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diff --git a/38633.txt b/38633.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bd8adb --- /dev/null +++ b/38633.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6285 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Monarchs of the Main, Volume III (of 3), +by Walter Thornbury + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Monarchs of the Main, Volume III (of 3) + Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers + + +Author: Walter Thornbury + + + +Release Date: January 21, 2012 [eBook #38633] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME +III (OF 3)*** + + +E-text prepared by Adam Buchbinder, Rory OConor, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from scanned images of +public domain material generously made available by the Google Books +Library Project (http://books.google.com/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg has the other two volumes of this work. + Volume I: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38631 + Volume II: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38632 + + + Images of the original pages are available through + the the Google Books Library Project. See + http://books.google.com/books?vid=FyYCAAAAYAAJ&id + + + + + +THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN; + +Or, + +Adventures of the Buccaneers. + +by + +GEORGE W. THORNBURY, ESQ. + +"One foot on sea and one on shore, +To one thing constant never." + MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. + +In Three Volumes. + +VOL. III. + + + + + + + +London: +Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, +Successors to Henry Colburn, +13, Great Marlborough Street. +1855. + +London: Sercombe and Jack, 16 Great Windmill Street. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. III. + + +CHAPTER I.--RAVENAU DE LUSSAN. + +As a young French Officer joins De Graff, at St. Domingo--Cruises round +Carthagena--Crosses the Isthmus--Hardships--Joins the Buccaneer +Fleet--Grogniet, the French Captain--Previous history of his Life--Fight +with Greek mercenaries on the island--Take La Seppa--Engagement off +Panama--Take Puebla Nueva--Separate from English--Capture Leon--Sack +Chiriquita--Burn Granada--Storm Villia--Surprised by river +ambuscade--Treachery of Greek spy--Capture vessels--Behead Spanish +prisoners--Letter of Spanish President--Burning of the +Savannahs--Quarrel between French and English--Attack on +Quayaquilla--Love adventure of De Lussan--Retreat of French Buccaneers +by land over the Isthmus of Darien--Passage from North to South +Pacific--Great danger--Pass between the mountains--Daring stratagem of +De Lussan--Escape--The river of the torrents--Rafts--Arrives at St. +Domingo 1 + +CHAPTER II.--THE LAST OF THE BROTHERHOOD. + +Sieur de Montauban--Cruises on the coast of Guinea--Captures English +man-of-war--Escape from explosion--Life with the negro king--Laurence de +Graff--His victories--Enters the French service--Treachery--Buccaneers +join in French expedition and take Carthagena--Buccaneer +marksmen--Robbed of spoil--Return and retake the city--Capture by +English and Dutch fleets, 1698--Buccaneers wrecked with +D'Estrees--Grammont takes Santiago--Captures Maracaibo, Gibraltar, and +Torilla--Lands at Cumana--Enters the French service--Lost in a farewell +cruise 105 + +CHAPTER III.--DESTRUCTION OF THE FLOATING EMPIRE. + +Peace of Ryswick--Attempts to settle the Buccaneers as planters--They +turn pirates--Blackbeard and Paul Jones--Last expedition to the Darien +mines, 1702 157 + +CHAPTER IV.--THE PIRATES OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND THE KINGS OF MADAGASCAR. + +Laws and dress--Government--Blackbeard--His enormities--Captain Avery +and the great Mogul--Davis--Lowther--Low--Roberts--Major Bonnet--Captain +Gow--The Guinea coast--Narratives of pirate prisoners--Sequel 163 + +List of Authorities. + +Buccaneer Chiefs. + + + + +MONARCHS OF THE MAIN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +RAVENAU DE LUSSAN. + + Joins De Graff--Cruises round Carthagena--Crosses the + Isthmus--Hardships--Joins Buccaneer fleet--Grogniet--Previous + history of the vessels--Fight with Greek mercenaries--Take La + Seppa--Engagement off Panama--Take Puebla Nueva--Separate from + English--Take Leon--Take Chiriquita--Take Granada--Capture + Villia--Surprised by ambuscade--Treachery of Greek spy--Capture + vessels--Behead prisoners--Burn the savannahs--Quarrel between + French and English--Take Guayaquil--Love adventure of De + Lussan--Retreat by land from North to South Pacific--Daring + stratagem of De Lussan--Escape--River and torrents--Rafts--Arrive at + St. Domingo. + + +For the cruises of Grogniet we are indebted to the pages of Ravenau de +Lussan, a young soldier, as brave and as sagacious as Xenophon. + +On the 22nd of November, 1684, Ravenau de Lussan departed from Petit +Guaves with a crew of 120 adventurers, on board of a prize lately taken +near Carthagena by Captain Laurence de Graff. Their intention was to +join themselves to a Buccaneer fleet then cruising near Havannah. They +had hitherto acted as convoy to the Lieutenant-General and the Intendant +of the French colonies, who were afraid of being attacked by the Spanish +piraguas. Soon after descrying the mainland, they were hailed by a +French tartane, who, not believing that they were of his own nation, or +had a commission from the Count of Tholouse, the Lord High Admiral of +France, gave them two guns and commanded them to strike. The Buccaneers, +thinking they had met a Spaniard, knocked out the head of two barrels of +powder, intending to burn themselves and blow up the vessel, rather than +be cruelly tortured and hung at the yard-arm with their commissions +round their necks. A signal, however, discovered the mistake, and they +were soon after joined by the vessels they sought. One of these was the +_Mutinous_, formerly the _Peace_, commanded by Captain Michael +Landresson, and carried fifty guns. The other was the _Neptune_, +formerly the _St. Francis_, and carried forty-four guns. They had both +been Spanish armadillas, had sallied out of Carthagena to take Captain +De Graff, Michael, Quet, and Le Sage, and were themselves captured +before the very walls. The four other boats belonged to Rose Vigneron, +La Garde, and an "English traitor from Jamaica." They were then watching +for the patache of Margarita, and a squadron of Spanish ships. + +At Curacoa they sent a boat ashore to ask leave to land and remast +Laurence de Graff's vessel that had suffered in a hurricane, but were +refused, although they showed their commission, and the men who landed +were required to leave their swords at the gate. At Santa Cruz they +saluted the fort, and the governor, finding 200 of them roaming about +the town, commanded them by drum-beat to return to their ships, +offering them two shallops for two pieces of eight a man to take them to +their ships, but refusing to let them walk through the island. They +found the reason of this was that Michael and Laurence's ships had +lately taken 200,000 pieces of eight in two Dutch ships near the +Havannah. This the freebooters did not touch, being at peace with +Holland, but the sailors had stolen it and laid it to the French. + +Arriving at Cape La Vella, they placed fifteen sentinels to watch for +the patache, and sent a boat to the La Hache river to obtain prisoners, +but, in spite of various stratagems, failed in the attempt. A dispute +now arose among the crews, who were weary of waiting for the patache, +such disputes invariably breaking out in all seasons of misfortune, when +union was more than usually necessary. + +Laurence de Graff, whom they accused of fraud, sailed at once for St. +Domingo, followed by eighty-seven men in the prize, and Ravenau +accompanied Captain Rose and Captain Michael to Carthagena, where they +captured seven piraguas laden with maize. From the prisoners they heard +that two galleons lay in the port, that the fleet was at Porto Bello, +and that some ships were about to set out. Soon after this, finding +themselves separated from Captain Rose and Michael, Ravenau determined +to cross over the continent and get into the South Sea, as he heard a +previous expedition some months before had done. + +Near Cape Matance a remarkable adventure happened. A Spanish soldier, +belonging to the galleons, who had been taken in one of the maize +vessels, although treated with every kindness, attempted to drown +himself by throwing himself into the sea; his body, however, floated on +its back, although he did all he could to drown, till at last, refusing +the tackle thrown him from very compassion, he turned himself upon his +face, and sank to the bottom. On landing at Golden Island and fixing a +flag to warn the Indians, they saw a pennon hoisted upon the shore, and +discovered it to belong to three of Captain Grogniet's men, who had +refused to follow the expedition, which had just started for the South +Sea. Some Indians soon after brought them letters left for the first +freebooters who should land, announcing that Grogniet and 170 men had +gone into the South Sea, and that 115 Englishmen had preceded them. Soon +after Michael and Rose, pursuing a Spanish vessel from Santiago to +Carthagena, came in to water, and many of the crew resolved to join +their march. 