was amicably shared about the +mast before a course was shaped for their "common rendezvous"--Port +Royal. + +A godly person in Jamaica, writing at this juncture in some distress, +expressed himself as follows:--"There is not now resident upon this +place ten men to every [licensed] house that selleth strong liquors ... +besides sugar and rum works that sell without license." When Captain +Morgan's ships came flaunting into harbour, with their colours +fluttering and the guns thundering salutes, there was a rustle and a +stir in the heart of every publican. "All the Tavern doors stood open, +as they do at London, on Sundays, in the afternoon." Within those tavern +doors, "in all sorts of vices and debauchery," the pirates spent their +plunder "with huge prodigality," not caring what might happen on the +morrow. + +Shortly after the return from Porto Bello, Morgan organised another +expedition with which he sailed into the Gulf of Maracaibo. His ships +could not proceed far on account of the shallowness of the water, but by +placing his men in the canoas he penetrated to the end of the Gulf. On +the way he sacked Maracaibo, a town which had been sacked on two +previous occasions--the last time by L'Ollonais only a couple of years +before. Morgan's men tortured the inhabitants, according to their +custom, either by "woolding" them or by placing burning matches between +their toes. They then set sail for Gibraltar, a small town strongly +fortified, at the south-east corner of the Gulf. The town was empty, for +the inhabitants had fled into the hills with "all their goods and +riches." But the pirates sent out search parties, who brought in many +prisoners. These were examined, with the usual cruelties, being racked, +pressed, hung up by the heels, burnt with palm leaves, tied to stakes, +suspended by the thumbs and toes, flogged with rattans, or roasted at +the camp fires. Some were crucified, and burnt between the fingers as +they hung on the crosses; "others had their feet put into the fire." + +When they had extracted the last ryal from the sufferers they shipped +themselves aboard some Spanish vessels lying in the port. They were +probably cedar-built ships, of small tonnage, built at the Gibraltar +yards. In these they sailed towards Maracaibo, where they found "a poor +distressed old man, who was sick." This old man told them that the +Castle de la Barra, which guarded the entrance to the Gulf, had been +mounted with great guns and manned by a strong garrison. Outside the +channel were three Spanish men-of-war with their guns run out and decks +cleared for battle. + +The truth of these assertions was confirmed by a scouting party the same +day. In order to gain a little time Morgan sent a Spaniard to the +admiral of the men-of-war, demanding a ransom "for not putting Maracaibo +to the flame." The answer reached him in a day or two, warning him to +surrender all his plunder, and telling him that if he did not, he should +be destroyed by the sword. There was no immediate cause for haste, +because the Spanish admiral could not cross the sandbanks into the Gulf +until he had obtained flat-bottomed boats from Caracas. Morgan read the +letter to his men "in the market-place of Maracaibo," "both in French +and English," and then asked them would they give up all their spoil, +and pass unharmed, or fight for its possession. They agreed with one +voice to fight, "to the very last drop of blood," rather than surrender +the booty they had risked their skins to get. One of the men undertook +to rig a fireship to destroy the Spanish admiral's flagship. He proposed +to fill her decks with logs of wood "standing with hats and Montera +caps," like gunners standing at their guns. At the port-holes they would +place other wooden logs to resemble cannon. The ship should then hang +out the English colours, the Jack or the red St George's cross, so that +the enemy should deem her "one of our best men of war that goes to fight +them." The scheme pleased everyone, but there was yet much anxiety among +the pirates. Morgan sent another letter to the Spanish admiral, offering +to spare Maracaibo without ransom; to release his prisoners, with one +half of the captured slaves; and to send home the hostages he brought +away from Gibraltar, if he might be granted leave to pass the entry. The +Spaniard rejected all these terms, with a curt intimation that, if the +pirates did not surrender within two more days, they should be compelled +to do so at the sword's point. + +Morgan received the Spaniard's answer angrily, resolving to attempt the +passage "without surrendering anything." He ordered his men to tie the +slaves and prisoners, so that there should be no chance of their +attempting to rise. They then rummaged Maracaibo for brimstone, pitch, +and tar, with which to make their fireship. They strewed her deck with +fireworks and with dried palm leaves soaked in tar. They cut her +outworks down, so that the fire might more quickly spread to the enemy's +ship at the moment of explosion. They broke open some new gun-ports, in +which they placed small drums, "of which the negroes make use." +"Finally, the decks were handsomely beset with many pieces of wood +dressed up in the shape of men with hats or monteras, and likewise armed +with swords, muskets, and bandoliers." The plunder was then divided +among the other vessels of the squadron. A guard of musketeers was +placed over the prisoners, and the pirates then set sail towards the +passage. The fireship went in advance, with orders to fall foul of the +_Spanish Admiral_, a ship of forty guns. + +[Illustration: THE FIRESHIP DESTROYING THE SPANISH ADMIRAL + CASTLE DE LA BARRA IN BACKGROUND] + +When it grew dark they anchored for the night, with sentinels on each +ship keeping vigilant watch. They were close to the entry, almost within +shot of the Spaniards, and they half expected to be boarded in the +darkness. At dawn they got their anchors, and set sail towards the +Spaniards, who at once unmoored, and beat to quarters. In a few minutes +the fireship ran into the man-of-war, "and grappled to her sides" with +kedges thrown into her shrouds. The Spaniards left their guns, and +strove to thrust her away, but the fire spread so rapidly that they +could not do so. The flames caught the warship's sails, and ran along +her sides with such fury that her men had hardly time to get away from +her before she blew her bows out, and went to the bottom. The second +ship made no attempt to engage: her crew ran her ashore, and deserted, +leaving her bilged in shallow water. As the pirates rowed towards the +wreck some of the deserters hurried back to fire her. The third ship +struck her colours without fighting. + +Seeing their advantage a number of the pirates landed to attack the +castle, where the shipwrecked Spaniards were rallying. A great skirmish +followed, in which the pirates lost more men than had been lost at Porto +Bello. They were driven off with heavy loss, though they continued to +annoy the fort with musket fire till the evening. As it grew dark they +returned to Maracaibo, leaving one of their ships to watch the fortress +and to recover treasure from the sunken flagship. Morgan now wrote to +the Spanish admiral, demanding a ransom for the town. The citizens were +anxious to get rid of him at any cost, so they compounded with him, +seeing that the admiral disdained to treat, for the sum of 20,000 pieces +of eight and 500 cattle. The gold was paid, and the cattle duly counted +over, killed, and salted; but Morgan did not purpose to release his +prisoners until his ship was safely past the fort. He told the Maracaibo +citizens that they would not be sent ashore until the danger of the +passage was removed. With this word he again set sail to attempt to pass +the narrows. He found his ship still anchored near the wreck, but in +more prosperous sort than he had left her. Her men had brought up 15,000 +pieces of eight, with a lot of gold and silver plate, "as hilts of +swords and other things," besides "great quantity of pieces of eight" +which had "melted and run together" in the burning of the vessel. + +Morgan now made a last appeal to the Spanish admiral, telling him that +he would hang his prisoners if the fortress fired on him as he sailed +past. The Spanish admiral sent an answer to the prisoners, who had +begged him to relent, informing them that he would do his duty, as he +wished they had done theirs. Morgan heard the answer, and realised that +he would have to use some stratagem to escape the threatened danger. He +made a dividend of the plunder before he proceeded farther, for he +feared that some of the fleet might never win to sea, and that the +captains of those which escaped might be tempted to run away with their +ships. The spoils amounted to 250,000 pieces of eight, as at Porto +Bello, though in addition to this gold there were numbers of slaves and +heaps of costly merchandise. + +When the booty had been shared he put in use his stratagem. He embarked +his men in the canoas, and bade them row towards the shore "as if they +designed to land." When they reached the shore they hid under the +overhanging boughs "till they had laid themselves down along in the +boats." Then one or two men rowed the boats back to the ships, with the +crews concealed under the thwarts. The Spaniards in the fortress watched +the going and returning of the boats. They could not see the stratagem, +for the boats were too far distant, but they judged that the pirates +were landing for a night attack. The boats plied to and from the shore +at intervals during the day. The anxious Spaniards resolved to prepare +for the assault by placing their great guns on the landward side of the +fortress. They cleared away the scrub on that side, in order to give +their gunners a clear view of the attacking force when the sun set. They +posted sentries, and stood to their arms, expecting to be attacked. + +As soon as night had fallen the buccaneers weighed anchor. A bright moon +was shining, and by the moonlight the ships steered seaward under bare +poles. As they came abreast of the castle on the gentle current of the +ebb, they loosed their sails to a fair wind blowing seaward. At the same +moment, while the top-sails were yet slatting, Captain Morgan fired +seven great guns "with bullets" as a last defiance. The Spaniards +dragged their cannon across the fortress, "and began to fire very +furiously," without much success. The wind freshened, and as the ships +drew clear of the narrows they felt its force, and began to slip through +the water. One or two shots took effect upon them before they drew out +of range, but "the Pirates lost not many of their men, nor received any +considerable damage in their ships." They hove to at a distance of a +mile from the fort in order to send a boat in with a number of the +prisoners. They then squared their yards, and stood away towards +Jamaica, where they arrived safely, after very heavy weather, a few days +later. Here they went ashore in their stolen velvets and silks to spend +their silver dollars in the Port Royal rum shops. Some mates of theirs +were ashore at that time after an unlucky cruise. It was their pleasure +"to mock and jeer" these unsuccessful pirates, "often telling them: Let +us see what money you brought from Comana, and if it be as good silver +as that which we bring from Maracaibo." + + _Note._--On his return from Maracaibo, Morgan gave out that he had + met with further information of an intended Spanish attack on + Jamaica. He may have made the claim to justify his actions on the + Main, which were considerably in excess of the commission Modyford + had given him. On the other hand, a Spanish attack may have been + preparing, as he stated; but the preparations could not have gone + far, for had the Spaniards been prepared for such an expedition + Morgan's Panama raid could never have succeeded. + + _Authorities._--Exquemeling's "History of The Bucaniers of America"; + Exquemeling's "History" (the Malthus edition), 1684. Cal. State + Papers: West Indian and Colonial Series. + + For my account of Porto Bello I am indebted to various brief + accounts in Hakluyt, and to a book entitled "A Description of the + Spanish Islands," by a "Gentleman long resident in those parts." I + have also consulted the brief notices in Dampier's Voyages, Wafer's + Voyages, various gazetteers, and some maps and pamphlets relating to + Admiral Vernon's attack in 1739-40. There is a capital description + of the place as it was in its decadence, _circa_ 1820, in Michael + Scott's "Tom Cringle's Log." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MORGAN'S GREAT RAID + + Chagres castle--Across the isthmus--Sufferings of the + buccaneers--Venta Cruz--Old Panama + + +Some months later Henry Morgan found his pirates in all the miseries of +poverty. They had wasted all their silver dollars, and longed for +something "to expend anew in wine" before they were sold as slaves to +pay their creditors. He thought that he would save them from their +misery by going a new cruise. There was no need for him to drum up +recruits in the rum shops, for his name was glorious throughout the +Indies. He had but to mention that "he intended for the Main" to get +more men than he could ship. He "assigned the south side of the Isle of +Tortuga" for his rendezvous, and he sent out letters to the "ancient and +expert Pirates" and to the planters and hunters in Hispaniola, asking +them, in the American general's phrase, "to come and dip their spoons in +a platter of glory." Long before the appointed day the rendezvous was +crowded, for ships, canoas, and small boats came thronging to the +anchorage with all the ruffians of the Indies. Many marched to the +rendezvous across the breadth of Hispaniola "with no small +difficulties." The muster brought together a grand variety of rascaldom, +from Campeachy in the west to Trinidad in the east. Hunters, planters, +logwood cutters, Indians, and half-breeds came flocking from their huts +and inns to go upon the grand account. Lastly, Henry Morgan came in his +fine Spanish ship, with the brass and iron guns. At the firing of a gun +the assembled captains came on board to him for a pirates' council, over +the punch-bowl, in the admiral's cabin. + +It was decided at this council to send a large party to the Main, to the +de la Hacha River, "to assault a small village" of the name of La +Rancheria--the chief granary in all the "Terra Firma." The pirates were +to seize as much maize there as they could find--enough, if possible, to +load the ships of the expedition. While they were away their fellows at +Tortuga were to clean and rig the assembled ships to fit them for the +coming cruise. Another large party was detailed to hunt in the woods for +hogs and cattle. + +In about five weeks' time the ships returned from Rio de la Hacha, after +much buffeting at sea. They brought with them a grain ship they had +taken in the port, and several thousand sacks of corn which the +Spaniards had paid them as "a ransom for not burning the town." They had +also won a lot of silver, "with all other things they could rob"--such +as pearls from the local pearl beds. The hunters had killed and salted +an incredible quantity of beef and pork, the ships were scraped and +tallowed, and nothing more was to be done save to divide the victuals +among all the buccaneers. This division did not take much time. Within a +couple of days the admiral loosed his top-sail. The pirates fired off +their guns and hove their anchors up. They sailed out of Port Couillon +with a fair wind, in a great bravery of flags, towards the rendezvous at +Cape Tiburon, to the south-west of the island Hispaniola. When they +reached Cape Tiburon, where there is a good anchorage, they brought +aboard a store of oranges, to save them from the scurvy. While the men +were busy in the orange groves Henry Morgan "gave letters patent, or +commissions," to all his captains, "to act all manner of hostility +against the Spanish nation." For this act he had the sealed authority +of the Council of Jamaica. He was no longer a pirate or buccaneer, but +an admiral leading a national enterprise. As we have said, he had heard, +on the Main, of an intended Spanish attack upon Jamaica; indeed, it is +probable that his capture of Porto Bello prevented the ripening of the +project. There is no need to whitewash Morgan, but we may at least +regard him at this juncture as the saviour of our West Indian colonies. +After the serving out of these commissions, and their due sealing, the +captains were required to sign the customary articles, allotting the +shares of the prospective plunder. The articles allotted very liberal +compensation to the wounded; they also expressly stated the reward to be +given for bravery in battle. Fifty pieces of eight were allotted to him +who should haul a Spanish colour down and hoist the English flag in its +place. Surgeons received 200 pieces of eight "for their chests of +medicaments." Carpenters received one half of that sum. Henry Morgan, +the admiral of the fleet, was to receive one-hundredth part of all the +plunder taken. His vice-admiral's share is not stated. As a stimulus to +the pirates, it was published through the fleet that any captain and +crew who ventured on, and took, a Spanish ship should receive a tenth +part of her value as a reward to themselves for their bravery. When the +contracts had been signed Morgan asked his captains which town they +should attempt. They had thirty-seven ships, carrying at least 500 +cannon. They had 2000 musketeers, "besides mariners and boys," while +they possessed "great quantity of ammunition, and fire balls, with other +inventions of powder." With such an armament, he said, they could attack +the proudest of the Spanish cities. They could sack La Vera Cruz, where +the gold from Manila was put aboard the galleons, as they lay alongside +the quays moored to the iron ring-bolts; or they could go eastward to +the town of Cartagena to pillage our Lady's golden altar in the church +there; or they could row up the Chagres River, and keep the promise +Morgan had made to the Governor of Panama. The captains pronounced for +Panama, but they added, as a rider, that it would be well to go to Santa +Katalina to obtain guides. The Santa Katalina fort was still in the +possession of the Spaniards, who now used it as a convict settlement, +sending thither all the outlaws of the "Terra Firma." It would be well, +they said, to visit Santa Katalina to select a few choice cut-throats to +guide them over the isthmus. With this resolution they set sail for +Santa Katalina, where they anchored on the fourth day, "before sunrise," +in a bay called the Aguada Grande. + +Some of the buccaneers had been there under Mansvelt, and these now +acted as guides to the men who went ashore in the fighting party. A day +of hard fighting followed, rather to the advantage of the Spaniards, for +the pirates won none of the batteries, and had to sleep in the open, +very wet and hungry. The next day Morgan threatened the garrison with +death if they did not yield "within few hours." The Governor was not a +very gallant man, like the Governor at Porto Bello. Perhaps he was +afraid of his soldiers, the convicts from the "Terra Firma." At anyrate +he consented to surrender, but he asked that the pirates would have the +kindness to pretend to attack him, "for the saving of his honesty." +Morgan agreed very gladly to this proposition, for he saw little chance +of taking the fort by storm. When the night fell, he followed the +Governor's direction, and began a furious bombardment, "but without +bullets, or at least into the air." The castles answered in the like +manner, burning a large quantity of powder. Then the pirates stormed +into the castles in a dramatic way; while the Spaniards retreated to +the church, and hung out the white flag. + +Early the next morning the pirates sacked the place, and made great +havoc in the poultry-yards and cattle-pens. They pulled down a number of +wooden houses to supply their camp fires. The guns they nailed or sent +aboard. The powder they saved for their own use, but some proportion of +it went to the destruction of the forts, which, with one exception, they +blew up. For some days they stayed there, doing nothing but "roast and +eat, and make good cheer," sending the Spaniards to the fields to rout +out fresh provisions. While they lay there, Morgan asked "if any +banditti were there from Panama," as he had not yet found his guides. +Three scoundrels came before him, saying that they knew the road across +the isthmus, and that they would act as guides if such action were made +profitable. Morgan promised them "equal shares in all they should +pillage and rob," and told them that they should come with him to +Jamaica at the end of the cruise. These terms suited the three robbers +very well. One of them, "a wicked fellow," "the greatest rogue, thief +and assassin among them," who had deserved rather "to be broken alive +upon a wheel than punished with serving in a garrison," was the +spokesman of the trio. He was the Dubosc of that society, "and could +domineer and command over them," "they not daring to refuse obedience." +This truculent ruffian, with his oaths and his knives and his black +moustachios, was elected head guide. + +After several days of ease upon the island Morgan sent a squadron to the +Main, with 400 men, four ships, and a canoa, "to go and take the Castle +of Chagre," at the entrance to the Chagres River. He would not send a +larger company, though the fort was strong, for he feared "lest the +Spaniards should be jealous of his designs upon Panama"--lest they +should be warned, that is, by refugees from Chagres before he tried to +cross the isthmus. Neither would he go himself, for he was still bent +upon establishing a settlement at Santa Katalina. He chose out an old +buccaneer, of the name of Brodely or Bradly, who had sailed with +Mansvelt, to command the expedition. He was famous in his way this +Captain Brodely, for he had been in all the raids, and had smelt a +quantity of powder. He was as brave as a lion, resourceful as a sailor, +and, for a buccaneer, most prudent. Ordering his men aboard, he sailed +for the Chagres River, where, three days later, he arrived. He stood in +towards the river's mouth; but the guns of the castle opened on him, +making that anchorage impossible. But about a league from the castle +there is a small bay, and here Captain Brodely brought his ships to +anchor, and sent his men to their blankets, warning them to stand by for +an early call. + +[Illustration: CHAGRES + CIRCA 1739] + +The castle of San Lorenzo, which guarded the Chagres River's mouth, was +built on the right bank of that river, on a high hill of great +steepness. The hill has two peaks, with a sort of natural ditch some +thirty feet in depth between them. The castle was built upon the seaward +peak, and a narrow drawbridge crossed the gully to the other summit, +which was barren and open to the sight. The river swept round the +northern side of the hill with considerable force. To the south the hill +was precipitous, and of such "infinite asperity," that no man could +climb it. To the east was the bridged gully connecting the garrison with +the isthmus. To the west, in a crook of the land, was the little port of +Chagres, where ships might anchor in seven or eight fathoms, "being very +fit for small vessels." Not far from the foot of the hill, facing the +river's mouth, there was a battery of eight great guns commanding the +approach. A little way beneath were two more batteries, each with six +great guns, to supplement the one above. A path led from these lower +batteries to the protected harbour. A steep flight of stairs, "hewed out +of the rock," allowed the soldiers to pass from the water to the summit +of the castle. The defences at the top of the hill were reinforced with +palisadoes. The keep, or inner castle, was hedged about with a double +fence of plank--the fences being six or seven feet apart, and the +interstices filled in with earth, like gabions. On one side of the +castle were the storesheds for merchandise and ammunition. On the other, +and within the palisadoes everywhere, were soldiers' huts, built of mud +and wattle, thatched with palm leaves, "after the manner of the +Indians." Lastly, as a sort of outer defence, a great submerged rock +prevented boats from coming too near the seaward side. + +Early in the morning Captain Bradly turned his hands up by the +boatswain's pipe, and bade them breakfast off their beef and parched +corn. Maize and charqui were packed into knapsacks for the march, and +the pirates rowed ashore to open the campaign. The ruffians from Santa +Katalina took their stations at the head of the leading company, with +trusty pirates just behind them ready to pistol them if they played +false. In good spirits they set forth from the beach, marching in the +cool of the morning before the sun had risen. The way led through +mangrove swamps, where the men sank to their knees in rotting grasses or +plunged to their waists in slime. Those who have seen a tropical swamp +will know how fierce the toil was. They were marching in a dank world +belonging to an earlier age than ours. They were in the age of the coal +strata, among wet, green things, in a silence only broken by the sound +of dropping or by the bellow of an alligator. They were there in the +filth, in the heat haze, in a mist of miasma and mosquitoes. In all +probability they were swearing at themselves for coming thither. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon the buccaneers pushed through a thicket +of liane and green cane, and debouched quite suddenly upon the barren +hilltop facing San Lorenzo Castle. As they formed up, they were met with +a thundering volley, which threw them into some confusion. They +retreated to the cover of the jungle to debate a plan of battle, greatly +fearing that a fort so strongly placed would be impregnable without +great guns to batter it. However, they were a reckless company, careless +of their lives, and hot with the tramping through the swamp. Give it up +they could not, for fear of the mockery of their mates. The desperate +course was the one course open to them. They lit the fireballs, or +grenades, they had carried through the marsh; they drew their swords, +and "Come on!" they cried. "Have at all!" And forward they stormed, +cursing as they ran. A company in reserve remained behind in cover, +firing over the storming party with their muskets. + +As the pirates threw themselves into the gully, the walls of San Lorenzo +burst into a flame of gun fire. The Spaniards fought their cannon +furiously--as fast as they could fire and reload--while the musketeers +picked off the leaders from the loopholes. "Come on, ye English dogs!" +they cried. "Come on, ye heretics! ye cuckolds! Let your skulking mates +behind there come on too! You'll not get to Panama this bout." "Come on" +the pirates did, with great gallantry. They flung themselves down into +the ditch, and stormed up the opposite slope to the wooden palings. Here +they made a desperate attempt to scale, but the foothold was too +precarious and the pales too high. In a few roaring minutes the attack +was at an end: it had withered away before the Spanish fire. The +buccaneers were retreating in knots of one or two, leaving some seventy +of their number on the sun-bleached rocks of the gully. + +When they got back to the jungle they lay down to rest, and slept there +quietly while the daylight lasted, though the Spaniards still sent shots +in their direction. As soon as it was dark, they made another furious +assault, flinging their fireballs against the palings in order to burst +the planks apart. While they were struggling in the ditch, a pirate ran +across the gully with his body bent, as is natural to a running man. As +he ran, an arrow took him in the back, and pierced him through to the +side. He paused a moment, drew the arrow from the wound, wrapped the +shaft of it with cotton as a wad, and fired it back over the paling with +his musket. The cotton he had used caught fire from the powder, and it +chanced that this blazing shaft drove home into a palm thatch. In the +hurry and confusion the flame was not noticed, though it spread rapidly +across the huts till it reached some powder casks. There was a violent +explosion just within the palisadoes, and stones and blazing sticks came +rattling down about the Spaniards' ears. The inner castle roared up in a +blaze, calling the Spaniards from their guns to quench the fire--no easy +task so high above the water. While the guns were deserted, the pirates +ran along the bottom of the ditch, thrusting their fireballs under the +palisadoes, which now began to burn in many places. As the flames +spread, the planking warped, and fell. The outer planks inclined +slightly outward, like the futtocks of a ship, so that, when they +weakened in the fire, the inner weight of earth broke them through. The +pirates now stood back from the fort, in the long black shadows, to +avoid the showers of earth--"great heaps of earth"--which were falling +down into the ditch. Presently the slope from the bottom of the gully +was piled with earth, so that the pirates could rush up to the breaches, +and hurl their firepots across the broken woodwork. The San Lorenzo fort +was now a spiring red flame of fire--a beacon to the ships at sea. +Before midnight the wooden walls were burnt away to charcoal; the inner +fort was on fire in many places; yet the Spaniards still held the +earthen ramparts, casting down "many flaming pots," and calling on the +English dogs to attack them. The pirates lay close in the shadows, +picking off the Spaniards as they moved in the red firelight, so that +many poor fellows came toppling into the gully from the mounds. + +When day dawned, the castle lay open to the pirates. The walls were all +burnt, and fallen down, but in the breaches stood the Spanish soldiers, +manning their guns as though the walls still protected them. The fight +began as furiously as it had raged the day before. By noon most of the +Spanish gunners had been shot down by the picked musketeers; while a +storming party ran across the ditch, and rushed a breach. As the pirates +gained the inside of the fort, the Spanish Governor charged home upon +them with twenty-five soldiers armed with pikes, clubbed muskets, +swords, or stones from the ruin. For some minutes these men mixed in a +last desperate struggle; then the Spaniards were driven back by the +increasing numbers of the enemy. Fighting hard, they retreated to the +inner castle, cheered by their Governor, who still called on them to +keep their flag aloft. The inner castle was a ruin, but the yellow flag +still flew there, guarded by some sorely wounded soldiers and a couple +of guns. Here the last stand was made, and here the gallant captain was +hit by a bullet, "which pierced his skull into the brain." The little +band of brave men now went to pieces before the rush of pirates. Some of +them fell back, still fighting, to the wall, over which they flung +themselves "into the sea," dying thus honourably rather than surrender. +About thirty of them, "whereof scarce ten were not wounded," surrendered +in the ruins of the inner fortress. These thirty hurt and weary men +were the survivors of 314 who had stood to arms the day before. All the +rest were dead, save "eight or nine," who had crept away by boat up the +Chagres to take the news to Panama. No officer remained alive, nor was +any powder left; the Spaniards were true soldiers. The pirates lost +"above one hundred killed" and over seventy wounded, or rather more than +half of the men engaged. While the few remaining Spaniards dug trenches +in the sand for the burial of the many dead, the pirates questioned them +as to their knowledge of Morgan's enterprise. They knew all about it, +they said, for a deserter from the pirate ships which raided the Rio de +la Hacha (for grain) had spoken of the scheme to the Governor at +Cartagena. That captain had reinforced the Chagres garrison, and had +sent a warning over the isthmus to the Governor at Panama. The Chagres +was now well lined with ambuscades. Panama was full of soldiers, and the +whole Spanish population was ready to take up arms to drive the pirates +to their ships, so they knew what they might look to get in case they +persisted in their plan. This information was sent to Henry Morgan at +the Santa Katalina fort, with news of the reduction of the Chagres +castle. Before he received it, Captain Joseph Bradly died in the castle, +of a wound he had received in the fighting. + +When Morgan received the news that San Lorenzo had been stormed, he +began to send aboard the meat, maize, and cassava he had collected in +Santa Katalina. He had already blown the Spanish forts to pieces, with +the one exception of the fort of St Teresa. He now took all the captured +Spanish guns, and flung them into the sea, where they lie still, among +the scarlet coral sprays. The Spanish town was then burnt, and the +Spanish prisoners placed aboard the ships. It was Morgan's intention to +return to the island after sacking Panama, and to leave there a strong +garrison to hold it in the interests of the buccaneers. When he had made +these preparations he weighed his anchors, and sailed for the Chagres +River under the English colours. + +Eight days later they came sailing slowly up towards the river's mouth. +Their joy was so great "when they saw the English colours upon the +castle, that they minded not their way into the river," being gathered +at the rum cask instead of at the lead, and calling healths instead of +soundings. As a consequence, four ships of the fleet, including the +admiral's flagship, ran foul of the ledge of rocks at the river's entry. +Several men were drowned, but the goods and ships' stores were saved, +though with some difficulty. As they got out warps to bring the ships +off, the north wind freshened. In shallow water, such as that, a sea +rises very quickly. In a few hours a regular "norther" had set in, and +the ships beat to pieces on the ledge before the end of the day. + +As Morgan came ashore at the port, the guns were fired in salute, and +the pirates lined the quay and the castle walls to give him a triumphant +welcome. He examined the castle, questioned the lieutenants, and at once +took steps to repair the damage done by the fire. The thirty survivors +of the garrison and all the prisoners from Santa Katalina, were set to +work to drive in new palisadoes in the place of those burnt in the +attack. The huts were rethatched and the whole place reordered. There +were some Spanish ships in the port whose crews had been pressed into +the Spanish garrison at the time of the storm. They were comparatively +small, of the kind known as chatas, or chatten, a sort of coast boat of +slight draught, used for river work and for the conveyance of goods from +the Chagres to the cities on the Main. They had iron and brass guns +aboard them, which were hoisted out, and mounted in the fort. Captain +Morgan then picked a garrison of 500 buccaneers to hold the fort, under +a buccaneer named Norman. He placed 150 more in the ships in the +anchorage, and embarked the remainder in flat-bottomed boats for the +voyage up the Chagres. + +It was the dry season, so that the river, at times so turbulent, was +dwindled to a tenth of its volume. In order that the hard work of +hauling boats over shallows might not be made still harder, Morgan gave +orders that the men should take but scanty stock of provisions. A few +maize cobs and a strip or two of charqui was all the travelling store in +the scrips his pilgrims carried. They hoped that they would find fresh +food in the Spanish strongholds, or ambuscades, which guarded the +passage over the isthmus. + +[Illustration: THE ISTHMUS + SHOWING MORGAN'S LINE OF ADVANCE] + +The company set sail from San Lorenzo on the morning of the 12th (one +says the 18th) of January 1671. They numbered in all 1200 men, packed +into thirty-two canoas and the five chatas they had taken in the port. +His guides went on ahead in one of the chatas, with her guns aboard her +and the matches lit, and one Robert Delander, a buccaneer captain, in +command. The first day's sailing against a gentle current was pleasant +enough. In spite of the heat and the overcrowding of the boats, they +made six leagues between dawn and sunset, and anchored at a place called +De los Bracos. Here a number of the pirates went ashore to sleep "and +stretch their limbs, they being almost crippled with lying too much +crowded in the boats." They also foraged up and down for food in the +plantations; but the Spaniards had fled with all their stores. It was +the first day of the journey over the isthmus, yet many of the men had +already come to an end of their provisions. "The greatest part of them" +ate nothing all day, nor enjoyed "any other refreshment" than a pipe of +tobacco. The next day, "very early in the morning," before the sun +rose, they shoved off from the mooring-place. They rowed all day, +suffering much from the mosquitoes, but made little progress. The river +was fallen very low, so that they were rowing or poling over a series of +pools joined by shallow rapids. To each side of them were stretches of +black, alluvial mud, already springing green with shrubs and +water-plants. Every now and then, as they rowed on, on the dim, +sluggish, silent, steaming river, they butted a sleeping alligator as he +sunned in the shallows, or were stopped by a fallen tree, brought by the +summer floods and left to rot there. At twilight, when the crying of the +birds became more intense and the monkeys gathered to their screaming in +the treetops, the boats drew up to the bank at a planter's station, or +wayside shrine, known as Cruz de Juan Gallego. Here they went ashore to +sleep, still gnawed with famine, and faint with the hard day's rowing. +The guides told Henry Morgan that after another two leagues they might +leave the boats, and push through the woods on foot. + +Early the next morning the admiral decided to leave the boats, for with +his men so faint from hunger he thought it dangerous to tax them with a +labour so severe as rowing. He left 160 men to protect the fleet, giving +them the strictest orders to remain aboard. "No man," he commanded, +"upon any pretext whatsoever, should dare to leave the boats and go +ashore." The woods there were so dark and thick that a Spanish garrison +might have lain within 100 yards of the fleet, and cut off any +stragglers who landed. Having given his orders, he chose out a gang of +macheteros, or men carrying the sharp sword-like machetes, to march +ahead of the main body, to cut a trackway in the pulpy green stuff. They +then set forward through the forest, over their ankles in swampy mud, up +to their knees sometimes in rotting leaves, clambering over giant tree +trunks, wading through stagnant brooks, staggering and slipping and +swearing, faint with famine; a very desperate gang of cut-throats. As +they marched, the things called garapatadas, or wood-ticks, of which +some six sorts flourish there, dropped down upon them in scores, to add +their burning bites to the venom of the mosquitoes. In a moist +atmosphere of at least 90°, with heavy arms to carry, that march must +have been terrible. Even the buccaneers, men hardened to the climate, +could not endure it: they straggled back to the boats, and re-embarked. + +With a great deal of trouble the pirates dragged the boats "to a place +farther up the river, called Cedro Bueno," where they halted for the +stragglers, who drifted in during the evening. Here they went ashore to +a wretched bivouac, to lie about the camp fires, with their belts drawn +tight, chewing grass or aromatic leaves to allay their hunger. After +Cedro Bueno the river narrowed, so that there was rather more water to +float the canoas. The land, too, was less densely wooded, and easier for +the men to march upon. On the fourth day "the greatest part of the +Pirates marched by land, being led by one of the guides." Another guide +led the rest of them in the canoas; two boats going ahead of the main +fleet, one on each side of the river, to discover "the ambuscades of the +Spaniards." The Spaniards had lined the river-banks at intervals with +Indian spies, who were so "very dexterous" that they brought +intelligence of the coming of the pirates "six hours at least before +they came to any place." About noon on this day, as the boats neared +Torna Cavallos, one of the guides cried out that he saw an ambuscade. +"His voice caused infinite joy to all the Pirates," who made sure that +the fastness would be well provisioned, and that at last they might +"afford something to the ferment of their stomachs, which now was grown +so sharp that it did gnaw their very bowels." The place was carried with +a rush; but the redoubt was empty. The Spaniards had all fled away some +hours before, when their spies had come in from down the river. There +had been 500 Spaniards there standing to arms behind the barricade of +tree trunks. They had marched away with all their gear, save only a few +leather bags, "all empty," and a few crusts and bread crumbs "upon the +ground where they had eaten." There were a few shelter huts, thatched +with palm leaves, within the barricade. These the pirates tore to pieces +in the fury of their disappointment. They fell upon the leather bags +like hungry dogs quarrelling for a bone. They fought and wrangled for +the scraps of leather, and ate them greedily, "with frequent gulps of +water." Had they taken any Spaniards there "they would certainly in that +occasion [or want] have roasted or boiled" them "to satisfy their +famine." + +Somewhat relieved by the scraps of leather, they marched on along the +river-bank to "another post called Torna Munni." Here they found a +second wall of tree trunks, loopholed for musketry, "but as barren and +desert as the former." They sought about in the woods for fruits or +roots, but could find nothing--"the Spaniards having been so provident +as not to leave behind them anywhere the least crumb of sustenance." +There was nothing for them but "those pieces of leather, so hard and +dry," a few of which had