118 men left Michael, and the whole sixty-four of Rose's +crew, reimbursing the owners, burnt their vessel and joined them. +Ravenau's ship was left in the care of Captain Michael, and the united +264 men now encamped on shore. + +On Sunday, March 1st, 1685, after recommending themselves to the +Almighty's protection, the expedition set out under the command of +Captains Rose, Picard, and Desmarais, with two Indian guides and forty +Indian porters. + +The country proved so rugged that they could only travel three leagues a +day; it was full of mountains, precipices, and impenetrable forests. +Great rains fell, and increased the hardship of the journey, and the +weight of their arms and ammunition clogged them in ascending the +precipices. On descending into the plain, which, though pathless, +appeared smooth and level, they found they had to cross the same river +forty-four times in the space of only two leagues, and this upon +dangerous and slippery rocks. Arriving next day at an Indian +caravansery, they remained some time shooting deer, monkeys, and wild +hogs, flame-coloured birds, wild pheasants, and partridges that abounded +in the woods. At length, after six days of painful and wearisome travel, +the Buccaneers reached the Bocca del Chica river, that empties itself in +the South Sea. Here, guided by the Indians, they fell to work making +canoes, and bartered knives, needles, and hatchets, with the savages, +for maize, potatoes, and bananas. Though well assured that their march +had been impossible but for the friendliness of these savages, they +still kept on their guard, fearing treachery. "They had," says Ravenau, +with a pious sigh of pity, "no sign of religion or of the knowledge of +God amongst them, holding that they have communion with the devil," and, +indeed, as he declares, after spending solitary nights in the woods, +often foretelling events to the Frenchmen, that came true to the +minutest detail. + +Just as they had finished making their canoes, Lussan heard that the +English expedition, under Captain Townley, had captured two provision +vessels from Lima, and soon after one of Grogniet's men, who had been +lost while hunting, joined them. Hearing that Grogniet awaited them at +King's Islands, before he attacked the Peru fleet, they started on the +1st of April in fourteen canoes, with twenty oars a piece, and with a +score of Indian guides, who were sanguine of plunder. On the fourth they +halted for stragglers, and mended their canoes, much injured by the +rocks and flats of the river. In some places they were even forced to +carry their boats, or to drag them over fallen trees that blocked the +deeper parts by the flood. Several men died, and many were seized with +painful diseases, produced by hard food and immersion in the water. +They were now reduced to a handful of raw maize a day. + +From some Indians sent forward to meet them, they heard that provisions +awaited them at some distance, and that 1000 Spaniards had prepared an +ambuscade on the river's banks. This, however, they avoided, by stirring +only at dark, and then without noise. Surprised one night by the tide, +the canoes were driven swiftly down the river, and some of them upset +against a snag; the men were saved, but the arms and ammunition were +lost. On approaching the Indian ambuscade at Lestocada, they placed +their canoes one in the other, and telling the sentinels that they were +Indian boats, bringing salt into the South Sea, escaped unhurt. On the +12th it grew so dark that the rowers could hardly see each other, and +the heavy rain filled the boat so dangerously as to require two men to +bale perpetually. At midnight they entered shouting into the South Sea, +and found the provisions awaiting them at Bocca Chica, together with two +barks to bring them to the fleet. Resting for a day or two, they +repaired to the King's Islands to await the ships. These mountainous +islands were the stronghold of Maroon negroes. + +On the 22nd, Easter Day, the fleet arrived. It consisted of ten vessels, +Captain David's frigate of thirty-six guns, Captain Samms, vice-admiral, +with sixteen guns, Captain Townley, with two ships; Captain Grogniet, +Captain Brandy, and Captain Peter Henry had also each a vessel, and the +two small barks were commanded by quartermasters. Except Grogniet, who +was a Frenchman, and David, who was a Fleming, the rest were all +Englishmen. Their total force amounted to the number of 1100. + +Of the different vessels, Ravenau gives the following laudatory account. +The admiral's belonged to the English, who, at St. Domingo, had +surprised a long bark, commanded by Captain Tristan, a Frenchman, while +waiting for a wind. They took next a Dutch ship, and, changing vessels, +went and made several prizes on the coast of Guinea, and, at Castres +capturing a vessel from Hamburg, joined this expedition. They were, +Ravenau declared, little better than pirates, attacking even, their own +countrymen, which no true Buccaneer ever did. They had, a short time +before, been chastised by a frigate, who, giving them a broadside and a +volley of small shot, killed their captain and twenty men. + +The vice-admiral's was a vessel they had forced to join them, and had +lately taken a ship called the _Sainte Rose_, laden with corn and wine, +bound from Truxillo to Panama, and this vessel Davis gave to the French. +The others were all prizes captured in the South seas. + +The holy alliance soon after took an advice boat that was carrying +letters from Madrid to Panama, and despatches from the viceroy of Peru; +but both the captain and pilot were bound by an oath rather to die than +deliver up their packets or divulge any secret, and had thrown overboard +the rolls as well as a casket of jewels. On the same evening 500 men, in +twenty-two canoes, embarked to take La Seppa, a small town seven leagues +to windward, of Panama. The next day, early in the morning, two armed +piraguas, manned with Spanish mercenaries, seeing some of the Buccaneer +canoes and forty-six men approaching them, ran ashore on an island in +the bay and prepared to defend themselves. These troops were composed of +all nations, and had been sent to defend this coast. One of the "Greek" +boats split on the beach. The other the Buccaneers took, but the +fugitives, planting their flag of defiance on a rising ground, fought +desperately, and compelled the freebooters to land on another part of +the island and take them in the rear. After an hour's conflict they fled +into the woods, leaving thirty-five men dead round their colours and two +prisoners. + +The attack upon La Seppa proved a failure, for the Sea Rovers had to row +two leagues up a river, where they were soon discovered by the +sentinels. Yet for all this they fell furiously on, and took it with the +loss of only one man; but the booty proved inconsiderable. + +The fleet now anchored at the beautiful islands called the Gardens of +Panama. All the rich merchants of the city had pleasure-houses here +surrounded by rich orchards and arbours of jessamine, and watered by +rills and streams. The hungry sailors revelled in the fruits, and reaped +plentiful harvests of maize and rice, which Ravenau says "the Spaniards, +I believe, did not sow with an intention they should enjoy." + +On the 8th of May they passed the old and new towns of Panama in bravado +with colours and streamers flying, anchored at Tavoga, another island of +pleasure. Having caulked their ships, they sent out a long bark as a +scout, and arranged a plan of attacking the Spanish fleet. Davis and +Grogniet were to board the admiral; Samms and Brandy the vice-admiral; +and Henry and Townley the patache; while the armed piraguas would hover +about and keep off the enemy's fire-ships. The next day they put ashore +forty prisoners at Tavoga; and the same day, the sound of cannon, which +they could not account for, announced the unobserved arrival of the +Spanish fleet at Panama. The whole Buccaneer squadron, expecting a +battle soon, took the usual oath that they would not wrong one another +to the value of a piece of eight, if God was pleased to give them the +victory over the Spaniard. + +They had scarcely discovered from a Spanish prisoner that the fleet had +actually arrived, and was careening and remanning before they ventured +out, when Captain Grogniet, raising his flag seven times, gave notice to +make quickly ready. The Buccaneers doubled the point of the island where +they had anchored, and saw seven great vessels bearing down upon them +with a bloody flag to the stern and a royal one at their masts. The +Frenchmen, mad with joy at the prospect of such prizes, and thinking +them already their own, threw their hats into the sea for joy. It was +now noon. The rest of the day was spent by both fleets in trying to +obtain the weather-gauge, and at sunset they exchanged a broadside. In +the night a floating lanthorn deceived the Buccaneers, and in the +morning they found themselves all still to leeward, with the exception +of two vessels which had no guns. Although terribly mauled by the +Spanish shot, the English admiral and vice-admiral resolved to die +fighting rather than let one vessel be taken, although both being good +sailors they might have at once saved themselves. The Spaniards, +refusing to board, battered them safely at a distance, and prevented +Grogniet from joining them, while Peter Henry's ship, having received +more than 120 cannon shot, sheered off and was taken by two piraguas. + +The long bark, sorely handled, was deserted by her crew, who threw their +guns overboard and left the Spanish prisoners to shift for themselves. +These wretches attempted to rejoin their countrymen; but the Spanish +admiral, mistaking them for enemies, sank them with his cannon. + +Peter Henry's vessel reached the isle of St. John de Cueblo, twenty-four +leagues from Panama, with five feet of water in the hold, and having +repaired, rejoined his fleet in about a fortnight. They found that +Captain Davis had been hard plied, having received two shots in his +rudder, and six of his men were wounded, but only one killed. Captain +Samms had been no less put to it. His poop was half swept off, and he +had received several shots between wind and water. He had had three men +wounded, and his mate had had his head carried off by a cannon ball. The +smaller vessels had lost no men, but had a few wounded. The Spanish +admiral, they found, had carried 56 guns, the vice-admiral 40, the +patache 28, and the conserve 18. The fire-ships had also been mounted +with cannon to conceal their real purpose. On considering the disparity +of force, and the little loss his companions received, Ravenau seems to +have no doubt that if they could have intercepted the Spaniards before +they entered Panama, and could have got the weather-gauge of them, he +should have returned through the straits with wealth enough to have +lived all his life at ease, and have escaped three more years of danger +and fatigue. + +Not the least discouraged by this repulse, the freebooters landed 300 +men, from five canoes, to surprise the town of Puebla Nueva. Rowing two +leagues up a very fine river, they captured one sentinel, but another +escaped and gave the alarm. They found the place deserted, but took a +ship on their way back. + +A quarrel broke out here between the French and the English. The latter, +superior in numbers, would have taken Grogniet's ship away, and given it +to Townley, had not the Frenchmen put on a determined front. Refusing to +acknowledge this assumption of dominion, 130 of them banded themselves +apart, and Grogniet's crew made them altogether 330 in number. + +"Besides national animosity, one of the chief reasons," says Lussan, +"that made us disagree was their impiety against our religion, for they +made no scruple when they got into a church to cut down the arms of a +crucifix with their sabres, or to shoot them down with their fusils and +pistols, bruising and maiming the images of the saints with the same +weapons, in derision to the adoration we Frenchmen paid unto them. And +it was chiefly from these horrid disorders that the Spaniards equally +hated us all, as we came to understand by divers of their letters that +fell into our hands." We have no doubt at all that, but for these +"horrible disorders," the Spaniards would have considered the death of +their children and the loss of their money as real compliments. + +Returning to the isle of St. John, both nations in separate encampments +began to cut down acajou trees to hollow into canoes in place of those +they had lost in the fight. + +These trees were so large that one trunk would hold eighty men. Afraid +of the English, the Frenchmen placed a sentinel in a high tree on the +sea-shore, to watch both the camps, and also to give the signal if any +Spanish vessel approached. A Buccaneer ship putting into the harbour, +they discovered it to be commanded by Captain Willnett. Forty of his +crew left him, and joined the English, but eleven Frenchmen remained +with Grogniet. This vessel had just captured a corn ship near Sansonnat, +and hearing of other brothers being on the south coast, had set out in +search of them. The Frenchmen were now very short of food, having +little powder, and not daring to waste it upon deer and monkeys when +Spaniards were at hand, for in fifteen days the Englishmen had eaten or +driven away all the turtle. They were reduced to an allowance of two +turtle for 330 men in forty-eight hours. Many of the men wandering into +the woods ate poisonous fruits. Others were bitten by serpents, and died +enduring terrible pains, ignorant of the fruit which is an antidote to +such wounds. Several were devoured by crocodiles. + +While in this strait, the English sent a quartermaster to ask the French +to join in an expedition against the town of Leon, being too weak by +themselves. The wounded vanity of the French contended with their +hunger. They knew that the English had plenty of provisions, brought in +Willnett's ship, and thirty men, weary of fasting, left Grogniet and +joined Davis. But Ravenau's party having but one ship asked for another, +in order that they might keep together, and this being refused, broke +off the treaty. + +As soon as the Leon party had embarked, the French, commanded by Captain +Grogniet, also started with 120 men in five canoes, leaving 200 in the +island to build more canoes, and join them on the continent. Coming on +the mainland to a cattle station, and afterwards to a sugar plantation, +they took several prisoners whom they found ignorant of the disjunction +of the French and English. Sending back a canoe with provisions to the +island, they landed again about forty leagues to leeward of Panama, and +at cock-crowing surprised a Spanish estantia, and took fifty prisoners, +including a young man and woman of rank who promised ransom. These they +carried to the island Ignuana, and received the money after a +fortnight's delay. + +On their return to St. John's they found that 100 men had been to Puebla +Nueva, and taken the place, although discovered by the sentinels, and +had remained there two days in spite of continual attacks. The commander +of the place had come with a trumpet to speak to them, and inquired why, +being English, they fought under French colours. But they, not +satisfying his curiosity, fiercely told him to be gone from whence he +came. Eight of them, having strayed from the main body, had been bravely +set on by 150 Spaniards, who killed two of them, but, with all the +advantage they had of numbers, could not hinder the other six from +recovering the main guard, who fought and retreated with extraordinary +vigour. + +Once more reunited, these restless Norsemen started to the mainland in +six canoes, 140 in number, to visit the sugar plantation near St. Jago, +where they had been before. Two men were sent to the cattle station to +obtain the ransom of the master, whom they kept prisoner, and others +visited the sugar works in search of some cauldrons, which they needed; +and, fired at hearing the governor of St. Jago, with 800 men, had +visited the place since their departure, they sent to dare him to meet +them. + +Careening their ships and taking in water and wood, they would at once +have sailed away, but were detained by eighteen days' rain, during which +time the sun did not once appear. This part of the South Sea was +proverbial for continual rains, and was called by the Spaniards "The +Droppings." "These rains," Ravenau says, "not only rotted their sails, +but produced dysentery among the men, and bred worms, half a finger long +and as thick as a quill, between their skin and their flesh." Soon after +leaving the island they were nearly cast away in a dreadful storm, and +were compelled to repair their shattered sails with shirts and drawers, +wherewith they were already very indifferently provided. + +At Realegua, where there was a volcano burning, they landed 100 men in +four canoes, and obtained some prisoners by surprising a hatto. They +found the English had already taken Leon and burnt Realegua. In spite of +Spanish reinforcements from eight neighbouring towns, they stayed at +Leon three whole days, and challenged the Spaniards to meet them in the +Race savannah. But the Spaniards replied, they were not yet all come +together; "which means," says our friend Ravenau, "that they were not +yet six to one." While here, one of their quartermasters, a Catalonian +by birth, fled to the Spaniards, and compelled the French to abandon a +design on the town of Granada. At Realegua six men tried to swim ashore +to fill some water casks, in spite of the Spaniards on the beach, and +one of them was drowned in the attempt. They landed at the port, and +found the churches and houses and three entrenchments half burnt. +Surprising the sentinels of Leon, they discovered that in spite of a +garrison of 2000 men, the inhabitants, hearing the Buccaneers had +landed, were hiding their treasure. They soon after put to flight a +detachment of horse, and took the captain prisoner. + +A few days after this 150 men left the vessels to take a small town of +Puebla Vieja, near Realegua, which they found still deserted. It had +become the custom now among the Spaniards, when the freebooters had +frequently taken the same place, for the prelate to excommunicate it, +and henceforward not even to bury their dead there. Discovered by the +sentinel, the Buccaneers found the enemy entrenched in the church of +Puebla, and about 150 horse in the market-place. A few discharges drove +the horsemen away, and the defenders of the church fled through a door +in the vestry. Staying a day and a-half in the captured town, the +freebooters carried away all the provisions they could find on horses +and on their own backs, taking with them a Spanish gentleman who +promised ransom. The next day a Spanish officer brought a letter signed +by the vicar-general of the province, written by order of the general of +Costa Rica, declaring that France and Spain were at peace and leagued to +fight the infidel, and offering them a passage to the North Sea in his +Catholic Majesty's galleons. To this they returned a threatening answer, +and, putting thirty prisoners ashore, proceeded to careen their ships, +the Spaniards lighting fires along the coast as they departed. + +An expedition, with fifty men in three canoes, against the town of +Esparso failed, but the hungry men killed and ate the horses of the +sentinels whom they took prisoners, for they had now tasted hardly +anything for four days. At Caldaria they visited a bananery, and loaded +their canoes with the fruit, and at Point Borica stored their boats with +cocoa-nuts, which Ravenau takes care to describe as nuts unknown in +Europe. Laden with gold, but nevertheless, like Midas, starving for want +of food, they landed sixty men in three canoes and took some prisoners +at a hatto which they surrounded, but finding they were very near +Chiriquita, and a garrison of 600 men, retreated to their ships, forcing +their way through 400 horse who reviled them, and challenged them to +revisit the town, which they took care soon after to do. + +On the 5th of January, 1686, they started 230 men in eight canoes to +revisit this place, going ashore at night without a guide, and marched +till daylight without being discovered. On the 7th they hid all day in a +wood, and as night approached again pushed forward, the 8th they spent +also hid in a covert, and then found they had gone ashore on the wrong +side of the river. Fatigued as they were, they waited till night, and +then, returning to their canoes, crossed the river. Surprising the +watch, they found the Spaniards, even on the former