been saved "for supper" by the more provident. +He who had a little scrap of hide, would slice it into strips, "and 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, the hair +was scraped off, and the piece "roasted or broiled" at the camp fire +upon a spit of lance wood. "And being thus cooked they cut it into small +morsels, and eat it," chewing each bit for several minutes as though +loth to lose it, and helping it down "with frequent gulps of water." +There was plenty of fish in the Chagres, but perhaps they had no lines. +It seems strange, however, that they made no attempt to kill some of the +myriads of birds and monkeys in the trees, or the edible snakes which +swarm in the grass, or, as a last resource, the alligators in the river. + +Gaunt with hunger, they took the trail again after a night of misery at +Torna Munni. The going was slightly better, but there was still the +wood-ticks, the intense, damp heat, and the lust for food to fight +against. About noon they staggered in to Barbacoas, now a station on the +Isthmian Railway. There were a few huts at Barbacoas, for the place was +of some small importance. A native swinging bridge, made of bejuco cane, +was slung across the river there for the benefit of travellers going to +Porto Bello. An ambush had been laid at Barbacoas, but the Spaniards had +left the place, after sweeping it as bare as Torna Munni. The land was +in tillage near the huts, but the plantations were barren. "They +searched very narrowly, but could not find any person, animal or other +thing that was capable of relieving their extreme and ravenous hunger." +After a long search they chanced upon a sort of cupboard in the rocks, +"in which they found two sacks of meal, wheat, and like things, with two +great jars of wine, and certain fruits called Platanos," or large +bananas. Morgan very firmly refused to allow the buccaneers to use this +food. He reserved it strictly for those who were in greatest want, +thereby saving a number of lives. The dying men were given a little meal +and wine, and placed in the canoas, "and those commanded to land that +were in them before." They then marched on "with greater courage than +ever," till late into the night, when they lay down in a plundered bean +patch. + +"On the sixth day" they were nearly at the end of their tether. They +dragged along slowly, some in boats, some in the woods, halting every +now and then in despair of going farther, and then staggering on again, +careless if they lived or died. Their lips were scummy with a sort of +green froth, caused by their eating grass and the leaves of trees. In +this condition they came at noon to a plantation, "where they found a +barn full of maize." They beat the door in in a few minutes, "and fell +to eating of it dry," till they were gorged with it. There was enough +for all, and plenty left to take away, so they distributed a great +quantity, "giving to every man a good allowance." With their knapsacks +full of corn cobs they marched on again, in happier case than they had +been in for several days. They soon came to "an ambuscade of Indians," +but no Indians stayed within it to impeach their passage. On catching +sight of the barricade many buccaneers flung away their corn cobs, with +the merry improvidence of their kind, "with the sudden hopes they +conceived of finding all things in abundance." But the larder was as +bare as it had been in the other strongholds: it contained "neither +Indians, nor victuals, nor anything else." On the other side of the +river, however, there were many Indians, "a troop of a hundred," armed +with bows, "who escaped away through the agility of their feet." Some of +the pirates "leapt into the river" to attack these Indians, and to bring +them into camp as prisoners. They did not speed in their attempt, but +two or three of them were shot through the heart as they waded. Their +corpses drifted downstream, to catch in the oars of the canoas, a +horrible feast for the caymans. The others returned to their comrades on +the right or northern bank of the river among the howls of the Indians: +"Hey, you dogs, you, go on to the savannah; go on to the savannah, to +find out what's in pickle for you." + +They could go no farther towards the savannah for that time, as they +wished to cross the river, and did not care to do so, in the presence of +an enemy, without due rest. They camped about big fires of wood, +according to their custom, but they slept badly, for the hunger and toil +had made them mutinous. The growling went up and down the camp till it +came to Morgan's ears. Most of the pirates were disgusted with their +admiral's "conduct," or leadership, and urged a speedy return to Port +Royal. Others, no less disgusted, swore savagely that they would see the +job through. Some, who had eaten more burnt leather than the others, +"did laugh and joke at all their discourses," and so laid a last straw +upon their burden. "In the meanwhile" the ruffian guide, "the rogue, +thief, and assassin," who had merited to die upon a wheel, was a great +comfort to them. "It would not be long," he kept saying, "before they +met with folk, when they would come to their own, and forget these +hungry times." So the night passed, round the red wood logs in the +clearing, among the steaming jungle. + +Early in the morning of the seventh day they cleaned their arms, wiping +away the rust and fungus which had grown upon them. "Every one +discharged his pistol or musket, without bullet, to examine the security +of their firelocks." They then loaded with ball, and crossed the river +in the canoas. At midday they sighted Venta Cruz, the village, or little +town, which Drake had taken. The smoke was going up to heaven from the +Venta Cruz chimneys--a sight very cheering to these pirates. They had +"great joy and hopes of finding people in the town ... and plenty of +good cheer." They went on merrily, "making several arguments to one +another [like the gravediggers in _Hamlet_] upon those external +signs"--saying that there could be no smoke without a fire, and no fire +in such a climate save to cook by, and that, therefore, Venta Cruz +would be full of roast and boiled by the time they marched into its +Plaza. Thus did they cheer the march and the heavy labour at the oars as +far as the Venta Cruz jetty. + +As they entered Venta Cruz at the double, "all sweating and panting" +with the hurry of their advance, they found the town deserted and in a +blaze of fire. There was nothing eatable there, for the place had been +swept clean, and then fired, by the retreating Spaniards. The only +houses not alight were "the store-houses and stables belonging the +King." These, being of stone, and Government property, had not been +kindled. The storehouses and stables were, however, empty. Not a horse +nor a mule nor an ass was in its stall. "They had not left behind them +any beast whatsoever, either alive or dead." Venta Cruz was as +profitless a booty as all the other stations. A few pariah dogs and cats +were in the street, as was perhaps natural, even at that date, in a +Central-American town. These were at once killed, and eaten half raw, +"with great appetite." Before they were despatched, a pirate lighted on +a treasure in a recess of the King's stables. He found there a stock of +wine, some fifteen or sixteen jars, or demijohns, of good Peruvian 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." Several +hundreds had had a cup or two of the drink, and these now judged +themselves poisoned, and "irrecoverably lost." They were not poisoned, +as it happened, but they had gone hungry for several days, living on +"manifold sorts of trash." The sudden use of wine and bread caused a +very natural sickness, such as comes to all who eat or drink greedily +after a bout of starving. The sickness upset them for the day, so that +the force remained there, at bivouac in the village, until the next +morning. During the halt Morgan landed all his men ("though never so +weak") from the canoas. He retained only one boat, which he hid, for +use as an advice boat, "to carry intelligence" to those down the river. +The rest of the canoas were sent downstream to the anchorage at Bueno +Cedro, where the chatas lay moored under a guard. He gave strict orders +to the rest of the pirates that they were not to leave the village save +in companies of 100 together. "One party of English soldiers stickled +not to contravene these commands, being tempted with the desire of +finding victuals." While they straggled in the tilled ground outside +Venta Cruz they were attacked "with great fury" by a number of Spaniards +and Indians, "who snatched up" one of them, and carried him off. What +was done to this one so snatched up we are not told. Probably he was +tortured to give information of the pirates' strength, and then hanged +up to a tree. + +On the eighth day, in the early morning, the sick men being recovered, +Morgan thought they might proceed. He chose out an advance-guard of 200 +of the strongest of his men, and sent them forward, with their matches +lighted, to clear the road. The road was a very narrow one, but paved +with cobble stones, and easy to the feet after the quagmires of the +previous week. The men went forward at a good pace, beating the thickets +on each side of the road. When they had marched some seven or eight +miles they were shot at from some Indian ambush. A shower of arrows fell +among them, but they could not see a trace of the enemy, till the +Indians, who had shot the arrows, broke from cover and ran to a second +fastness. A few stood firm, about a chief or cacique, "with full design +to fight and defend themselves." They fought very gallantly for a few +moments; but the pirates stormed their poor defence, and pistolled the +cacique, losing eight men killed and ten wounded before the Indians +broke. Shortly after this skirmish, the advance-guard left the wood, +coming to open, green grass-land "full of variegated meadows." On a hill +at a little distance they saw a number of Indians gathered, watching +their advance. They sent out a troop to capture some of these, but the +Indians escaped again, "through the agility of their feet," to reappear +a little later with their howls of scorn: "Hey, you dogs, you English +dogs, you. Get on to the savannah, you dogs, you cuckolds. On to the +savannah, and see what's coming to you." "While these things passed the +ten pirates that were wounded were dressed and plastered up." + +In a little while the pirates seized a hilltop facing a ridge of hill +which shut them from the sight of Panama. In the valley between the two +hills was a thick little wood, where Morgan looked to find an ambush. He +sent his advance-guard of 200 men to search the thicket. As they +entered, some Spaniards and Indians entered from the opposite side, but +no powder was burnt, for the Spaniards stole away by a bypath, "and were +seen no more." That night a drenching shower of rain fell, blotting out +the landscape in a roaring grey film. It sent the pirates running hither +and thither to find some shelter "to preserve their arms from being +wet." Nearly all the huts and houses in the district had been fired by +the Indians, but the pirates found a few lonely shepherds' shealings, +big enough to hold all the weapons of the army and a few of the men. +Those who could not find a place among the muskets were constrained to +lie shivering in the open, enduring much hardship, for the rain did not +slacken till dawn. + +At daybreak Morgan ordered them to march "while the fresh air of the +morning lasted"; for they were now in open country, on the green +savannah, where they would have no treetops to screen them from the +terrible sun. During their morning march they saw a troop of Spanish +horse, armed with spears, watching the advance at a safe distance, and +retiring as the pirates drew nearer. Shortly after this they topped a +steep rise, and lo! the smoke of Panama, and the blue Pacific, with her +sky-line trembling gently, and a ship under sail, with five boats, going +towards some emerald specks of islands. The clouds were being blown +across the sky. The sun was glorious over all that glorious picture, +over all the pasture, so green and fresh from the rain. There were the +snowy Andes in the distance, their peaks sharply notched on the clear +sky. Directly below them, in all her beauty, was the royal city of +Panama, only hidden from sight by a roll of green savannah. + +Just at the foot of the rise, in a wealth of fat pasture, were numbers +of grazing cattle, horses, and asses--the droves of the citizens. The +pirates crept down, and shot a number of these, "chiefly asses," which +they promptly flayed, while some of their number gathered firewood. As +soon as the fires were lit the meat was blackened in the flame, and then +greedily swallowed in "convenient pieces or gobbets." "They more +resembled cannibals than Europeans at this banquet," for the blood ran +down the beards of many, so hungry were they for meat after the long +agony of the march. What they could not eat they packed in their +satchels. After a long midday rest they fell in again for the march, +sending fifty men ahead to take prisoners "if possibly they could," for +in all the nine days' tramp they had taken no one to give them +information of the Spaniards' strength. Towards sunset they saw a troop +of Spaniards spying on them, who hallooed at them, but at such a +distance that they could not distinguish what was said. As the sun set +"they came the first time within sight of the highest steeple of +Panama." + +This was a stirring cordial to the way-weary men limping down the +savannah. The sight of the sea was not more cheering to the Greeks than +the sight of the great gilt weathercock, shifting on the spire, to these +haggard ruffians with the blood not yet dry upon their beards. They +flung their hats into the air, and danced and shouted. All their +trumpets shouted a levity, their drums beat, and their colours were +displayed. They camped there, with songs and laughter, in sight of that +steeple, "waiting with impatience," like the French knights in the play, +for the slowly coming dawn. Their drums and trumpets made a merry music +to their singing, and they caroused so noisily that a troop of horsemen +rode out from Panama to see what was the matter. "They came almost +within musket-shot of the army, being preceded by a trumpet that sounded +marvellously well." They rode up "almost within musket-shot," but made +no attempt to draw the pirates' fire. They "hallooed aloud to the +Pirates, and threatened them," with "Hey, ye dogs, we shall meet ye," in +the manner of the Indians. Seven or eight of them stayed "hovering +thereabouts," riding along the camp until the day broke, to watch the +pirates' movements. As soon as their main body reached the town, and +reported what they had seen, the Governor ordered the city guns to open +on the pirates' camp. The biggest guns at once began a heavy fire, from +which one or two spent balls rolled slowly to the outposts without doing +any damage. At the same time, a strong party took up a position to the +rear of the camp, as though to cut off the retreat. + +Morgan placed his sentries, and sent his men to supper. They feasted +merrily on their "pieces of bulls' and horses' flesh," and then lay down +on the grass to smoke a pipe of tobacco before turning in. That last +night's camp was peaceful and beautiful: the men were fed and near their +quarry, the sun had dried their wet clothes; the night was fine, the +stars shone, the Panama guns were harmless. They slept "with great +repose and huge satisfaction," careless of the chance of battle, and +anxious for the fight to begin. + + +PANAMA + +Old Panama, the chief Spanish city in South America, with the one +exception of Cartagena, was built along the sea-beach, fronting the bay +of Panama, between the rivers Gallinero and Matasnillos. It was founded +between 1518 and 1520 by Pedrarias Davila, a poor adventurer, who came +to the Spanish Indies to supersede Balboa, having at that time "nothing +but a sword and buckler." Davila gave it the name of an Indian village +then standing on the site. The name means "abounding in fish." It soon +became the chief commercial city in those parts, for all the gold and +silver and precious merchandise of Peru and Chili were collected there +for transport to Porto Bello. At the time of Morgan's attack upon it, it +contained some 7000 houses, with a number of huts and hovels for the +slaves. The population, counting these latter, may have been as great as +30,000. Many of the houses were of extreme beauty, being built of an +aromatic rose wood, or "native cedar," ingeniously carved. Many were +built of stone in a Moorish fashion, with projecting upper storeys. It +had several stone monasteries and convents, and a great cathedral, +dedicated to St Anastasius, which was the most glorious building in +Spanish America. Its tower still stands as a landmark to sailors, +visible many miles to sea. The stones of it are decorated with defaced +carvings. Inside it, within the ruined walls, are palm and cedar trees, +green and beautiful, over the roots of which swarm the scarlet-spotted +coral snakes. The old town was never properly fortified. The isthmus +was accounted a sufficient protection to it, and the defences were +consequently weak. It was a town of merchants, who "thought only of +becoming rich, and cared little for the public good." They lived a very +stately life there, in houses hung with silk, stamped leather, and +Spanish paintings, drinking Peruvian wines out of cups of gold and +silver. The Genoese Company, a company of slavers trading with Guinea, +had a "stately house" there, with a spacious slave market, where the +blacks were sold over the morning glass. The Spanish King had some long +stone stables in the town, tended by a number of slaves. Here the horses +and mules for the recuas were stabled in long lines, like the stables of +a cavalry barrack. Near these were the royal storehouses, built of +stone, for the storage of the gold from the King's mines. There were +also 200 merchants' warehouses, built in one storey, round which the +slaves slept, under pent roofs. + +Outside the city was the beautiful green savannah, a rolling sea of +grass, with islands of trees, cedar and palm, thickly tangled with the +many-coloured bindweeds. To one side of it, an arm of the sea crept +inland, to a small salt lagoon, which rippled at high tide, at the back +of the city. The creek was bridged to allow the Porto Bello carriers to +enter the town, and a small gatehouse or porter's lodge protected the +way. The bridge is a neat stone arch, still standing. The streets ran +east and west, "so that when the sun rises no one can walk in any of the +streets, because there is no shade whatever; and this is felt very much +as the heat is intense; and the sun is so prejudicial to health, that if +a man is exposed to its rays for a few hours, he will be attacked with a +fatal illness [pernicious fever], and this has happened to many." The +port was bad for shipping, because of the great rise and fall of the +tides. The bay is shallow, and ships could only come close in at high +water. At low water the town looked out upon a strip of sand and a mile +or more of very wet black mud. "At full moon, the waves frequently reach +the houses and enter those on that side of the town." The roadstead +afforded safe anchorage for the great ships coming up from Lima. Loading +and unloading was performed by launches, at high water, on days when the +surf was moderate. Small ships sailed close in at high tide, and beached +themselves. + +To landward there were many gardens and farms, where the Spaniards had +"planted many trees from Spain"--such as oranges, lemons, and figs. +There were also plantain walks, and a great plenty of pines, guavas, +onions, lettuces, and "alligator pears." Over the savannah roamed herds +of fat cattle. On the seashore, "close to the houses of the city," were +"quantities of very small mussels." The presence of these mussel beds +determined the site of the town, "because the Spaniards felt themselves +safe from hunger on account of these mussels." + +The town is all gone now, saving the cathedral tower, where the sweet +Spanish bells once chimed, and the little stone bridge, worn by so many +mules' hoofs. There is dense tropical forest over the site of it, though +the foundations of several houses may be traced, and two or three walls +still stand, with brilliant creepers covering up the carved work. It is +not an easy place to reach, for it is some six miles from new Panama, +and the way lies through such a tangle of creepers, over such swampy +ground, poisonous with so many snakes, that it is little visited. It can +be reached by sea on a fine day at high tide if the surf be not too +boisterous. To landward of the present Panama there is a fine hill, +called Mount Anēon. A little to the east of this there is a roll of high +land, now a fruitful market-garden, or farm of orchards. This high land, +some five or six miles from the ruins, is known as Buccaneers' Hill. It +was from the summit of this high land that the pirates first saw the +city steeple. Local tradition points out a few old Spanish guns of small +size, brass and iron, at the near-by village of El Moro, as having been +left by Morgan's men. At the island of Taboga, in the bay of Panama, +they point with pride to a cave, the haunt of squid and crabs, as the +hiding-place of Spanish treasure. In the blackness there, they say, are +the golden sacramental vessels and jewelled vestments of the great +church of St Anastasius. They were hidden there at the time of the raid, +so effectually that they could never be recovered. We can learn of no +other local tradition concerning the sack and burning. + +[Illustration: NEW PANAMA] + +What old Panama was like we do not know, for we can trace no picture of +it. It was said to be the peer of Venice, "the painted city," at a time +when Venice was yet the "incomparable Queene." It could hardly have been +a second Venice, though its situation on that beautiful blue bay, with +the Andes snowy in the distance, and the islands, like great green gems, +to seaward, is lovely beyond words. It was filled with glorious houses, +carved and scented, and beautiful with costly things. The merchants +lived a languorous, luxurious life there, waited on by slaves, whom they +could burn or torture at their pleasure. It was "the greatest mart for +gold and silver in the whole world." There were pearl fisheries up and +down the bay, yielding the finest of pearls; and "golden Potosi"--the +tangible Eldorado, was not far off. The merchants of old Panama were, +perhaps, as stately fellows and as sumptuous in their ways of life as +any "on the Rialto." Their city is now a tangle of weeds and a heap of +sun-cracked limestone; their market-place is a swamp; their haven is a +stretch of surf-shaken mud, over which the pelicans go quarrelling for +the bodies of fish. + + _Authorities._--Exquemeling's "History"; "The Bucaniers of America." + Don Guzman's Account, printed in the "Voyages and Adventures of + Captain Bartholomew Sharp." Cal. State Papers: West Indies and + Colonial Series. "Present State of Jamaica," 1683. "New History of + Jamaica," 1740. + + For my account of Chagres I am indebted to friends long resident on + the isthmus, and to Dampier's and Wafer's Voyages. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SACK OF PANAMA + + The burning of the city--Buccaneer excesses--An abortive + mutiny--Home--Morgan's defection + + +"On the tenth day, betimes in the morning," while the black and white +monkeys were at their dawn song, or early screaming, the pirates fell in +for the march, with their red flags flying and the drums and trumpets +making a battle music. They set out gallantly towards the city by the +road they had followed from Venta Cruz. Before they came under fire, one +of the guides advised Morgan to attack from another point. The +Spaniards, he said, had placed their heavy guns in position along the +probable line of their advance. Every clump of trees near the trackway +would be filled with Spanish sharpshooters, while they might expect +earth-works or trenches nearer to the city. He advised Morgan to make a +circuit, so as to approach the city through the forest--over the ground +on which new Panama was built, a year or two later. Morgan, therefore, +turned rather to the west of the highway, through some tropical +woodland, where the going was very irksome. As they left the woodland, +after a march of several hours, they again entered the savannah, at a +distance of about a mile and a half from the town. The ground here was +in sweeping folds, so that they had a little hill to climb before the +town lay open to them, at the edge of the sea, to the eastward of the +salt lagoon. When they topped this rise they saw before them "the +forces of the people of Panama, extended in battle array," between them +and the quarry. + +The Spanish strength on this occasion, according to the narrative, was +as follows:--400 horse, of the finest horsemen in the world; twenty-four +companies of foot, each company mustering a full 100 men; and "sixty +Indians and some negroes." These last 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." Morgan gives +the numbers as 2100 foot and 600 horse, with "two Droves of Cattel of +1500 apiece," one for each flank or for the angles of the rear. The +Spanish Governor, who had been "lately blooded 3 times for an +Erysipelas," had not done as well as he could have wished in the +preparation of an army of defence. He says that he had brought together +1400 coloured men, armed with "Carbins, Harquebusses, and Fowling +Pieces," the muskets having been lost at Chagres. He gives the number of +cavalry as 200, "mounted on the same tired Horses which had brought them +thither." He admits that there were "50 cow-keepers" and an +advance-guard of 300 foot. He had also five field-guns "covered with +leather." To these forces may be added the townsfolk capable of bearing +arms. These were not very numerous, for most of the inhabitants, as we +have seen, "thought only of getting rich and cared little for the public +good." They were now, however, in a cold sweat of fear at the sight of +the ragged battalion trooping down from the hilltop. They had dug +trenches for themselves within the city and had raised batteries to +sweep the important streets. They had also mounted cannon on the little +stone fort, or watchman's lodge, at the town end of the bridge across +the creek. + +The sight of so many troops drawn out in order "surprised" the pirates +"with great fear." The droves of "wild bulls" pasturing on the savannah +grass were new to their experience; the cavalry they had met before in +Cuba and did not fear, nor did they reckon themselves much worse than +the Spanish foot; but they saw that the Spaniards outnumbered them by +more than two to one, and they recognised the advantage they had in +having a defensible city to fall back upon. The buccaneers were worn +with the long march, and in poor case for fighting. They halted at this +point, while Morgan formed them into a tertia, or division of three +battalions or troops, of which he commanded the right wing. The sight of +so many Spaniards halted below them set them grumbling in the ranks. +"Yea few or none there were but wished themselves at home, or at least +free from the obligation of that Engagement." There was, however, +nothing else for it. A "wavering condition of Mind" could not help them. +They had no alternative but "to fight resolutely, or die." They might +not look to get quarter "from an Enemy against whom they had committed +so many Cruelties." + +Morgan formed his men in order, and sent out skirmishers to annoy the +Spanish troops, and to draw them from their position. A few shots were +exchanged; but the Spaniards were not to be tempted, nor was the ground +over which the skirmishers advanced at all suitable for moving troops. +Morgan, therefore, edged his men away to the left, to a little hill +beyond a dry gut or water-course--a position which the Spaniards could +not attack from more than one side owing to the nature of the ground, +which was boggy. Before they could form upon the lower slopes of the +hill the Spanish horse rode softly forward, shouting: "Viva el Rey!" +("Long live the King"), with a great display of courage. "But the field +being full of quaggs, and very soft under foot, they could not ply to +and fro, and wheel about, as they desired." When they had come to a +little beyond musket-shot "one Francisco Detarro," the colonel of the +cavalry, called out to his troopers to charge home upon the English van. +The horses at once broke into a gallop, and charged in "so furiously" +that Morgan had to strengthen his ranks to receive them, "we having no +Pikes" with which to gall the horses. As the men galloped forward, the +line of buccaneers made ready to fire. Each musketeer put one knee to +the ground, and touched off his piece, blasting the Spanish regiment +almost out of action at the one discharge. The charge had been pressed +so nearly home that the powder corns burnt the leading horses. Those who +survived the shock of the volley swung off to the right to re-form, +while the foot came on in their tracks "to try their Fortunes." They +were received with such a terrible fire that they never came to +handystrokes. They disputed the point for some hours, gradually falling +into disorder as their losses became more and more heavy. The cavalry +re-formed, and charged a second and a third time, with the result that +after two hours' fighting "the Spanish Horse was ruined, and almost all +killed." During the engagement of the foot, the Indians and negroes +tried their stratagem of the bulls. They drove the herds round the +flanking parties to the rear, and endeavoured to force them through the +English lines. "But the greatest part of that wild cattle ran away, +being frighted 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." + +[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF PANAMA] + +Seeing the Spanish foot in some disorder, with many of their officers +killed and few of the men firing, Morgan plied them with shot and sent +his left wing forward as they fell back. The horse made one last gallant +attempt to break the English line, but the attempt caused their +complete destruction. At the same moment Morgan stormed down upon the +foot with all his strength. The Spaniards fired "the Shot they had in +their Muskets," and flung their weapons down, not caring to come to +handystrokes. They ran "everyone which way he could run"--an utter rout +of broken soldiers. The pirates were too fatigued to follow, but they +picked them off as they ran till they were out of musket-shot. + +The buccaneers apparently then cleared away the stragglers, by +pistolling them wherever they could find them. In this employment they +beat through the shrubs by the sea, where many poor citizens had hidden +themselves after the final routing of the troops. Some monks who were +brought in to Captain Morgan were treated in the same manner, "for he, +being deaf to their Cries, commanded them to be instantly pistolled," +which order was obeyed there and then. A captain or colonel of troops +was soon afterwards taken, and held to ransom after a strict +examination. He told Morgan that he might look to have great trouble in +winning the city, for the streets were all dug about with trenches and +mounted with heavy brass guns. He added that the main entrance to the +place was strongly fortified, and protected by a half company of fifty +men with eight brass demi-cannon. + +Morgan now bade his men rest themselves and take food before pushing on +to the town. He held a review of his army before he marched, and found +that he had lost heavily--perhaps 200 men--while the Spaniards had lost +about three times that number. "The Pirates," we read, "were nothing +discouraged, seeing their number so much diminished but rather filled +with greater pride than before." The comparative heaviness of the +Spanish loss must have been very comforting. After they had rested and +eaten they set out towards the town, "plighting their Oaths to one +another in general, they would fight till never a man were left alive." +A few prisoners, who seemed rich enough to be held to ransom, were +marched with them under a guard of musketeers. + +Long before they trod the streets of Panama, they were under fire from +the batteries, "some of which were charged with small pieces of iron, +and others with musket-bullets." + +They lost men at every step; but their ranks kept steady, and street by +street the town was won. The main agony of the fight took place between +two and three o'clock, in the heat of the day, when the last Spanish +gunners were cut to pieces at their guns. After the last gun was taken, +a few Spaniards fired from street corners or from upper windows, but +these were promptly pistolled or knocked on the head. The town was in +the hands of the pirates by the time the bells chimed three that +afternoon. + +As Morgan rested with his captains in the Plaza, after the heat of the +battle, word was brought to him that the city was on fire in several +places. Many have supposed that the town was fired by his orders, or by +some careless and drunken musketeer of his. It was not the buccaneer +custom to fire cities before they had sacked them, nor is it in the +least likely that Morgan would have burnt so glorious a town before he +had offered it to ransom. The Spaniards have always charged Morgan with +the crime, but it seems more probable that the Spanish Governor was the +guilty one. It is yet more probable that the fire was accidental. Most +of the Spanish houses were of wood, and at that season of the year the +timber would have been of extreme dryness, so that a lighted wad or +match end might have caused the conflagration. At the time when the fire +was first noticed, the pirates were raging through the town in search of +plunder. They may well have flung away their lighted matches to gather +up the spoils they found, and thus set fire to the place unwittingly. + +Hearing that the town was burning, Morgan caused his trumpeters to sound +the assembly in the Plaza. When the pirates mustered, Morgan at once +told off men to quench the fire "by blowing up houses by gunpowder, and +pulling down others to stop its progress." He ordered strong guards to +patrol the streets and to stand sentry without the city. Lastly, he +forbade any member of the army "to dare to drink or taste any wine," +giving out that it had all been poisoned beforehand by the Spaniards. He +feared that his men would get drunk unless he frightened them by some +such tale. With a drunken army rolling in the streets he could hardly +hope to hold the town against an enemy so lightly beaten as the +Spaniards. He also sent some sailors down to the beach to seize "a great +boat which had stuck in the mud of the port." + +For all that the pirates could do, the fire spread rapidly, for the dry +cedar beams burned furiously. The warehouses full of merchandise, such +as silks, velvets, and fine linen, were not burned, but all the grand +houses of the merchants, where the life had been so stately, were +utterly gutted--all the Spanish pictures and coloured tapestries going +up in a blaze. The splendid house of the Genoese, where so many black +men had been bought and sold, was burned to the ground. The chief +streets were ruined before midnight, and the fire was not wholly +extinguished a month later when the pirates marched away. It continued +to burn and smoulder long after they had gone. + +Having checked the riot among his army, Morgan sent a company of 150 men +back to the garrison at the mouth of the Chagres with news of his +success. Two other companies, of the same strength, he sent into the +woods, "being all very stout soldiers and well-armed," giving them +orders to bring in prisoners to hold to ransom. A third company was +sent to sea under a Captain Searles to capture a Spanish galleon which +had left the port, laden with gold and silver and the jewels of the +churches, a day or two before. The rest of his men camped out of doors, +in the green fields without the city, ready for any attack the Spaniards +might make upon them. Search parties rummaged all day among the burning +ruins, "especially in wells and cisterns," which yielded up many jewels +and fine gold plates. The warehouses were sacked, and many pirates made +themselves coats of silk and velvet to replace the rags they came in. It +is probable that they committed many excesses in the heat of the first +taking of the town, but one who was there has testified to the +comparative gentleness of their comportment when "the heat of the blood" +had cooled. "As to their women," he writes, "I know [not] or ever heard +of anything offered beyond their wills; something I know was cruelly +executed by Captain Collier [commander of one of the ships and one of +the chief officers of the army] in killing a Frier in the field after +quarter given; but for the Admiral he was noble enough to the vanquished +enemy." In fact, the + + "Want of rest and victual + Had made them chaste--they ravished very little" + +--which matter must be laid to their credit. + +A day or two was passed by the pirates in rummaging among the ruins, +eating and drinking, and watching the Spaniards as they moved in the +savannahs. Troops of Spaniards prowled there under arms, looking at +their burning houses and the grey smoke ever going upward. They did not +attack the pirates; they did not even fire at them from a distance. They +were broken men without a leader, only thankful to be allowed to watch +their blazing city. A number of them submitted to the armed men sent out +to bring in prisoners. A number lingered in the near-by forests in +great misery, living on grass and alligator eggs, the latter tasting +"like half-rotten musk"--a poor diet after "pheasants" and Peruvian +wine. + +Morgan soon received word from Chagres castle that all was very well +with the garrison. Captain Norman, who had remained in charge, under +oath to keep the "bloody flag," or red pirates' banner, flying, "had +sent forth to sea two boats, to exercise piracy." These had hoisted +Spanish colours, and set to sea, meeting with a fine Spanish merchantman +that very same day. They chased this ship into the Chagres River, where +"the poor Spaniards" were caught in a snare under the guns of the fort. +Her cargo "consisted in victuals and provisions, that were all eatable +things," unlike the victuals given usually to sailors. Such a prize came +very opportunely, for the castle stores were running out, while the +ship's crew proved useful in the bitter work of earth carrying then +going on daily on the ramparts for the repairing of the palisado. +Hearing that the Chagres garrison was in such good case, and so well +able to exercise piracy without further help, Admiral Morgan resolved to +make a longer stay in the ruins of old Panama. He arranged "to send +forth daily parties of two hundred men" to roam the countryside, beating +the thickets for prisoners, and the prisoners for gold. These parties +ranged the country very thoroughly, gathering "in a short time, a huge +quantity of riches, and no less number of prisoners." These poor +creatures were shut up under a guard, to be brought out one by one for +examination. If they would not confess where they had hidden their gold, +nor where the gold of their neighbours lay, the pirates used them as +they had used their prisoners at Porto Bello. "Woolding," burning with +palm leaves, and racking out the arm-joints, seem to have been the most +popular tortures. Many who had no gold were brutally ill treated, and +then thrust through with a lance. + +Among these diversions Admiral Morgan fell in love with a beautiful +Spanish lady, who appears to have been something of a paragon. The story +is not worth repeating, nor does it read quite sincerely, but it is very +probably true. John Exquemeling, who had no great love for Morgan, +declares that he was an eye-witness of the love-making, "and could never +have judged such constancy of mind and virtuous chastity to be found in +the world." The fiery Welshman did not win the lady, but we gather from +the evidence that he could have had the satisfaction of Matthew Arnold's +American, who consoled himself, in similar circumstances, with saying: +"Well, I guess I lowered her moral tone some." + +During the first week of their stay in Panama, the ship they had sent to +sea returned with a booty of three small coast boats. Captain Searles +had sailed her over Panama Bay to the beautiful island of Taboga, in +order to fill fresh water and rob the inhabitants. Here they took "the +boatswain and most of the crew"[17] of the _Trinity_, a Spanish galleon, +"on board which were the Friers and Nuns, with all the old gentlemen and +Matrons of the Town, to the number of 1500 souls, besides an immense +Treasure in Silver and Gold." This galleon had seven small guns and ten +or twelve muskets for her whole defence. She was without provisions, and +desperately short of water, and she had "no more sails than the +uppermost sails of the mainmast." Her captain was "an old and stout +Spaniard, a native of Andalusia, in Spain, named Don Francisco de +Peralta." She was "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 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." This most royal prize was even then slowly dipping past +Taboga, with her sea-sick holy folk praying heartily for the return of +the water casks. She could have made no possible defence against the +pirates had they gone at once in pursuit of her. But this the pirates +did not do. In the village at Taboga there was a wealthy merchant's +summer-house, with a cellar full of "several sorts of rich wines." A +bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, or as a bibulous wit once +said to the present writer: "A bottle now is worth a bath of it +to-morrow." Captain Searles and his men chose to drink a quiet bowl in +the cabin rather than go sail the blue seas after the golden galleon. +They made a rare brew of punch, of which they drank "logwood-cutters' +measure," or