alarm, had removed +all their treasure. On the 9th, they reached Chiriquita two hours before +day, and found the inhabitants asleep. The townsmen had been two days +disputing with one another about the watches, and the Buccaneers +ridiculed them by telling them they had come to spare them the trouble. +The soldiers they discovered playing in the court of guard, and they +found a small frigate ashore at the mouth of the river. + +About noon, five of the Buccaneers, straggling into the suburbs to +plunder a house and obtain prisoners, were set upon by an ambuscade of +120 men. Finding no hope of escape, rather than be taken alive they +resolved to sell their lives dearly, and back to back fought the enemy +for an hour and a-half, when only two remained capable of resistance. +The main body, who thought they had been simply firing at a mark, came +to their relief, upon which the enemy at once fled. Of this skirmish, +at which Lussan was present, he says--"This succour coming in so +seasonably, did infallibly save our lives; for the enemy having already +killed us two men and disabled another, it was impossible we should hold +out against such a shower of bullets as were poured in upon us from all +sides; and so I may truly say I escaped a scouring, and that without +receiving as much as one wound, but by a visible hand of protection from +heaven. The Spaniards left thirty men dead upon the spot; and thus we +defended ourselves as desperate men, and, to say all in a word, like +freebooters." + +The Buccaneers having burnt all the houses in the town, fearing a night +attack, retreated into the great church, exchanging a shot now and then +with the enemy. This town was built on the savannahs, and surrounded by +hattoes, its chief trade being in tallow and leather. The men rested +here till the tenth, rejoicing in plenty of provision after nearly four +days' fast. They then removed their prisoners to an island in the river, +where the Spaniards could only approach them openly in a fleet of +shallops. The enemy, driven out of an ambuscade, sent to demand the +prisoners, saying they would recover them or perish in the attempt; but +grew pacified when Grogniet declared they should all be put to death if +a single bullet was fired. Driving off a guard of 100 men, they also +plundered the stranded vessel, and discovered by the letters that the +admiral of the Peru fleet had lately been lost with his 400 men, by his +vessel being struck by a thunderbolt. On the sixteenth, obtaining a +ransom for their prisoners, they returned to the island of St. John. + +The Spaniards, from fear of the freebooters, having put a stop to their +navigation, no ships were to be captured, and having no sails, and their +ship being useless without them, the French began to cut down trees and +build piraguas. On the 27th they descried seven sail at sea, and put out +five canoes to reconnoitre, suspecting it was the vanguard of the +Peruvian fleet. Soon after discerning twelve piraguas and three long +barks coasting in the distance, they retreated to their docks in the +river, and ran their bark ashore to render it useless to the Spaniards, +placing an ambuscade of 150 men along the banks. The enemy, suspecting a +trick, disregarded the two canoes that were sent to draw them into the +snare, but commenced to furiously cannonade the grounded ship, which +contained nothing but a poor cat, and then, perceiving her empty, +bravely boarded and burnt her for the sake of the iron work, and soon +afterwards sailed away. They learnt afterwards that the Chiriquita +prisoners had reported that they had fortified the island, and the fleet +had been sent to land field-pieces and demolish the works. This alarm of +the Spaniards had been encouraged by the Buccaneers having purposely +asked at Chiriquita for masons, and obliged the prisoners to give bricks +as part of the ransom. + +On the 14th of March, they left the island of St. John, in two barks, a +half galley of forty oars, ten large piraguas, and ten smaller canoes, +built of mapou wood. Taking a review of their men, fourteen of whom had +died in February, they found they had lost thirty since the departure of +the English. To prepare for a long-planned attack on Granada, a half +galley and four canoes were despatched to get provisions at Puebla +Nueva. Entering the river by moonlight, the Buccaneers approached within +pistol shot of a small frigate, a long bark, and a piragua, which they +supposed to be their old English allies, but were received by a +splashing volley of great and small shot that killed twenty men. The +ships were, in fact, a detachment of the Spanish fleet left to guard +some provision ships lading for Panama. Quickly recovering from their +surprise, the adventurers, though without cannon, fought them stiffly +for two hours, killing every man that appeared in the shrouds, and +bringing down one by one the grenadiers from the main-top. But as soon +as the moon went down, the Buccaneers sheered off with four dead men and +thirty-three wounded, waiting for daylight to have their revenge. In the +mean time, the enemy had retired under cover of an entrenchment, to +which the country people, attracted during the night by the firing, had +crowded in arms; against these odds, the Buccaneers were unwillingly +compelled to retire, and soon rejoined their canoes at St. Peter's. + +Landing at a town ten leagues leeward of Chiriquita, they obtained no +provisions, and had, with the loss of two men, to force their way +through an ambuscade of 500 Spaniards. Rejoining their barks they spent +some days in hunting in the Bay of Boca del Toro, and obtaining +nourishing food for the wounded men. Their next enterprise was against +the town of Lesparso, which they found abandoned. While lying in the bay +they were joined by Captain Townley and five canoes, who, with his 115 +men, begged to be allowed to join in the expedition against Granada. +Remembering the old imperious dealing of the English, the French at +first, to frighten them, boarded their canoes, and offered to take them +away. "Then," says Lussan, "we let the captain know we were _honester_ +men than he (a curious dispute), and that though we had the upper hand, +yet we would not take the advantage of revenging the injuries they had +done us, and that we would put him and all his men in possession of what +we had taken from them four or five hours before." The men were then +assembled in a bananery island, in the bay, and an account taken of +their supply of powder, for fear any should expend it in hunting. Orders +were also enacted that any brother found guilty of cowardice, violence, +drunkenness, disobedience, theft, or straggling from the main body, +should lose his share of the booty of Granada. + +On the 25th the French and English departed in piraguas and canoes, 345 +men, and landed on a flat shore, following a good guide, who led them +for two days through a wood. They were, however, seen by some fishermen, +who alarmed the town, which had already received intelligence of their +march from Lesparso. Great fatigue obliged them to rest on the evening +of the 9th at a sugar plantation belonging to a knight of St. James, +whom they were too tired to pursue. + +On the 10th they saw two ships on the distant lake of Nicaragua, +carrying off all the wealth of the town to a neighbouring island. From a +prisoner they learnt that the inhabitants were strongly entrenched in +the market-place, guarded by fourteen pieces of cannon and six +patereroes, and that six troops of horse were waiting to attack them in +the rear. + +This information, which would have damped the courage of any but +Buccaneers, drove them only the faster to the charge. At two in the +afternoon they entered the town, over the dead bodies of a party that +had awaited them in ambuscade, and sent a party to reconnoitre the fort. +The skirmishers, after a few shots, returned, and reported that there +were three streets leading to the fort, so they all resolved to +concentrate in one of these. + +Lussan describes the scene, of which he was an eye-witness, too +graphically to need curtailing. "After we had exhorted one another," he +says, "to fall on bravely, we advanced at a good round pace towards the +said fortification. As soon as the defendants saw us within a good +cannon-shot of them, they fired furiously upon us; but observing that at +every discharge of their great guns, we saluted them down to the ground, +in order to let their shot fly over us, they bethought themselves of +false priming them, to the end we might raise our bodies, after the sham +was over, and so to be really surprised with their true firing. As soon +as we discovered this stratagem, we ranged ourselves along the houses, +and having got upon a little ascent, which was a garden plot, we fired +upon them from thence so openly for an hour and a-half that they were +obliged to quit their ground, which our hardy boys, who were got to the +foot of their walls, contributed yet more than the other by pouring in +hand-grenades incessantly upon them, so that at last they betook +themselves to the great church or tower, but they wounded us some men. +As soon as our people, who had got upon the said eminence, perceived +that the enemy fled, they called to us to jump over the walls, which we +had no sooner done than they followed us, and thus it was that we made +ourselves masters of the town, from whence they fled, after having lost +a great many men. We had on our side but four men killed and eight +wounded, which in truth was very cheap. When we got into the fort we +found it to be a place capable of containing 6,000 fighting men; it was +encompassed with a wall the same as our prisoners gave us an account of. +It was pierced with many holes, to do execution upon the assailants, and +was well stored with arms. That part of it which looked towards the +street, through which we attacked it, was defended by two pieces of +cannon and four patereroes, to say nothing of several other places made +to open in the wall through which they thrust instruments made on +purpose to break the legs of those who should be adventurous enough to +come near it; but these, by the help of our grenadiers, we rendered +useless to them. After we had sung _Te Deum_ in the great church, and +set four sentinels in the tower, we fixed our court of guard in the +strong-built houses that are also enclosed within the place of arms, and +there gathered all the ammunition we could get, and then we went to +visit the houses, wherein we found nothing but a few goods and some +provision, which we carried into our court of guard." + +The next evening 150 men were despatched to a distant sugar plantation, +to capture some ladies of rank and treasure; but on the next day a monk +came to treat about the ransom they would require to spare the town. +Unluckily the Spaniards had captured a Buccaneer straggler, who told +them that his companions never meant to burn the place, but intended to +stop there some months, and return into the North Sea, by the lake of +Nicaragua. The freebooters, being refused the ransom, set fire to the +houses in revenge. Had the French indeed had but canoes to capture the +two ships in the island and secure the treasure, they would undoubtedly +have carried out this plan. To a handful of hungry men, without food and +without ships, even the gardens of Granada appeared hateful. + +On leaving the town the Buccaneers took with them one piece of cannon +and four patereroes, drawn by oxen, having to fight their way for +twenty leagues to the shore over the savannah, surrounded by 2,500 +Spaniards thirsting for their blood. In every place the enemy fled at +the first discharge of their pieces. From a prisoner they learnt that a +million and a-half pieces of eight, kept for ransom, was buried in the +wall of the fort, but the men felt no disposition to return. They were +soon obliged to leave their cannon behind, the oxen choked with the +dust, worn out with the heat, and dying of thirst; but the patereroes +were still dragged on by the mules. At the little village of Massaya, +near the lake, they were received with open arms by the Indians, who +only entreated them not to burn their huts. + +All the water in the village had been tainted by the Spaniards, but the +natives brought them as much as they needed. While they lay here a +Spanish monk came to them to obtain the release of a priest who had been +taken armed and with pockets filled with poisoned bullets. They refused +to surrender him but in exchange for one of their own men. The next +day, passing from the forest into a plain, they were attacked by 500 +men, drawn up upon an ascent, and commanded by their Spanish deserter. +Each party displayed bloody flags, but the vanguard beat them with +wonderful bravery, and took fifty horses. The enemy fled, leaving their +arms and the wounded, and turned out to be auxiliaries from Leon. In +three days more they reached the beach, and, resting several days to +salt provisions, sailed to Realegua, where they collected provisions and +100 horses. They then burnt down the borough of Ginandego, in spite of +200 soldiers and an entrenchment, because the inhabitants had defied +them to come. Even here they were, however, much straitened for +provision, the corregidor of Leon having desired all men to burn the +provisions wherever the Buccaneers landed. + +The same day at noon the sentinels rang the alarm bell in the steeple, +and gave notice that 800 men from Leon were advancing across the +savannah to fight them. The men, bustling out of their houses, marched +at once, 150 in number, under their red colours, and drove off the +enemy after a few shots. + +There now arose a dissension in the Flibustier councils. 148 Frenchmen +and all the English, headed by Captain Townley, determined to go up +before Panama to see if the navigation had yet been resumed. 148 +Frenchmen, under Captain Grogniet, resolved to go lower westward and +winter upon an island, waiting for some abatement of the rains and +southerly winds. The barks, canoes, and provisions were then divided, +and the chirurgeons brought in the accounts of the wounded and crippled. +There were found to be four men crippled and six hurt: to the latter +were given 600 pieces of eight a man, and to the former 1000, being +exactly all the money then in store. + +Ravenau joined the Panama division, which, touching again at their old +quarters on the island of St. John, took off a prisoner who had made his +escape when they were last there, and proceeded to land and capture the +town of Villia with 160 men. Marching with great rapidity they reached +the town an hour after sunrise, and surprising the inhabitants at mass, +took 300 prisoners. They then attempted to capture three barks lying in +the river, but the Spanish sailors sank one and destroyed the rigging of +the other two. Gathering together all the merchandise of the town left +by the fleet, the invaders found it to amount to a million and a-half, +valued at 15,000 pieces of eight in good silver. Much treasure was, +however, buried, the Spaniards submitting to death rather than confess +their hiding-places. + +The next day a party of fourscore men were sent to drive the pack horses +to the river side to load the booty in two Spanish canoes. They +despaired of obtaining any ransom for the town, as the alcalde major had +sent to them to say that the only ransom he should give was powder and +ball, whereof he had a great deal at their service; that as to the +prisoners, he should entrust them to the hands of God, and that his +people were getting ready as fast as they could, to have the honour of +seeing them. Upon receiving this daring answer, the Buccaneers, in a +rage, fired the town and marched to the river. As the Spanish ambuscades +prevented the boats coming up to meet them, the adventurers put nine men +on board the boats, the men marching by their side to guard them from +attack. On the other side, unknown to them and hidden by the trees, +marched 900 Spaniards. When they had proceeded about a league, an +impassable thicket compelled them to make a diversion of some 200 paces, +an accident which involved the loss of the whole plunder of Villia. + +Before they left the boats, the captain ordered the crews to stop a +little higher up, where the three Spanish barks lay, and endeavour to +bring them away. On arriving there they were surprised by an ambuscade, +and as they defended themselves against the Spaniards, the current drove +them on beyond the three barks and far from the main body. Seeing them +now helpless, the enemy discharged sixty musket shots at them, and +killed four men and wounded one. The rest, abandoning the canoes, swam +to the other side of the river, while a dozen Indians wading in brought +the boat to the Spaniards; cutting off the head of a wounded man and +setting it on a pole by the shore. + +The Buccaneers who did not hear the firing, were astonished on returning +to the river to see no canoes, and while waiting for them to come up, +for they supposed they were behind, the rowers, who had escaped, broke +breathless through the thicket, and told their story. Luckily in their +flight through the wood they had discovered the rudders and sails of the +three barks, in which the Buccaneers at once embarked, and sent +fifty-six men on shore to recover the fittings, agreeing that each +should fire three guns as a signal. Soon after they had landed, the +report of about 500 guns was heard, but before they could reach the +enemy the Spaniards had fled. Going ashore the next day, they found the +two canoes dashed to pieces, and the bodies of the dead much +mutilated--the head of one set upon a pole, and the body of another +burnt in the fire. These objects so enraged the Buccaneers, that they +instantly cut off four of their prisoners' heads, and set them on poles +in the same place. Their own dead they carried with them to bury by the +sea-side--the fitting burial-place for seamen. Three times they had to +land to break through ambuscades at the river's mouth, in the last +attack losing three men. With a Spaniard who came on board, they agreed +for a ransom of 10,000 pieces of eight, but threatened to kill all the +prisoners if the money was not brought in within two days. Upon the +stubborn alcalde seizing the hostages who were sent ashore to obtain +money to release their wives, the Buccaneers cut off the heads of two +prisoners and sent them to the town, declaring that if no ransom was +paid, they would serve the rest the same, and having put the women on an +island, would come and capture the alcalde. The same evening came in a +promise to pay all the ransoms, and to bring besides, every day while +they stayed, ten oxen, twenty sheep, and 200 lbs. of meal. For a +Buccaneer's fire-arms which the enemy pretended to have lost (for the +Spaniards were fond of French arms), they paid 400 pieces of eight. They +also bought one of the captured barks for 600 pieces of eight and 100 +lbs. of nails, of which the adventurers stood in great need, but her +tackle and anchors were not surrendered. They obtained also a Flibustier +passport that the bark should not be retaken, although her cargo might +be confiscated. Having then obtained a parting present of 100 salted +beeves, from this long-suffering place the French set sail. Afraid to +land on the continent, which was guarded by 4,000 men, they abstained, +till, nearly dying with thirst, they made a descent with 200 sailors, +driving off the Spaniards, whom they found lying on the grass about 100 +paces from the sea. + +Lussan says they saw "we were a people who would hazard all for a small +matter." + +Landing at midnight at a small island near Cape Pin, they were +discovered by the pearl divers, but still contrived to capture a ship at +daybreak. From their prisoners they heard that the Spaniards had lately +defeated a party of thirty-six, French and English, from Peru, who were +attempting to pass into the North Sea by the river Bocca del Chica. Two +parties of English, forty each, on their way into the South Sea, had +also been massacred all but four, who were prisoners at Panama. To +balance these ill omens, tidings of prizes reached the Buccaneers on +every hand. A bark was lying in the Bocca del Chica river, waiting for +800 lbs. of gold from the mines to bring to Panama. Two ships laden with +meal and money for the garrison of Lima were also expected; and from a +prisoner (a spy, it afterwards appeared), captured at the King's +Islands, they learnt that two merchant barks and a piragua with sixty +Indians lay in the river of Seppa, besides a frigate and scout galley +under the guns of Panama. + +Much in want of vessels, and not suspecting the prisoner, four canoes +were sent at once to cut out the barks of Panama, the "Greek" soldier +going with them readily as a guide. They arrived two hours before +daylight, and the moon shining very bright they waited for a cloud to +obscure it, seeing, as they thought, the anticipated prize lying near +with her sails loose. By mere chance, the adventurers, to waste no time, +pursued a vessel just leaving the port, thinking it was the scout +galley, and took it without a shot. Upon examination, the captain +confessed their guide was the commander of a Greek piragua, and had been +promised a large reward by the governor of Panama to betray them into +his hands. The ship they saw was a mere sham of boards and sails, built +upon firm land, only a pistol shot from the port. They supposed that the +Buccaneers, eager to take her, would row up, and so drive their canoes +far on shore, and hoped to overpower them before they got off. The Greek +captain being at once identified as a spy, was, says Ringrose, "sent to +that world where he had designed to send us." The fleet then proceeded +to take the islands of Ottoqua and Tavoga, losing two men in the Greek's +second ambuscade at Seppa, but capturing in their way a bark from Nata +laden with provisions, after a few discharges of musketry, the Spanish +captain swimming to shore. From Tavoga they sent a message to the +governor of Panama, to say that if he did not at once surrender his five +English and French captives, they would at once put to death fifty +Spanish prisoners. + +They then anchored again at the King's Islands, and sent a galley and +four canoes up the Bocca Chica river to see if the Indians were at peace +with Spain or not, and to destroy an ambuscade of 100 Spaniards, who +they heard were lying in wait on the banks for thirty freebooters, on +their way from the South to the North Pacific. Carried swiftly up the +river by the current, the guide, compelling them to row faster just +before daybreak, brought them, much to their astonishment, at a bend of +the river, opposite the camp fires of the enemy. The guide being hailed, +replied they were from Panama; and being asked the name of the +commander, hesitated about a fitting title, and received a volley in +return. The Buccaneers driving off the enemy with two patereroes, passed +them quickly, and, anchoring out of reach, waited for the ebb tide to +return. Putting all their men under deck, the adventurers returned about +an hour before daylight, saluting them with four paterero shots as they +passed, and receiving no injury in return. The next day, taking a small +Indian vessel, the Buccaneers landed lower down the river, intending to +take the Spanish entrenchment in the rear; but seeing the enemy putting +out a piragua to attack their galley, they returned in great haste and +landed opposite the Spanish court of guard, killing a great many men and +driving out the rest. They also shot an Indian, who, mistaking them for +Spaniards, followed them and reviled them as they were re-embarking. The +prisoners told them that the neighbouring town of Terrible was prepared +for their coming. A letter to the camp-master of Terrible was found in +the entrenchment. It concluded thus: "I have sent you 300 men to defeat +these enemies of God and goodness; be sure to keep upon your watch; be +afraid of being surprised, and your men will infallibly be gainers in +defeating of them." The prisoners also put them on their guard as to +many ambuscades and secret dangers. Having burnt the guard-house, and +carried off the piragua with some pounds of gold-dust, the Buccaneers +departed, dismissing the Indians to propitiate the nation who had +received commission from the President of Panama to arm canoes against +them. While descending the river, having put some Spanish prisoners on +deck to deceive the Indians, some natives came and brought gold-dust to +them, taking them for friends. A few days after this, forty Spanish +prisoners put ashore at the King's Islands, met accidentally with some +canoes, and escaped to Panama. + +The French were now again surprised as they had been before, three of +the enemy's vessels approaching under cover of an island. By venturing a +dangerous passage between the island of Tavaguilla and a rock the +Buccaneers at last obtained the weather-gauge. The fight lasted till +noon, and the Spaniards were driven off in all attempts at boarding. +Throwing grenades into the biggest ship, one of them set fire to some +loose powder and burnt a great many men; and during this confusion, the +adventurers boarded the enemy, who rallied in the stern, and made a +vigorous resistance, but at last begged for quarter. The second was also +at the same time carried and taken. The third, a kind of galley, pursued +by three Buccaneer vessels, ran ashore and staved to pieces, few of the +crew escaping, not more than a dozen, Ringrose thinks. In the frigate +eighty men were killed and wounded out of 120 on board. The second ship +had only eighteen unhurt out of eighty. All the officers were killed and +wounded, and the captain received no less than five musket shots. He was +the soldier that had received five wounds resisting them at Puebla +Nueva, and he had also planned the ambuscade at Villia. + +While busily employed in splicing the rigging and throwing the dead +overboard, two more sail were seen bearing down from Panama. The English +instantly put up Spanish colours to allure them, and placed the French +and English beneath them. As the foe drew near, they received a volley, +and, firing hurriedly, at once fled to the frigate which they supposed +still theirs. The frigate replied by some grenades, which sent one to +the bottom, and the piragua boarded the other, and, finding four packs +of halters on board, put all the crew to death in revenge. They had been +directed to spare none but the Buccaneer surgeons, and to send troops of +horse to cut off all that escaped in canoes. On the very next day they +took a shallop from Panama which the president had sent to pull up an +anchor that the adventurers had left in the bay. Only one Buccaneer was +killed in the fight, but Captain Townley and twenty men were wounded, +and most of these died, for the Spaniards poisoned their bullets. They +now sent a prisoner to the president, demanding his five captives and +medicines for the use of his own people. The messenger was also told to +complain heavily of the massacre of the three parties at Darien. + +To these remonstrances the officer sent the following answer: +"Gentlemen, I wonder that you, who should understand how to make war, +should require those men of me that are in our custody. Your rashness +hath something contrary to the civility wherewith you ought to treat +those people that were in your power. If you do not use them well, God +will perhaps be on our side." To this they returned a threat of +beheading all their prisoners without mercy; and having done this, +sailed at once to the isles of Pericos, fearing the Spanish fire-ships. +The Bishop of Panama, who, they knew, had stirred up the president to +war, sent a letter, entreating them to show mercy, saying the president +had the king's orders to restore no prisoners, and that the Englishmen, +having turned Roman Catholics, did not wish to leave Panama. + +Upon this the Buccaneers sent the president twenty Spaniards' heads in a +canoe, threatening to kill all the rest, if the prisoners were not +restored by the next day. Very early the next morning came the +prisoners, four Englishmen and one Frenchman, with medicines for the +wounded, the president leaving to their honour to give as many men as +they chose in exchange. They at once sent a dozen of the most wounded on +shore, accusing the president of being the murderer of the twenty they +had killed, and threatening the death of the rest, unless 20,000 pieces +of eight were paid for their ransom. The Spaniards at first tried to +make it only 6000; but when the Buccaneers hung out their main flag, +fired a gun, and prepared to enter the port, they hung out a white flag +at a bastion, and promised the money shortly. The next day a Knight of +Malta came in a bark with the money, and received the prisoners. While +staying at Ottoqua to victual their ships, the Spaniards landed at night +and murdered their Indian guides. The day after the French chased a +provision vessel to the very guns of Panama, when the garrison hoisted +the Burgundian flag on the bastion, and by mistake fired upon their own +vessel, which the Buccaneers took. Putting nineteen prisoners on shore, +they again attempted to surprise Villia, but failed, finding all the +people in arms, and a reinforcement of 600 men newly come from Panama. +They next took the town of St. Lorenzo, and surprising it at twilight, +burnt it. They learned the Spaniards had orders to drive away the +cattle from the sea-shore, to lay ambuscades, and to obtain from women +intelligence of the Buccaneers' movements. A dreadful storm which +overtook the fleet in the Bay of Bocca del Toro induced Lussan, with a +naive philanthropy, to tell his readers: "If you would enter into it +with safety, you must keep the whip of your rudder to starboard, because +it is dangerous to keep to the east side." While here the same writer +gives us the following trait of Flibustier