a gallon and a half a man. After this they knocked out +their tobacco pipes, and slept very pleasantly till the morning. They +woke "repenting of their negligence" and "totally wearied of the vices +and debaucheries aforesaid." With eyes red with drink they blinked at +the empty punch-bowls. Then with savage "morning-tempers" they damned +each other for a lot of lunkheads, and put to sea (in one of the Taboga +prizes) "to pursue the said galleon" with all speed. However, by this +time Don Peralta, a most gallant and resourceful captain, had brought +the golden _Trinity_ to a place of safety. Had she been taken, she would +have yielded a spoil hardly smaller than that taken by Cavendish in the +_Madre de Dios_ or that which Anson won in the Manila galleon. Several +waggon loads of golden chalices and candlesticks, with ropes of pearls, +bags of emeralds and bezoars, and bar upon bar of silver in the crude, +were thus bartered away for a sup of punch and a drunken chorus in the +cabin. Poor Captain Searles never prospered after. He went logwood +cutting a year or two later, and as a logwood cutter he arrived at the +Rio Summasenta, where he careened his ship at a sandy key, since known +as Searles Key. He was killed a few days afterwards, "in the western +lagune" there, "by one of his Company as they were cutting Logwood +together." That was the end of Captain Searles. + +[Footnote 17: They had come ashore to get water.] + +Morgan was very angry when he heard of the escape of the galleon. He at +once remanned the four prizes, and sent them out, with orders to scour +the seas till they found her. They cruised for more than a week, +examining every creek and inlet, beating up many a sluggish river, under +many leafy branches, but finding no trace of the _Trinity_. They gave up +the chase at last, and rested at Taboga, where, perhaps, some "rich +wines" were still in bin. They found a Payta ship at anchor at Taboga, +"laden with cloth, soap, sugar and biscuit, with twenty thousand pieces +of eight in ready money." She was "a reasonable good ship," but the +cargo, saving the money, was not much to their taste. They took the best +of it, and loaded it aboard her longboat, making the Taboga negroes act +as stevedores. They then set the negroes aboard the prize, and carried +her home to Panama, "some thing better satisfied of their voyage, yet +withal much discontented they could not meet with the galleon." It was +at Taboga, it seems, that the lady who so inflamed Sir Henry was made +prisoner. + +At the end of three weeks of "woolding" and rummaging, Admiral Morgan +began to prepare for the journey home. He sent his men to look for mules +and horses on which to carry the plunder to the hidden canoas in the +river. He learned at this juncture that a number of the pirates intended +to leave him "by taking a ship that was in the port," and going to "rob +upon the South Sea." They had made all things ready, it seems, having +hidden "great quantity of provisions," powder, bullets, and water +casks, with which to store their ship. They had even packed the good +brass guns of the city, "where with 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." The +scheme was fascinating, and a very golden life they would have had of +it, those lucky mutineers, had not some spoil-sport come sneaking +privily to Morgan with a tale of what was toward. They might have seized +Cocos Island or Juan Fernandez, or "some other island," such as one of +the Enchanted, or Gallapagos, Islands, where the goddesses were thought +to dwell. That would have been a happier life than cutting logwood, up +to the knees in mud, in some drowned savannah of Campeachy. + +However, just as the wine-bowl spoiled the project of the galleon, so +did the treachery of a lickspittle, surely one of the meanest of created +things, put an end to the mutiny. Morgan was not there to colonise +Pacific Oceans, but to sack Panama. He had no intention of losing half +his army for an imperial idea. He promptly discouraged the scheme by +burning all the boats in the roads. The ship or chata, which would have +been the flagship of the mutineers, was dismasted, and the masts and +rigging were added to the general bonfire. All the brass cannon they had +taken were nailed and spiked. Wooden bars were driven down their muzzles +as firmly as possible, and the wood was then watered to make it swell. +There was then no more talk of going a-cruising to found republics. + +Morgan thought it wise to leave Panama as soon as possible, before a +second heresy arose among his merry men. He had heard that the Governor +of Panama was busily laying ambuscades "in the way by which he ought to +pass at his return." He, therefore, picked out a strong company of men, +including many of the mutineers, and sent them out into the woods to +find out the truth of the matter. They found that the report was false, +for a few Spanish prisoners, whom they captured, were able to tell them +how the scheme had failed. The Governor, it was true, had planned to +make "some opposition by the way," but none of the men remaining with +him would consent to "undertake any such enterprize." With this news the +troops marched back to Panama. While they were away, the poor prisoners +made every effort to raise money for their ransoms, but many were unable +to raise enough to satisfy their captors. Morgan had no wish to wait +till they could gather more, for by this time, no doubt, he had +satisfied himself that he had bled the country of all the gold it +contained. Nor did he care to wait till the Spaniards had plucked up +heart, and planted some musketeers along the banks of the Chagres. He +had horses and mules enough to carry the enormous heaps of plunder to +the river. It was plainly foolish to stay longer, for at any time a +force might attack him (by sea) from Lima or (by land) from Porto Bello. +He, therefore, gave the word for the army to prepare to march. He passed +his last evening in Panama (as we suppose) with the female paragon from +Taboga. The army had one last debauch over the punch-bowls round the +camp fires, and then fell in to muster, thinking rapturously of the inns +and brothels which waited for their custom at Port Royal. + +[Illustration: SIR HENRY MORGAN] + +"On the 24th of February, of the year 1671, 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 six hundred prisoners more or less, between +men, women, children and slaves." Thus they marched out of the ruined +capital, over the green savannah, towards the river, where a halt was +called to order the army for the march to Venta Cruz. A troop of picked +marksmen was sent ahead to act as a scouting party; the rest of the +company marched in hollow square, with the prisoners in the hollow. In +this array they set forward towards Venta Cruz to the sound of drums and +trumpets, amid "lamentations, cries, shrieks and doleful sighs" from the +wretched women and children. Most of these poor creatures were fainting +with thirst and hunger, for it had been Morgan's policy to starve them, +in order "to excite them more earnestly to seek for money wherewith to +ransom themselves." "Many of the women," says the narrative, "begged of +Captain Morgan upon their knees, with infinite sighs and tears, he would +permit them to return to 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." With this answer they had to remain content, as they lay in +camp, under strict guard, on the banks of the Rio Grande. + +Early the next morning, "when the march began," "those lamentable cries +and shrieks were renewed, in so much as it would have caused compassion +in the hardest heart to hear them. But Captain Morgan, a man little +given to mercy, was not moved therewith in the least." They marched in +the same order as before, but on this day, we read, the Spaniards "were +punched and thrust in their backs and sides, with the blunt end of [the +pirates'] arms, to make them march the faster." The "beautiful and +virtuous lady" "was led prisoner by herself, between two Pirates," both +of whom, no doubt, wished the other dear charmer away. She, poor lady, +was crying out that she had asked two monks to fetch her ransom from a +certain hiding-place. They had taken the money, she cried, according to +her instruction, but they had used it to ransom certain "of their own +and particular friends." This evil deed "was discovered by a slave, who +brought a letter to the said lady." In time, her words were reported to +Captain Morgan, who held a court of inquiry there and then, to probe +into the truth of the matter. The monks made no denial of the fact, +"though under some frivolous excuses, of having diverted the money but +for a day or two, within which time they expected more sums to repay +it." The reply angered Morgan into releasing the poor woman, "detaining +the said religious men as prisoners in her place," and "using them +according to the deserts of their incompassionate intrigues." Probably +they were forced to run the gauntlet between two rows of pirates armed +with withes of bejuco. + +A day's hard marching brought them to the ruins of Venta Cruz, on the +banks of the river, where the canoas lay waiting for them under a merry +boat guard. The army rested at Venta Cruz for three days, while maize +and rice were collected for the victualling of the boats. Many prisoners +succeeded in raising their ransoms during this three days' halt. Those +who failed, were carried down the river to San Lorenzo. On the 5th of +March the plunder was safely shipped, the army went aboard the canoas, +the prisoners (including some from Venta Cruz) were thrust into the +bottoms of the boats, and the homeward voyage began. The two monks who +had embezzled the lady's money escaped translation at this time, being +ransomed by their friends before the sailing of the fleet. The canoas +dropped down the river swiftly, with songs and cheers from the pirates, +till they came to some opening in the woods, half way across the +isthmus, where the banks were free enough from brush to allow them to +camp. Here they mustered in order, as though for a review, each man in +his place with his sword and firelock. Here Captain Morgan caused each +man to raise his right hand, and to swear solemnly that he had concealed +nothing privately, "even not so much as the value of sixpence." Captain +Morgan, a Welshman by birth, "having had some experience that those lewd +fellows would not much stickle to swear falsely in points of interest, +commanded 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." One man out of each company was chosen to act as searcher +to his fellows, and a very strict search was made. "The French Pirates +were not well satisfied with this new custom of searching," but there +were not very many of them, and "they were forced to submit to it." When +the search was over, they re-embarked, and soon afterwards the current +caught them, and spun them down swiftly to the lion-like rock at the +river's mouth. They came safely to moorings below San Lorenzo on the 9th +of March. They found that most of the wounded they had left there had +died of fever, but the rest of the garrison was in good case, having +"exercised piracy" with profit all the time the army had been +plundering. There was "joy, and a full punch-bowl," in the castle rooms +that night. + +Morgan now sent his Santa Katalina prisoners to Porto Bello in "a great +boat," demanding a ransom for Chagres castle, "threatening otherwise" to +blast it to pieces. "Those of Porto Bello," who needed all their money +to repair their own walls, replied that "They would not give one +farthing towards the ransom of the said castle, and that the English +might do with it as they pleased"--a sufficiently bold answer, which +sealed the fate of San Lorenzo. When the answer came, the men were again +mustered, and "the dividend was made of all the spoil they had purchased +in that voyage." Each man received his due share, "or rather what part +thereof Captain Morgan was pleased to give." There was general +dissatisfaction with "his proceedings in this particular," and many +shaggy ruffians "feared not to tell him openly" that he had "reserved +the best jewels to himself." They "judged it impossible" that the share +per man should be but a paltry 200 pieces of eight, or £50, after "so +many valuable booties and robberies." Why, they said, it is less than we +won at Porto Bello. Many swore fiercely that, if they had known how +small the booty was to prove, they would have seen Henry Morgan in gaol +before they 'listed. Why they did not tear him piecemeal, and heave him +into the sea, must remain a mystery. They contented themselves with +damning him to his face for a rogue and a thief, at the same time +praying that a red-hot hell might be his everlasting portion. "But +Captain Morgan," says the narrative, "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." + +Deaf though he was, and callous, he had a fine regard for his own skin. +The oaths and curses which were shouted after him as he walked in the +castle made him "to fear the consequence thereof." He "thought it unsafe +to remain any longer time at Chagre," so he planned a master stroke to +defeat his enemies. The castle guns were dismounted, and hoisted aboard +his flagship. The castle walls were then blasted into pieces, the lower +batteries thrown down, and the houses burnt. When these things had been +done "he went secretly on board his own ship, without giving any notice +of his departure to his companions, nor calling any council, as he used +to do. Thus he set sail, and put out to sea, not bidding anybody adieu, +being only followed by three or four vessels of the fleet." The captains +of these ships, it was believed, had shared with him in the concealed +plunder. + +There was great fury among the buccaneers when Morgan's escape was +known. The French pirates were for putting to sea in pursuit, to blow +his ships out of the water, but Morgan had been sufficiently astute to +escape in the provision ships. The pirates left behind had not food +enough to stock their ships, and could not put to sea till more had been +gathered. While they cursed and raged at Chagres, Morgan sailed slowly +to Port Royal, where he furled his sails, and dropped anchor, after a +highly profitable cruise. The Governor received his percentage of the +profits, and Morgan at once began to levy recruits for the settling of +Santa Katalina. + +As for his men, they stayed for some days in considerable misery at San +Lorenzo. They then set sail in companies, some for one place, some for +another, hoping to find food enough to bring them home. Some went to the +eastward, raiding the coast for food, and snapping up small coasting +vessels. Some went to the bay of Campeachy to cut logwood and to drink +rum punch. Others went along the Costa Rican coast to find turtle to +salt for victuals, and to careen their barnacled and wormy ships. One +strong company went to Cuba, where they sacked the Town of the Keys, and +won a good booty. Most of them came home, in time, but to those who +returned that home-coming was bitter. + +Shortly after Morgan's return to Jamaica, a new Governor arrived from +England with orders to suppress the gangs of privateers. He had +instructions to proclaim a general pardon for all those buccaneers who +cared to take advantage of the proclamation within a given time. Those +who wished to leave "their naughty way of life" were to be encouraged by +grants of land (thirty-five acres apiece), so that they might not starve +when they forsook piracy. But this generous offer was merely a lure or +bait to bring the buccaneers to port, in order that the Governor might +mulct them "the tenths and fifteenths of their booty as the dues of the +Crown for granting them commissions." The news of the intended taxation +spread abroad among the pirates. They heard, too, that in future they +would find no rest in Port Royal; for this new Governor was earnest and +diligent in his governorship. They, therefore, kept away from Port +Royal, and made Tortuga their rendezvous, gradually allying themselves +with the French buccaneers, who had their stronghold there. Some of +them, who returned to Port Royal, were brought before the magistrate, +and hanged as pirates. Their old captain, Henry Morgan, left his former +way of life, and soon afterwards become Governor of Jamaica. He was so +very zealous in "discouraging" the buccaneers that the profession +gradually lost its standing. The best of its members took to logwood +cutting or to planting; the worst kept the seas, like water-Ishmaelites, +plundering the ships of all nations save their own. They haunted +Tortuga, the keys of Cuba, the creeks and inlets of the coast, and the +bays at the western end of Jamaica. They were able to do a great deal of +mischief; for there were many of them, and the English Colonial +governors could not spare many men-of-war to police the seas. Often the +pirates combined and made descents upon the coast as in the past. Henry +Morgan's defection did but drive them from their own pleasant haunt, +Port Royal. The "free-trade" of buccaneering throve as it had always +thriven. But about the time of Morgan's consulship we read of British +men-of-war helping to discourage the trade, and thenceforward the +buccaneers were without the support of the Colonial Government. Those +who sailed the seas after Morgan's time were public enemies, sailing +under the shadow of the gallows. + + _Authorities._--W. Nelson: "Five Years at Panama." P. Mimande: + "Souvenirs d'un Echappé de Panama." A. Reclus: "Panama et Darien." + A. Radford: "Jottings on Panama." J. de Acosta: "Voyages." S. de + Champlain: "Narrative." Cieēa de Leon: "Travels." Exquemeling: + "Bucaniers of America." Don Perez de la Guzman: "Account of the Sack + of Panama." + + I am also indebted to friends long resident in the present city of + Panama. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CAPTAIN DAMPIER + + Campeachy--Logwood cutting--The march to Santa Maria + + +William Dampier, a Somersetshire man, who had a taste for roving, went +to the West Indies for the first time in 1674, about three years after +the sack of Panama. He was "then about twenty-two years old," with +several years of sea-service behind him. He had been to the north and to +the east, and had smelt powder in a King's ship during the Dutch wars. +He came to the West Indies to manage a plantation, working his way "as a +Seaman" aboard the ship of one Captain Kent. Planting sugar or cocoa on +Sixteen-Mile Walk in an island so full of jolly sinners proved to be but +dull work. Dampier tried it for some weeks, and then slipped away to sea +with a Port Royal trader, who plied about the coast, fetching the +planters' goods to town, and carrying European things, such as cloth, +iron, powder, or the like, to the planters' jetties along the coast. +That was a more pleasant life, for it took the young man all round the +island, to quiet plantings where old buccaneers were at work. These were +kindly fellows, always ready for a yarn with the shipmen who brought +their goods from Port Royal. They treated the young man well, giving him +yams, plantains, and sweet potatoes, with leave to wander through their +houses. "But after six or seven Months" Dampier "left that Employ," for +he had heard strange tales of the logwood cutters in Campeachy Bay, and +longed to see something of them. He, therefore, slipped aboard a small +Jamaica vessel which was going to the bay "to load logwood," with two +other ships in company. The cargo of his ship "was rum and sugar; a very +good Commodity for the Log-wood Cutters, who were then about 250 Men, +most English." When they anchored off One Bush Key, by the oyster banks +and "low Mangrovy Land," these lumbermen came aboard for drink, buying +rum by the gallon or firkin, besides some which had been brewed into +punch. They stayed aboard, drinking, till the casks gave out, firing off +their small-arms with every health, and making a dreadful racket in that +still lagoon, where the silence was seldom so violently broken. The +logwood began to come aboard a day or two later; and Dampier sometimes +went ashore with the boat for it, on which occasions he visited the huts +of the woodmen, and ate some merry meals with them, "with Pork and +Pease, or Beef and Dough-boys," not to mention "Drams or Punch." + +On the voyage home he was chased by Spaniards, who "fired a Gun" at the +ketch, but could not fetch her alongside. + +It was an easy life aboard that little ketch; for every morning they +fished for their suppers, and at no time was any work done unless the +ship was actually in peril of wreck. While they were lazying slowly +eastward, "tumbling like an Egg-shell in the Sea," her captain ran her +on the Alcranes, a collection of sandy little islands, where they stayed +for some days before they found a passage out to sea. They spent the +days in fishing, or flinging pebbles at the rats, or killing boobies, +and then set sail again, arriving after some days' sailing, at the Isles +of Pines. + +Here they landed to fill fresh water at the brooks, among the sprays of +red mangrove, which grew thickly at the water's edge. They also took +ashore their "two bad Fowling-pieces," with intent to kill a wild hog +or cow, being then in want of food, for the ship's provisions had given +out. They did not kill any meat for all their hunting, nor did they +catch much fish. Their ill success tempted the sailors to make for the +Cuban keys, where they thought they would find great abundance, "either +Fish or Flesh." The Cuban keys were favourite haunts of the buccaneers, +but it was dangerous for a small ship like the ketch to venture in among +them. On Cape Corientes there was a Spanish garrison of forty soldiers, +chiefly mulattoes and caribs, who owned a swift periagua, fitted with +oars and sails. They kept sentinels always upon the Cape, and whenever a +ship hove in sight they would "launch out," and seize her, and cut the +throats of all on board, "for fear of telling Tales." Fear of this +garrison, and the prudent suggestion of Dampier--that "it was as +probable that we might get as little Food in the South Keys, as we did +at Pines, where, though there was plenty of Beefs and Hogs, yet we could +not to tell how to get any--" at last prevailed upon the seamen to try +for Jamaica. They were without food of any kind, save a little flour +from the bottoms of the casks, and two "Barrels of Beef," which they had +taken west to sell, "but 'twas so bad that none would buy it." On a +porridge of this meat, chopped up with mouldy flour, they contrived to +keep alive, "jogging on" towards the east till they made Jamaica. They +arrived off Blewfield's Point thirteen weeks after leaving Campeachy, +and, as Dampier says: "I think never any vessel before nor since made +such Traverses ... as we did.... We got as much Experience as if we had +been sent out on a Design." However, they dropped their anchor "at +Nigrill" "about three a Clock in the Afternoon," and sent in the boat +for fruit and poultry. One or two sea-captains, whose ketches were at +anchor there, came out to welcome the new arrival. In the little +"Cabbin," where the lamp swung in gimbals, the sailors "were very busie, +going to drink a Bowl of Punch, ... after our long Fatigue and Fasting." +The thirsty sea-captains, bronzed by the sun, came stumping down the +ladder to bear a hand. One captain, "Mr John Hooker," said that he was +under "Oath to drink but three Draughts of Strong Liquor a Day." The +bowl, which had not been touched, lay with him, with six quarts of good +rum punch inside it. This Mr Hooker, "putting the Bowl to his Head, +turn'd it off at one Draught"--he being under oath, and, doubtless, +thirsty. "And so, making himself drunk, disappointed us of our +Expectations, till we made another Bowl." Thus with good cheer did they +recruit themselves in that hot climate after long sailing of the seas. + +Dampier passed the next few weeks in Port Royal, thinking of the jolly +life at One Bush Key, and of the little huts, so snugly thatched, and of +the camp fires, when the embers glowed so redly at night before the moon +rose. The thought of the logwood cutters passing to and fro about those +camp fires, to the brandy barrel or the smoking barbecue, was pleasant +to him. He felt inclined "to spend some Time at the Logwood Trade," much +as a young gentleman of that age would have spent "some Time" on the +grand tour with a tutor. He had a little gold laid by, so that he was +able to lay in a stock of necessaries for the trade--such as "Hatchets, +Axes, Long Knives, Saws, Wedges, etc., a Pavillion to sleep in, a Gun +with Powder and Shot, etc." When all was ready, he went aboard a New +England ship, and sailed for Campeachy, where he settled "in the West +Creek of the West Lagoon" with some old logwood cutters who knew the +trade. + +Logwood cutting was then a very profitable business, for the wood +fetched from £70 to £100 a ton in the European markets. The wood is very +dense, and so heavy that it sinks in water. The work of cutting it, and +bringing it to the ships, in the rough Campeachy country, where there +were no roads, was very hard. The logwood cutters were, therefore, men +of muscle, fond of violent work. Nearly all of them in Dampier's time +were buccaneers who had lost their old trade. They were "sturdy, strong +Fellows," able to carry "Burthens of three or four hundred Weight," and +"contented to labour very hard." Their hands and arms were always dyed a +fine scarlet with the continuous rubbing of the wood, and their clothes +always smelt of the little yellow logwood flowers, which smell very +sweet and strong, at most seasons of the year. The life lived by the +lumbermen was wild, rough, and merry. They had each of them a tent, or a +strongly thatched hut, to live in, and most of them had an Indian woman +or a negress to cook their food. Some of them had white wives, which +they bought at Jamaica for about thirty pounds apiece, or five pounds +more than the cost of a black woman. As a rule, they lived close to the +lips of the creeks, "for the benefit of the Sea-Breezes," in little +villages of twenty or thirty together. They slept in hammocks, or in +Indian cots, raised some three or four feet from the ground, to allow +for any sudden flood which the heavy rains might raise. They cooked +their food on a sort of barbecue strewn with earth. For chairs they used +logs of wood or stout rails supported on crutches. On the Saturday in +each week they left their saws and axes and tramped out into the woods +to kill beef for the following week. In the wet seasons, when the +savannahs were flooded, they hunted the cattle in canoas by rowing near +to the higher grass-lands where the beasts were at graze. Sometimes a +wounded steer would charge the canoa, and spill the huntsmen in the +water, where the alligators nipped them. In the dry months, the hunters +went on foot. When they killed a steer they cut the body into four, +flung away the bones, and cut a big hole in each quarter. Each of the +four men of the hunting party then thrust his head through the hole in +one of the quarters, and put "it on like a Frock," and so trudged home. +If the sun were hot, and the beef heavy, the wearer cut some off, and +flung it away. This weekly hunting was "a Diversion pleasant enough" +after the five days' hacking at the red wood near the lagoon-banks. The +meat, when brought to camp, was boucanned or jerked--that is, dried +crisp in the sun. A quarter of a steer a man was the week's meat +allowance. If a man wanted fish or game, in addition, he had to obtain +it for himself. This diet was supplemented by the local fruits, and by +stores purchased from the ships--such as dried pease, or flour to make +doughboys. + +Men who worked hard under a tropical sun, in woods sometimes flooded to +a depth of two feet, could hardly be expected to take a pride in their +personal appearance. One little vanity they had, and apparently one +only--they were fond of perfumes. They used to kill the alligator for +his musk-sacs, which they thought "as good civet as any in the world." +Each logwood cutter carried a musk-sac in his hat to diffuse scent about +him, "sweet as Arabian winds when fruits are ripe," wheresoever his +business led him. + +The logwood cutters usually formed into little companies of from four to +twelve men each. The actual "cutters" had less to do than the other +members, for they merely felled the trees. Others sawed and hacked the +tree trunks into logs. The boss, or chief man in the gang, then chipped +away the white sappy rind surrounding the scarlet heart with its +crystals of brilliant red. If the tree were very big (and some were six +feet round) they split the bole by gunpowder. The red hearts alone were +exported, as it is the scarlet crystal (which dries to a dull black +after cutting) which gives the wood its value in dyeing. When the timber +had been properly cut and trimmed it was dragged to the water's edge, +and stacked there ready for the merchants. The chips burnt very well, +"making a clear strong fire, and very lasting," in which the rovers used +to harden "the Steels of their Fire Arms when they were faulty." + +When a ship arrived at One Bush Key the logwood cutters went aboard her +for rum and sugar. It was the custom for the ship's captain to give them +free drinks on the day of his arrival, "and every Man will pay honestly +for what he drinks afterwards." If the captain did not set the rum punch +flowing with sufficient liberality they would "pay him with their worst +Wood," and "commonly" they "had a stock of such" ready for the niggard +when he came. Often, indeed, they would give such a one a load of hollow +logs "filled with dirt in the middle, and both ends plugg'd up with a +piece of the same." But if the captain commanding were "true steel, an +old bold blade, one of the old buccaneers, a hearty brave toss-pot, a +trump, a true twopenny"--why, then, they would spend thirty or forty +pounds apiece in a drinking bout aboard his ship, "carousing and firing +of Guns three or four days together." They were a careless company, +concerned rather in "the squandering of life away" than in its +preservation. Drink and song, and the firing of guns, and a week's work +chipping blood-wood, and then another drunkenness, was the story of +their life there. Any "sober men" who came thither were soon "debauched" +by "the old Standards," and took to "Wickedness" and "careless Rioting." +Those who found the work too hard used to go hunting in the woods. +Often enough they marched to the woods in companies, to sack the Indian +villages, to bring away women for their solace, and men slaves to sell +at Jamaica. They also robbed the Indians' huts of honey, cocoa, and +maize, but then the Indians were "very melancholy and thoughtful" and +plainly designed by God as game for logwood cutters. + +In the end the Spaniards fell upon the logwood men and carried them away +to Mexico and Vera Cruz, sending some to the silver mines, and selling +the others to tradesmen. As slaves they passed the next few years, till +they escaped to the coast. One of those who escaped told how he saw a +Captain Buckenham, once a famous man at those old drinking bouts, and +owner of a sugar ship, working as a slave in the city of Mexico. "He saw +Captain Buckenham, with a Log chained to his Leg, and a Basket at his +Back, crying Bread about the Streets for a Baker his Master." + +In this society of logwood cutters Dampier served a brief +apprenticeship. He must have heard many strange tales, and jolly songs, +around the camp fires of his mates, but none of them, apparently, were +fit to print. He went hunting cattle, and got himself "bushed," or +marooned--that is, lost--and had a narrow escape from dying in the +woods. He helped at the cutting and trimming of the red wood, and at the +curing of the hides of the slaughtered steers. When ships arrived he +took his sup of rum, and fired his pistol, with the best of them. Had he +stayed there any length of time he would have become a master logwood +merchant, and so "gotten an Estate"; but luck was against him. + +In June 1676, when he was recovering from a guinea-worm, a creature +which nests in one's ankle, and causes great torment, a storm, or +"South," reduced the logwood cutters of those parts to misery. The South +was "long foretold," by the coming in of many sea-birds to the shore's +shelter, but the lumbermen "believed it was a certain Token of the +Arrival of Ships," and took no precautions against tempest. Two days +later the wind broke upon them furiously, scattering their huts like +scraps of paper. The creek began to rise "faster than I ever saw it do +in the greatest Spring Tide," so that, by noon, the poor wretches, +huddled as they were in a hut, without fire, were fain to make ready a +canoa to save themselves from drowning. The trees in the woods were torn +up by the roots, "and tumbled down strangely across each other." The +ships in the creek were blown from their anchors. Two of them were +driven off to sea, dipping their bows clean under, and making shocking +weather of it. One of them was lost in the bay, being whelmed by a green +sea. + +The storm destroyed all the tools and provisions of the lumbermen, and +left Dampier destitute. His illness, with the poisonous worm in his leg, +had kept him from work for some weeks, so that he had no cords of red +wood ready cut, "as the old Standards had," to buy him new tools and new +stores. Many of the men were in the same case, so they agreed with the +captains of two pirate ketches which called at the creek at that time, +to go a cruise to the west to seek their fortunes. They cruised up and +down the bay "and made many Descents into the country," "where we got +Indian Corn to eat with the Beef, and other Flesh, that we got by the +way." They also attacked Alvarado, a little, protected city on the river +of that name, but they lost heavily in the attack. Of the sixty pirates +engaged, ten or eleven were killed or desperately wounded. The fort was +not surrendered for four or five hours, by which time the citizens had +put their treasure into boats, and rowed it upstream to safety. It was +dark by the time the pirates won the fort, so that pursuit was out of +the question. They rested there that night, and spent the next day +foraging. They killed and salted a number of beeves, and routed out much +salt fish and Indian corn, "as much as we could stow away." They also +took a number of poultry, which the Spaniards were fattening in coops; +and nearly a hundred tame parrots, "yellow and red," which "would prate +very prettily." In short they heaped their decks with hen-coops, +parrot-cages, quarters of beef, casks of salt fish, and baskets full of +maize. In this state, the ships lay at anchor, with their men loafing on +deck with their tobacco, bidding the "yellow and red" parrots to say +"Damn," or "Pretty Polly," or other ribaldry. But before any parrot +could have lost his Spanish accent, the pirates were called from their +lessons by the sight of seven Spanish warships, under all sail, coming +up to the river-bar from La Vera Cruz. Their ports were up, and their +guns were run out, and they were not a mile away when the pirates first +saw them. As it happened, the River Alvarado was full of water, so that +these great vessels "could scarce stem the current." This piece of luck +saved the pirates, for it gave them time to make sail, and to clear the +bar before the Spaniards entered the river. As they dropped down the +stream, they hove the clutter from the decks. Many a Pretty Polly there +quenched her blasphemy in water, and many a lump of beef went to the mud +to gorge the alligators. The litter was all overboard, and the men +stripped to fight the guns, by the time the tide had swept them over the +bar. At this moment they came within range of the Spanish flagship, the +_Toro_, of ten guns and 100 men. She was to windward of them, and +perilously close aboard, and her guns sent some cannon-balls into them, +without doing any serious harm. Dampier was in the leading ship, which +stood to the eastward, followed by her consort, as soon as she was over +the bar. After her came the _Toro_, followed by a ship of four guns, and +by five smaller vessels manned with musketeers, "and the Vessels +barricadoed round with Bull-hides Breast high." The _Toro_ ranged up on +the quarter of Dampier's ship, "designing to board" her. The pirates +dragged their cannon aft, and fired at her repeatedly, "in hopes to have +lamed either Mast or Yard." As they failed to carry away her spars, they +waited till "she was shearing aboard," when they rammed the helm hard +up, "gave her a good Volley," and wore ship. As soon as she was round on +the other tack, she stood to the westward, passing down the Spanish line +under a heavy fire. The _Toro_ held to her course, after the second +pirate ship, with the six ships of the fleet following in her wake. The +second pirate ship was much galled by the fleet's fire, and ran great +risk of being taken. Dampier's ship held to the westward, till she was +about a mile to windward of the other ships. She then tacked, and ran +down to assist her consort, "who was hard put to it." As she ran down, +she opened fire on the _Toro_, "who fell off, and shook her ears," +edging in to the shore, to escape, with her fleet after her. They made +no fight of it, but tacked and hauled to the wind "and stood away for +Alvarado." The pirates were very glad to see the last of them; "and we, +glad of the Deliverance, went away to the Eastward." On the way, they +visited all the sandy bays of the coast to look for "munjack," "a sort +of Pitch or Bitumen which we find in Lumps." When corrected with oil or +tallow this natural pitch served very well for the paying of the seams +"both of Ships and Canoas." + +After this adventure, Dampier returned to the lumber camp, and passed +about a year there, cutting wood. Then, for some reason, he determined +to leave the Indies, and to visit England; and though he had planned to +return to Campeachy, after he had been home, he never did so. It seems +that he was afraid of living in that undefended place, among those +drunken mates of his. They were at all times at the mercy of a Spanish +man-of-war, and Dampier "always feared" that a Spanish prison would be +his lot if he stayed there. It was the lot of his imprudent mates, "the +old Standards," a few months after he had sailed for the Thames. + +After a short stay in England, Dampier sailed for Jamaica, with a +general cargo. He sold his goods at Port Royal, but did not follow his +original plan of buying rum and sugar, and going west as a logwood +merchant. About Christmas 1679 he bought a small estate in Dorsetshire, +"of one whose Title to it" he was "well assured of." He was ready to +sail for England, to take charge of this estate, and to settle down as a +farmer, when he met "one Mr Hobby," at a tavern, who asked him to go "a +short trading voyage to the Country of the Moskito's." Dampier, who was +a little short of gold at the moment, was very willing to fill his purse +before sailing north. He therefore consented to go with Mr Hobby, whose +ship was then ready for the sea. He "went on board Mr Hobby," and a fair +wind blew them clear of Port Royal. A day or two of easy sailing brought +them to Negril Bay, "at the West End of Jamaica," where Dampier had +anchored before, when the valorous captain drained the punch-bowl. The +bay was full of shipping, for Captains Coxon, Sawkins, Sharp, and other +buccaneers, were lying there filling their water casks. They had the red +wheft flying, for they were bound on the account, to raid the Main. The +boats alongside them were full of meat and barrels. Mr Hobby's men did +not wait to learn more than the fact that the ships were going cruising. +They dumped their chests into the dinghy, and rowed aboard of them, and +'listed themselves among the sunburnt ruffians who were hoisting out the +water breakers. Dampier and Mr Hobby were left alone on their ship, +within hearing of the buccaneers, who sang, and danced to the fiddle, +and clinked the cannikin, till the moon had set. For three or four days +they stayed there, hearing the merriment of the rovers, but at the end +of the fourth day Dampier wearied of Mr Hobby, and joined the +buccaneers, who were glad to have him. + +A day or two after Christmas 1679 they got their anchors and set sail. +They shaped their course for Porto Bello, which had recovered something +of its old wealth and beauty, in the years of peace it had enjoyed since +Morgan sacked it. They landed 200 men to the eastward of the town, "at +such a distance" that the march "occupied them three nights." During the +day they lay in ambush in the woods. As they "came to the town" a negro +saw them, and ran to set the bells ringing, to call out the troops. The +buccaneers followed him so closely that the town was theirs before the +troops could muster. They stayed there forty-eight hours gathering +plunder, and then marched back to their ships staggering under a great +weight of gold. They shared thirty or forty pounds a man from this raid. +Afterwards they harried the coast, east and west, and made many rich +captures. Sawkins, it seems, was particularly lucky, for he made a haul +of 1000 chests of indigo. Warrants were out for all these pirates, and +had they been taken they would most surely have been hanged. + +After these adventures, the squadron made for "a place called Boco del +Toro," "an opening between two islands between Chagres and Veragua," +where "the general rendezvous of the fleet" had been arranged. The ships +anchored here, with one or two new-comers, including a French ship +commanded by a Captain Bournano, who had been raiding on the isthmus, +"near the South Sea," but a few days before. At the council aboard +Captain Sawkins' ship, it was given out, to all the assembled +buccaneers, that the Spaniards had made peace with the Darien Indians. +This was bad news; but Captain Bournano was able to assure the company +"that since the conclusion of the said peace, they had been already +tried, and found very faithful"; for they had been of service to him in +his late foray. He added that they had offered to