manners:--"On the 25th, being +Christmas-day, after we had, according to custom, said our prayers in +the night, one of our quartermasters being gone ashore in order to take +care about our eating some victuals (for our ships being careening all +our provisions were then put out), one of our prisoners, who served us +as cook, stabbed him with a knife in six several places, wherewith +crying out, he was presently relieved, and the assassin punished with +death." + +On the 1st of January, 1687, leaving their ships in the bay of Caldaira, +the Buccaneers embarked 200 men in canoes and crossed to the island of +La Cagna. + +Their treacherous guide, under the pretence of hiding them in a covert, +led them into a marsh, where the mud, in the soundest places, rose above +their middles; five men sinking up to their chins were dragged out with +ropes tied to the mangrove branches. The men, anxious for escape, lifted +up their guide to the top of a tree, to discover by the moonlight where +sound land commenced. But he, once at liberty, skipped like a monkey +from tree to tree, railing at them and deriding their helplessness. They +spent the whole night in marching a hundred paces round this marsh, and +groped out at daybreak, bedaubed from head to toe, with their fire-arms +loaded with mud. "When we were in a condition," says Lussan, "to reflect +a little upon ourselves, and that we saw 200 men in the same habit, all +so curiously equipped, there was not one of us who forgot not his toil +to laugh at the posture he found both himself and the rest in. +Inveighing against their guide, they returned to their canoes, and +proceeded two leagues up a river to an entrenchment, where they found +the remains of two vessels the Spaniards had some time before burnt, at +the approach of Betsharp, an English freebooter. Guided by the barking +of dogs, they surprised the borough of Santa Catalina, and, mounting +sixty men on horses, entered Nicoya and drove out the enemy, carrying +off the governor's plate and movables. They found here some letters from +the President of Panama, describing the doings of "these new Turks," how +they had landed at places where the sea was so high that no sentinels +had been placed, and passed through the woods like wild beasts. The +letters stated how much the Spaniards had been astonished by the +Buccaneer mode of attack--"briskly falling on, singing, dancing, as if +they had been going to a feast;" they were described also as "those +enemies of God and His saints who profane His churches and destroy His +servants." In one battle, it says, being blocked up, "they became as mad +dogs. Whenever these irreligious men set their feet on land they always +win the victory." + +Landing at Caldaira the sentinels set fire to the savannahs, through +which they marched to Lesparso, and towards Carthage, but retired, +hearing of 400 men and an entrenchment. Hiding five men in the grass, +they captured a Spanish trooper, who had reviled them, and putting him +to the rack, laughing at his grimaces of pain, heard that Grogniet was +in the neighbourhood, and soon after they heard cannons fired off, and +were joined by him in three canoes. + +He now told them his adventures at Napalla. Three sailors, corrupted by +the Spaniards, who had taken them prisoners, persuaded him on his return +to visit a gold mine, fourteen leagues from the sea-shore. They luckily +got there before the ambuscade, and took some prisoners and a few pounds +of gold, but 450 lbs. weight had been removed an hour before. At their +return they found the traitors and prisoners all escaped. He then landed +at Puebla Vieja and attacked an ambuscade and entrenchment of 300 men. +Half of these fled, half were made prisoners, and their three colours +taken, the freebooters losing only three men. Eighty-five of his men +then determined to visit California, and he and his sixty men to return +to Panama. Grogniet now consented to join in the French expedition, and, +after taking Queaquilla, to force a way to the North Sea. They landed +and burnt Nicoya a third time, and Lussan treats us here with an amusing +piece of Buccaneer superstition. He says, "though we were _forced_ to +chastise the Spaniards in this manner, we showed ourselves very exact in +the preservation of the churches, into which we carried the pictures and +images of the saints which we found in particular houses, that they +might not be exposed to the rage and burning of the English, who were +not much pleased with these sorts of precautions; they being men that +took more satisfaction and pleasure to see one church burnt than all the +houses of America put together. But as it was our turn now to be the +stronger party, they durst do nothing that derogated from that respect +we bore to all those things." On their return the French had to force +their way through burning savannahs, but got safe to their ships, +putting next day forty prisoners on shore who were too chargeable to +keep. + +A new division now arose between the English and French, and the former +insisting on the first prize taken, the two parties again separated, +Grogniet staying with the former: making in all 142 men, Ravenau's party +being 162, in a frigate and long bark. Both vessels now tried to outsail +each other and reach Queaquilla first, but the French, soon finding the +English beat them in speed, resolved to accompany them, for they had so +little food as to be obliged to eat only once in every forty-eight +hours, and but for rain water would have died of thirst. Off Santa +Helena, they gave chase to a ship, and found it to be a prize laden with +wine and corn, lately taken by Captain David's men, for they had been +making descents along the coast, at Pisca had beaten off 800 men from +Lima, and had also taken a great many ships, which they pillaged and let +go. Having got to the value of 5000 pieces of eight a man, they sailed +for Magellan, and on the way many of the men lost all they had by +gaming. Those who had won joined Willnett, and returned to the North +Sea; but the losers, sixty English and twenty French, joined David, and +determined to remain and get more spoil in the South. Henry and Samms +had gone to the East Indies. The eight men of David's crew who commanded +the prize joined them against Queaquilla. Furling their sails to prevent +being seen, they anchored off the White Cape, and at ten in the morning +embarked 260 men in their canoes. On the 15th they reached, at sunset, +the rocky island of Santa Clara, and on the 16th rested all day, weak +from long fasting, in the island of La Puna, escaping any detection from +the forty sentinels. The 17th they spent on the same island, and +arranged the attack. Captain Picard and fifty men led the forlorn hope, +another captain and eighty grenadiers formed a reserve. Captain Grogniet +and the main body were to make themselves masters of the town and port, +and the English captain, George Hewit, with fifty men, were to attack +the smaller fort; while 1000 pieces of eight were promised to the first +ensign who should plant the colours on the great fort. They left their +covert in the evening, and hoped to reach the town by dawn, but only +having three hours of favourable tide, had to remain all day at the +island, and at night rowing out, were overtaken after all by the light, +when a sentinel seeing them, set a cottage on fire and alarmed his +companions. Marching across a wood to the fire, they killed two of the +Spaniards and captured a boy. Remaining in covert all day, they thought +themselves undiscovered, because the town had not answered the fire +signal, and at night they rowed up the river, the rapid current carrying +them four leagues in two hours. All the 19th they spent under cover of +an island in the river, and at night went up with the current, not +rowing for fear of alarming the sentinels. They attempted in vain to put +in beyond the town, on the side least guarded, but the tide going out +forced them to land two hours before day, within cannon shot of the +town, where they could discern the lights burning, for the Spaniards +burnt lamps all night. They landed in a marshy place, and had to cut a +path through the bushes with their sabres. They soon met with a +sentinel, and were discovered by one of the men left to guard the canoes +striking a light, against orders, to light his pipe. The sentinel, +knowing that this was punishable by death among his countrymen, +suspected enemies and discharged a paterero, which the fort answered by +a discharge of all their cannon. The Buccaneers, overtaken by a storm, +entered a large house near to light the matches of their grenades and +wait for day, the enemy firing incessantly in defiance. On the 20th, at +daybreak, they marched out in order, with drums beating and colours, and +found 700 men waiting for them behind a wall, four feet and a-half high, +and a ditch. Killing many of the Buccaneers at the onset, the enemy +ventured to sally out, sword in hand, and were at once put to flight. In +spite of the bridge being broken down, the pursuers crossed the ditch, +and, getting to the foot of the wall, threw in grenades, and drove the +enemy to their houses. Driven also from this, they fled to a redoubt in +the Place d'Armes, and from thence, after an hour's fighting, to a third +fort, the largest of all. Here they defended themselves a long time, +firing continually at their enemies, who could not see them for the +smoke. From these palisadoes they again sallied, and wounded several +Buccaneers and took one prisoner. They at last retreated with great +loss. + +The Flibustiers, weary with eleven hours' fighting, and finding their +powder nearly spent, grew desperate; but, redoubling their efforts, with +some loss made themselves masters of the place, having nine men killed +and a dozen wounded. Parties were then sent out to pursue the fugitives, +and a garrison having been put in the great fort, the Roman Catholic +part of the band went to sing _Te Deum_ in the great church. + +Basil Hall