guide him "to a great +and very rich place called Tocamora," and that he had promised to come +to them "with more ships and men," in three months' time. The buccaneers +thought that Tocamora, apart from the beauty of the name, appeared to +promise gold, so they decided to go thither as soon as they had careened +and refitted. Boca del Toro, the anchorage in which they lay, was full +of "green tortoise" for ships short of food. There were handy creeks, +among the islands, for the ships to careen in, when their hulls were +foul. The pirates hauled their ships into the creeks, and there hove +them down, while their Moskito allies speared the tortoise, and the +manatee, along the coast, and afterwards salted the flesh for +sea-provision. + +As soon as the squadron was ready, they mustered at Water Key, and set +sail for Golden Island, where they meant to hold a final council. On the +way to the eastward they put in at the Samballoes, or islands of San +Blas, to fill fresh water, and to buy fruit from the Indians. When the +anchors held, the Indians came aboard with fruit, venison, and native +cloth, to exchange for edged iron tools, and red and green beads. They +were tall men, smeared with black paint (the women used red, much as in +Europe), and each Indian's nose was hung with a plate of gold or silver. +Among the women were a few albinos, who were said to see better in the +dark than in the light. "These Indians misliked our design for +Tocamora," because the way thither was mountainous and barren and +certain to be uninhabited. A force going thither would be sure to starve +on the road, they said, but it would be an easy matter to march to +Panama, as Drake had marched. New Panama was already a rich city, so +that they would not "fail of making a good voyage by going thither." +This advice of the Indians impressed the buccaneers. They determined to +abandon the Tocamora project as too dangerous. Most of them were in +favour of going to sack Panama. But Captain Bournano, and Captain Row, +who commanded about a hundred Frenchmen between them, refused to take +their men on "a long march by land." Perhaps they remembered how Morgan +had treated the French buccaneers after his Panama raid, nine years +before. They therefore remained at anchor when the squadron parted +company. An Indian chief, Captain Andreas, came aboard the English +flagship. The bloody colours were hoisted, and a gun fired in farewell. +The English ships then loosed their top-sails and stood away for Golden +Island, to an anchorage they knew of, where a final muster could be +held. They dropped anchor there, "being in all seven sail," on 3rd April +1680. + +Their strength at the Samballoes had been as follows:-- + + Tons Guns Men + Captain Coxon in a ship of 80 8 97 + Captain Harris " 150 25 107 + Captain Sawkins " 16 1 35 + Captain Sharp " 25 2 40 + Captain Cook " 35 0 43 + Captain Alleston " 18 0 24 + Captain Macket " 14 0 20 + +but of these 366 buccaneers a few had remained behind with the +Frenchmen. + +While they lay at Golden Island, the Indians brought them word of "a +town called Santa Maria," on the Rio Santa Maria, near the Gulf of San +Miguel, on the Pacific coast. It was a garrison town, with four +companies of musketeers in its fort, for there were gold mines in the +hills behind it. The gold caravans went from it, once a month in the +dry seasons, to Panama. If the place failed to yield them a booty, the +buccaneers were determined to attack new Panama. Had they done so they +would probably have destroyed the place, for though the new city was +something stronger than the old, the garrison was in the interior +fighting the Indians. The design on Santa Maria was popular. On the +matter being put to the vote it was carried without protest. The +buccaneers passed the 4th of April in arranging details, and picking a +party to protect the ships during their absence. They arranged that +Captains Alleston and Macket, with about twenty-five or thirty seamen, +should remain in the anchorage as a ship's guard. The remainder of the +buccaneers, numbering 331 able-bodied men (seven of whom were French), +were to march with the colours the next morning. + +On the 5th of April 1680, these 331 adventurers dropped across the +channel from Golden Island, and landed on the isthmus, somewhere near +Drake's old anchorage. Captain Bartholomew Sharp, of "the dangerous +voyage and bold assaults," came first, with some Indian guides, one of +whom helped the Captain, who was sick and faint with a fever. This +vanguard "had a red flag, with a bunch of white and green ribbons." The +second company, or main battle, was led by the admiral, Richard Sawkins, +who "had a red flag striped with yellow." The third and fourth +companies, which were under one captain (Captain Peter Harris), had two +green flags. The fifth and sixth companies, under Captain John Coxon, +"had each of them a red flag." A few of Alleston's and Macket's men +carried arms under Coxon in these companies. The rear-guard was led by +Captain Edmund Cook, "with red colours striped with yellow, with a hand +and sword for his device." "All or most" of the men who landed, "were +armed with a French fuzee" (or musket), a pistol and hanger, with two +pounds of powder and "proportionable bullet." Each of them carried a +scrip or satchel containing "three or four cakes of bread," or +doughboys, weighing half-a-pound apiece, with some modicum of turtle +flesh. "For drink the rivers afforded enough." + +Among the men who went ashore in that company were William Dampier, the +author of the best books of voyages in the language; Lionel Wafer, the +chirurgeon of the party, who wrote a description of the isthmus; Mr +Basil Ringrose, who kept an intimate record of the foray; and Captain +Bartholomew Sharp, who also kept a journal, but whose writings are less +reliable than those of the other three. It is not often that three +historians of such supreme merit as Dampier, Wafer, and Ringrose, are +associated in a collaboration so charming, as a piratical raid. Wafer +had been a surgeon in Port Royal, but Edmund Cook had shown him the +delights of roving, and the cruise he had made to Cartagena had +confirmed him in that way of life. Basil Ringrose had but lately arrived +at the Indies, and it is not known what induced him to go buccaneering. +He was a good cartographer, and had as strong a bent towards the +description of natural phenomena, as Dampier had. He probably followed +the pirates in order to see the world, and to get some money, and to +extend his knowledge. Sharp had been a pirate for some years, and there +was a warrant out for him at Jamaica for his share in the sack of Porto +Bello. With Dampier's history the reader has been made acquainted. + +The Indians, under Captain Andreas, led the buccaneers from the +landing-place "through a small skirt of wood," beyond which was a league +of sandy beach. "After that, we went two leagues directly up a woody +valley, where we saw here and there an old plantation, and had a very +good path to march in." By dusk they had arrived at a river-bank, +beneath which the water lay in pools, joined by trickles and little +runlets, which babbled over sun-bleached pebbles. They built themselves +huts in this place, about a great Indian hut which stood upon the +river-bank. They slept there that night, "having nothing but the cold +Earth for their Beds," in much discouragement "with the going back of +some of the Men." The buccaneers who had been some weeks at sea, were +not in marching trim, and it seems that the long day's tramp in the sun +had sickened many of them. While they rested in their lodges, an Indian +king, whom they called "Captain Antonio," came in to see them. He said +that he had sent word to one of his tributaries, farther to the south, +to prepare food and lodgings for the buccaneers "against their Arrival." +As for himself, he wished very much that he could come with them to lead +their guides, but unfortunately "his child lay very sick." However, it +comforted him to think that the child would be dead by the next day, at +latest, "and then he would most certainly follow and overtake" them. He +warned the company not to lie in the grass, "for fear of monstrous +adders"; and so bowed himself out of camp, and returned home. The kingly +prayers seem to have been effectual, for Captain Antonio was in camp +again by sunrise next morning, with no family tie to keep him from +marching. + +As the men sluiced themselves in the river before taking to the road, +they noticed that the pebbles shone "with sparks of gold" when broken +across. They did not stay to wash the river-mud, for gold dust and +golden pellets, but fell in for the march, and climbed from dawn till +nearly dusk. They went over "a steep Mountain" which was parched and +burnt and waterless. Four of the buccaneers refused to go farther than +the foot of this hill, so they returned to the ships. The others, under +the guidance of Antonio, contrived to cross the mountain "to an Hollow +of Water," at which they drank very greedily. Six miles farther on they +halted for the night, beside a stream. They slept there, "under the +Canopy of Heaven," suffering much discomfort from some drenching +showers. After some days of climbing, wading, and suffering, the army +reached the house of King Golden Cap, an Indian king. The King came out +to meet them in his robes, with a little reed crown on his head, lined +with red silk, and covered with a thin plate of gold. He had a golden +ring in his nose, and a white cotton frock over his shoulders. His queen +wore a red blanket, and a blouse "like our old-fashioned striped +hangings." This royal couple bade the army welcome, and ordered food to +be brought for them. The buccaneers passed a couple of days in King +Golden Cap's city, trading their coloured beads, and scraps of iron, for +fresh fruit and meat. They found the Indians "very cunning" in +bargaining, which means, we suppose, that they thought a twopenny +whittle a poor return for a hog or a sack of maize. + +When the men had rested themselves, and had dried their muddy clothes, +they set out again, with Captain Sawkins in the vanguard. As they +marched out of the town "the King ordered us each man to have three +plantains, with sugar-canes to suck, by way of a present." They +breakfasted on these fruits, as they marched. The road led them "along a +very bad Path" continually intersected by a river, which they had to +wade some fifty or sixty times, to their great misery. They passed a few +Indian huts on the way, and at each hut door stood an Indian to give "as +we passed by, to every one of us, a ripe plantain, or some sweet +cassava-root." Some of the Indians counted the army "by dropping a grain +of corn for each man that passed before them," for without counters they +could not reckon beyond twenty. The army had by this time been swelled +by an Indian contingent, of about 150 men, "armed with Bows, Arrows and +Lances." The Indians dropping their corn grains must have dropped +nearly 500 before the last man passed them. That night, which was clear +and fine, they rested in three large Indian huts, where King Golden +Cap's men had stored up food and drink, and a number of canoas, for the +voyage south. The river went brawling past their bivouac at a little +distance, and some of the men caught fish, and broiled them in the coals +for their suppers. + +At daylight next morning, while they were getting the canoas to the +water, Captain Coxon had "some Words" with Captain Harris (of the green +flags). The words ran into oaths, for the two men were surly with the +discomforts of turning out. Coxon whipped up a gun and fired at Peter +Harris, "which he was [naturally] ready to return." Sharp knocked his +gun up before he could fire, "and brought him to be quiet; so that we +proceeded on our Journey." They had no further opportunities for +fighting, for Sawkins gave the word a moment later for seventy of the +buccaneers to embark in the canoas. There were fourteen of these boats, +all of them of small size. Sharp, Coxon, and Cook were placed in charge +of them. Captain Harris was told off to travel with the land party, with +Sawkins, King Golden Cap, and the other men. Don Andreas, with +twenty-eight other Indians (two to a canoa) acted as boatmen, or pilots, +to the flotilla. + +Basil Ringrose, who was one of the boat party, has told us of the +miseries of the "glide down the stream." The river was low, and full of +rotting tree trunks, so that "at the distance of almost every stone's +cast," they had to leave the boats "and haul them over either sands or +rocks, and at other times over trees." Sharp, who was of tougher fibre, +merely says that they "paddled all Day down the Falls and Currents of +the River, and at Night took up our Quarters upon a Green Bank by the +Riverside, where we had Wild Fowl and Plantanes for Supper: But our Beds +were made upon the cold Earth, and our Coverings were the Heavens, and +green Trees we found there." The next day they went downstream again, +over many more snags and shallows, which set them wading in the mud till +their boots rotted off their feet. Ringrose was too tired to make a note +in his journal, save that, that night, "a tiger" came out and looked at +them as they sat round the camp fires. Sharp says that the labour "was a +Pleasure," because "of that great Unity there was then amongst us," and +because the men were eager "to see the fair South Sea." They lodged that +night "upon a green Bank of the River," and ate "a good sort of a Wild +Beast like unto our English Hog." The third day, according to Ringrose, +was the worst day of all. The river was as full of snags as it had been +higher up, but the last reach of it was clear water, so that they gained +the rendezvous "about Four in the Afternoon." To their very great alarm +they found that the land party had not arrived. They at once suspected +that the Indians had set upon them treacherously, and cut them off in +the woods. But Don Andreas sent out scouts "in Search of them," who +returned "about an Hour before Sun-set," with "some of their Number," +and a message that the rest would join company in the morning. + +A little after daybreak the land force marched in, and pitched their +huts near the river, "at a beachy point of land," perhaps the very one +where Oxenham's pinnace had been beached. They passed the whole day +there resting, and cleaning weapons, for they were now but "a Day and a +Night's Journey" from the town they had planned to attack. Many more +Indians joined them at this last camp of theirs, so that the army had +little difficulty in obtaining enough canoas to carry them to Santa +Maria. They set out early the next morning, in sixty-eight canoas, being +in all "327 of us Englishmen, and 50 Indians." Until that day the canoas +had been "poled" as a punt is poled, but now they cut oars and paddles +"to make what speed we could." All that day they rowed, and late into +the night, rowing "with all haste imaginable," and snapping up one or +two passing Indian boats which were laden with plantains. It was after +midnight, and about "Two Hours before Day Light," when they ran into a +mud bank, about a mile from the town, and stepped ashore, upon a +causeway of oars and paddles. They had to cut themselves a path through +jungle, as soon as they had crossed the mud, for the town was walled +about with tropical forest. They "lay still in the Woods, till the Light +appeared," when they "heard the Spaniard discharge his Watch at his Fort +by Beat of Drum, and a Volley of Shot." It was the Spanish way of +changing guard, at daybreak. It was also the signal for the "Forlorn" of +the buccaneers to march to the battle, under Sawkins. This company +consisted of seventy buccaneers. As they debouched from the forest, upon +open ground, the Spaniards caught sight of them and beat to arms. The +men in the fort at once opened fire "very briskly," but the +advance-guard ran in upon them, tore down some of the stockade, and +"entered the fort incontinently." A moment or two of wild firing passed +inside the palisades, and then the Spanish colours were dowsed. The +buccaneers in this storm lost two men wounded, of the fifty who +attacked. The Spanish loss was twenty-six killed, and sixteen wounded, +out of 300 under arms. About fifty more, of the Spanish prisoners, were +promptly killed by the Indians, who took them into the woods and stabbed +them "to death" with their lances. It seems that one of that garrison, a +man named Josef Gabriele, had raped King Golden Cap's daughter who was +then with child by him. (Gabriele, as it chanced, was not speared, but +saved to pilot the pirates to Panama.) This was the sole action of the +Indians in that engagement. During the battle they lay "in a small +hollow," "in great consternation" at "the noise of the guns." + +Though the buccaneers had taken the place easily, they had little cause +for rejoicing. The town was "a little pitiful Place," with a few +thatched huts, or "wild houses made of Cane," and "but one Church in +it." The fort "was only Stockadoes," designed merely as a frontier post +"to keep in subjection the Indians" or as a lodging for men employed in +the gold mines. There was no more provision in store there than would +serve their turn for a week. As for the gold, they had missed it by +three days. Three hundredweight of gold had been sent to Panama while +they were struggling downstream. News of their coming had been brought +to the fort in time, and "all their treasure of gold," "that huge booty +of gold" they had expected to win, had been shipped westward. Nor had +they any prisoners to hold to ransom. The Governor, the town priest, and +the chief citizens, had slipped out of the town in boats, and were now +some miles away. Richard Sawkins manned a canoa, and went in chase of +them, but they got clear off, to give advice to Panama that pirates were +come across the isthmus. The only pillage they could find, after +torturing their prisoners "severely," amounted to "twenty pounds' weight +of gold, and a small quantity of silver." To this may be added a few +personal belongings, such as weapons or trinkets, from the chests of the +garrison. + +When the booty, such as it was, had been gathered, the captains held a +meeting "to discuss what were best to be done." Some were for going to +the South Sea, to cruise; but John Coxon, who had taken Porto Bello, and +hated to be second to Sawkins, was for going back to the ships. The +general vote was for going to Panama, "that city being the receptacle of +all the plate, jewels, and gold that is dug out of the mines of all +Potosi and Peru." However, they could not venture on Panama without +Coxon, and Coxon's company; so they made Coxon their admiral, "Coxon +seeming to be well satisfied." Before starting, they sent their booty +back to Golden Island, under a guard of twelve men. Most of the Indians +fell off at this time, for they had "got from us what knives, scissors, +axes, needles and beads they could." Old King Golden Cap, and his son, +were less mercenary, and stayed with the colours, being "resolved to go +to Panama, out of the desire they had to see that place taken and +sacked." They may have followed the buccaneers in order to kill the +Spaniard who had raped the princess, for that worthy was still alive, +under guard. He had promised to lead the pirates "even to the very +bed-chamber door of the governor of Panama." + +With the vision of this bed-chamber door before them, the pirates +embarked at Santa Maria "in thirty-five canoes" and a ship they had +found at anchor in the river. As they "sailed, or rather rowed" +downstream, with the ebb, the Spanish prisoners prayed to be taken +aboard, lest the Indians should take them and torture them all to death. +"We had much ado to find a sufficient number of boats for ourselves," +says Ringrose, for the Indians had carried many of the canoas away. Yet +the terror of their situation so wrought upon the Spaniards that they +climbed on to logs, or crude rafts, or into old canoas, "and by that +means shifted so ... as to come along with us." The island Chepillo, off +the mouth of the Cheapo River, had been named as the general rendezvous, +but most of the buccaneers were to spend several miserable days before +they anchored there. One canoa containing ten Frenchmen, was capsized, +to the great peril of the Frenchmen, who lost all their weapons. +Ringrose was separated from the company, drenched to the skin, half +starved, and very nearly lynched by some Spaniards. His 19th of April +was sufficiently stirring to have tired him of going a-roving till his +death. He put out "wet and cold," at dawn; was shipwrecked at ten; saved +the lives of five Spaniards at noon; "took a survey," or drew a sketch +of the coast, an hour later; set sail again by four, was taken by the +Spaniards and condemned to death at nine; was pardoned at ten; sent away +"in God's name," "vaya ustad con Dios," at eleven; and was at sea again +"wet and cold," by midnight. Sharp's party was the most fortunate, for +as they entered the bay of Panama they came to an island "a very +pleasant green Place," off which a barque of thirty tons came to anchor, +"not long before it was dark." The island had a high hummock of land +upon it with a little hut, and a stack for a bonfire, at the top. A +watchman, an old man, lived in this hut, looking out over the sea for +pirates, with orders to fire his beacon, to warn the men on the Main if +a strange sail appeared. The pirates caught this watchman before the +fire was lit. They learned from him that those at Panama had not yet +heard of their coming. Shortly after they had captured the watchman, the +little barque aforesaid, came to anchor, and furled her sails. Two of +Sharp's canoas crept out, "under the shore," and laid her aboard "just +as it began to be duskish." She proved to be a Panama boat, in use as a +troop transport. She had just landed some soldiers on the Main, to quell +some Indians, who had been raiding on the frontier. Her crew were +negroes, Indians, and mulattoes. Most of the buccaneers, especially +those in the small canoas, "endeavoured to get into" this ship, to +stretch their legs, and to have the advantage of a shelter. More than +130 contrived to stow themselves in her 'tween decks, under "that +sea-artist, and valiant commander" (the words are probably his own) +"Captain Bartholomew Sharp." They put to sea in her the next day, +followed by the canoas. During the morning they took another small +barque, in which Captain Harris placed thirty men, and hoisted the green +flag. The wind fell calm after the skirmish, but the canoas rowed on to +Chepillo, to the rendezvous, where they found provisions such as "two +fat hogs," and some plantains, and a spring of water. + +A little after dawn, on the day following, while the ships were trying +to make the anchorage, Captain Coxon, and Captain Sawkins, rowed out +from Chepillo to board a barque which was going past the island under a +press of sail. The wind was so light that the canoas overhauled her, but +before they could hook to her chains "a young breeze, freshening at that +instant," swept her clear of danger. Her men fired a volley into Coxon's +boat, which the pirates returned. "They had for their Breakfast a small +fight," says Sharp. One of the pirates--a Mr Bull--was killed with an +iron slug. The Spaniards got clear away without any loss, "for the Wind +blew both fresh and fair" for them. Three or four pirates were grazed +with shot, and some bullets went through the canoas. The worst of the +matter was that the Spaniards got safely to Panama, "to give +intelligence of our coming." + +As they could no longer hope to take the city by surprise, "while the +Governor was in his bed-chamber," they determined to give the citizens +as little time for preparation as was possible. They were still twenty +miles from Panama, but the canoas could pass those twenty miles in a few +hours' easy rowing. They set out at four o'clock in the evening, after +they had delivered their Spanish prisoners "for certain reasons" (which +Ringrose "could not dive into") into the hands of the Indians. This act +of barbarity was accompanied with the order that the Indians were "to +fight, or rather to murder and slay the said prisoners upon the shore, +and that in view of the whole fleet." However, the Spaniards rushed the +Indians, broke through them, and got away to the woods with the loss of +but one soldier. + +After they had watched the scuffle, the pirates rowed away merrily +towards Panama, "though many showers of rain ceased not to fall." +Sharp's vessel, with her crew of more than 130 men, made off for the +Pearl Islands, ostensibly to fill fresh water, but really, no doubt, to +rob the pearl fisheries. He found a woman (who was "very young and +handsome"), and "a Case or two of Wines," at these islands, together +with some poultry. He made a feast there, and stayed at anchor that +night, and did not set sail again till noon of the day following, by +which time the battle of Panama had been fought and won. + + _Authorities._--Dampier's Voyages. Wafer's Voyages. Ringrose's + Journal. "The Dangerous Voyage and Bold Assaults of Captain + Bartholomew Sharp"; "The Voyages and Adventures of Captain + Bartholomew Sharp" (four or five different editions). Ringrose's + MSS., Sharp's MSS., in the Sloane MSS. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BATTLE OF PERICO + + Arica--The South Sea cruise + + +On 23rd April 1680, "that day being dedicated to St George, our Patron +of England," the canoas arrived off Panama. "We came," says Ringrose, +"before sunrise within view of the city of Panama, which makes a +pleasant show to the vessels that are at sea." They were within sight of +the old cathedral church, "the beautiful building whereof" made a +landmark for them, reminding one of the buccaneers "of St Paul's in +London," a church at that time little more than a ruin. The new city was +not quite finished, but the walls of it were built, and there were +several splendid churches, with scaffolding about them, rising high, +here and there, over the roofs of the houses. The townspeople were in a +state of panic at the news of the pirates' coming. Many of them had fled +into the savannahs; for it chanced that, at that time, many of the +troops in garrison, were up the country, at war with a tribe of Indians. +The best of the citizens, under Don Jacinto de Baronha, the admiral of +those seas, had manned the ships in the bay. Old Don Peralta, who had +saved the golden galleon ten years before, had 'listed a number of +negroes, and manned one or two barques with them. With the troops still +in barracks, and these volunteers and pressed men, they had manned, in +all "five great ships, and three pretty big barks." Their force may have +numbered 280 men. One account gives the number, definitely, as 228. The +buccaneer force has been variously stated, but it appears certain that +the canoas, and periaguas, which took part in the fight, contained only +sixty-eight of their company. Sharp, as we have seen, had gone with his +company to the Pearl Islands. The remaining 117 men were probably +becalmed, in their barques and canoas, some miles from the vanguard. + +When the buccaneers caught sight of Panama, they were probably between +that city and the islands of Perico and Tobagilla. They were in great +disorder, and the men were utterly weary with the long night of rowing +in the rain, with the wind ahead. They were strung out over several +miles of sea, with five light canoas, containing six or seven men +apiece, a mile or two in advance. After these came two lumbering +periaguas, with sixteen men in each. King Golden Cap was in one of these +latter. Dampier and Wafer were probably not engaged in this action. +Ringrose was in the vanguard, in a small canoa. + +A few minutes after they had sighted the roofs of Panama, they made out +the ships at anchor off the Isle of Perico. There were "five great ships +and three pretty big barks," manned, as we have said, by soldiers, +negroes, and citizens. The men aboard this fleet were in the rigging of +their ships, keeping a strict lookout. As they caught sight of the +pirates the three barques "instantly weighed anchor," and bore down to +engage, under all the sail they could crowd. The great ships had not +sufficient men to fight their guns. They remained at anchor; but their +crews went aboard the barques, so that the decks of the three men-of-war +must have been inconveniently crowded. The Spaniards were dead to +windwind of the pirates, so that they merely squared their yards, and +ran down the wind "designedly to show their valour." They had intended +to run down the canoas, and to sail over them, for their captains had +orders to give no quarter to the pirates, but to kill them, every man. +"Such bloody commands as these," adds Ringrose piously, "do seldom or +never prosper." + +It was now a little after sunrise. The wind was light but steady; the +sea calm. As the Spaniards drew within range, the pirates rowed up into +the wind's eye, and got to windward of them. Their pistols and muskets +had not been wetted in the rain, for each buccaneer had provided himself +with an oiled cover for his firearms, the mouth of which he stopped with +wax whenever it rained. The Spanish ships ran past the three leading +canoas, exchanging volleys at long range. They were formed in line of +battle ahead, with a ship manned by mulattoes, or "Tawnymores," in the +van. This ship ran between the fourth canoa, in which Ringrose was, and +the fifth (to leeward of her) commanded by Sawkins. As she ran between +the boats she fired two thundering broadsides, one from each battery, +which wounded five buccaneers. "But he paid dear for his passage"; +because the buccaneers gave her a volley which killed half her sail +trimmers, so that she was long in wearing round to repeat her fire. At +this moment the two periaguas came into action, and got to windward with +the rest of the pirates' fleet. + +While Ringrose's company were ramming the bullets down their gun +muzzles, the Spanish admiral (in the second ship) engaged, "scarce +giving us time to charge." She was a fleet ship, and had a good way on +her, and her design was to pass between two canoas, and give to each a +roaring hot broadside. As she ran down, so near that the buccaneers +could look right into her, one of the pirates fired his musket at her +helmsman, and shot him through the heart as he steered. The ship at once +"broached-to," and lay with her sails flat aback, stopped dead. The five +canoas, and one of the periaguas, got under her stern, and so plied her +with shot that her decks were like shambles, running with blood and +brains, five minutes after she came to the wind. Meanwhile Richard +Sawkins ran his canoa--which was a mere sieve of cedar wood, owing to +the broadside--alongside the second periagua, and took her steering oar. +He ordered his men to give way heartily, for the third Spanish ship, +under old Don Peralta, was now bearing down to relieve the admiral. +Before she got near enough to blow the canoas out of water, Captain +Sawkins ran her on board, and so swept her decks with shot that she went +no farther. But "between him and Captain Sawkins, the dispute, or fight, +was very hot, lying board on board together, and both giving and +receiving death unto each other as fast as they could charge." Indeed, +the fight, at this juncture, was extremely fierce. The two Spanish ships +in action were surrounded with smoke and fire, the men "giving and +receiving death" most gallantly. The third ship, with her sail trimmers +dead, was to leeward, trying to get upon the other tack. + +After a time her sailors got her round, and reached to windward, to help +the admiral, who was now being sorely battered. Ringrose, and Captain +Springer, a famous pirate, "stood off to meet him," in two canoas, as +"he made up directly towards the Admiral." Don Jacinto, they noticed, as +they shoved off from his flagship, was standing on his quarter-deck, +waving "with a handkerchief," to the captain of the Tawnymores' ship. He +was signalling him to scatter the canoas astern of the flagship. It was +a dangerous moment, and Ringrose plainly saw "how hard it would go with +us if we should be beaten from the Admiral's stern." With the two canoas +he ran down to engage, pouring in such fearful volleys of bullets that +they covered the Spaniard's decks with corpses and dying men. "We killed +so many of them, that the vessel had scarce men enough left alive, or +unwounded, to carry her off. Had he not given us the helm, and made +away from us, we had certainly been on board him." Her decks were +littered with corpses, and she was literally running blood. The wind was +now blowing fresh, and she contrived to put before it, and so ran out of +action, a terrible sight for the Panama women. + +Having thus put the Tawnymores out of action, Ringrose and Springer +hauled to the wind, and "came about again upon the Admiral, and all +together gave a loud halloo." The cheer was answered by Sawkins' men, +from the periagua, as they fired into the frigate's ports. Ringrose ran +alongside the admiral, and crept "so close" under the vessel's stern, +"that we wedged up the rudder." The admiral was shot, and killed, a +moment later, as he brought aft a few musketeers to fire out of the +stern ports. The ship's pilot, or sailing master, was killed by the same +volley. As for the crew, the "stout Biscayners," "they were almost quite +disabled and disheartened likewise, seeing what a bloody massacre we had +made among them with our shot." Two-thirds of the crew were killed, "and +many others wounded." The survivors cried out for quarter, which had +been offered to them several times before, "and as stoutly denied until +then." Captain Coxon thereupon swarmed up her sides, with a gang of +pirates, helping up after him the valorous Peter Harris "who had been +shot through both his legs, as he boldly adventured up along the side of +the ship." The Biscayners were driven from their guns, disarmed, and +thrust down on to the ballast, under a guard. All the wounded pirates +were helped up to the deck and made comfortable. Then, in all haste, the +unhurt men manned two canoas, and rowed off to help Captain Sawkins, +"who now had been three times beaten from on board by Peralta." + +A very obstinate and bloody fight had been raging round the third +man-of-war. Her sides were splintered with musket-balls. She was oozing +blood from her scuppers, yet "the old and stout Spaniard" in command, +was cheerily giving shot for shot. "Indeed, to give our enemies their +due, no men in the world did ever act more bravely than these +Spaniards." + +Ringrose's canoa was the first to second Captain Sawkins. She ran close +in, "under Peralta's side," and poured in a blasting full volley through +her after gun-ports. A scrap of blazing wad fell among the red-clay +powder jars in the after magazine. Before she could fire a shot in +answer, she blew up abaft. Ringrose from the canoa "saw his men blown +up, that were abaft the mast, some of them falling on the deck, and +others into the sea." But even this disaster did not daunt old Peralta. +Like a gallant sea-captain, he slung a bowline round his waist, and went +over the side, burnt as he was, to pick up the men who had been blown +overboard. The pirates fired at him in the water, but the bullets missed +him. He regained his ship, and the fight went on. While the old man was +cheering the wounded to their guns, "another jar of powder took fire +forward," blowing the gun's crews which were on the fo'c's'le into the +sea. The forward half of the ship caught fire, and poured forth a volume +of black smoke, in the midst of which Richard Sawkins boarded, and "took +the ship." A few minutes later, Basil Ringrose went on board, to give +what aid he could to the hurt. "And indeed," he says, "such a miserable +sight I never saw in my life, for not one man there was found, but was +either killed, desperately wounded, or horribly burnt with powder, +insomuch that their black skins [the ship was manned with negroes] were +turned white in several places, the powder having torn it from their +flesh and bones." But if Peralta's ship was a charnel-house, the +admiral's flagship was a reeking slaughter-pen. Of her eighty-six +sailors, sixty-one had been killed. Of the remaining twenty-five, "only +eight were able to bear arms, all the rest being desperately wounded, +and by their wounds totally disabled to make any resistance, or defend +themselves. Their blood ran down the decks in whole streams, and scarce +one place in the ship was found that was free from blood." The loss on +the Tawnymores' ship was never known, but there had been such "bloody +massacre" aboard her, that two other barques, in Panama Roads, had been +too scared to join battle, though they had got under sail to engage. +According to Ringrose, the pirates lost eighteen men killed, and +twenty-two men wounded, several of them severely. Sharp, who was not in +the fight, gives the numbers as eleven killed, and thirty-four wounded. +The battle began "about half an hour after sunrise." The last of the +Spanish fire ceased a little before noon. + +Having taken the men-of-war, Captain Sawkins asked his prisoners how +many men were aboard the galleons, in the Perico anchorage. Don Peralta, +who was on deck, "much burnt in both his hands," and "sadly scalded," at +once replied that "in the biggest alone there were three hundred and +fifty men," while the others were manned in proportion to their tonnage. +But one of his men "who lay a-dying upon the deck, contradicted him as +he was speaking, and told Captain Sawkins there was not one man on board +any of those ships that were in view." "This relation" was believed, "as +proceeding from a dying man," and a few moments later it was proved to +be true. The greatest of the galleons, "the Most Blessed _Trinity_," +perhaps the very ship in which Peralta had saved the treasures of the +cathedral church, was found to be empty. Her lading of "wine, sugar, and +sweetmeats, skins and soap" (or hides and tallow) was still in the hold, +but the Spaniards had deserted her, after they had set her on fire, +"made a hole in her, and loosened [perhaps cut adrift] her foresail." +The pirates quenched the fire, stopped the leak, and placed their +wounded men aboard her, "and thus constituted her for the time being our +hospital." They lay at anchor, at Perico, for the rest of that day. On +the 24th of April they seem to have been joined by a large company of +those who had been to leeward at the time of the battle. Reinforced by +these, to the strength of nearly 200 men, they weighed their anchors, +set two of the prize galleons on fire with their freights of flour and +iron, and removed their fleet to the roads of Panama. They anchored near +the city, just out of heavy gunshot, in plain view of the citizens. They +could see the famous stone walls, which had cost so much gold that the +Spanish King, in his palace at Madrid, had asked his minister whether +they could be seen from the palace windows. They marked the stately, +great churches which were building. They saw the tower of St Anastasius +in the distance, white and stately, like a blossom above the greenwood. +They may even have seen the terrified people in the streets, following +the banners of the church, and the priests in their black robes, to +celebrate a solemn Mass and invocation. Very far away, in the green +savannahs, they saw the herds of cattle straying between the clumps of +trees. + +Late that night, long after it was dark, Captain Bartholomew Sharp +joined company. He had been to Chepillo to look for them, and had found +their fire "not yet out," and a few dead Spaniards, whom the Indians had +killed, lying about the embers. He had been much concerned for the +safety of the expedition, and was therefore very pleased to find that +"through the Divine Assistance" the buccaneers had triumphed. At supper +that night he talked with Don Peralta, who told him of some comets, "two +strange Comets," which had perplexed the Quito merchants the year +before. There was "good Store of Wine" aboard the _Trinity_ galleon, +with which all hands "cheered up their Hearts for a While." Then, having +set sentinels, they turned in for the night. + +The next day they buried Captain Peter Harris, "a brave and stout +Soldier, and a valiant Englishman, born in the county of Kent, whose +death [from gunshot wounds] we very much lamented." With him they buried +another buccaneer who had been hurt in the fight. The other wounded men +recovered. They would probably have landed to sack the town on this day, +had not a quarrel broken out between some of the company and Captain +Coxon. The question had been brought forward, whether the buccaneers +should go cruising in the South Sea, in their prizes, or return, +overland, to their ships at Golden Island. It was probably suggested, as +another alternative, that they should land to sack the town. All the +captains with one exception were for staying in the Pacific "to try +their Fortunes." Captain Coxon, however, was for returning to Golden +Island. He had been dissatisfied ever since the fight at Santa Maria. He +had not distinguished himself particularly in the fight off Perico, and +no doubt he felt jealous that the honours of that battle should have +been won by Sawkins. Sawkins' men taunted him with "backwardness" in +that engagement, and "stickled not to defame, or brand him with the note +of cowardice." To this he answered that he would be very glad to leave +that association, and that he would take one of the prizes, a ship of +fifty tons, and a periagua, to carry his men up the Santa Maria River. +Those who stayed, he added, might heal his wounded. That night he drew +off his company, with several other men, in all about seventy hands. +With them he carried "the best of our Doctors and Medicines," and the +hearty ill will of the other buccaneers. Old King Golden Cap accompanied +these deserters, leaving behind him his son and a nephew, desiring them +to be "not less vigorous" than he had been in harrying the Spanish. +Just before Coxon set sail, he asked Bartholomew Sharp to accompany him. +But that proven soul "could not hear of so dirty and inhuman an Action +without detestation." So Coxon sailed without ally, "which will not much +redound to his Honour," leaving all his wounded on the deck of the +captured galleon. The fleet, it may be added, had by this time returned +to the anchorage at Perico. + +They lay there ten days in all, "debating what were best to be done." In +that time they took a frigate laden with fowls. They took the poultry +for their own use, and dismissed some of "the meanest of the prisoners" +in the empty ship. They then shifted their anchorage to the island of +Taboga, where there were a few houses, which some drunken pirates set on +fire. While they lay at this island the merchants of Panama came off to +them "and sold us what commodities we needed, buying also of us much of +the goods we had taken in their own vessels." The pirates also sold them +a number of negroes they had captured, receiving "two hundred pieces of +eight for each negro we could spare." "And here we took likewise several +barks that were laden with fowls." After Coxon's defection, Richard +Sawkins was re-elected admiral, and continued in that command till his +death some days later. + +Before they left Taboga, Captain Sharp went cruising to an island some +miles distant to pick up some straggling drunkards who belonged to his +ship. While he lay at anchor, in a dead calm, waiting for a breeze to +blow, a great Spanish merchant ship hove in sight, bound from Lima (or +Truxillo) to Panama. Sharp ran his canoas alongside, and bade her dowse +her colours, at the same time sending a gang of pirates over her rail, +to throw the crew under hatches. "He had no Arms to defend himself with, +save only Rapiers," so her captain made no battle, but struck +incontinently. She proved to be a very splendid prize, for in her hold +were nearly 2000 jars of wine and brandy, 100 jars of good vinegar, and +a quantity of powder and shot, "which came very luckily." In addition to +these goods there were 51,000 pieces of eight, "247 pieces of eight a +man," a pile of silver sent to pay the Panama soldiery; and a store of +sweetmeats, such as Peru is still famous for. And there were "other +Things," says Sharp, "that were very grateful to our dis-satisfied +Minds." Some of the wine and brandy were sold to the Panama merchants a +few days later, "to the value of three thousand Pieces of Eight." A day +or two after this they snapped up two flour ships, from Paita. One of +these was a pretty ship of a fine model, of about 100 tons. Sharp fitted +her for himself, "for I liked her very well." The other flour ship was +taken very gallantly, under a furious gunfire from Panama Castle. The +buccaneers rowed in, with the cannon-balls flying over their heads. They +got close alongside "under her Guns," and then towed her out of +cannon-shot. + +They continued several days at Taboga, waiting for a Lima treasure ship, +aboard which, the Spaniards told them, were £2500 in silver dollars. +While they waited for this ship the Governor at Panama wrote to ask them +why they had come into those seas. Captain Sawkins answered that they +had come to help King Golden Cap, the King of Darien, the true lord of +those lands, and that, since they had come so far, "there was no reason +but that they should have some satisfaction." If the Governor would send +them 500 pieces of eight for each man, and double that sum for each +captain, and, further, undertake "not any farther to annoy the Indians," +why, then, the pirates would leave those seas, "and go away peaceably. +If the Governor would not agree to these terms, he might look to +suffer." A day or two later, Sawkins heard that the Bishop of Panama had +been Bishop at Santa Martha (a little city on the Main), some years +before, when he (Sawkins) helped to sack the place. He remembered the +cleric favourably, and sent him "two loaves of sugar," as a sort of +keepsake, or love-offering. "For a retaliation," the Bishop sent him a +gold ring; which was very Christian in the Bishop, who must have lost on +the exchange. The bearer of the gold ring, brought also an answer from +the Governor, who desired to know who had signed the pirates' +commissions. To this message Captain Sawkins sent back for answer: "That +as yet all his company were not come together, but that when they were +come up, we would come and visit him at Panama, and bring our +commissions on the muzzles of our guns, at which time he should read +them as plain as the flame of gunpowder could make them." + +With this thrasonical challenge the pirates set sail for Otoque, another +of the islands in the bay; for Taboga, though it was "an exceeding +pleasant island," was by this time bare of meat. Before they left the +place a Frenchman deserted from them, and gave a detailed account of +their plans to the Spanish Governor. It blew very hard while they were +at sea, and two barques parted company in the storm. One of them drove +away to the eastward, and overtook John Coxon's company. The other was +taken by the Spaniards. + +About the 20th or 21st of May, after several days of coasting, the ships +dropped anchor on the north coast of the island of Quibo. From here some +sixty men, under Captain Sawkins, set sail in Edmund Cook's ship, to +attack Pueblo Nuevo, the New Town, situated on the banks of a river. At +the river's mouth, which was broad, with sandy beaches, they embarked in +canoas, and rowed upstream, under the pilotage of a negro, from dark +till dawn. The French deserter had told the Spaniards of the intended +attack, so that the canoas found great difficulty in getting upstream. +Trees had been felled so as to fall across the river, and Indian spies +had been placed here and there along the river-bank to warn the townsmen +of the approach of the boats. A mile below the town the river had been +made impassable, so here the pirates went ashore to wait till daybreak. +When it grew light they marched forward, to attack the strong wooden +breastworks which the Spaniards had built. Captain Sawkins was in +advance, with about a dozen pirates. Captain Sharp followed at a little +distance with some thirty more. As soon as Sawkins saw the stockades he +fired his gun, and ran forward gallantly, to take the place by storm, in +the face of a fierce fire. "Being a man that nothing upon Earth could +terrifie" he actually reached the breastwork, and was shot dead there, +as he hacked at the pales. Two other pirates were killed at his side, +and five of the brave forlorn were badly hurt. "The remainder drew off, +still skirmishing," and contrived to reach the canoas "in pretty good +order," though they were followed by Spanish sharpshooters for some +distance. Sharp took command of the boats and brought them off safely to +the river's mouth, where they took a barque full of maize, before they +arrived at their ship. + +Sawkins was "as valiant and courageous as any could be," "a valiant and +generous-spirited man, and beloved above any other we ever had among us, +which he well deserved." His death left the company without a captain, +and many of the buccaneers, who had truly loved Richard Sawkins, were +averse to serving under another commander. They were particularly averse +to serving under Sharp, who took the chief command from the moment of +Sawkins' death. At Quibo, where they lay at anchor, "their Mutiny" grew +very high, nor did they stick at mere mutiny. They clamoured for a +tarpaulin muster, or "full Councel," at which the question of "who +should be chief" might be put to the vote. At the council, Sharp was +elected "by a few hands," but many of the pirates refused to follow him +on the cruise. He swore, indeed, that he would take them such a voyage +as should bring them £1000 a man; but the oaths of Sharp were not good +security, and the mutiny was not abated. Many of the buccaneers would +have gone home with Coxon had it not been for Sawkins. These now +clamoured to go so vehemently that Sharp was constrained to give them a +ship with as much provision "as would serve for treble the number." The +mutineers who left on this occasion were in number sixty-three. Twelve +Indians, the last who remained among the pirates, went with them, to +guide them over the isthmus. 146 men remained with Sharp. It is probable +that many of these would have returned at this time, had it not been +that "the Rains were now already up, and it would be hard passing so +many Gullies, which of necessity would then be full of water." Ringrose, +Wafer and Dampier remained among the faithful, but rather on this +account, than for any love they bore their leader. The mutineers had +hardly set sail, before Captain Cook came "a-Board" Sharp's flagship, +finding "himselfe a-grieved." His company had kicked him out of his +ship, swearing that they would not sail with such a one, so that he had +determined "to rule over such unruly folk no longer." Sharp gave his +command to a pirate named Cox, a New Englander, "who forced kindred, as +was thought, upon Captain Sharp, out of old acquaintance, in this +conjuncture of time, only to advance himself." Cox took with him Don +Peralta, the stout old Andalusian, for the pirates were plying the +captain "of the Money-Ship we took," to induce him to pilot them to +Guayaquil "where we might lay down our Silver, and lade our vessels with +Gold." They feared that an honest man, such as Peralta, "would hinder +the endeavours" of this Captain Juan, and corrupt his kindly +disposition. + +With these mutinies, quarrels, intrigues, and cabals did the buccaneers +beguile their time. They stayed at Quibo until 6th June, filling their +water casks, quarrelling, cutting wood, and eating turtle and red deer. +They also ate huge oysters, so large "that we were forced to cut them +into four pieces, each quarter being a large mouthful." + +On the 6th of June they set sail for the isle of Gorgona, off what is +now Columbia, where they careened the _Trinity_, and took "down our +Round House Coach and all the high carved work belonging to the stern of +the ship; for when we took her from the Spaniards she was high as any +Third Rate Ship in England." While they were at work upon her, Sharp +changed his design of going for Guayaquil, as one of their prisoners, an +old Moor, "who had long time sailed among the Spaniards," told him that +there was gold at Arica, in such plenty that they would get there "£2000 +a man." He did not hurry to leave his careenage, though he must have +known that each day he stayed there lessened his chance of booty. It was +nearly August when he left Gorgona, and "from this Time forward to the +17th of October there was Nothing occurr'd but bare Sailing." Now and +then they ran short of water, or of food. One or two of their men died +of fever, or of rum, or of sunstroke. Two or three were killed in +capturing a small Spanish ship. The only other events recorded, are the +falls of rain, the direction of the wind, the sight of "watersnakes of +divers colours," and the joyful meeting with Captain Cox, whom they had +lost sight of, while close in shore one evening. They called at "Sir +Francis Drake's isle" to strike a few tortoises, and to shoot some +goats. Captain Sharp we read, here "showed himself very ingenious" in +spearing turtle, "he performing it as well as the tortoise strikers +themselves." + +It was very hot at this little island. Many years before Drake had gone +ashore there to make a dividend, and had emptied bowls of gold coins +into the hats of his men, after the capture of the _Cacafuego_. Some of +the pirates sounded the little anchorage with a greasy lead, in the +hopes of bringing up the golden pieces which Drake had been unable to +carry home, and had hove into the sea there. They got no gold, but the +sun shone "so hot that it burnt the skin off the necks of our men," as +they craned over the rail at their fishery. + +At the end of October they landed at the town of Hilo to fill fresh +water. They took the town, and sacked its sugar refineries, which they +burnt. They pillaged its pleasant orange groves, and carried away many +sacks of limes and green figs "with many other fruits agreeable to the +palate." Fruit, sugar, and excellent olive oil were the goods which Hilo +yielded. They tried to force the Spaniards to bring them beef, but as +the beef did not come, they wrecked the oil and sugar works, and set +them blazing, and so marched down to their ships, skirmishing with the +Spanish horse as they fell back. Among the spoil was the carcass of a +mule (which made "a very good meal"), and a box of chocolate "so that +now we had each morning a dish of that pleasant liquor," such as the +grand English ladies drank. + +The next town attacked was La Serena, a town five miles from the present +Coquimbo. They took the town, and found a little silver, but the +citizens had had time to hide their gold. The pirates made a great feast +of strawberries "as big as walnuts," in the "orchards of fruit" at this +place, so that one of their company wrote that "'tis very delightful +Living here." They could not get a ransom for the town, so they set it +on fire. The Spaniards, in revenge, sent out an Indian, on an inflated +horse hide, to the pirates' ship the _Trinity_. This Indian thrust some +oakum and brimstone between the rudder and the sternpost, and "fired it +with a match." The sternpost caught fire and sent up a prodigious black +smoke, which warned the pirates that their ship was ablaze. They did not +discover the trick for a few minutes, but by good fortune they found it +out in time to save the vessel. They landed their prisoners shortly +after the fire had been quenched "because we feared lest by the example +of this stratagem they should plot our destruction in earnest." Old Don +Peralta, who had lately been "very frantic," "through too much hardship +and melancholy," was there set on shore, after his long captivity. Don +Juan, the captain of the "Money-Ship," was landed with him. Perhaps the +two fought together, on the point of honour, as soon as they had +returned to swords and civilisation. + +From Coquimbo the pirates sailed for Juan Fernandez. On the way thither +they buried William Cammock, one of their men, who had drunk too hard at +La Serena "which produced in him a calenture or malignant fever, and a +hiccough." "In the evening when the pale Magellan Clouds were showing we +buried him in the sea, according to the usual custom of mariners, giving +him three French vollies for his funeral." + +On Christmas Day they were beating up to moorings, with boats ahead, +sounding out a channel for the ship. They did not neglect to keep the +day holy, for "we gave in the morning early three vollies of shot for +solemnization of that great festival." At dusk they anchored "in a +stately bay that we found there," a bay of intensely blue water, through +which the whiskered seals swam. The pirates filled fresh water, and +killed a number of goats, with which the island swarmed. They also +captured many goats alive, and tethered them about the decks of the +_Trinity_, to the annoyance of all hands, a day or two later, when some +flurries of wind drove them to sea, to search out a new anchorage. + +Shortly after New Year's Day 1681, "our unhappy Divisions, which had +been long on Foot, began now to come to an Head to some Purpose." The +men had been working at the caulking of their ship, with design to take +her through the Straits of Magellan, and so home to the Indies. Many of +the men wished to cruise the South Seas a little longer, while nearly +all were averse to plying caulking irons, under a burning sun, for +several hours a day. There was also a good deal of bitterness against +Captain Sharp, who had made but a poor successor to brave Richard +Sawkins. He had brought them none of the gold and silver he had promised +them, and few of the men were "satisfied, either with his Courage or +Behaviour." On the 6th January a gang of pirates "got privately ashoar +together," and held a fo'c's'le council under the greenwood. They "held +a Consult," says Sharp, "about turning me presently out, and put another +in my Room." John Cox, the "true-hearted dissembling New-England Man," +whom Sharp "meerly for old Acquaintance-sake" had promoted to be +captain, was "the Main Promoter of their Design." When the consult was +over, the pirates came on board, clapped Mr Sharp in irons, put him down +on the ballast, and voted an old pirate named John Watling, "a stout +seaman," to be captain in his stead. One buccaneer says that "the true +occasion of the grudge against Sharp was, that he had got by these +adventures almost a thousand pounds, whereas many of our men were not +worth a groat," having "lost all their money to their fellow Buccaneers +at dice." + +Captain Edmund Cook, who had been turned out of his ship by his men, was +this day put in irons on the confession of a shameless servant. The +curious will find the details of the case on page 121, of the 1684 +edition of Ringrose's journal. + +John Watling began his captaincy in very godly sort, by ordering his +disciples to keep holy the Sabbath day. Sunday, "January the ninth, was +the first Sunday that ever we kept by command and common consent, since +the loss and death of our valiant Commander Captain Sawkins." Sawkins +had been strict in religious matters, and had once thrown the ship's +dice overboard "finding them in use on the said day." Since Sawkins' +death the company had grown notoriously lax, but it is pleasant to +notice how soon they returned to their natural piety, under a godly +leader. With Edmund Cook down on the ballast in irons, and William Cook +talking of salvation in the galley, and old John Watling expounding the +Gospel in the cabin, the galleon, "the Most Holy _Trinity_" must have +seemed a foretaste of the New Jerusalem. The fiddler ceased such +"prophane strophes" as "Abel Brown," "The Red-haired Man's Wife," and +"Valentinian." He tuned his devout strings to songs of Zion. Nay the +very boatswain could not pipe the cutter up but to a phrase of the +Psalms. + +In this blessed state they washed their clothes in the brooks, hunted +goats across the island, and burnt and tallowed their ship the +_Trinity_. But on the 12th of January, one of their boats, which had +been along the coast with some hunters, came rowing furiously into the +harbour, "firing of Guns." They had espied three Spanish men-of-war some +three or four miles to leeward, beating up to the island under a press +of sail. The pirates were in great confusion, for most of them were +ashore, "washing their clothes," or felling timber. Those on board, hove +up one of their anchors, fired guns to call the rest aboard, hoisted +their boats in, and slipped their second cable. They then stood to sea, +hauling as close to the wind as she would lie. One of the Mosquito +Indians, "one William," was left behind on the island, "at this sudden +departure," and remained hidden there, living on fish and fruit, for +many weary days. He was not the first man to be marooned there; nor was +he to be the last. + +The three Spanish men-of-war were ships of good size, mounting some +thirty guns among them. As the pirate ship beat out of the harbour, +sheeting home her topgallant-sails, they "put out their bloody flags," +which the pirates imitated, "to shew them that we were not as yet +daunted." They kept too close together for the pirates to run them +aboard, but towards sunset their flagship had drawn ahead of the +squadron. The pirates at once tacked about so as to engage her, +intending to sweep her decks with bullets, and carry her by boarding. +John Watling was not very willing to come to handystrokes, nor were the +Spaniards anxious to give him the opportunity. No guns were fired, for +the Spanish admiral wore ship, and so sailed away to the island, when he +brought his squadron to anchor. The pirates called a council, and +decided to give them the slip, having "outbraved them," and done as much +as honour called for. They were not very pleased with John Watling, and +many were clamouring for the cruise to end. It was decided that they +should not attack the Spanish ships, but go off for the Main, to sack +the town of Arica, where there was gold enough, so they had heard, to +buy them each "a coach and horses." They therefore hauled to the wind +again, and stood to the east, in very angry and mutinous spirit, until +the 26th of January. + +On that day they landed at Yqueque, a mud-flat, or guano island, off a +line of yellow sand-hills. They found a few Indian huts there, with +scaffolds for the drying of fish, and many split and rotting mackerel +waiting to be carried inland. There was a dirty stone chapel in the +place, "stuck full of hides and sealskins." There was a great surf, +green and mighty, bursting about the island with a continual roaring. +There were pelicans fishing there, and a few Indians curing fish, and an +abominable smell, and a boat, with a cask in her bows, which brought +fresh water thither from thirty miles to the north. The teeth of the +Indians were dyed a bright green by their chewing of the coca leaf, the +drug which made their "beast-like" lives endurable. There was a silver +mine on the mainland, near this fishing village, but the pirates did not +land to plunder it. They merely took a few old Indian men, and some +Spaniards, and carried them aboard the _Trinity_, where the godly John +Watling examined them. + +The next day the examination continued; and the answers of one of the +old men, "a Mestizo Indian," were judged to be false. "Finding him in +many lies, as we thought, concerning Arica, our commander ordered him to +be shot to death, which was accordingly done." This cold-blooded murder +was committed much against the will of Captain Sharp, who "opposed it as +much as he could." Indeed, when he found that his protests were useless, +he took a basin of water (of which the ship was in sore need) and washed +his hands, like a modern Pilate. "Gentlemen," he said, "I am clear of +the blood of this old man; and I will warrant you a hot day for this +piece of cruelty, whenever we come to fight at Arica." This proved to be +"a true and certain prophesy." Sharp was an astrologer, and a believer +in portents; but he does not tell us whether he had "erected any +Figure," to discover what was to chance in the Arica raid. + + * * * * * + +Arica, the most northern port in Chile, has still a considerable +importance. It is a pleasant town, fairly well watered, and therefore +more green and cheerful than the nitrate ports. It is built at the foot +of a hill (a famous battlefield) called the Morro. Low, yellow +sand-hills ring it in, shutting it from the vast blue crags of the +Andes, which rise up, splintered and snowy, to the east. The air there +is of an intense clearness, and those who live there can see the Tacna +churches, forty miles away. It is no longer the port it was, but it does +a fair trade in salt and sulphur, and supplies the nitrate towns with +fruit. When the pirates landed there it was a rich and prosperous city. +It had a strong fort, mounting twelve brass guns, defended by four +companies of troops from Lima. The city had a town guard of 300 +soldiers. There was also an arsenal full of firearms for the use of +householders in the event of an attack. It was not exactly a walled +town, like new Panama, but a light wooden palisade ran round it, while +other palisades crossed each street. These defences had been thrown up +when news had arrived of the pirates being in those seas. All the +"plate, gold and jewels" of the townsfolk had been carefully hidden, and +the place was in such a state of military vigilance and readiness that +the pirates had no possible chance of taking it, or at least of holding +it. When the pirates came upon it there were several ships in the bay, +laden with commodities from the south of Chile. + +[Illustration: _A description of_ Arica] + +On the 28th of January, John Watling picked 100 men, and put off for the +shore in boats and canoas, to attack the town. By the next day they had +got close in shore, under the rocks by the San Vitor River's mouth. +There they lay concealed till the night. At dawn of the 30th January +1681, "the Martyrdom of our glorious King Charles the First," they were +dipping off some rocks four miles to the south of Arica. Here ninety-two +of the buccaneers landed, leaving a small boat guard, with strict +instructions how to act. They were told that if the main body "made +one smoke from the town," as by firing a heap of powder, one canoa was +to put in to Arica; but that, if two smokes were fired, all the boats +were to put in at once. Basil Ringrose was one of those who landed to +take part in the fight. Dampier, it is almost certain, remained on board +the _Trinity_, becalmed some miles from the shore. Wafer was in the +canoas, with the boat guard, preparing salves for those wounded in the +fight. The day seems to have been hot and sunny--it could scarcely have +been otherwise--but those out at sea, on the galleon, could see the +streamers of cloud wreathing about the Andes. + +At sunrise the buccaneers got ashore, amongst the rocks, and scrambled +up a hill which gave them a sight of the city. From the summit they +could look right down upon the streets, little more than a mile from +them. It was too early for folk to be stirring, and the streets were +deserted, save for the yellow pariahs, and one or two carrion birds. It +was so still, in that little town, that the pirates thought they would +surprise the place, as Drake had surprised Nombre de Dios. But while +they were marching downhill, they saw three horsemen watching them from +a lookout place, and presently the horsemen galloped off to raise the +inhabitants. As they galloped away, John Watling chose out forty of the +ninety-two, to attack the fort or castle which defended the city. This +band of forty, among whom were Sharp and Ringrose, carried ten +hand-grenades, in addition to their pistols and guns. The fort was on a +hill above the town, and thither the storming party marched, while +Watling's company pressed on into the streets. The action began a few +minutes later with the guns of the fort firing on the storming party. +Down in the town, almost at the same moment, the musketry opened in a +long roaring roll which never slackened. Ringrose's party waited for no +further signal, but at once engaged, running in under the guns and +hurling their firepots through the embrasures. The grenades were damp, +or badly filled, or had been too long charged. They did not burst or +burn as they should have done, while the garrison inside the fort kept +up so hot a fire, at close range, that nothing could be done there. The +storming party fell back, without loss, and rallied for a fresh attack. +They noticed then that Watling's men were getting no farther towards the +town. They were halted in line, with their knees on the ground, firing +on the breastworks, and receiving a terrible fire from the Spaniards. +Five of the fifty-two men were down (three of them killed) and the case +was growing serious. The storming party left the fort, and doubled +downhill into the firing line, where they poured in volley after +blasting volley, killing a Spaniard at each shot, making "a very +desperate battle" of it, "our rage increasing with our wounds." No +troops could stand such file-firing. The battle became "mere bloody +massacre," and the Spaniards were beaten from their posts. Volley after +volley shook them, for the pirates "filled every street in the city with +dead bodies"; and at last ran in upon them, and clubbed them and cut +them down, and penned them in as prisoners. But as the Spaniards under +arms were at least twenty times as many as the pirates, there was no +taking the city from them. They were beaten from post to post fighting +like devils, but the pirates no sooner left a post they had taken, "than +they came another way, and manned it again, with new forces and fresh +men." The streets were heaped with corpses, yet the Spaniards came on, +and came on again, till the sand of the roads was like red mud. At last +they were fairly beaten from the chief parts of the town, and numbers of +them were penned up as prisoners; more, in fact, than the pirates could +guard. The battle paused for a while at this stage, and the pirates took +advantage of the lull to get their wounded (perhaps a dozen men), into +one of the churches to have their wounds dressed. As the doctors of the +party began their work, John Watling sent a message to the fort, +charging the garrison to surrender. The soldiers returned no answer, but +continued to load their guns, being helped by the armed townsfolk, who +now flocked to them in scores. The fort was full of musketeers when the +pirates made their second attack a little after noon. + +At the second attack, John Watling took 100 of his prisoners, placed +them in front of his storming party, and forced them forward, as a +screen to his men, when he made his charge. The garrison shot down +friend and foe indiscriminately, and repulsed the attack, and repulsed a +second attack which followed a few minutes later. There was no taking +the fort by storm, and the pirates had no great guns with which to +batter it. They found, however, that one of the flat-roofed houses in +the town, near the fort's outworks, commanded the interior. "We got upon +the top of the house," says Ringrose, "and from there fired down into +the fort, killing many of their men and wounding them at our ease and +pleasure." While they were doing this, a number of the Lima soldiers +joined the citizens, and fell, with great fury, upon the prisoners' +guards in the town. They easily beat back the few guards, and retook the +city. As soon as they had taken the town, they came swarming out to cut +off the pirates from their retreat, and to hem them in between the fort +and the sea. They were in such numbers that they were able to surround +the pirates, who now began to lose men at every volley, and to look +about them a little anxiously as they bit their cartridges. From every +street in the town came Spanish musketeers at the double, swarm after +swarm of them, perhaps a couple of thousand. The pirates left the fort, +and turned to the main army, at the same time edging away towards the +south, to the hospital, or church, where their wounded men were being +dressed. As they moved away from the battlefield, firing as they +retreated, old John Watling was shot in the liver with a bullet, and +fell dead there, to go buccaneering no more. A moment later "both our +quartermasters" fell, with half-a-dozen others, including the boatswain. +All this time the cannon of the fort were pounding over them, and the +round-shot were striking the ground all about, flinging the sand into +their faces. What with the dust and the heat and the trouble of helping +the many hurt, their condition was desperate. "So that now the enemy +rallying against us, and beating us from place to place, we were in a +very distracted condition, and in more likelihood to perish every man +than escape the bloodiness of that day. Now we found the words of +Captain Sharp to bear a true prophecy, being all very sensible that we +had had a day too hot for us, after that cruel heat in killing and +murdering in cold blood the old Mestizo Indian whom we had taken +prisoner at Yqueque." In fact they were beaten and broken, and the fear +of death was on them, and the Spaniards were ringing them round, and the +firing was roaring from every point. They were a bloody, dusty, choking +gang of desperates, "in great disorder," black with powder, their +tongues hanging out with thirst. As they stood grouped together, cursing +and firing, some of them asked Captain Sharp to take command, and get +them out of that, seeing that Watling was dead, and no one there could +give an order. To this request Sharp at last consented, and a retreat +was begun, under cover of a fighting rear-guard, "and I hope," says +Sharp, "it will not be esteemed a Vanity in me to say, that I was mighty +Helpful to facilitate this Retreat." In the midst of a fearful racket +of musketry, he fought the pirates through the soldiers to the church +where the wounded lay. There was no time, nor was there any conveyance, +for the wounded, and they were left lying there, all desperately hurt. +The two surgeons could have been saved "but that they had been drinking +while we assaulted the fort, and thus would not come with us when they +were called." There was no time for a second call, for the Spaniards +were closing in on them, and the firing was as fierce as ever. The men +were so faint with hunger and thirst, the heat of battle, and the long +day's marching, that Sharp feared he would never get them to the boats. +A fierce rush of Spaniards beat them away from the hospital, and drove +them out of the town "into the Savannas or open fields." The Spaniards +gave a cheer and charged in to end the battle, but the pirates were a +dogged lot, and not yet at the end of their strength. They got into a +clump or cluster, with a few wounded men in the centre, to load the +muskets, "resolving to die one by another" rather than to run. They +stood firm, cursing and damning the Spaniards, telling them to come on, +and calling them a lot of cowards. There were not fifty buccaneers fit +to carry a musket, but the forty odd, unhurt men stood steadily, and +poured in such withering volleys of shot, with such terrible precision, +that the Spanish charge went to pieces. As the charge broke, the pirates +plied them again, and made a "bloody massacre" of them, so that they ran +to shelter like so many frightened rabbits. The forty-seven had beaten +off twenty or thirty times their number, and had won themselves a +passage home. + +There was no question of trying to retake the town. The men were in such +misery that the march back to the boats taxed their strength to the +breaking point. They set off over the savannah, in as good order as they +could, with a wounded man, or two, in every rank of them. As they set +forward, a company of horsemen rode out, and got upon their flanks "and +fired at us all the way, though they would not come within reach of our +guns; for their own reached farther than ours, and out-shot us more than +one third." There was great danger of these horsemen cutting in, and +destroying them, on the long open rolls of savannah, so Sharp gave the +word, and the force shogged westward to the seashore, along which they +trudged to the boats. The beach to the south of Arica runs along the +coast, in a narrow strip, under cliffs and rocky ground, for several +miles. The sand is strewn with boulders, so that the horsemen, though +they followed the pirates, could make no concerted charge upon them. +Some of them rode ahead of them and got above them on the cliff tops, +from which they rolled down "great stones and whole rocks to destroy +us." None of these stones did any harm to the pirates, for the cliffs +were so rough and broken that the skipping boulders always flew wide of +the mark. But though the pirates "escaped their malice for that time," +they were yet to run a terrible danger before getting clear away to sea. +The Spaniards had been examining, or torturing, the wounded pirates, and +the two drunken surgeons, left behind in the town. "These gave them our +signs that we had left to our boats [_i.e._ revealed the signals by +which the boats were to be called] so that they immediately blew up two +smokes, which were perceived by the canoas." Had the pirates "not come +at the instant" to the seaside, within hail of the boats, they would +have been gone. Indeed they were already under sail, and beating slowly +up to the northward, in answer to the signal. Thus, by a lucky chance, +the whole company escaped destruction. They lost no time in putting from +the shore, where they had met with "so very bad Entertainment." They +"got on board about ten a Clock at night; having been involved in a +continual and bloody fight ... all that day long." Of the ninety-two, +who had landed that morning, twenty-eight had been left ashore, either +dead, or as prisoners. Of the sixty-four who got to the canoas, eighteen +were desperately wounded, and barely able to walk. Most of the others +were slightly hurt, while all were too weary to do anything, save sleep +or drink. Of the men left behind in the hospital the Spaniards spared +the doctors only; "they being able to do them good service in that +country." "But as to the wounded men," says Ringrose, "they were all +knocked on the head," and so ended their roving, and came to port where +drunken doctors could torture them no longer. The Ylo men denied this; +and said that the seven pirates who did not die of their wounds were +kept as slaves. The Spanish loss is not known, but it was certainly +terrible. The Hilo, or Ylo people, some weeks later, said that seventy +Spaniards had been killed and about 200 wounded. + +All the next day the pirates "plied to and fro in sight of the port," +hoping that the Spaniards would man the ships in the bay, and come out +to fight. They reinstated Sharp in his command, for they had now +"recollected a better Temper," though none of them, it seems, wished for +any longer stay in the South Sea. The Arica fight had sickened them of +the South Sea, while several of them (including Ringrose) became very +ill from the exposure and toil of the battle. They beat to windward, +cruising, when they found that the Spaniards would not put to sea to +fight them. They met with dirty weather when they had reached the +thirtieth parallel, and the foul weather, and their bad fortune made +them resolve to leave those seas. At a fo'c's'le council held on the 3rd +of March, they determined to put the helm up, and to return to the North +Sea. They were short of water and short of food, "having only one cake +of bread a day," or perhaps half-a-pound of "doughboy," for their +"whack" or allowance. After a few days' running before the wind they +came to "the port of Guasco," now Huasco, between Coquimbo and Caldera, +a little town of sixty or eighty houses, with copper smeltries, a +church, a river, and some sheep-runs. Sixty of the buccaneers went +ashore here, that same evening, to get provisions, "and anything else +that we could purchase." They passed the night in the church, or "in a +churchyard," and in the morning took "120 sheep and fourscore goats," +about 200 bushels of corn "ready ground," some fowls, a fat hog, any +quantity of fruit, peas, beans, etc., and a small stock of wine. These +goods they conveyed aboard as being "fit for our Turn." The inhabitants +had removed their gold and silver while the ship came to her anchor, "so +that our booty here, besides provisions, was inconsiderable." They found +the fat hog "very like our English pork," thereby illustrating the +futility of travel; and so sailed away again "to seek greater matters." +Before they left, they contrived to fill their water jars in the river, +a piece of work which they found troublesome, owing to the height of the +banks. + +[Illustration: _A Description of_ Hilo] + +From Huasco, where the famous white raisins grow, they sailed to Ylo, +where they heard of their mates at Arica, and secured some wine, figs, +sugar, and molasses, and some "fruits just ripe and fit for eating," +including "extraordinary good Oranges of the China sort" They then +coasted slowly northward, till by Saturday, 16th April, they arrived off +the island of Plate. Here their old bickerings broke out again, for many +of the pirates were disgusted with Sharp, and eager to go home. Many of +the others had recovered their spirits since the affair at Arica, and +wished to stay in the South Seas, to cruise a little longer. Those who +had fought at Arica would not allow Sharp to be deposed a second +time, while those who had been shipkeepers on that occasion, were angry +that he should have been re-elected. The two parties refused to be +reconciled. They quarrelled angrily whenever they came on deck together, +and the party spirit ran so high that the company of shipkeepers, the +anti-Sharp faction, "the abler and more experienced men," at last +refused to cruise any longer under Sharp's command. The fo'c's'le +council decided that a poll should be taken, and "that which party +soever, upon polling, should be found to have the majority, should keep +the ship." The other party was to take the long boat and the canoas. The +division was made, and "Captain Sharp's Party carried it." The night was +spent in preparing the long boat and the canoas, and the next morning +the boats set sail. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ACROSS THE ISTHMUS + + The way home--Sufferings and adventures + + +At "about Ten a Clock" in the morning of 17th April 1681, the mutineers +went over the side into their "Lanch and Canoas, designing for the River +Santa Maria, in the Gulf of St Michael." "We were in number," says +Dampier, who was of the party, "44 white Men who bore Arms, a _Spanish +Indian_, who bore Arms also; and two _Moskito Indians_," who carried +pistols and fish spears. Lionel Wafer "was of Mr Dampier's Side in that +Matter," and acted as surgeon to the forty-seven, until he met with his +accident. They embarked in the ship's launch or long boat, one canoa +"and another Canoa which had been sawn asunder in the middle, in order +to have made Bumkins, or Vessels for carrying water, if we had not +separated from our Ship." This old canoa they contrived to patch +together. For provisions they brought with them "so much Flower as we +could well carry"; which "Flower" "we" had been industriously grinding +for the last three days. In addition to the "Flower" they had "rubbed up +20 or 30 pound of Chocolate with Sugar to sweeten it." And so provided, +they hoisted their little sails and stood in for the shore. "The Sea +Breeze came in strong" before they reached the land, so that they had to +cut up an old dry hide to make a close-fight round the launch "to keep +the Water out." They took a small timber barque the next morning, and +went aboard her, and sailed her over to Gorgona, where they scrubbed +her bottom. They learned from their prisoners that the Spaniards were +on the alert, eagerly expecting them, and cruising the seas with fast +advice boats to get a sight of them. Three warships lay at Panama, ready +to hunt them whenever the cruisers brought news of their whereabouts. A +day or two later, the pirates saw "two great ships," with many guns in +their ports, slowly beating to the southward in search of their company. +The heavy rain which was falling kept the small timber barque hidden, +while the pirates took the precautions of striking sail, and rowing +close in shore. "If they had seen and chased us," the pirates would have +landed, trusting to the local Indians to make good their escape over the +isthmus. + +After twelve days of sailing they anchored about twenty miles from the +San Miguel Gulf, in order to clean their arms, and dry their clothes and +powder, before proceeding up the river, by the way they had come. The +next morning they set sail into the Gulf, and anchored off an island, +intending to search the river's mouth for Spaniards before adventuring +farther. As they had feared, a large Spanish man-of-war lay anchored at +the river's mouth, "close by the shore," with her guns commanding the +entrance. Some of her men could be seen upon the beach, by the door of a +large tent, made of the ship's lower canvas. "When the Canoas came +aboard with this News," says Dampier, "some of our Men were a little +dis-heartned; but it was no more than I ever expected." An hour or two +later they took one of the Spaniards from the ship and learned from him +that the ship carried twelve great guns, and that three companies of +men, with small arms, would join her during the next twenty-four hours. +They learned also that the Indians of that district were friendly to the +Spaniards. Plainly the pirates were in a dangerous position. "It was not +convenient to stay longer there," says Dampier. They got aboard their +ship without loss of time, and ran out of the river "with the Tide of +Ebb," resolved to get ashore at the first handy creek they came to. + +Early the next morning they ran into "a small Creek within two Keys, or +little Islands, and rowed up to the Head of the Creek, being about a +Mile up, and there we landed May 1, 1681." The men flung their food and +clothes ashore, and scuttled their little ship, so that she sank at her +moorings. While they packed their "Snap-sacks" with flour, chocolate, +canisters of powder, beads, and whittles for the Indians, their slaves +"struck a plentiful Dish of Fish" for them, which they presently +broiled, and ate for their breakfasts. Some of the men scouted on ahead +for a mile or two, and then returned with the news that there were no +immediate dangers in front of them. Some of the pirates were weak and +sick, and "not well able to march." "We," therefore, "gave out, that if +any Man faultred in the Journey over Land he must expect to be shot to +death; for we knew that the Spaniards would soon be after us, and one +Man falling into their hands might be the ruin of us all, by giving an +account of our strength and condition: yet this would not deter 'em from +going with us." + +At three that afternoon they set out into the jungle, steering a N.E. +course "by our Pocket Compasses." The rain beat upon them all the rest +of that day, and all the night long, a drenching and steady downpour, +which swamped the "small Hutts" they contrived to patch together. In the +morning they struck an old Indian trail, no broader than a horse-girth, +running somewhat to the east. They followed it through the forest till +they came to an Indian town, where the squaws gave them some corn-drink +or miscelaw, and sold them a few fowls and "a sort of wild Hogs." They +hired a guide at this village, "to guide us a day's march into the +Countrey." "He was to have for his pains a Hatchet, and his Bargain was +to bring us to a certain Indians habitation, who could speak Spanish." +They paid faithfully for the food the Indians gave them, and shared "all +sorts of our Provisions in common, because none should live better than +others," and so stand a better chance of crossing the isthmus. When they +started out, after a night's rest, one of the pirates, being already +sick of the march, slipped away into the jungle, and was seen no more. + +They found the Spanish-speaking Indian in a bad mood. He swore that he +knew no road to the North Sea, but that he could take them to Cheapo, or +to Santa Maria, "which we knew to be Spanish Garrisons: either of them +at least 20 miles out of our way." He was plainly unwilling to have any +truck with them, for "his discourse," was in an angry tone, and he "gave +very impertinent answers" to the questions put to him. "However we were +forced to make a virtue of necessity, and humour him, for it was neither +time nor place to be angry with the Indians; all our lives lying in +their hand." The pirates were at their wits' end, for they lay but a few +miles from the guard ship, and this surly chief could very well set the +Spaniards on them. They tempted him with green and blue beads, with gold +and silver, both in the crude and in coin, with beautiful steel axe +heads, with machetes, "or long knives"; "but nothing would work on him." +The pirates were beginning to despair, when one of them produced "a +Sky-coloured Petticoat," and placed it about the person of the chief's +favourite wife. How he had become possessed of such a thing, and whether +it came from a Hilo beauty, and whether she gave it as a love token, on +the ship's sailing, cannot now be known. It may have been an article +brought expressly from Jamaica for the fascination of the Indians. But +_honi soit qui mal y pense_. The truth of the matter will never be +learned. It is sufficient that the man produced it in the very nick of +time, and laid the blue tissue over the copper-coloured lady. She was so +much pleased with it "that she immediately began to chatter to her +Husband, and soon brought him into a better Humour." He relented at +once, and said that he knew the trail to the North Sea, and that he +would gladly guide them thither were a cut upon his foot healed. As he +could not go himself he persuaded another Indian to guide them "2 Days +march further for another Hatchet." He tried hard to induce the party to +stay with him for the rest of the day as the rain was pouring down in +torrents. "But our business required more haste, our Enemies lying so +near us, for he told us that he could go from his house aboard the +Guard-Ship in a Tides time; and this was the 4th day since they saw us. +So we marched 3 Miles further and then built Hutts, where we stayed all +Night," with the thatch dripping water on to them in a steady trickle. + +On taking to the road again, wet and starving as they were, they found +themselves in a network of rivers, some thirty of which they had to +wade, during the day's march. The heavy rain drenched them as they +clambered along across the jungle. They had but a little handful of fire +that night, so that they could not dry nor warm themselves. They +crouched about the "funk of green-wood," shivering in the smoke, chewing +bullets to alleviate their hunger. They slept there in great misery, +careless of what happened to them. "The Spaniards were but seldom in our +thoughts," says Dampier, for the pirates thought only of guides and +food, and feared their own Indian servants more than the enemy. A watch +of two pirates kept a guard all that night, with orders to shoot any +Indian who showed a sign of treachery. They rose before it was light and +pushed on into the woods, biting on the bullet, or the quid, to help +them to forget their hunger. By ten o'clock they arrived at the house of +a brisk young Indian, who had been a servant to the Bishop of Panama, +the man who gave the gold ring to Sawkins. Here they had a feast of yams +and sweet potatoes, boiled into a broth with monkey-meat, a great +comfort to those who were weak and sickly. They built a great fire in +one of the huts, at which they dried their clothes, now falling to +pieces from the continual soakings. They also cleaned their rusty +gun-locks, and dried their powder, talking cheerily together, about the +fire, while the rain roared upon the thatch. They were close beside the +Rio Congo "and thus far," says Dampier, the most intelligent man among +them, "we might have come in our Canoa, if I could have persuaded them +to it." + +As they sat in the hut, in the warmth of the blaze, that rainy May day, +Lionel Wafer met with an accident. He was sitting on the ground, beside +one of the pirates, who was drying his powder, little by little, half a +pound at a time, in a great silver dish, part of the plunder of the +cruise. "A careless Fellow passed by with his Pipe lighted," and dropped +some burning crumb of tobacco on to the powder, which at once blew up. +It scorched Wafer's knee very terribly, tearing off the flesh from the +bone, and burning his leg from the knee to the thigh. Wafer, who was the +surgeon of the party, had a bag full of salves and medicines. He managed +to dress his wounds, and to pass a fairly comfortable night, "and being +unwilling to be left behind by my Companions, I made hard shift to jog +on, and bear them Company," when camp was broken at daybreak. + +Lame as he was, he kept up with his mates all that day, fording rivers +"several times," and crossing country which would tax the strongest man, +in good condition. "The last time we forded the River, it was so deep, +that our tallest Men stood in the deepest place, and handed the sick, +weak and short Men"; by which act of comradeship "we all got over safe." +Two of the pirates, "Robert Spratlin and William Bowman," could get no +farther, and were left behind at the river. Dampier notes that his +"Joint of Bambo, which I stopt at both Ends, closing it with Wax, so as +to keep out any Water," preserved his "Journal and other Writings from +being wet," though he had often to swim for it. + +Drenched and tired, they pitched their huts by the river-bank, poor +Wafer in torment from his knee, and the rest of them hungry and cold. +They had hardly finished their huts, when the river came down in a great +wall of water, some sudden flood, due to a cloud-burst higher up. The +flood sucked away their huts, and forced them to run to higher ground. +They passed that night "straggling in the Woods, some under one Tree, +some under another," with the thunder roaring overhead, and the +lightning making a livid brightness all about them. The rain fell in +torrents, and the pirates were far too wretched to keep watch. "So our +Slaves, taking Opportunity, went away in the Night; all but one, who was +hid in some hole, and knew nothing of their design, or else fell +asleep." Among these slaves was a black man, Lionel Wafer's assistant, +who carried the salves and medicaments. He took these with him when he +slunk away, nor did he forget the "Chirurgeon's Gun and all his Money." +He left poor Wafer destitute there, in the forest, "depriv'd of +wherewithal to dress my sore." + +In the morning, they found that the river had fallen, but not so much as +they had hoped. It was still too deep to ford, and the current ran very +swiftly, but Dampier and some other swimmers managed to swim across. +They then endeavoured to get a line over, by which to ferry the men who +could not swim, and the arms and powder they had left on the other +bank. They decided to send a man back with a line, with instructions to +pass the goods first, and then the men. "One George Gayny took the end +of a Line and made it fast about his Neck, and left the other end +ashore, and one Man stood by the Line, to clear it away to him." When +Gayny was about half way across, the line, which was kinky with the wet, +got entangled. The man who was lighting it out checked it a moment to +take out the kink, or to clear it. The check threw Gayny on his back, +"and he that had the Line in his hand," instead of slacking away, or +hauling in, so as to bring Gayny ashore, "threw it all into the River +after him, thinking he might recover himself." The stream was running +down with great fierceness. Gayny had a bag of 300 dollars on his back, +and this bag, with the weight of the line, dragged him under. He was +carried down, and swept out of sight "and never seen more by us." "This +put a period to that contrivance," adds Dampier grimly. + +As they had no wish to emulate poor Gayny, they sought about "for a Tree +to fell across the River." They cut it down, as soon as they had found +it, "and it reached clean over." The goods and pirates were then crossed +in safety. All hands soon forgot poor Gayny, for they came across a +plantain walk in a clearing, and made a good breakfast, and stripped it +of every fruit. They dismissed their guide here, with the gift of an axe +head, and hired an old Indian to guide them farther towards the North +Sea. The next day they reckoned themselves out of danger, and set forth +cheerily. + +For the last two days Wafer had been in anguish from his burnt knee. As +the pirates made ready to leave their bivouac, on the tenth morning of +the march, he declared that he could not "trudge it further through +Rivers and Woods," with his knee as it was. Two other pirates who were +broken with the going, declared that they, also, were too tired out to +march. There was no talk, among the rest of the band, about shooting the +weary ones, according to the order they had made at starting. Instead of +"putting them out of their misery," they "took a very kind Leave," +giving the broken men such stores as they could spare, and telling them +to keep in good heart, and follow on when they had rested. + +One of Wafer's comrades on this occasion was "Mr Richard Jopson, who had +served an Apprenticeship to a Druggist in London. He was an ingenious +Man, and a good Scholar; he had with him a Greek Testament which he +frequently read, and would translate _extempore_ into _English_, to such +of the Company as were dispos'd to hear him." The other weary man was +John Hingson, a mariner. They watched their mates march away through the +woods, and then turned back, sick at heart, to the shelter of the huts, +where the Indians looked at them sulkily, and flung them green +plantains, "as you would Bones to a Dog." One of the Indians made a mess +of aromatic herbs and dressed Wafer's burn, so that, in three weeks' +time, he could walk. + +Dampier's party marched on through jungle, wading across rivers, which +took them up to the chest, staggering through swamps and bogs, and +clambering over rotten tree trunks, and across thorn brakes. They were +wet and wretched and half starved, for their general food was macaw +berries. Sometimes they killed a monkey, once Dampier killed a turkey, +and once they came to a plantain patch where "we fed plentifully on +plantains, both ripe and green." Their clothes were rotted into shreds, +their boots were fallen to pieces, their feet were blistered and raw, +their legs were mere skinless ulcers from the constant soaking. Their +faces were swelled and bloody from the bites of mosquitoes and +wood-ticks. "Not a Man of us but wisht the Journey at an End." Those who +have seen "Bad Lands," or what is called "timber," or what is called +"bush," will know what the party looked like, when, on the twenty-second +day, they saw the North Sea. The day after that they reached the Rio +Conception, and drifted down to the sea in some canoas, to an Indian +village, built on the beach "for the benefit of Trade with the +Privateers." About nine miles away, the Indians told them, was a French +privateer ship, under one Captain Tristian, lying at La Sounds Key. They +stayed a night at the village, and then went aboard the French ship, +which was careened in a creek, with a brushwood fire on her side, +cleaning away her barnacles for a roving cruise. Here they parted with +their Indian guides, not without sorrow, for it is not pleasant to say +"So Long" to folk with whom one has struggled, and lived, and suffered. +"We were resolved to reward them to their hearts' Content," said +Dampier, much as a cowboy, at the end of the trail, will give sugar to +his horse, as he bids him good-bye. The pirates spent their silver +royally, buying red, blue and green beads, and knives, scissors, and +looking-glasses, from the French pirates. They bought up the entire +stock of the French ship, but even then they felt that they had not +rewarded their guides sufficiently. They therefore subscribed a +half-dollar piece each, in coin, as a sort of makeweight. With the toys, +and the bags of silver, the delighted Indians passed back to the +isthmus, where they told golden stories of the kind whites, so that the +Indians of the Main could not do enough for Wafer, and for the four +pirates left behind on the march. + +Dampier's party had marched in all 110 miles, over the most damnable and +heart-breaking country which the mind of man can imagine. They had +marched "heavy," with their guns and bags of dollars; and this in the +rainy season. They had starved and suffered, and shivered and agonised, +yet they had lost but two men, poor Gayny, who was drowned, and +(apparently) one who had slipped away on the third day of the march. +This man may have been the Spanish Indian. A note in Ringrose's +narrative alludes to the capture of one of Dampier's party by the +Spanish soldiers, and this may have been the man meant. + +Two days later, when the Indian guides had gone, and the privateer was +fit for the sea, they set sail for "the rendezvous of the fleet," which +had been fixed for Springers' Key "another of the Samballoes Isles." +Perhaps the English pirates hove up the anchor, the grand privilege of +the guests, aboard ship, to the old anchor tune, with its mournful and +lovely refrain-- + + "I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid." + +The old band of never-strikes were outward bound on another foray. + +As for Wafer, and his two companions, they stayed with the Indians for +some days, living on plantains (given very grudgingly), and wondering +whether the Indians would kill them. The natives were kindly, as a rule, +to the French and English, but it was now the rainy season, when they +liked to stay in their huts, about their fires. The pirates "had in a +Manner awed the Indian guides they took ... and made them go with them +very much against their Wills." The Indians had resented this act of the +pirates, and as days went by, and the guides did not return, they judged +that the white men had killed them. They prepared "a great Pile of Wood +to burn us," says Wafer, meaning to avenge their fellows, whom they "had +supposed dead." But a friendly old chief dissuaded them from this act, a +few hours before the intended execution. + +While the three were living thus, in doubt whether they would be +speared, or held as slaves, or sold to the Spaniards, the two pirates, +Spratlin and Bowman, who had been left behind at the Rio Congo, arrived +at the village. They had had a terrible journey together, "among the +wild Woods and Rivers," wandering without guides, and living on roots +and plantains. On their way, they had come upon George Gayny "lying dead +in a Creek where the Eddy had driven him ashore," "with the Rope twisted +about him, and his Money at his Neck." They left the body where it lay, +with its sack of silver dollars for which the poor man had come so far, +and suffered so bitterly. They had no use for dollars at that time +"being only in care how to work their way through a wild un-Known +Country." + +After a time, the Indians helped the five men a two days' march on their +journey, and then deserted them, leaving them to find the path by +themselves, with no better guide than a pocket compass. While crossing a +river by the bole of a fallen tree, the man Bowman "a weakly Man, a +Taylor by Trade," slipped into the current, and was carried off, with +"400 Pieces of Eight" in his satchel. He was luckier than poor Gayny, +for he contrived to get out. In time they reached the North Sea, and +came to La Sounds Key, according to the prophecy of an Indian wizard. +Here they found Dampier's sloop, and rejoined their comrades, to the +great delight of all hands. "Mr Wafer wore a clout about him, and was +painted like an Indian," so that "'twas the better Part of an Hour, +before one of the Crew cry'd out Here's our Doctor." There was a great +feast that night at La Sounds Key, much drinking of rum and firing of +small arms, and a grand ringing of bells in honour of the happy return. + +In spite of all they could do, poor Mr Jopson, or Cobson, only lived for +three or four days after he reached the ship. "His Fatigues, and his +Drenching in the Water" had been too much for the poor man. He lay +"languishing" in his cot for a few days, babbling of the drugs of +Bucklersbury, and thumbing his Greek Testament, and at last passed in +his checks, quietly and sadly, and "died there at La Sounds Key." They +buried the poor man in the sands, with very genuine sorrow, and then +bade the Indians adieu, and gave their dead mate a volley of guns, and +so set sail, with the colours at half-mast, for "the more Eastern Isles +of the Samballoes." + +As for Captain Bartholomew Sharp, in the ship the _Trinity_, he +continued to sail the South Seas with the seventy pirates left to him. +Some days after Dampier's party sailed, he took a Guayaquil ship, called +the _San Pedro_, which he had taken fourteen months before off Panama. +Aboard her he found nearly 40,000 pieces of eight, besides silver bars, +and ingots of gold. He also took a great ship called the _San Rosario_, +the richest ship the buccaneers ever captured. She had many chests of +pieces of eight aboard her, and a quantity of wine and brandy. Down in +her hold, bar upon bar, "were 700 pigs of plate," rough silver from the +mines, not yet fitted for the Lima mint. The pirates thought that this +crude silver was tin, and so left it where it lay, in the hold of the +_Rosario_ "which we turned away loose into the sea," with the stuff +aboard her. One pig of the 700 was brought aboard the pirates "to make +bullets of." About two-thirds of it was "melted and squandered," but +some of it was left long afterwards, when the _Trinity_ touched at +Antigua. Here they gave what was left to "a Bristol man," probably in +exchange for a dram of rum. The Bristol man took it home to England "and +sold it there for £75 sterling." "Thus," said Ringrose, "we parted with +the richest booty we got in the whole voyage." Captain Bartholomew Sharp +was responsible for the turning adrift of all this silver. Some of the +pirates had asked leave to hoist it aboard the _Trinity_. But it chanced +that, aboard the _Rosario_, was a Spanish lady, "the beautifullest +Creature" that the "Eyes" of Captain Sharp ever beheld. The amorous +captain was so inflamed by this beauty that he paid no attention to +anything else. + +In a very drunken and quarrelsome condition, the pirates worked the +_Trinity_ round the Horn, and so home to Barbadoes. They did not dare to +land there, for one of the King's frigates, H.M.S. _Richmond_, was lying +at Bridgetown, and the pirates "feared lest the said frigate should +seize us." They bore away to Antigua, where Ringrose, and "thirteen +more," shipped themselves for England. They landed at Dartmouth on the +26th of March 1682. A few more of the company went ashore at Antigua, +and scattered to different haunts. Sharp and a number of pirates landed +at Nevis, from whence they shipped for London. The ship the _Trinity_ +was left to seven of the gang who had diced away all their money. What +became of her is not known. + +Sharp and a number of his men were arrested in London, and tried for +piracy, but the Spanish Ambassador, who brought the charge, was without +evidence and could not obtain convictions. They pleaded that "the +Spaniards fired at us first," and that they had acted only in +self-defence, so they 'scaped hanging, though Sharp admits that they +"were very near it." Three more of the crew were laid by the heels at +Jamaica, and one of these was "wheedled into an open confession," and +condemned, and hanged. "The other two stood it out, and escaped for want +of witnesses." + +Of the four men so often quoted in this narrative, only one, so far as +we know, died a violent death. This was Basil Ringrose, who was shot at +Santa Pecaque a few years later. It is not known how Dampier, Wafer, and +Sharp died, but all lived adventurously, and went a-roving, for many +years after the _Trinity_ dropped her anchor off Antigua. + +They were of that old breed of rover whose port lay always a little +farther on; a little beyond the sky-line. Their concern was not to +preserve life, "but rather to squander it away"; to fling it, like so +much oil, into the fire, for the pleasure of going up in a blaze. If +they lived riotously let it be urged in their favour that at least they +lived. They lived their vision. They were ready to die for what they +believed to be worth doing. We think them terrible. Life itself is +terrible. But life was not terrible to them; for they were comrades; and +comrades and brothers-in-arms are stronger than life. Those who "live at +home at ease" may condemn them. They are free to do so. The old +buccaneers were happier than they. The buccaneers had comrades, and the +strength to live their own lives. They may laugh at those who, lacking +that strength, would condemn them with the hate of impotence. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SHIPS AND RIGS + + Galleys--Dromonds--Galliasses--Pinnaces--Pavesses--Top-arming-- + Banners--Boats + + +Until the reign of Henry VIII. the shipping of these islands was of two +kinds. There were longships, propelled, for the most part, by oars, and +used generally as warships; and there were roundships, or dromonds, +propelled by sails, and used as a rule for the carriage of freight. The +dromond, in war-time, was sometimes converted into a warship, by the +addition of fighting-castles fore and aft. The longship, in peace time, +was no doubt used as a trader, as far as her shallow draught, and small +beam, allowed. + +The longship, or galley, being, essentially, an oar vessel, had to +fulfil certain simple conditions. She had to be light, or men might not +row her. She had to be long, or she might not carry enough oarsmen to +propel her with sufficient swiftness. Her lightness, and lack of +draught, made it impossible for her to carry much provision; while the +number of her oars made it necessary for her to carry a large crew of +rowers, in addition to her soldiers and sail trimmers. It was therefore +impossible for such a ship to keep the seas for any length of time, even +had their build fitted them for the buffetings of the stormy home +waters. For short cruises, coast work, rapid forays, and "shock +tactics," she was admirable; but she could not stray far from a friendly +port, nor put out in foul weather. The roundship, dromond, or cargo +boat, was often little more than two beams long, and therefore far too +slow to compete with ships of the galley type. She could stand heavy +weather better than the galley, and she needed fewer hands, and could +carry more provisions, but she was almost useless as a ship of war. + +In the reign of Henry VIII. the shipwrights of this country began to +build ships which combined something of the strength, and capacity of +the dromond, with the length and fineness of the galley. The ships they +evolved were mainly dependent upon their sails, but they carried a bank +of oars on each side, for use in light weather. The galley, or longship, +had carried guns on a platform at the bows, pointing forward. But these +new vessels carried guns in broadside, in addition to the bow-chasers. +These broadside guns were at first mounted _en barbette_, pointing over +the bulwarks. Early in the sixteenth century the port-hole, with a +hinged lid, was invented, and the guns were then pointed through the +ship's sides. As these ships carried more guns than the galleys, they +were built more strongly, lest the shock of the explosions should shake +them to pieces. They were strong enough to keep the seas in bad weather, +yet they had enough of the galley build to enable them to sail fast when +the oars were laid inboard. It is thought that they could have made as +much as four or five knots an hour. These ships were known as +galliasses,[18] and galleons, according to the proportions between their +lengths and beams. The galleons were shorter in proportion to their +breadth than the galliasses.[19] There was another kind of vessel, the +pinnace, which had an even greater proportionate length than the +galliasse. Of the three kinds, the galleon, being the shortest in +proportion to her breadth, was the least fitted for oar propulsion. + +[Footnote 18: See Charnock's "Marine Architecture."] + +[Footnote 19: See Corbett's "Drake and the Tudor Navy."] + +[Illustration: AN ELIZABETHAN GALLEON] + +During the reign of Elizabeth, the galleon, or great ship, and the +galliasse, or cruiser, grew to gradual perfection, in the hands of our +great sailors. If we look upon the galleon or great ship as the +prototype of the ship of the line, and on the galliasse as the prototype +of the frigate, and on the pinnace as the prototype of the sloop, or +corvette, we shall not be far wrong. They were, of course, in many ways +inferior to the ships which fought in the great French wars, two +centuries later, but their general appearance was similar. The rig was +different, but not markedly so, while the hulls of the ships presented +many points of general likeness. The Elizabethan ships were, however, +very much smaller than most of the rated ships in use in the eighteenth +century. + +[Illustration: A GALLIASSE] + +The galleon, or great ship, at the end of the sixteenth century, was +sometimes of as much as 900 tons. She was generally low in the waist, +with a high square forecastle forward, a high quarter-deck, raised above +the waist, just abaft the main-mast, and a poop above the quarter-deck, +sloping upward to the taffrail. These high outerworks were shut off from +the open waist (the space between the main-mast and the forecastle) by +wooden bulkheads, which were pierced for small, quick-firing guns. Below +the upper, or spar deck, she had a gun-deck, if not more than one, with +guns on each side, and right aft. The galliasse was sometimes +flush-decked, without poop and forecastle, and sometimes built with +both, but she was never so "high charged" as the galleon. The pinnace +was as the galliasse, though smaller. + +The galleon's waist was often without bulwarks, so that when she went +into action it became necessary to give her sail trimmers, and spar-deck +fighting men, some protection from the enemy's shot.[20] Sometimes this +was done by the hauling up of waist-trees, or spars of rough untrimmed +timber, to form a sort of wooden wall. Sometimes they rigged what was +called a top-arming, or top armour, a strip of cloth like the "war +girdle" of the Norse longships, across the unprotected space. This +top-arming was of canvas some two bolts deep (3 feet 6 inches), gaily +painted in designs of red, yellow, green, and white. It gave no +protection against shot, but it prevented the enemy's gunners from +taking aim at the deck, or from playing upon the hatchways with their +murderers and pateraroes. It also kept out boarders, and was a fairly +good shield to catch the arrows and crossbow bolts shot from the enemy's +tops. Sometimes the top-arming was of scantling, or thin plank, in which +case it was called a pavesse. Pavesses were very beautifully painted +with armorial bearings, arranged in shields, a sort of reminiscence of +the old Norse custom of hanging the ship's sides with shields. Another +way was to mask the open space with a ranged hemp cable, which could be +cleared away after the fight. + +[Footnote 20: See Sir W. Monson, "Naval Tracts," and Sir R. Hawkins, +"Observations," etc.] + +The ships were rigged much as they were rigged two centuries later. The +chief differences were in the rigging of the bowsprit and of the two +after masts. Forward the ships had bowsprits, on which each set a +spritsail, from a spritsail yard. The foremast was stepped well forward, +almost over the spring of the cutwater. Generally, but not always, it +was made of a single tree (pine or fir). If it was what was known as "a +made mast," it was built up of two, or three, or four, different trees, +judiciously sawn, well seasoned, and then hooped together. Masts were +pole-masts until early in the reign of Elizabeth, when a fixed topmast +was added. By Drake's time they had learned that a movable topmast was +more useful, and less dangerous for ships sailing in these waters. The +caps and tops were made of elm wood. The sails on the foremast were +foresail and foretop-sail, the latter much the smaller and less +important of the two. They were set on wooden yards, the foreyard and +foretopsail-yard, both of which could be sent on deck in foul weather. +The main-mast was stepped a little abaft the beam, and carried three +sails, the main-sail, the main topsail, and a third, the main +topgallant-sail. This third sail did not set from a yard until many +years after its introduction. It began life like a modern "moon-raker," +a triangular piece of canvas, setting from the truck, or summit of the +topmast, to the yardarm of the main topsail-yard. Up above it, on a +bending light pole, fluttered the great colours, a George's cross of +scarlet on a ground of white. Abaft the main-mast were the mizzen, +carrying one sail, on a lateen yard, one arm of which nearly touched the +deck; and the bonaventure mizzen (which we now call the jigger) rigged +in exactly the same way. Right aft, was a banner pole for the display of +colours. These masts were stepped, stayed, and supported almost exactly +as masts are rigged to-day, though where we use iron, and wire, they +used wood and hemp. The shrouds of the fore and main masts led outboard, +to "chains" or strong platforms projecting from the ship's sides. These +"chains" were clamped to the ship's sides with rigid links of iron. The +shrouds of the after masts were generally set up within the bulwarks. On +each mast, just above the lower yard, yet below the masthead, was a +fighting-top built of elm wood and gilded over. It was a little +platform, resting on battens, and in ancient times it was circular, with +a diameter of perhaps six or seven feet. It had a parapet round it, +inclining outboard, perhaps four feet in height. It was entered by a +lubber's hole in the flooring, through which the shrouds passed. In each +top was an arm chest containing Spanish darts, crossbows, longbows, +arrows, bolts, and perhaps granadoes. When the ship went into battle a +few picked marksmen were stationed in the tops with orders to search +the enemy's decks with their missiles, particularly the afterparts, +where the helmsman stood. In later days the tops were armed with light +guns, of the sorts known as slings and fowlers; but top-fighting with +firearms was dangerous, as the gunners carried lighted matches, and +there was always a risk of sparks, from the match, or from the wads, +setting fire to the sails. The running rigging was arranged much as +running rigging is arranged to-day, though its quality, in those times, +was probably worse than nowadays. The rope appears to have been very +fickle stuff which carried away under slight provocation. The blocks +were bad, for the sheaves were made of some comparatively soft wood, +which swelled, when wet, and jammed. Lignum vitę was not used for +block-sheaves until after the Dutch War in Cromwell's time. Iron blocks +were in use in the time of Henry VIII. but only as fair-leads for chain +topsail sheets, and as snatches for the boarding of the "takkes." The +shrouds and stays, were of hawser stuff, extremely thick nine-stranded +hemp; and all those parts exposed to chafing (as from a sail, or a rope) +were either served, or neatly covered up with matting. The matting was +made by the sailors, of rope, or white line, plaited curiously. When in +its place it was neatly painted, or tarred, much as one may see it in +Norwegian ships at the present day. The yardarms, and possibly the +chains, were at one time fitted with heavy steel sickles, projecting +outboard, which were kept sharp, so that, when running alongside an +enemy, they might cut her rigging to pieces. These sickles were known as +sheer-hooks. They were probably of little use, for they became obsolete +before the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. + +[Illustration: AN ELIZABETHAN GALLEON] + +Most of the sails used in these old ships were woven in Portsmouth on +hand-looms. The canvas was probably of good quality, as good perhaps as +the modern stout No. 1, for hand-woven stuff is always tighter, +tougher, better put together, than that woven by the big steam-loom. +It was at one time the custom to decorate the sail, with a design of +coloured cloth, cut out, as one cuts out a paper pattern, and stitched +upon its face with sail twine. In the royal ships this design was of +lions rampant, cut out of scarlet say. The custom of carrying such +coloured canvas appears to have died out by the end of the sixteenth +century. Perhaps flag signalling had come into vogue making it necessary +to abandon anything that might tend to confuse the colours. About the +same time we abandoned the custom of making our ships gay with little +flags, of red and white linen, in guidons like those on a trooper's +lance. All through the Tudor reigns our ships carried them, but for some +reason the practice was allowed to die out. A last relic of it still +flutters on blue water in the little ribbons of the wind-vane, on the +weather side the poop, aboard sailing ships. + +The great ship carried three boats, which were stowed on chocks in the +waist, just forward of the main-mast, one inside the other when not in +use. The boats were, the long boat, a large, roomy boat with a movable +mast; the cock, cog or cok boat, sometimes called the galley-watt; and +the whale, or jolly boat, a sort of small balenger, with an iron-plated +bow, which rowed fourteen oars. It was the custom to tow one or more of +these boats astern, when at sea, except in foul weather, much as one may +see a brig, or a topsail schooner, to-day, with a dinghy dragging +astern. The boat's coxswain stayed in her as she towed, making her +clean, fending her off, and looking out for any unfortunate who chanced +to fall overboard. + + _Authorities._--W. Charnock: "History of Marine Architecture." + Julian Corbett: "Drake and the Tudor Navy." A. Jal: "Archeologie + Navale"; "Glossaire Nautique." Sir W. Monson: "Naval Tracts." Sir H. + Nicholas: "History of the Royal Navy." M. Oppenheim: "History of the + Administration of the Royal Navy"; "Naval Inventories of the Reign + of Henry VII." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +GUNS AND GUNNERS + + Breech-loaders--Cartridges--Powder--The gunner's art + + +Cannon were in use in Europe, it is thought, in the eleventh century; +for the art of making gunpowder came westward, from China, much earlier +than people have supposed. It is certain that gunpowder was used "in +missiles," before it was used to propel them. The earliest cannon were +generally of forged iron built in strips secured by iron rings. They +were loaded by movable chambers which fitted into the breech, and they +were known as "crakys of war." We find them on English ships at the end +of the fourteenth century, in two kinds, the one a cannon proper, the +other an early version of the harquebus-a-croc. The cannon was a mere +iron tube, of immense strength, bound with heavy iron rings. The rings +were shrunken on to the tube in the ordinary way. The tube, when ready, +was bolted down to a heavy squared beam of timber on the ship's deck. It +was loaded by the insertion of the "gonne-chambre," an iron pan, +containing the charge, which fitted into, and closed the breech. This +gonne-chambre was wedged in firmly by a chock of elm wood beaten in with +a mallet. Another block of wood, fixed in the deck behind it, kept it +from flying out with any violence when the shot was fired. Cannon of +this sort formed the main armament of ships until after the reign of +Henry the Eighth. They fired stone cannon-balls, "pellettes of lead, and +dyce of iron." Each gun had some half-dozen chambers, so that the +firing from them may have been rapid, perhaps three rounds a minute. The +powder was not kept loose in tubs, near the guns, but neatly folded in +conical cartridges, made of canvas or paper (or flannel) which practice +prevailed for many years. All ships of war carried "pycks for hewing +stone-shott," though after 1490, "the iron shott callyd bowletts," and +their leaden brothers, came into general use. The guns we have +described, were generally two or four pounders, using from half-a-pound, +to a pound and a quarter, of powder, at each discharge. The carriage, or +bed, on which they lay, was usually fitted with wheels at the rear end +only. + +The other early sea-cannon, which we have mentioned, were also +breech-loading. They were mounted on a sort of iron wheel, at the summit +of a stout wooden staff, fixed in the deck, or in the rails of the poop +and forecastle. They were of small size, and revolved in strong iron +pivot rings, so that the man firing them might turn them in any +direction he wished. They were of especial service in sweeping the +waist, the open spar-deck, between the breaks of poop and forecastle, +when boarders were on board. They threw "base and bar-shot to murder +near at hand"; but their usual ball was of stone, and for this reason +they were called petrieroes, and petrieroes-a-braga. The +harquebus-a-croc, a weapon almost exactly similar, threw small cross-bar +shot "to cut Sails and Rigging." In Elizabethan times it was carried in +the tops of fighting ships, and on the rails and gunwales of +merchantmen. + +In the reign of Henry VIII., a ship called the _Mary Rose_, of 500 tons, +took part in the battle with the French, in St Helens Roads, off +Brading. It was a sultry summer day, almost windless, when the action +began, and the _Mary Rose_ suffered much (being unable to stir) from the +gun-fire of the French galleys. At noon, when a breeze sprang up, and +the galleys drew off, the _Mary Rose_ sent her men to dinner. Her lower +ports, which were cut too low down, were open, and the wind heeled her +over, so that the sea rushed in to them. She sank in deep water, in a +few moments, carrying with her her captain, and all the gay company on +board. In 1836 some divers recovered a few of her cannon, of the kinds +we have described, some of brass, some of iron. The iron guns had been +painted red and black. Those of brass, in all probability, had been +burnished, like so much gold. These relics may be seen by the curious, +at Woolwich, in the Museum of Ordnance, to which they were presented by +their salver. + +In the reign of Elizabeth, cannon were much less primitive, for a great +advance took place directly men learned the art of casting heavy guns. +Until 1543, they had forged them; a painful process, necessarily limited +to small pieces. After that year they cast them round a core, and by +1588 they had evolved certain general types of ordnance which remained +in use, in the British Navy, almost unchanged, until after the Crimean +War. The Elizabethan breech-loaders, and their methods, have now been +described, but a few words may be added with reference to the +muzzle-loaders. The charge for these was contained in cartridges, +covered with canvas, or "paper royall" (_i.e._ parchment), though the +parchment used to foul the gun at each discharge. Burning scraps of it +remained in the bore, so that, before reloading, the weapon had to be +"wormed," or scraped out, with an instrument like an edged corkscrew. A +tampion, or wad, of oakum or the like, was rammed down between the +cartridge and the ball, and a second wad kept the ball in place. When +the gun was loaded the gunner filled the touch-hole with his priming +powder, from a horn he carried in his belt, after thrusting a sharp +wire, called the priming-iron, down the touch-hole, through the +cartridge, so that the priming powder might have direct access to the +powder of the charge. He then sprinkled a little train of powder along +the gun, from the touch-hole to the base-ring, for if he applied the +match directly to the touch-hole the force of the explosion was liable +to blow his linstock from his hand. In any case the "huff" or "spit" of +fire, from the touch-hole, burned little holes, like pock-marks, in the +beams overhead. The match was applied smartly, with a sharp drawing back +of the hand, the gunner stepping quickly aside to avoid the recoil. He +stepped back, and stood, on the side of the gun opposite to that on +which the cartridges were stored, so that there might be no chance of a +spark from his match setting fire to the ammunition. Spare match, newly +soaked in saltpetre water, lay coiled in a little tub beside the gun. +The cartridges, contained in latten buckets, were placed in a barrel by +the gun and covered over with a skin of leather. The heavy shot were +arranged in shot racks, known as "gardens," and these were ready to the +gunner's hand, with "cheeses" of tampions or wads. The wads were made of +soft wood, oakum, hay, straw, or "other such like." The sponges and +rammers were hooked to the beams above the gun ready for use. The +rammers were of hard wood, shod with brass, "to save the Head from +cleaving." The sponges were of soft fast wood, "As Aspe, Birch, Willow, +or such like," and had heads covered with "rough Sheepes skinne wooll," +nailed to the staff with "Copper nayles." "Ladels," or powder shovels, +for the loading of guns, were seldom used at sea. + +The guns were elevated or depressed by means of handspikes and quoins. +Quoins were blocks of wood, square, and wedge-shaped, with ring-hooks +screwed in them for the greater ease of handling. Two of the gun's crew +raised the base of the cannon upon their handspikes, using the "steps" +of the gun carriage as their fulcra. A third slid a quoin along the +"bed" of the carriage, under the gun, to support it at the required +height. The recoil of the gun on firing, was often very violent, but it +was limited by the stout rope called the breeching, which ran round the +base of the gun, from each side of the port-hole, and kept it from +running back more than its own length. When it had recoiled it was in +the position for sponging and loading, being kept from running out +again, with the roll of the ship, by a train, or preventer tackle, +hooked to a ring-bolt in amidships. In action, particularly in violent +action, the guns became very hot, and "kicked" dangerously. Often they +recoiled with such force as to overturn, or to snap the breeching, or to +leap up to strike the upper beams. Brass guns were more skittish than +iron, but all guns needed a rest of two or three hours, if possible, +after continual firing for more than eight hours at a time. To cool a +gun in action, to keep it from bursting, or becoming red-hot, John +Roberts advises sponging "with spunges wet in ley and water, or water +and vinegar, or with the coolest fresh or salt water, bathing and +washing her both within and without." This process "if the Service is +hot, as it was with us at Bargen" should be repeated, "every eighth or +tenth shot." The powder in use for cannon was called Ordnance or +Corne-powder. It was made in the following proportion. To every five +pounds of refined saltpetre, one pound of good willow, or alder, +charcoal, and one pound of fine yellow sulphur. The ingredients were +braised together in a mortar, moistened with water distilled of orange +rinds, or aqua-vitę, and finally dried and sifted. It was a bright, +"tawny blewish colour" when well made. Fine powder, for muskets or +priming seems to have had a greater proportion of saltpetre. + +The Naval Tracts of Sir W. Monson, contain a list of the sorts of cannon +mounted in ships of the time of Queen Elizabeth. It is not exhaustive, +but as Robert Norton and Sir Jonas Moore give similar lists, the curious +may check the one with the other. + + Weight Weight Weight Point Length + Bore of of of Blank Random in + Cannon Shot Powder Range Feet + + ins. lb. lb. lb. paces paces + Cannon Royal or + Double Cannon 8½ 8000 66 30 800 1930 M.L. 12 + Cannon or + Whole Cannon 8 6000 60 27 770 2000 " 11 + Cannon Serpentine 7 5500 53½ 25 200 2000 " 10 + Bastard Cannon 7 4500 41½ 20 180 1800 " 10 + Demi-Cannon 6½-7 4000 33½ 18 170 1700 " 10 + Cannon Petro or + Cannon Perier 6 4000 24½ 14 160 1600 " 4 + Culverin 5-5½ 4500 17½ 12 200 2500 " 13 + Basilisk 5 4000 15 10 230 3000 " 4 + Demi-Culverin 4 3400 9½ 8 200 2500 " 11 + Bastard Culverin 4 3000 7 5¾ 170 1700 " 11 + Saker 3½ 1400 5½ 5½ 170 1700 " 9 or 10 + Minion 3½ 1000 4 4 170 1700 " 8 + Falcon 2½ 660 3 3 150 1500 " 7 + Falconet 2 500 1½ 1¼ 150 1500 " 6½ + Serpentine 1½ 400 ¾ ¾ 140 1400 " 4½ + Rabinet 1 300 ½ ½ 120 1000 " 2½ + +To these may be added bases, port pieces, stock fowlers, slings, half +slings, and three-quarter slings, breech-loading guns ranging from five +and a half to one-inch bore. + +Other firearms in use in our ships at sea were the matchlock musket, +firing a heavy double bullet, and the harquabuse[21] or arquebus, which +fired a single bullet. The musket was a heavy weapon, and needed a rest, +a forked staff, to support the barrel while the soldier aimed. This +staff the musketeer lashed to his wrist, with a cord, so that he might +drag it after him from place to place. The musket was fired with a +match, which the soldier lit from a cumbrous pocket fire-carrier. The +harquabuse was a lighter gun, which was fired without a rest, either by +a wheel-lock (in which a cog-wheel, running on pyrites, caused sparks to +ignite the powder), or by the match and touch-hole. Hand firearms were +then common enough, and came to us from Italy, shortly after 1540. They +were called Daggs. They were wheel-locks, wild in firing, short, heavy, +and beautifully wrought. Sometimes they carried more than one barrel, +and in some cases they were made revolving. They were most useful in a +hand-to-hand encounter, as with footpads, or boarders; but they were +useless at more than ten paces. A variation from them was the +hand-cannon or blunderbuss, with a bell-muzzle, which threw rough slugs +or nails. In Elizabethan ships the musketeers sometimes fired short, +heavy, long-headed, pointed iron arrows from their muskets, a missile +which flew very straight, and penetrated good steel armour. They had +also an infinity of subtle fireworks, granadoes and the like, with which +to set their opponents on fire. These they fired from the bombard +pieces, or threw from the tops, or cage-works. Crossbows and longbows +went to sea, with good store of Spanish bolts and arrows, until the end +of Elizabeth's reign, though they were, perhaps, little used after 1590. +The gunner had charge of them, and as, in a way, the gunner was a sort +of second captain, sometimes taking command of the ship, we cannot do +better than to quote from certain old books concerning his duties on +board. Mr W. Bourne, the son of an eminent mathematician, has left a +curious little book on "The Arte of Shooting in Great Ordnance," first +published in London, in 1587, the year before the Armada. Its author, W. +Bourne, was at one time a gunner of the bulwark at Gravesend. The art of +shooting in great guns did not improve very much during the century +following; nor did the guns change materially. The breech-loading, +quick-firing guns fell out of use as the musket became more handy; but +otherwise the province of the gunner changed hardly at all. It is not +too much to say that gunners of Nelson's time, might have studied some +of Bourne's book with profit. + +[Footnote 21: or caliver.] + +"As for gunners that do serve by the Sea, [they] must observe this order +following. First that they do foresee that all their great Ordnannce be +fast breeched, and foresee that all their geare be handsome and in a +readinesse. & Furthermore that they be very circumspect about their +Pouder in the time of service, and especially beware of their lint +stockes & candels for feare of their Pouder, & their fireworks, & their +Ducum [or priming powder], which is very daungerous, and much to be +feared. Then furthermore, that you do keep your peeces as neer as you +can, dry within, and also that you keep their tutch-holes cleane, +without any kind of drosse falling into them." + +The gunners were also to know the "perfect dispart" of their pieces: +that is they were to make a calculation which would enable them in +sighting, to bring "the hollow of the peece," not the outer muzzle rim, +"right against the marke." In the case of a breech-loader this could not +be done by art, with any great exactness, "but any reasonable man (when +he doth see the peece and the Chamber) may easily know what he must doe, +as touching those matters." In fighting at sea, in anything like a +storm, with green seas running, so that "the Shippes do both heave and +set" the gunner was to choose a gun abaft the main-mast, on the lower +orlop, "if the shippe may keepe the porte open," as in that part of the +vessel the motion would be least apparent. + +"Then if you doe make a shotte at another Shippe, you must be sure to +have a good helme-man, that can stirre [steer] steady, taking some marke +of a Cloude that is above by the Horizon, or by the shadowe of the +Sunne, or by your standing still, take some marke of the other shippe +through some hole, or any such other like. Then he that giveth levell +[takes aim] must observe this: first consider what disparte his piece +must have, then lay the peece directly with that parte of the Shippe +that he doth meane to shoote at: then if the Shippe bee under the lee +side of your Shippe, shoote your peece in the comming downe of the +Gayle, and the beginning of the other Ship to rise upon the Sea, as near +as you can, for this cause, for when the other shippe is aloft upon the +Sea, and shee under your Lee, the Gayle maketh her for to head, and then +it is likest to do much good." + +The helmsman also was to have an eye to the enemy, to luff when she +luffed, and "putte roomer," or sail large, when he saw her helmsman put +the helm up. If the enemy made signs that she was about to lay the ship +aboard, either by loosing more sail, or altering her course, the gunner +had to remember certain things. + +"If the one doe meane to lay the other aboorde, then they do call up +their company either for to enter or to defend: and first, if that they +doe meane for to enter ... then marke where that you doe see anye +Scottles for to come uppe at, as they will stande neere thereaboutes, to +the intente for to be readie, for to come uppe under the Scottles: there +give levell with your Fowlers, or Slinges, or Bases, for there you shall +be sure to do moste good, then further more, if you doe meane for to +enter him, then give level with your fowlers and Port peeces, where you +doe see his chiefest fight of his Shippe is, and especially be sure to +have them charged, and to shoote them off at the first boording of the +Shippes, for then you shall be sure to speede. And furthermore, mark +where his men have most recourse, then discharge your Fowlers and Bases. +And furthermore for the annoyance of your enemie, if that at the +boording that the Shippes lye therefore you may take away their +steeradge with one of your great peeces, that is to shoote at his +Rother, and furthermore at his mayne maste and so foorth." + +The ordering of cannon on board a ship was a matter which demanded a +nice care. The gunner had to see that the carriages were so made as to +allow the guns to lie in the middle of the port. The carriage wheels, or +trocks, were not to be too high, for if they were too high they hindered +the mariners, when they ran the cannon out in action (_Norton_, _Moore_, +_Bourne_, _Monson_). Moreover, if the wheels were very large, and the +ship were heeled over, the wheel rims would grind the ship's side +continually, unless large skids were fitted to them. And if the wheels +were large they gave a greater fierceness to the impetus of the recoil, +when the piece was fired. The ports were to be rather "deepe uppe and +downe" than broad in the traverse, and it was very necessary that the +lower port-sill should not be too far from the deck, "for then the +carriage muste bee made verye hygh, and that is verye evill" (_Bourne_). +The short cannon were placed low down, at the ship's side, because short +cannon were more easily run in, and secured, when the ports were closed, +owing to the ship's heeling, or the rising of the sea. A short gun, +projecting its muzzle through the port, was also less likely to catch +the outboard tackling of the sails, such as "Sheetes and Tackes, or the +Bolynes." And for these reasons any very long guns were placed astern, +or far forward, as bow, or stern chasers. It was very necessary that the +guns placed at the stern should be long guns, for the tall poops of the +galleons overhung the sea considerably. If the gun, fired below the +overhang, did not project beyond the woodwork, it was liable to "blowe +up the Counter of the Shyppes Sterne," to the great detriment of gilt +and paint. Some ships cut their stern ports down to the deck, and +continued the deck outboard, by a projecting platform. The guns were run +out on to this platform, so that the muzzles cleared the overhang. These +platforms were the originals of the quarter-galleries, in which, some +centuries later, the gold-laced admirals took the air (_Bourne_). + +Sir Jonas Moore, who published a translation of Moretti's book on +artillery, in 1683, added to his chapters some matter relating to +sea-gunners, from the French of Denis Furnier. + +"The Gunner, whom they call in the _Straights Captain_, +_Master-Canoneer_, and in _Bretagne_ and _Spain_, and in other places +_Connestable_, is one of the principal Officers in the Ship; it is he +alone with the Captain who can command the Gunners. He ought to be a man +of courage, experience, and vigilant, who knows the goodness of a Peece +of Ordnance, the force of Powder, and who also knows how to mount a +Peece of Ordnance upon its carriage, and to furnish it with Bolts, +Plates, Hooks, Capsquares [to fit over the Trunnions on which the gun +rested] Axletrees and Trucks, and that may not reverse too much; to +order well its Cordage as Breeching [which stopped the recoil] and +Tackling [by which it was run out or in]; to plant the Cannon to purpose +in the middle of its Port; to know how to unclow[22] it [cast it loose +for action], make ready his Cartridges, and to have them ready to pass +from hand to hand through the Hatches, and to employ his most careful +men in that affair; that he have care of all, that, he be ready +everywhere to assist where necessity shall be; and take care that all be +made to purpose. + +[Footnote 22: This word unclow may be a misprint for uncloy. To uncloy +was to get rid of the spike, or soft metal nail, thrust into a piece's +touch-hole by an enemy. It was done by oiling the spike all over, so as +to make it "glib," and then blowing it out, from within, by a train of +powder.] + +"He and his Companions [the gunner's mates] ought with their dark +Lanthornes continually to see if the Guns play, and if the Rings in +Ships do not shake." (That is, a strict watch was to be kept, at night, +when at sea in stormy weather, to see that the cannon did not work or +break loose, and that the ring-bolts remained firm in their places.) + +"If there be necessity of more Cordage, and to see that the Beds and +Coins be firm and in good order; when the Ship comes to Anker, he +furnisheth Cordage, and takes care that all his Companions take their +turn [stand their watch] and quarters, that continually every evening +they renew their priming Powder [a horn of fine dry powder poured into +the touch-holes of loaded cannon, to communicate the fire to the +charge], and all are obliged to visit their Cannon Powder every eight +dayes, to see if it hath not receiv'd wet, although they be well stopped +a top with Cork and Tallow; to see that the Powder-Room be kept neat and +clean, and the Cartridges ranged in good order, each nature or Calibre +by itself, and marked above in great Letters the weight of the Powder +and nature of the Peece to which it belongs, and to put the same mark +over the Port-hole of the Peece; that the Linstocks [_or forked staves +of wood, about two and a half feet long, on which the match was +carried_] be ready, and furnished with Match [_or cotton thread, boiled +in ashes-lye and powder, and kept smouldering, with a red end, when in +use_], and to have alwaies one lighted, and where the Cannoneer makes +his Quarter to have two one above another below [_this last passage is a +little obscure, but we take it to mean that at night, when the gunner +slept in his cabin, a lighted match was to be beside him, but that in +the gun-decks below and above his cabin (which was in the half-deck) lit +matches were to be kept ready for immediate use, by those who kept +watch_], that his Granadoes [_black clay, or thick glass bottles, +filled with priming powder, and fired by a length of tow, well soaked in +saltpetre water_] and Firepots [_balls of hard tar, sulphur-meal and +rosin, kneaded together and fired by a priming of bruised powder_] be in +readiness, and 3 or 400 Cartridges ready fill'd, Extrees [?] and Trucks +[_wheels_] to turn often over the Powder Barrels that the Powder do not +spoil; to have a care of Rings [_ring-bolts_] and of the Ports [he here +means port-lids] that they have their Pins and small Rings." + +Sir William Monson adds that the gunner was to acquaint himself with the +capacities of every known sort of firearm, likely to be used at sea. He +also gives some professional hints for the guidance of gunners. He tells +us (and Sir Richard Hawkins confirms him) that no sea-cannon ought to be +more than seven or eight feet long; that they ought not to be +taper-bored, nor honey-combed within the bore, and that English +ordnance, the best in Europe, was sold in his day for twelve pounds a +ton. + +In Boteler's time the gunner commanded a gang, or crew, who ate and +slept in the gun-room, which seems in those days to have been the +magazine. He had to keep a careful account of the expenditure of his +munitions, and had orders "not to make any shot without the Knowledge +and order of the captain." + + _Authorities._--N. Boteler: "Six Dialogues." W. Bourne: "The Art of + Shooting in Great Ordnance"; "Regiment for the Sea"; "Mariner's + Guide." Sir W. Monson: "Naval Tracts." Sir Jonas Moore. R. Norton: + "The Gunner." John Roberts: "Complete Cannoneer." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SHIP'S COMPANY + + Captain--Master--Lieutenant--Warrant officers--Duties and privileges + + +By comparing Sir Richard Hawkins' "Observations" and Sir W. Monson's +"Tracts" with Nicolas Boteler's "Dialogical Discourses," we find that +the duties of ship's officers changed hardly at all from the time of the +Armada to the death of James I. Indeed they changed hardly at all until +the coming of the steamship. In modern sailing ships the duties of some +of the supernumeraries are almost exactly as they were three centuries +ago. + +The captain was the supreme head of the ship, empowered to displace any +inferior officer except the master (_Monson_). He was not always +competent to navigate (_ibid._), but as a rule he had sufficient science +to check the master's calculations. He was expected to choose his own +lieutenant (_ibid._), to keep a muster-book, and a careful account of +the petty officer's stores (_Monson_ and _Sir Richard Hawkins_), and to +punish any offences committed by his subordinates. + +A lieutenant seems to have been unknown in ships of war until the early +seventeenth century. He ranked above the master, and acted as the +captain's proxy, or ambassador, "upon any occasion of Service" +(_Monson_). In battle he commanded on the forecastle, and in the forward +half of the ship. He was restrained from meddling with the master's +duties, lest "Mischiefs and factions" should ensue. Boteler adds that a +lieutenant ought not to be "too fierce in his Way at first ... but to +carry himself with Moderation and Respect to the Master Gunner, +Boatswain, and the other Officers." + +The master was the ship's navigator, responsible for the performance of +"the ordinary Labours in the ship." He took the height of the sun or +stars "with his Astrolabe, Backstaff or Jacob's-staff" (_Boteler_). He +saw that the watches were kept at work, and had authority to punish +misdemeanants (_Monson_). Before he could hope for employment he had to +go before the authorities at Trinity House, to show his "sufficiency" in +the sea arts (_Monson_). + +The pilot, or coaster, was junior to the master; but when he was +bringing the vessel into port, or over sands, or out of danger, the +master had no authority to interfere with him (_Monson_). He was +sometimes a permanent official, acting as junior navigator when the ship +was out of soundings (_Hawkins_), but more generally he was employed +temporarily, as at present, to bring a ship into or out of port +(_Monson_ and _Boteler_). + +The ship's company was drilled by a sort of junior lieutenant +(_Boteler_), known as the corporal, who was something between a +master-at-arms and a captain of marines. He had charge of the small +arms, and had to see to it that the bandoliers for the musketmen were +always filled with dry cartridges, and that the muskets and "matches" +were kept neat and ready for use in the armoury (_Monson_). He drilled +the men in the use of their small arms, and also acted as muster master +at the setting and relieving of the watch. + +The gunner, whose duties we have described at length, was privileged to +alter the ship's course in action, and may even have taken command +during a chase, or running fight. He was assisted by his mates, who +commanded the various batteries while in action, and aimed and fired +according to his directions. + +The boatswain, the chief seaman of the crew, was generally an old sailor +who had been much at sea, and knew the whole art of seamanship. He had +charge of all the sea-stores, and "all the Ropes belonging to the +Rigging [more especially the fore-rigging], all her Cables, and Anchors; +all her Sayls, all her Flags, Colours, and Pendants;[23] and so to stand +answerable for them" (_Boteler_). He was captain of the long boat, which +was stowed on the booms or spare spars between the fore and main masts. +He had to keep her guns clean, her oars, mast, sails, stores, and water +ready for use, and was at all times to command and steer her when she +left the ship (_Hawkins_). He carried a silver whistle, or call, about +his neck, which he piped in various measures before repeating the +master's orders (_Monson_). The whistle had a ball at one end, and was +made curved, like a letter S laid sideways. The boatswain, when he had +summoned all hands to their duty, was expected to see that they worked +well. He kept them quiet, and "at peace one with another," probably by +knocking together the heads of those disposed to quarrel. Lastly, he was +the ship's executioner, his mates acting as assistants, and at his +hands, under the supervision of the marshal, the crew received their +"red-checked shirts," and such bilboed solitude as the captain might +direct. + +[Footnote 23: He had to hang out the ship's colours on going into action +(_Monson_).] + +The coxswain was the commander of the captain's row barge which he had +to keep clean, freshly painted and gilded, and fitted with the red and +white flag--"and when either the Captain or any Person of Fashion is to +use the Boat, or be carryed too and again from the Ship, he is to have +the Boat trimmed with her Cushions and Carpet and himself is to be ready +to steer her out of her Stern [in the narrow space behind the back board +of the stern-sheets] and with his Whistle to chear up and direct his +Gang of Rowers, and to keep them together when they are to wait: and +this is the lowest Officer in a Ship, that is allowed to carry a +Whistle" (_Boteler_). The coxswain had to stay in his barge when she +towed astern at sea, and his office, therefore, was often very wretched, +from the cold and wet. He had to see that his boat's crew were at all +times clean in their persons, and dressed alike, in as fine a livery as +could be managed (_Monson_). He was to choose them from the best men in +the ship, from the "able and handsome men" (_Monson_). He had to +instruct them to row together, and to accustom the port oarsmen to pull +starboard from time to time. He also kept his command well caulked, and +saw the chocks and skids secure when his boat was hoisted to the deck. + +The quartermasters and their mates had charge of the hold (_Monson_), +and kept a sort of check upon the steward in his "delivery of the +Victuals to the Cook, and in his pumping and drawing of the Beer" +(_Boteler_). In far later times they seem to have been a rating of +elderly and sober seamen who took the helm, two and two together, in +addition to their other duties. In the Elizabethan ship they +superintended the stowage of the ballast, and were in charge below, over +the ballast shifters, when the ships were laid on their sides to be +scraped and tallowed. They also had to keep a variety of fish hooks +ready, in order to catch any fish, such as sharks or bonitos. + +The purser was expected to be "an able Clerk" (_Monson_) for he had to +keep an account of all provisions received from the victualler. He kept +the ship's muster-book, with some account of every man borne upon it. He +made out passes, or pay-tickets for discharged men (_ibid._), and, +according to _Boteler_, he was able "to purse up roundly for himself" by +dishonest dealing. The purser (_Boteler_ says the cook) received 6d. a +month from every seaman, for "Wooden Dishes, Cans, Candles, Lanthorns, +and Candlesticks for the Hold" (_Monson_). It was also his office to +superintend the steward, in the serving out of the provisions and other +necessaries to the crew. + +The steward was the purser's deputy (_Monson_). He had to receive "the +full Mass of Victual of all kinds," and see it well stowed in the hold, +the heavy things below, the light things up above (_Boteler_). He had +charge of all the candles, of which those old dark ships used a +prodigious number. He kept the ship's biscuits or bread, in the +bread-room, a sort of dark cabin below the gun-deck. He lived a life of +comparative retirement, for there was a "several part in the Hold, which +is called the Steward's room, where also he Sleeps and Eats" +(_Boteler_). He weighed out the provisions for the crew, "to the several +Messes in the Ship," and was cursed, no doubt, by every mariner, for a +cheating rogue in league with the purser. Though Hawkins tells us that +it was his duty "with discretion and good tearmes to give satisfaction +to all." + +The cook did his office in a cook-room, or galley, placed in the +forecastle or "in the Hatchway upon the first Orlope" (_Boteler_). The +floor of the galley was not at that time paved with brick or stone, as +in later days, and now. It was therefore very liable to take fire, +especially in foul weather, when the red embers were shaken from the +ash-box of the range. It was the cook's duty to take the provisions from +the steward, both flesh and fish, and to cook them, by boiling, until +they were taken from him (_Monson_). It was the cook's duty to steep the +salt meat in water for some days before using, as the meat was thus +rendered tender and fit for human food (_Smith_). He had the rich +perquisite of the ship's fat, which went into his slush tubs, to bring +him money from the candlemakers. The firewood he used was generally +green, if not wet, so that when he lit his fire of a morning, he +fumigated the fo'c's'le with bitter smoke. It was his duty to pour water +on his fire as soon as the guns were cast loose for battle. Every day, +for the saving of firewood, and for safety, he had to extinguish his +fire directly the dinner had been cooked, nor was he allowed to relight +it, "but in case of necessity, as ... when the Cockswain's Gang came wet +aboard" (_Monson_). He would allow his cronies in the forenoons to dry +their wet gear at his fire, and perhaps allow them, in exchange for a +bite or sup, to cook any fish they caught, or heat a can of drink. + +Another supernumerary was the joiner, a rating only carried in the +seventeenth century on great ships with much fancy work about the poop. +He it was who repaired the gilt carvings in the stern-works, and made +the bulkheads for the admiral's cabin. He was a decorator and +beautifier, not unlike the modern painter, but he was to be ready at all +times to knock up lockers for the crew, to make boxes and chests for the +gunner, and bulkheads, of thin wood, to replace those broken by the +seas. As a rule the work of the joiner was done by the carpenter, a much +more important person, who commanded some ten or twelve junior workmen. +The carpenter was trusted with the pumps, both hand and chain, and with +the repairing of the woodwork throughout the vessel. He had to be +super-excellent in his profession, for a wooden ship was certain to tax +his powers. She was always out of repair, always leaking, always +springing her spars. In the summer months, if she were not being +battered by the sea, she was getting her timber split by cannon-shot. In +the winter months, when laid up and dismantled in the dockyard, she was +certain to need new planks, beams, inner fittings and spars (_Hawkins_). +The carpenter had to do everything for her, often with grossly +insufficient means, and it was of paramount importance that his +work-room in the orlop should be fitted with an excellent tool chest. He +had to provide the "spare Pieces of Timber wherewith to make Fishes, for +to strengthen and succour the Masts." He had to superintend the purchase +of a number of spare yards, already tapered, and bound with iron, to +replace those that "should chance to be broken." He was to see these +lashed to the ship's sides, within board, or stopped in the rigging +(_Monson_ and _Boteler_). He had to have all manner of gudgeons for the +rudder, every sort of nuts or washers for the pumps, and an infinity of +oakum, sheet lead, soft wood, spare canvas, tallow, and the like, with +which to stop leaks, or to caulk the seams. In his stores he took large +quantities of lime, horse hair, alum, and thin felt with which to wash +and sheathe the ship's bottom planking (_Monson_). The alum was often +dissolved in water, and splashed over spars and sails, before a battle, +as it was supposed to render them non-inflammable. It was his duty, +moreover, to locate leaks, either by observing the indraught (which was +a tedious way), or by placing his ear to a little earthen pot inverted +against one of the planks in the hold. This little pot caused him to +hear the water as it gurgled in, and by moving it to and fro he could +locate the hole with considerable certainty (_Boteler_). He had to rig +the pumps for the sailors, and to report to the captain the depth of +water the ship made daily. The pumps were of two kinds, one exactly like +that in use on shore, the other, of the same principle, though more +powerful. The second kind was called the chain-pump, because "these +Pumps have a Chain of Burs going in a Wheel." They were worked with long +handles, called brakes (because they broke sailor's hearts), and some +ten men might pump at one spell. The water was discharged on to the +deck, which was slightly rounded, so that it ran to the ship's side, +into a graved channel called the trough, or scuppers, from which it +fell overboard through the scupper-holes, bored through the ship's side. +These scupper-holes were bored by the carpenter. They slanted obliquely +downwards and were closed outside by a hinged flap of leather, which +opened to allow water to escape, and closed to prevent water from +entering (_Maynwaring_). Each deck had a number of scupper-holes, but +they were all of small size. There was nothing to take the place of the +big swinging-ports fitted to modern iron sailing ships, to allow the +green seas to run overboard. + +The cooper was another important supernumerary. He had to oversee the +stowing of all the casks, and to make, or repair, or rehoop, such casks +as had to be made or repaired. He had to have a special eye to the great +water casks, that they did not leak; binding them securely with iron +hoops, and stowing them with dunnage, so that they might not shift. He +was put in charge of watering parties, to see the casks filled at the +springs, to fit them, when full, with their bungs, and to superintend +their embarkation and stowage (_Monson_ and _Boteler_). + +The trumpeter was an attendant upon the captain, and had to sound his +silver trumpet when that great man entered or left the ship (_Monson_). +"Also when you hale a ship, when you charge, board, or enter her; and +the Poop is his place to stand or sit upon." If the ship carried a +"noise," that is a band, "they are to attend him, if there be not, every +one he doth teach to bear a part, the Captain is to encourage him, by +increasing his Shares, or pay, and give the Master Trumpeter a reward." +When a prince, or an admiral, came on board, the trumpeter put on a +tabard, of brilliant colours, and hung his silver instrument with a +heavy cloth of the same. He was to blow a blast from the time the +visitor was sighted until his barge came within 100 fathoms of the ship. +"At what time the Trumpets are to cease, and all such as carry Whistles +are to Whistle his Welcome three several times." As the gilt and +gorgeous row boat drew alongside, the trumpets sounded a point of +welcome, and had then to stand about the cabin door, playing their best, +while the great man ate his sweetmeats. As he rowed away again, the +trumpeter, standing on the poop, blew out "A loath to depart," a sort of +ancient "good-bye, fare you well," such as sailors sing nowadays as they +get their anchors for home. In battle the trumpeter stood upon the poop, +dressed in his glory, blowing brave blasts to hearten up the gunners. In +hailing a friendly ship, in any meeting on the seas, it was customary to +"salute with Whistles and Trumpets, and the Ship's Company give a +general shout on both sides." When the anchor was weighed, the trumpeter +sounded a merry music, to cheer the workers. At dinner each night he +played in the great cabin, while the captain drank his wine. At the +setting and discharging of the watch he had to sound a solemn point, for +which duty he received an extra can of beer (_Monson_ and _Boteler_). + +The crew, or mariners, were divided into able seamen, ordinary seamen, +grummets, or cabin-boys, ship-boys and swabbers. Swabbers were the +weakest men of the crew; men, who were useless aloft, or at the guns, +and therefore set to menial and dirty duties. They were the ship's +scavengers, and had much uncleanly business to see to. Linschoten, +describing a Portuguese ship's company, dismisses them with three +contemptuous words, "the swabers pump"; but alas, that was but the first +duty of your true swabber. Boteler, writing in the reign of James I., +gives him more than half-a-page, as follows:-- + +"The Office of the Swabber is to see the Ship Kept neat and clean, and +that as well in the great Cabbin as everywhere else betwixt the Decks; +to which end he is, at the least once or twice a week, if not every day, +to cause the Ship to be well washed within Board and without above +Water, and especially about the Gunwalls [Gunwales or gunnels, over +which the guns once pointed] and the Chains and for prevention of +Infection, to burn sometimes Pitch, or the like wholsom perfumes, +between the Decks: He is also to have a regard to every private Man's +Sleeping-place; (to clean the cabins of the petty officers in the nether +orlop), and to admonish them all in general [it being dangerous perhaps, +in a poor swabber, to admonish in particular] to be cleanly and handsom, +and to complain to the Captain, of all such as will be any way nastie +and offensive that way. Surely, if this Swabber doth thoroughly take +care to discharge this his charge I easily believe that he may have his +hands full, and especially if there chance to be any number of Landmen +aboard." + +Under the swabber there was a temporary rate known as the liar. He had +to keep the ship clean "without board," in the head, chains, and +elsewhere. He held his place but for a week. "He that is first taken +with a Lie upon a _Monday_ morning, is proclaimed at the Main-Mast with +a general Crie, _a Liar, a Liar, a Liar_, and for that week he is under +the Swabber" (_Monson_). + +The able seamen, or oldest and most experienced hands, did duty about +the decks and guns, in the setting up and preservation of the rigging, +and in the trimming of the braces, sheets, and bowlines. The ordinary +seamen, younkers, grummets, and ship-boys, did the work aloft, furled +and loosed the sails, and did the ordinary, never-ceasing work of +sailors. They stood "watch and watch" unless the weather made it +necessary for all to be on deck, and frequently they passed four hours +of each day in pumping the leakage from the well. They wore no uniform, +but perhaps some captains gave a certain uniformity to the clothes of +their crews by taking slop chests to sea, and selling clothes of similar +patterns to the seamen. In the navy, where the crews were pressed, the +clothes worn must have been of every known cut and fashion, though no +doubt all the pressed men contrived to get tarred canvas coats before +they had been many days aboard. + +The bodies and souls of the seamen were looked after; a chaplain being +carried for the one, and a chirurgeon, or doctor, for the other. The +chaplain had to read prayers twice or thrice daily, to the whole ship's +company, who stood or knelt reverently as he read. He had to lead in the +nightly psalms, to reprove all evil-doers, and to exhort the men to +their duty. Especially was he to repress all blasphemy and swearing. He +was to celebrate the Holy Communion whenever it was most convenient. He +was to preach on Sunday, to visit the sick; and, in battle, to console +the wounded. Admirals, and peers in command of ships, had the privilege +of bringing to sea their own private chaplains. + +The chirurgeon had to bring on board his own instruments and medicines, +and to keep them ready to hand in his cabin beneath the gun-deck, out of +all possible reach of shot. He was expected to know his business, and to +know the remedies for those ailments peculiar to the lands for which the +ship intended. He had to produce a certificate from "able men of his +profession," to show that he was fit to be employed. An assistant, or +servant, was allowed him, and neither he, nor his servant did any duty +outside the chirurgeon's province (_Monson_). + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CHOOSING OF WATCHES + + The petty tally--Food--Work--Punishments + + +As soon as an ancient ship of war was fitted for the sea, with her guns +on board, and mounted, her sails bent, her stores and powder in the +hold, her water filled, her ballast trimmed, and the hands aboard, some +"steep-tubs" were placed in the chains for the steeping of the salt +provisions, "till the salt be out though not the saltness." The anchor +was then weighed to a note of music. The "weeping Rachells and +mournefull Niobes" were set packing ashore. The colours were run up and +a gun fired. The foresail was loosed. The cable rubbed down as it came +aboard (so that it might not be faked into the tiers wet or dirty). The +boat was hoisted inboard. The master "took his departure," by observing +the bearing of some particular point of land, as the Mew Stone, the +Start, the Lizard, etc. Every man was bidden to "say his private prayer +for a bonne voyage." The anchor was catted and fished. Sails were set +and trimmed. Ropes were coiled down clear for running, and the course +laid by the master. + +[Illustration: THE SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS + CIRCA 1630] + +The captain or master then ordered the boatswain "to call up the +company," just as all hands are mustered on modern sailing ships at the +beginning of a voyage. The master "being Chief of the Starboard Watch" +would then look over the mariners for a likely man. Having made his +choice he bade the man selected go over to the starboard side, while the +commander of the port-watch made his choice. When all the men had +been chosen, and the crew "divided into two parts," then each man was +bidden to choose "his Mate, Consort or Comrade." The bedding +arrangements of these old ships were very primitive. The officers had +their bunks or hammocks in their cabins, but the men seem to have slept +wherever and however they could. Some, no doubt had hammocks, but the +greater number lay in their cloaks between the guns, on mattresses if +they had them. A man shared his bed and bedding (if he had any) with his +"Mate, Consort, or Comrade," so that the one bed and bedding served for +the pair. One of the two friends was always on deck while the other +slept. In some ships at the present time the forecastles are fitted with +bunks for only half the number of seamen carried, so that the practice +is not yet dead. The boatswain, with all "the Younkers or Common +Sailors" then went forward of the main-mast to take up their quarters +between decks. The captain, master's mates, gunners, carpenters, +quartermasters, etc., lodged abaft the main-mast "in their severall +Cabbins." The next thing to be done was the arrangement of the ship's +company into messes, "four to a mess," after which the custom was to +"give every messe a quarter Can of beere and a bisket of bread to stay +their stomacks till the kettle be boiled." In the first dog-watch, from +4 to 6 P.M., all hands went to prayers about the main-mast, and from +their devotions to supper. At 6 P.M. the company met again to sing a +psalm, and say their prayers, before the setting of the night watch; +this psalm singing being the prototype of the modern sea-concert, or +singsong. At 8 P.M. the first night watch began, lasting until midnight, +during which four hours half the ship's company were free to sleep. At +midnight the sleepers were called on deck, to relieve the watch. The +watches were changed as soon as the muster had been called and a psalm +sung, and a prayer offered. They alternated thus throughout the +twenty-four hours, each watch having four hours below, after four hours +on deck, unless "some flaw of winde come, some storm or gust, or some +accident that requires the help of all hands." In these cases the whole +ship's company remained on deck until the work was done, or until the +master discharged the watch below.[24] The decks were washed down by the +swabbers every morning, before the company went to breakfast. After +breakfast the men went about their ordinary duties, cleaning the ship, +mending rigging, or working at the thousand odd jobs the sailing of a +ship entails. The tops were always manned by lookouts, who received some +small reward if they spied a prize. The guns were sometimes exercised, +and all hands trained to general quarters. + +[Footnote 24: See "The Sea-man's Grammar," by Captain John Smith.] + +A few captains made an effort to provide for the comfort of their men by +laying in a supply of "bedding, linnen, arms[25] and apparel." In some +cases they also provided what was called the petty tally, or store of +medical comforts. "The Sea-man's Grammar" of Captain John Smith, from +which we have been quoting, tells us that the petty tally contained: + +[Footnote 25: The men were expected to bring their own swords and +knives.] + +"Fine wheat flower close and well-packed, Rice, Currants, Sugar, Prunes, +Cynamon, Ginger, Pepper, Cloves, Green Ginger, Oil, Butter, Holland +cheese or old Cheese, Wine-Vinegar, Canarie-Sack, Aqua-vitę, the best +Wines, the best Waters, the juyce of Limons for the scurvy, white +Bisket, Oatmeal, Gammons of Bacons, dried Neats tongues, Beef packed up +in Vineger, Legs of Mutton minced and stewed, and close packed up, with +tried Sewet or Butter in earthen Pots. To entertain Strangers Marmalade, +Suckets, Almonds, Comfits and such like." + +"Some," says the author of this savoury list, "will say I would have +men rather to feast than to fight. But I say the want of those +necessaries occasions the loss of more men than in any English Fleet +hath been slain since 88. For when a man is ill, or at the point of +death, I would know whether a dish of buttered Rice with a little +Cynamon, Ginger and Sugar, a little minced meat, or rost Beef, a few +stew'd Prunes, a race of green Ginger, a Flap-jack, a Kan of fresh water +brewed with a little Cynamon and Sugar be not better than a little poor +John, or salt fish, with Oil and Mustard, or Bisket, Butter, Cheese, or +Oatmeal-pottage on Fish-dayes, or on Flesh-dayes, Salt, Beef, Pork and +Pease, with six shillings beer, this is your ordinary ship's allowance, +and good for them are well if well conditioned [not such bad diet for a +healthy man if of good quality] which is not alwayes as Sea-men can [too +well] witnesse. And after a storme, when poor men are all wet, and some +have not so much as a cloth to shift them, shaking with cold, few of +those but will tell you a little Sack or Aqua-vitę is much better to +keep them in health, than a little small Beer, or cold water although it +be sweet. Now that every one should provide for himself, few of them +have either that providence or means, and there is neither Ale-house, +Tavern, nor Inne to burn a faggot in, neither Grocer, Poulterer, +Apothecary nor Butcher's Shop, and therefore the use of this petty Tally +is necessary, and thus to be employed as there is occasion." + +The entertainment of strangers, with "Almonds, Comfits and such like," +was the duty of a sea-captain, for "every Commander should shew himself +as like himself as he can," and, "therefore I leave it to their own +Discretion," to supply suckets for the casual guest. In those days, when +sugar was a costly commodity, a sucket was more esteemed than now. At +sea, when the food was mostly salt, it must certainly have been a great +dainty. + +The "allowance" or ration to the men was as follows[26]:-- + +[Footnote 26: See Sir W. Monson's "Naval Tracts."] + +Each man and boy received one pound of bread or biscuit daily, with a +gallon of beer. The beer was served out four times daily, a quart at a +time, in the morning, at dinner, in the afternoon, and at supper. On +Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, which were flesh days, the +allowance of meat was either one pound of salt beef, or one pound of +salt pork with pease. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, a side of salt-fish, +ling, haberdine, or cod, was divided between the members of each mess, +while a seven-ounce ration of butter (or olive oil) and a fourteen-ounce +ration of cheese, was served to each man. On Fridays, or fast days, this +allowance was halved. At one time the sailors were fond of selling or +playing away their rations, but this practice was stopped in the reign +of Elizabeth, and the men forced to take their food "orderly and in due +season" under penalties. Prisoners taken during the cruise were allowed +two-thirds of the above allowance. + +The allowance quoted above appears liberal, but it must be remembered +that the sailors were messed "six upon four," and received only +two-thirds of the full ration. The quality of the food was very bad. The +beer was the very cheapest of small beer, and never kept good at sea, +owing to the continual motion of the ship. It became acid, and induced +dysentery in those who drank it, though it was sometimes possible to +rebrew it after it had once gone sour. The water, which was carried in +casks, was also far from wholesome. After storing, for a day or two, it +generally became offensive, so that none could drink it. In a little +while this offensiveness passed off, and it might then be used, though +the casks bred growths of an unpleasant sliminess, if the water remained +in them for more than a month. However water was not regarded as a +drink for human beings until the beer was spent. The salt meat was as +bad as the beer, or worse. Often enough the casks were filled with lumps +of bone and fat which were quite uneatable, and often the meat was so +lean, old, dry and shrivelled that it was valueless as food. The +victuallers often killed their animals in the heat of the summer, when +the meat would not take salt, so that many casks must have been unfit +for food after lying for a week in store. Anti-scorbutics were supplied, +or not supplied, at the discretion of the captains. It appears that the +sailors disliked innovations in their food, and rejected the +substitution of beans, flour "and those white Meats as they are called" +for the heavy, and innutritious pork and beef. Sailors were always great +sticklers for their "Pound and Pint," and Boteler tells us that in the +early seventeenth century "the common Sea-men with us, are so besotted +on their Beef and Pork, as they had rather adventure on all the +Calentures, and Scarbots [scurvy] in the World, than to be weaned from +their Customary Diet, or so much as to lose the least Bit of it." + +The salt-fish ration was probably rather better than the meat, but the +cheese was nearly always very bad, and of an abominable odour. The +butter was no better than the cheese. It was probably like so much +train-oil. The bread or biscuit which was stowed in bags in the +bread-room in the hold, soon lost its hardness at sea, becoming soft and +wormy, so that the sailors had to eat it in the dark. The biscuits, or +cakes of bread, seem to have been current coin with many of the West +Indian natives. In those ships where flour was carried, in lieu of +biscuit, as sometimes happened in cases of emergency, the men received a +ration of doughboy, a sort of dumpling of wetted flour boiled with pork +fat. This was esteemed a rare delicacy either eaten plain or with +butter. + +This diet was too lacking in variety, and too destitute of +anti-scorbutics to support the mariners in health. The ships in +themselves were insanitary, and the crews suffered very much from what +they called calentures, (or fevers such as typhus and typhoid), and the +scurvy. The scurvy was perhaps the more common ailment, as indeed it is +to-day. It is now little dreaded, for its nature is understood, and +guarded against. In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth +centuries, it killed its thousands, owing to the ignorance and +indifference of responsible parties, and to other causes such as the +construction of the ships and the length of the voyages. A salt diet, +without fresh vegetables, and without variety, is a predisposing cause +of scurvy. Exposure to cold and wet, and living in dirty surroundings +are also predisposing causes. The old wooden ships were seldom very +clean, and never dry, and when once the scurvy took hold it generally +raged until the ship reached port, where fresh provisions could be +purchased. A wooden ship was never quite dry, in any weather, for the +upper-deck planks, and the timbers of her topsides, could never be so +strictly caulked that no water could leak in. The sea-water splashed in +through the scuppers and through the ports, or leaked in, a little at a +time, through the seams. In bad weather the lower gun-decks (or all +decks below the spar-deck) were more or less awash, from seas that had +washed down the hatchways. The upper-deck seams let in the rain, and +when once the lower-decks were wet it was very difficult to dry them. It +was impossible to close the gun-deck ports so as to make them +watertight, for the water would find cracks to come in at, even though +the edges of the lids were caulked with oakum, and the orifices further +barred by deadlights or wooden shutters. Many of the sailors, as we have +seen, were without a change of clothes, and with no proper +sleeping-place, save the wet deck and the wet jackets that they worked +in. It often happened that the gun-ports would be closed for several +weeks together, during which time the gun-decks became filthy and musty, +while the sailors contracted all manner of cramps and catarrhs. In +addition to the wet, and the discomfort of such a life, there was also +the work, often extremely laborious, incidental to heavy weather at sea. +What with the ceaseless handling of sails and ropes, in frost and snow +and soaking sea-water; and the continual pumping out of the leaks the +rotten seams admitted, the sailor had little leisure in which to sleep, +or to dry himself. When he left the deck he had only the dark, wet +berth-deck to retire to, a place of bleakness and misery, where he might +share a sopping blanket, if he had one, with the corpse of a drowned rat +and the flotsam from the different messes. There was no getting dry nor +warm, though the berth-deck might be extremely close and stuffy from +lack of ventilation. The cook-room, or galley fire would not be lighted, +and there would be no comforting food or drink, nothing but raw meat and +biscuit, and a sup of sour beer. It was not more unpleasant perhaps than +life at sea is to-day, but it was certainly more dangerous.[27] When at +last the storm abated and the sea went down, the ports were opened and +the decks cleaned. The sailors held a general washing-day, scrubbing the +mouldy clothes that had been soaked so long, and hanging them to dry +about the rigging. Wind-sails or canvas ventilators were rigged, to +admit air to the lowest recesses of the hold. The decks were scrubbed +down with a mixture of vinegar and sand, and then sluiced with salt +water, scraped with metal scrapers, and dried with swabs and small +portable firepots. Vinegar was carried about the decks in large iron +pots, and converted into vapour by the insertion of red-hot metal bars. +The swabbers brought pans of burning pitch or brimstone into every +corner, so that the smoke might penetrate everywhere. But even then the +decks were not wholesome. There were spaces under the guns which no art +could dry, and subtle leaks in the topsides that none could stop. The +hold accumulated filth, for in many ships the ship's refuse was swept on +to the ballast, where it bred pestilence, typhus fever and the like. The +bilge-water reeked and rotted in the bilges, filling the whole ship with +its indescribable stench. Beetles, rats and cockroaches bred and +multiplied in the crannies, until (as in Captain Cook's case two +centuries later), they made life miserable for all on board. These +wooden ships were very gloomy abodes, and would have been so no doubt +even had they been dry and warm. They were dark, and the lower-deck, +where most of the men messed, was worse lit than the decks above it, for +being near to the water-line the ports could seldom be opened. Only in +very fair weather could the sailors have light and sun below decks. As a +rule they ate and slept in a murky, stuffy atmosphere, badly lighted by +candles in heavy horn lanthorns. The gloom of the ships must have +weighed heavily upon many of the men, and the depression no doubt +predisposed them to scurvy, making them less attentive to bodily +cleanliness, and less ready to combat the disease when it attacked them. +Perhaps some early sea-captains tried to make the between decks less +gloomy by whitewashing the beams, bulkheads and ship's sides. In the +eighteenth century this seems to have been practised with success, +though perhaps the captains who tried it were more careful of their +hands in other ways, and the benefit may have been derived from other +causes. + +[Footnote 27: The mortality among the sailors was very great.] + +Discipline was maintained by some harsh punishments, designed to "tame +the most rude and savage people in the world." Punishment was inflicted +at the discretion of the captain, directly after the hearing of the +case, but the case was generally tried the day after the commission of +the offence, so that no man should be condemned in hot blood. The most +common punishment was that of flogging, the men being stripped to the +waist, tied to the main-mast or to a capstan bar, and flogged upon the +bare back with a whip or a "cherriliccum." The boatswain had power to +beat the laggards and the ship's boys with a cane, or with a piece of +knotted rope. A common punishment was to put the offender on half his +allowance, or to stop his meat, or his allowance of wine or spirits. For +more heinous offences there was the very barbarous punishment of +keel-hauling, by which the victim was dragged from the main yardarm +right under the keel of the ship, across the barnacles, to the yardarm +on the farther side. Those who suffered this punishment were liable to +be cut very shrewdly by the points of the encrusted shells. Ducking from +the main yardarm was inflicted for stubbornness, laziness, going on +shore without leave, or sleeping while on watch. The malefactor was +brought to the gangway, and a rope fastened under his arms and about his +middle. He was then hoisted rapidly up to the main yardarm, "from whence +he is violently let fall into the Sea, some times twice, some times +three severall times, one after another" (_Boteler_). This punishment, +and keel-hauling, were made more terrible by the discharge of a great +gun over the malefactor's head as he struck the water, "which proveth +much offensive to him" (_ibid._). If a man killed another he was +fastened to the corpse and flung overboard (_Laws of Oleron_). For +drawing a weapon in a quarrel, or in mutiny, the offender lost his right +hand (_ibid._). Theft was generally punished with flogging, but in +serious cases the thief was forced to run the gauntlet, between two rows +of sailors all armed with thin knotted cords. Ducking from the bowsprit +end, towing in a rope astern, and marooning, were also practised as +punishments for the pilferer. For sleeping on watch there was a +graduated scale. First offenders were soused with a bucket of water. For +the second offence they were tied up by the wrists, and water was poured +down their sleeves. For the third offence they were tied to the mast, +with bags of bullets, or gun-chambers tied about their arms and necks, +until they were exhausted, or "till their back be ready to break" +(_Monson_). If they still offended in this kind they were taken and tied +to the bowsprit end, with rations of beer and bread, and left there with +leave to starve or fall into the sea. Destruction or theft of ships' +property was punished by death. Petty insurrections, such as complaints +of the quality or quantity of the food, etc., were punished by the +bilboes. The bilboes were iron bars fixed to the deck a little abaft the +main-mast. The prisoner sat upon the deck under a sentry, and his legs +and hands were shackled to the bars with irons of a weight proportioned +to the crime. It was a rule that none should speak to a man in the +bilboes. For blasphemy and swearing there was "an excellent good +way"[28] of forcing the sinner to hold a marline-spike in his mouth, +until his tongue was bloody (_Teonge_). Dirty speech was punished in a +similar way, and sometimes the offending tongue was scrubbed with sand +and canvas. We read of two sailors who stole a piece of beef aboard +H.M.S. _Assistance_ in the year 1676.[29] Their hands were tied behind +them, and the beef was hung about their necks, "and the rest of the +seamen cam one by one, and rubd them over the mouth with the raw beife; +and in this posture they stood two howers." Other punishments were +"shooting to death," and hanging at the yardarm. "And the Knaveries of +the Ship-boys are payd by the Boat-Swain with the Rod; and commonly this +execution is done upon the Munday Mornings; and is so frequently in use, +that some meer Seamen believe in earnest, that they shall not have a +fair Wind, unless the poor Boys be duely brought to the Chest, that is, +whipped, every Munday Morning" (_Boteler_). + +[Footnote 28: _Circa_ 1670.] + +[Footnote 29: The punishment would have been no less severe a century +earlier.] + +Some of these punishments may appear unduly harsh; but on the whole they +were no more cruel than the punishments usually inflicted ashore. +Indeed, if anything they were rather more merciful. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +IN ACTION + + +In engaging an enemy's ship at sea the custom was to display the colours +from the poop, and to hang streamers or pennons from the yardarms.[30] +The spritsail would then be furled, and the spritsail-yard brought +alongship. The lower yards were slung with chain, and the important +ropes, sheets and braces,[31] etc., were doubled. The bulkheads and +wooden cabin walls were knocked away, or fortified with hammocks or +bedding, to minimise the risk of splinters. The guns were cast loose and +loaded. The powder or cartridge was brought up in "budge barrels," +covered with leather, from the magazine, and stowed well away from the +guns, either in amidships, or on that side of the ship not directly +engaged. Tubs of water were placed between the guns with blankets +soaking in them for the smothering of any fire that might be caused. +Other tubs were filled with "vinegar water or what we have" for the +sponging of the guns. The hatches leading to the hold were taken up, so +that no man should desert his post during the engagement. The light +sails were furled, and in some cases sent down on deck. The magazines +were opened, and hung about with wet blankets to prevent sparks from +entering. Shot was sent to the shot-lockers on deck. Sand was sprinkled +on the planking to give a greater firmness to the foothold of the men at +the guns. The gunner and his mates went round the batteries to make sure +that all was ready. The caps, or leaden plates, were taken from the +touch-holes, and the priming powder was poured down upon the cartridge +within the gun. The carpenter made ready sheets of lead, and plugs of +oakum, for the stopping of shot-holes.[32] The cook-room fire was +extinguished. The sails were splashed with a solution of alum. The +people went to eat and drink at their quarters. Extra tiller ropes, of +raw hide, were rove abaft. The trumpeters put on their[33] tabards, "of +the Admiral's colours," and blew points of war as they sailed into +action. A writer of the early seventeenth century[34] has left the +following spirited account of a sea-fight:-- + +[Footnote 30: Monson.] + +[Footnote 31: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 32: Monson.] + +[Footnote 33: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 34: Captain John Smith.] + +"A sail, how bears she or stands shee, to winde-ward or lee-ward? set +him by the Compasse; he stands right ahead, or on the weather-Bowe, or +lee-Bowe, let fly your colours if you have a consort, else not. Out with +all your sails, a steady man to the helme, sit close to keep her steady, +give him chase or fetch him up; he holds his own, no, we gather on him. +Captain, out goes his flag and pendants, also his waste-clothes and +top-armings, which is a long red cloth about three quarters of a yard +broad, edged on each side with Calico, or white linnen cloth, that goeth +round about the ship on the outsides of all her upper works fore and +aft, and before the cubbridge-heads, also about the fore and maine tops, +as well for the countenance and grace of the ship, as to cover the men +for being seen, he furies and slinges his maine yarde, in goes his +spret-saile. Thus they use to strip themselves into their short sailes, +or fighting sailes, which is only the fore sail, the main and fore +topsails, because the rest should not be fired nor spoiled; besides they +would be troublesome to handle, hinder our fights and the using our +armes; he makes ready his close fights fore and aft. + +"Master, how stands the chase? Right on head I say; Well we shall +reatch him by and by; what's all ready? Yea, yea, every man to his +charge, dowse your topsaile to salute him for the Sea, hale him with a +noise of trumpets; Whence is your ship? Of Spaine; Whence is yours? Of +England. Are you a Merchant, or a Man of War? We are of the Sea. He +waves us to Lee-ward with his drawne Sword, cals amaine for the King of +Spaine and springs his loufe. Give him a chase piece with your +broadside, and run a good berth ahead of him; Done, done. We have the +winde of him, and he tackes about, tacke you aboute also and keep your +loufe [keep close to the wind] be yare at the helme, edge in with him, +give him a volley of small shot, also your prow and broadside as before, +and keep your loufe; He payes us shot for shot; Well, we shall requite +him; What, are you ready again? Yea, yea. Try him once more, as before; +Done, Done; Keep your loufe and charge your ordnance again; Is all +ready? Yea, yea, edge in with him again, begin with your bowe pieces, +proceed with your broadside, and let her fall off with the winde, to +give her also your full chase, your weather broadside, and bring her +round that the stern may also discharge, and your tackes close aboord +again; Done, done, the wind veeres, the Sea goes too high to boord her, +and we are shot thorow and thorow, and betwene winde and water. Try the +pump, bear up the helme; Master let us breathe and refresh a little, and +sling a man overboard [_i.e._ lower a man over the side] to stop the +leakes; that is, to trusse him up aboute the middle in a piece of +canvas, and a rope to keep him from sinking, and his armes at liberty, +with a malet in the one hand, and a plug lapped in Okum, and well tarred +in a tarpawling clowt in the other, which he will quickly beat into the +hole or holes the bullets made; What cheere mates? is all well? All +well, all well, all well. Then make ready to bear up with him again, and +with all your great and small shot charge him, and in the smoke boord +him thwart the hawse, on the bowe, midships, or rather than faile, on +the quarter [where the high poop made it difficult to climb on board] or +make fast your graplings [iron hooks] if you can to his close fights and +shear off [so as to tear them to pieces]. Captain, we are fowl on each +other, and the Ship is on fire, cut anything to get clear and smother +the fire with wet clothes. In such a case they will presently be such +friends, as to helpe one the other all they can to get clear, lest they +should both burn together and sink; and if they be generous, the fire +quenched, drink kindely one to another; heave their cans overboord, and +then begin again as before. + +"Well, Master, the day is spent, the night drawes on, let us consult. +Chirurgion, look to the wounded, and winde up the slain, with each a +weight or bullet at their heades and feet to make them sinke, and give +them three Gunnes for their funerals. Swabber, make clean the ship +[sprinkle it with hot vinegar to avoid the smell of blood]; Purser, +record their Names; Watch, be vigilant to keep your berth to windeward +that we lose him not in the night; Gunners, spunge your Ordnance; +Sowldiers, scowre your pieces; Carpenters about your leakes; Boatswaine +and the rest repair your sails and shrouds; and Cooke, you observe your +directions against the morning watch; Boy, Holla, Master, Holla, is the +Kettle boiled? Yea, yea; Boatswaine, call up the men to prayer and +breakfast [We may suppose the dawn has broken]. + +"Boy, fetch my cellar of bottels [case of spirits], a health to you all +fore and aft, courage my hearts for a fresh charge; Gunners beat open +the ports, and out with your lower tire [lower tier of guns] and bring +me from the weather side to the lee, so many pieces as we have ports to +bear upon him. Master lay him aboord loufe for loufe; mid Ships men, see +the tops and yards well manned, with stones, fire pots and brass +bailes, to throw amongst them before we enter, or if we be put off, +charge them with all your great and small shot, in the smoke let us +enter them in the shrouds, and every squadron at his best advantage; so +sound Drums and Trumpets, and Saint George for England. + +"They hang out a flag of truce, hale him a main, abase, or take in his +flag [to hale one to amaine, a main or a-mayn, was to bid him surrender; +to abase was to lower the colours or the topsails], strike their sails, +and come aboord with their Captaine, Purser, and Gunner, with their +commission, cocket, or bills of loading. Out goes the boat, they are +launched from the ship's side, entertaine them with a generall cry God +save the Captain and all the company with the Trumpets sounding, examine +them in particular, and then conclude your conditions, with feasting, +freedom or punishment as you find occasion; but alwayes have as much +care to their wounded as your own, and if there be either young women or +aged men, use them nobly, which is ever the nature of a generous +disposition. To conclude, if you surprise him, or enter perforce, you +may stow the men, rifle, pillage, or sack, and cry a prise." + +Down below in the gun-decks during an action, the batteries became so +full of the smoke of black powder that the men could hardly see what +they were doing. The darkness prevented them from seeing the very +dangerous recoiling of the guns, and many were killed by them. It was +impossible to judge how a gun carriage would recoil, for it never +recoiled twice in the same manner, and though the men at the side +tackles did their best to reduce the shock they could not prevent it +altogether. It was the custom to close the gun-ports after each +discharge, as the musketeers aboard the enemy could otherwise fire +through them as the men reloaded. The guns were not fired in a volley, +as no ship could have stood the tremendous shock occasioned by the +simultaneous discharge of all her guns. They were fired in succession, +beginning from the bows. In heavy weather the lower tiers of guns were +not cast loose, for the rolling made them difficult to control, and the +sea came washing through the ports and into the muzzles of the guns, +knocking down the men and drenching the powder. It sometimes happened +that the shot, and cartridge, were rolled clean out of the guns. In +sponging and ramming the men were bidden to keep the sponge or rammer on +that side of them opposite to the side exposed to the enemy so that if a +shot should strike it, it would not force it into the body of the +holder. A man was told off to bring cartridges and shot to each gun or +division of guns and he was strictly forbidden to supply any other gun +or guns during the action. The wounded were to be helped below by men +told off especially for the purpose. Once below, in the cockpit, they +were laid on a sail, and the doctor or his mates attended to them in +turn. In no case was a man attended out of his turn. This system seems +equitable, and the sailors were insistent that it should be observed; +but many poor fellows bled to death, from shattered arteries, etc., +while waiting till the doctor should be ready. The chaplain attended in +the cockpit to comfort the dying, and administer the rites of the +Church. When a vessel was taken, her crew were stripped by those in want +of clothes. The prisoners were handcuffed, or chained together, and +placed in the hold, on the ballast. The ship's company then set to work +to repair damages, clean and secure the guns, return powder, etc., to +the armoury, and magazines, and to give thanks for their preservation +round the main-mast. + +[Illustration: Map Shewing the EARLY BUCCANEER CRUISING GROUND] + + + + +INDEX + + +Action, description of ship in, 334 + +Allowance of food and drink, 326, 327 + +Alvarado, 226, etc. + +---- battle of, 227 _et seq._ + +Anastasius (church), 252 + +Andreas, Captain, 232, 234, 238 + +Antonio, Captain, 235 + +Arica, 259, 265, 266, 267 + +---- battle of, 267 _et seq._, 273, 274 + +Arquebus, 303 + + +Barbecue, 112 + +Barker, Andrew, 105 + +Baronha, Admiral, 245 + +Bastimentos, 22 + +_Bear_, pinnace, 79, 82, 84 + +Bishop (of Panama), 255, 256, 281 + +Blewfields, 134 + +Boats (ships'), 297 + +Boatswains, 313 + +Boco del Toro, 230, 231 + +Boucan, 112 + +Bracos, De los, 180 + +Bradley, John, 173 _et seq._ + +Buccaneers, rise of, 112 _et seq._; + customs, etc., 113; + dress, 114; + drunkenness, 115; + cruel, 116; + religious, 119; + attached to comrades, 119; + preparations for raids, 120 _et seq._; + shares of spoil, 125; + at the Samballoes, 232; + at Perico, 247 + +Buckenham, Captain, 225 + + +Cabeēas, or Cabezas, 80, 84, 88, 92, 95 + +Cabin-boys, 319 + +Campeachy, 127 + +Canoas, 127; + capturing prizes from, 129 _et seq._ + +Captains, 311, 322, 323, 324 + +Caribs, 108 + +Carpenters, 316 + +Cartagena, 11, 26, 27, 33, 35, 40, 41 _et seq._, 44, 45, 94 + +Cartridges, 300, 301 + +Castle Gloria, 151 + +Cativaas, or Catives, 9, 38, 53, 82 + +Cedro Bueno, halt at, 182 + +---- canoas sent to, 188 + +Chaplains, 321, 339 + +Chagres Castle, expedition to, under Bradley, 173 _et seq._ + +---- Morgan's arrival at, 180 + +---- party sent to, 203 + +---- message from, 205 + +Chagres River, 25, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 81; also 180-210 + +Charesha, 26 + +Chatas (small Spanish boats), 179 + +Cheapo River, 61, 241, 279 + +Chapillo, 241, 253 + +Chirurgeons, 321 + +Colonies in West Indies, 110, 111 + +Commissions, 118 + +Cook, Captain, 233, 234, 256, 258, 262 + +Cooks (ships'), 315 + +Coopers, 318 + +Compensations, 122 + +Comrades, 323 + +Corporals, 312 + +Costa Rica, Morgan sails for, 149 + +Cox, Captain, 258, 259, 262 + +Coxon, Captain, 229, 233, 237, 240, 241, 243, 249, 253 + +---- sails for home, 254 + +Coxswains, 313 + +Crews, 319 + + +Daggs (pistols), 304 + +Dampier, William, 126; + early life in West Indies, 218 _et seq._; + ill at Campeachy, 225; + ruined by storm, 226; + goes pirating, _ibid._; + returns to England, 228; + to Jamaica, 229; + joins buccaneers, 230; + lands on isthmus, 234; + not at Perico, 246; + not at Arica, 267; + leaves Sharp, 276, 277; + tramps across isthmus, 280, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288 + +Darien, Gulf of, 4, 5, 8, 31, 99 + +Darien isthmus. _See_ Drake, Morgan, Dampier, etc. + +Delander, R., 180 + +De la Barra Castle, 162 + +Diego, 19, 24, 31, 32, 36, 50, 51 + +---- Fort, 49, 51, 92 + +---- River, 37, 38, 49 + +Discomforts, 328 + +Discipline, 330, 331, 332 + +Drake, Francis (afterwards Sir Francis), born, 1; + at San Juan d'Ulloa, 1, 2; + at West Indies, 2, 3; + sails for Nombre de Dios, 3, 4, 5; + lands, 6; + joins Rause, 7, 8; + sails west, 9, 10; + attacks Nombre de Dios, 15, 16, 20, 21; + hurt, 21; + receives herald, 23; + goes to Cartagena, 26; + establishes fort, 31; + goes east, 32, 33; + in Cartagena, 40, 41, etc.; + returns thither, 45; + starving, 46, 47; + holds post mortem, 52; + goes for Panama, 55 _et seq._; + fails to take treasure, 66; + retreats, 68; + at Venta Cruz, 69; + returns to Hixom, 77; + goes to Veragua, 80, 81; + meets Captain Tetū, 82; + makes his great raid, 84, 85, 86, 88; + builds raft, 89-90; + his bravado, 94; + arrives at Plymouth, 96; + mentioned, 97; + sacks St Domingo, 110; + his island, 259, 260 + +---- John, 29, 30, 31, 32, 37 + +---- Joseph, 52 + + +Entertainments, 325 + +Estera longa Lemos (near Porto Bello), 153 + + +Firing (of cannon), 301; + and aiming, 305, 306 + +Fort Jeronimo (at Porto Bello), 151 + +Francisco River (St Francis River), 9, 84, 88, 91, 92 + +French in West Indies, 111, 117 + +---- buccaneer commissions, 118 + +Fumigations, 329 + + +Gabriele, Josef, 239 + +Galleons, 292, 293 + +Galliasses, 292, 293 + +Galleys, 291 + +Gambling, 131 + +Garret, John, 6 + +Gayny, G., 283, 285, 286, 287 + +Gear (sailors'), 296 + +Gibraltar (in Maracaibo), 162 + +Glub, Charles, 49 + +Golden Island, 232 + +Gorgona, 259, 276 + +Grummets, 320 + +Guasco (Huasco), 274 + +Gunners, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 312 + +Guns, 298 _et seq._, 307; + list of, 303 + +Guzman, Don John Perez, takes Santa Katalina, 138. _See also_ Panama + battle + + +Harris, Captain, 233, 237; + killed and buried, 253 + +Hawkins, Sir R., 98, 99; + his story of Oxenham, 105 + +Hayti, 106 + +Hilo (Ylo or Ilo), 260, 273, 274 + +Hispaniola, 106, 107 _et seq._, 114 + +Hixom, Ellis, 48, 54, 56, 75, 76, 77 + +Hobby, Mr, 229 + +Hunters, 108, 109 + + +Indians, 121, 265, 279 + +Iquique (Yqueque), 264 + +Iron Castle (at Porto Bello), 139, 151, 158 + + +Jamaica, 118, 229, 289 + +Jobson (or Cobson), 284, 287 + +Joiners, 316 + +Juan Fernandez, 261, 264 + + +Katalina, Santa, Mansvelt goes to, 135 + +---- Morgan takes, 171 + +King Golden Cap, 236, 237, 239, 241, 246, 253, 255 + + +La Serena, 260 + +Las Serenas, 44 + +La Sounds Key, 285, 287, 288 + +Liars, 320 + +Lieutenants, 311 + +Linstocks, 309 + +_Lion_, pinnace, 53, 84 + +Logwood cutting, 127; + description of, 222 + +Longships, 291 + +Lorenzo, San, Castle of, 173; + taken, 176; + Morgan's return to, 213; + destroyed, 214 + + +Magdalena, 31, 37 + +Main, the, 28, 39, 83, 123, 124, 127 + +Mansvelt, Dutch pirate, cruises in South Seas, 135; + his plans, 134; + meets Henry Morgan, 135; + sails with him, _ibid._; + takes Santa Katalina, 135; + seeks recruits and recognition from English Governor, 136; + is refused help, 137; + sails to Tortuga, 137; + dies, 139 + +Maracaibo, 162 + +Maroons, 24, 28, 36, 38, 51, 53, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 62, 65, 66, 67, 68, + 69, 70, 74, 75, 76, 85, 89, 95, 99, 100, 101, 102 + +Marygalante, 4 + +Masts, 294 + +Masters, 312, 322 + +_Minion_, pinnace, 49, 79 + +Moone, T., 2, 29 + +Morgan, Henry (afterwards Sir Henry), meets Mansvelt, 135; + sails with him, _ibid._; + tries to get help from New England, 139; + gathers fleet, 140; + goes for Puerto del Principe, 141; + battle there, 142; + town taken, 142; + stay there, 143; + mutiny and fight, 145; + defection of French allies, 146; + returns to Port Royal, 146; + sails for Costa Rica, 149; + lands, 153; + takes a fort, 155; + attacks Porto Bello, 156; + takes it, 157; + receives summons from Panama, 159; + defeats Spanish troops, 160; + receives ransom, 160; + returns to Port Royal, 161; + goes for Maracaibo, 162; + summons De la Barra Castle, 163; + the fireship, 164; + Spanish rally, 164; + Morgan's stratagem, 166; + his return to Port Royal, 167; + goes for Main, 168, 169; + takes Santa Katalina, 177; + sails for Chagres, 179; + reaches Venta Cruz, 187; + sees Panama, 190; + takes it, 199, etc.; + burns his ships, 209; + leaves ruins, 210; + returns to Venta Cruz, 212; + destroys San Lorenzo, 214; + returns to Port Royal, 215; + becomes Governor of Jamaica, 216 + +Mosquito Indians, 122, 123, 124, 125 + +Mule trains (or recuas), 65, 66, 67, 85 + +Munjack, 228 + +Muskets, 303 + +Mutiny, 257 + + +Nombre De Dios, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14; + description of, 16, 17, 18, etc.; + attack on, 27, 28, 62, 63, 64, 65, 84, 85, 98, 99, 103, 104 + +Norman, Captain, 180, 205 + + +One Bush Key, 219, 221, 224 + +Ortega, John de, 100, 101 + +Oxenham, John, 17, 18, 39, 43, 61, 64, 65, 79, 81, 82, 93, 98; + sails on his raid, 98; + builds ship, 99; + raids South Seas, 100; + mutiny, 102, 103; + Spaniards take him, 104; + and hang him, 104, 108 + + +Panama, 8, 11, 12, 15, 39, 54, 55, 61, 62, 243, 244, 252, 254, 255 + +---- description of, 192. + +---- Morgan's sight of, 190 + +---- Governor of. _See_ Guzman, 159, 160. + +Parrots, at Alvarado, 227 + +_Pascha_, a ship, 3, 30, 31, 32, 79, 81, 94, 95 + +Pavesses, 294 + +Pearl Islands, 100, 101, 244 + +Pedro, 57, 60, 95 + +Penn, 117 + +Peralta, Don, 206, 245, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 258, 261 + +Periaguas, 127 + +Perico, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 250-253 + +Petticoat (a sky-blue), 279 + +Petty tally, 324, 325 + +Pezoro, 79, 80, 81 + +Pike, Robert, 65, 67, 78 + +Pine Islands, 8, 9, 20 + +Pinnaces, 3, 7 + +Plenty, Port, 36 + +Plymouth, 3, 4, 96, 98 + +Porto Bello, 11, 13, 15; + description, 150 _et seq._; + attacked and sacked, 154 _et seq._; 230, 231 + +Port Pheasant, 5 + +Port Royal, 132 + +---- Morgan's return to, 215 + +---- Dampier arrives at, 221 + +Porto Santo, 4 + +Provisions, 326, 327, 328 + +Puebla Nueva, 256 + +Puerto del Principe, 140, 141 _et seq._ + +Pursers, 314 + + +Quartermasters, 314 + +Quibo, 256, 257, 258, 259 + + +Raft (Drake's), 89, 90 + +Rause, Captain, 7, 9, 25 + +Rigging, ancient, 295 + +Ringrose, Basil, 234, 237, 241, 243, 244, 247, 248, 349, 250 + +---- at Arica, 267, 268, 269, 273, 288, 289 + +Rio de la Hacha, 47, 169 + +Rio Grande, 32, 33, 46 + +Roundships, 291 + + +Sails, 294, 295, 296, 297 + +Sailing from port, 322, 323 + +San Andreas, 127 + +---- Antonio, 96 + +---- Barnardo, 26, 28, 40, 50, 94 + +---- Domingo, 106, 107 + +---- Juan d'Ulloa, 1, 2, 12 + +---- Miguel, 277 + +Santa Maria, 232, 238, 239, 240, 253 + +---- Martha, 5, 47 + +---- Pecaque, 289 + +Savannahs, 61 + +Sawkins, Richard, Captain, 229, 233, 236, 240, 243, 248, 249, 250, 253, + 254, 255, 256; + killed, 257, 262, 263, 281 + +Scrivanos, 28, 41, 53 + +Sea-fighting, 334, 335, 336, 337 + +Searles, Captain, 206 + +Sharp, Captain Bartholomew, 229, 233, 237, 238, 241, 242, 243, 244, 252, + 253, 254, 255; + takes prizes, 257; + elected admiral, 258, 259, 262, 265; + at Arica, 267, 270, 271, 274, 275, 288, 289, 290 + +Ship-boys, 319 + +Simon Le Sieur, 136, 137, 138 + +Smith, Captain John, 89 + +Springer, Captain, 248 + +---- his key, 286 + +Stewards, 315 + +Swabbers, 319, 320 + +_Swan_, a ship, 2, 3, 29, 30 + + +Tawnymores (a ship of), 247, 248, 249, 251 + +Tetū, Captain, 82, 83, 84, 86; + hurt, 86, 87, 91 + +Tiburon, Cape, 169 + +Tocamora, 231 + +Tolu, 6, 36, 53, 79 + +Top-arming, 294 + +Torna Munni, 183 + +Tortuga, 111, 112, 115, 117 + +Tree (a great), 60, 61 + +_Trinity_, the Most Blessed, a Spanish galleon, 206, 251, 253, 259, 260, + 261, 263, 264, 288, 289 + +Tristian, Captain, 285 + +Trumpeters, 318 + +Tucker, Francis, 95 + + +Venables, 117 + +Venta Cruz, 25, 62, 65, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 85, 187, 212 + +Veragua, 78, 79, 80, 81 + +Villa del Rey, 35 + + +Wafer, Lionel, 234, 276, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 287 + +Watling, John, 262, 263, 264, 266; + attacks Arica, 267, 268, 269; + shot, 270 + + +Ylo, 260, 273, 274 + +Yqueque, 264, 265 + +Younkers, 320 + +Ysabel Nueva, 106 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Spanish Main, by John Masefield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE SPANISH MAIN *** + +***** This file should be named 19396-8.txt or 19396-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/9/19396/ + +Produced by Frank van Drogen, Amy Cunningham and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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