describes Guayaquil as having on the one side a great marsh, +and on the other a great river, while the country, for nearly 100 miles, +is a continued level swamp, thickly covered with trees. The river is +broad and deep, but full of shoals and strange turnings, the woods +growing close to the water's edge, stand close, dark, and still, like +two vast black walls; while along the banks the land-breeze blows hot, +and breathes death, decay, and putrefaction. + +The town was walled, and the forts built on an eminence. The houses were +built of boards and reared on piles, on account of the frequent +inundations. The chief trade of the place was cocoa. + +The Buccaneers took 700 prisoners, including the governor and his +family. He himself was wounded, as were most of his officers, who fought +better than all the 5,000 men of the place. The place was stored with +merchandise, precious stones, silver plate, and 70,000 pieces of eight. +Upwards of three millions more had been hidden while the fort was +taking. As soon as the canoes had come up, they were sent in pursuit of +the treasure, but it was too late. They captured, however, 22,000 pieces +of eight, and a vermilion gilt eagle, weighing 66 lbs., that had served +as the tabernacle for some church. It was of rare workmanship, and the +eyes were formed of two great "rocks of emeralds." There were fourteen +barks in the port--the galleys they had fought at Puebla Nueva, and two +royal ships unfinished on the stocks. As a ransom for all these things, +the governor promised a million pieces of eight in gold, and 400 sacks +of corn, requiring the vicar-general to be released to go to Quito and +procure it. + +The women of the town, who were very pretty, had been assured by their +confessors that the Buccaneers were monsters and cannibals, and had +conceived a horror and aversion to them. "They could not be dispossessed +thereof," says Lussan, "till they came to know us better. But then I can +boldly say that they entertained quite different sentiments of our +persons, and have given us frequent instances of so violent a passion as +proceeded sometimes even to a degree of folly." As a proof of the +calumnies circulated against the ruthless conquerors, Lussan tells us +the following:--"It is not from a chance story," he continues, "that I +came to know the impressions wrought in these women that we were men +that would eat them; for the next day after the taking of the town, a +young gentlewoman that waited upon the governor of the place, happened +to fall into my hands. As I was carrying her away to the place where the +rest of the prisoners were kept, and to that end made her walk before +me, she turned back, and, with tears in her eyes, told me, in her own +language--'Senor, pur l'amor di Dios ne mi como'--that is, 'Pray, sir, +for the love of God, do not eat me;' whereupon I asked her who had told +her that we were wont to eat people? She answered, 'The fathers,' who +had also assured them that we had not human shape, but that we resembled +monkeys." + +On the 21st, part of the town was accidentally burnt down by some of the +men lighting a fire in a house, and leaving it unextinguished when they +returned at night to the court of guard. Afraid that it would reach the +place where they had stored their powder and merchandise, the French +removed all the plunder to their vessels, and carried the prisoners to +the fort; but not till all this was done endeavouring to save the town, +a third part of which was, by this time, destroyed. Afraid the Spaniards +might now refuse to pay the ransom, they charged them with the offence, +threatening to send some fifty prisoners' heads if they did not pay them +what they had lost by the fire. The enemy, surprised at this, attributed +the incendiarism to traitors, and promised satisfaction. The stench of +the 900 dead carcases, still lying unburied up and down the town, now +producing a pestilence, the Buccaneers dismounted and spiked the cannon, +and carried off the 500 prisoners to their ships, anchoring at Puna. +Captain Grogniet died of his wounds soon after this removal. The +Spaniards obtaining four days' further respite, and then still further +delaying the ransom, the adventurers made the prisoners throw dice for +their lives, and cutting off the heads of four, sent them to Queaquilla, +threatening further deaths. They were now joined by Captain David and a +prize he had lately taken. He was planning a descent on Paita, to obtain +refreshments for some men wounded in a fight with a Spanish ship, the +Catalina, off Lima. They fought for two days, David's men, being drunk, +constantly getting to leeward, and failing twenty times in an attempt to +board. The Spaniards, gaining courage from these failures, hoisted the +bloody flag; but the third day, David, getting sober, got his tackle and +rigging in good order, got properly to windward, and bore down with +determination. The enemy in terror ran ashore, and went to pieces in two +hours. Two men were saved by a canoe, and said that their captain had +had his thigh shot off by a cannon ball. David's ship, wanting +refitting, was employed to cruise in the bay to prevent surprises from +the Spaniards. By a letter taken from a courier, they found that the +people of Queaquilla were only endeavouring to obtain time. + +The Buccaneers spent thirty days on the island of La Puna, living on the +luxurious food brought from Queaquilla, and employing the prisoners +with lutes, theorbos, harps, and guitars, to delight them by perpetual +concerts and serenades. Lussan says, "Some of our men grew very familiar +with our women prisoners, who, without offering them any violence, were +not sparing of their favours, and made appear, as I have already +remarked, that after they came once to know us, they did not retain all +the aversion for us that had been inculcated into them when we were +strangers unto them. All our people were so charmed with this way of +living that they forgot their past miseries, and thought no more of +danger from the Spaniards than if they had been in the middle of Paris." + +Ravenau also treats us with his own personal love adventure, which we +insert as a curious illustration of the vicissitudes of a South Sea +adventurer's life. "Amongst the rest," he says, "myself had one pretty +adventure. Among the other prisoners we had a young gentlewoman, lately +become a widow of the treasurer of the town, who was slain when it was +taken. Now this woman appeared so far comforted for her loss, out of an +hard-heartedness they have in this country one for another, that she +proposed to hide me and herself in some corner of the island till our +people were gone, and that then she would bring me to Queaquilla to +marry her, that she would procure me her husband's office, and vest me +in his estate, which was very great. When I had returned her thanks for +such obliging offers, I gave her to understand that I was afraid her +interest had not the mastery over the Spaniards' resentments; and that +the wounds they had received from us were yet too fresh and green for +them easily to forget them. She went about to cure me of my suspicion, +by procuring secretly, from the governor and chief officers, promises +under their hands how kindly I should be used by them. I confess I was +not a little perplexed herewith, and such pressing testimonies of +goodwill and friendship towards me brought me, after a little +consultation with myself, into such a quandary, that I did not know +which side to close with; nay, I felt myself, at length, much inclined +to close with the offers made me, and I had two powerful reasons to +induce me thereunto, one of which was the miserable and languishing life +we lead in those places, where we were in perpetual hazard of losing it, +which I should be freed from by an advantageous offer of a pretty woman +and a considerable settlement: the other proceeded from the despair I +was in of ever being able to return into my own country, for want of +ships fit for that purpose. But when I began to reflect upon these +things with a little more leisure and consideration, and that I resolved +with myself how little trust was to be given to the promises and faith +of so perfidious as well as vindictive a nation as the Spaniards, and +more especially towards men in our circumstances, by whom they had been +so ill-used, this second reflection carried it against the first, and +even all the advantages offered me by this lady. But however the matter +was, I was resolved, in spite of the grief and tears of this pretty +woman, to prefer the continuance of my troubles (with a ray of hope of +seeing France again), before the perpetual suspicion I should have had +of some treachery designed against me. Thus I rejected her proposals, +but so as to assure her I should retain, even as long as I lived, a +lively remembrance of her affections and good inclinations towards me." + +After some negotiation with a priest, the people of Queaquilla brought +in twenty-four sacks of meal, and 20,000 pieces of eight in gold. On +their refusing more than 22,000 pieces of eight more for ransom, a +council was held to decide upon putting all the prisoners to death, but +at last, Ravenau being in the majority, decided to spare them. They then +took fifty of the richest prisoners with them to the point of St. +Helena, and surrendered the rest on 22,000 more being paid. + +While at La Puna, the Buccaneers sallied out to attack two Spanish +armadillas, but not having any piraguas to tow them to the windward, +could only cannonade at a distance. The French vessels were much +shattered, but no man killed. The next day they came to close fight, +both sides using small arms and great guns, but no Buccaneer was killed. +The Spaniards lost many men, and the blood ran out of their scupper +holes, but they still cried at parting, "A la manana, la +partida"--(to-morrow, again.) The next night the Buccaneers unrigged and +sank one of their prizes, and fitted out another, manning her with +twenty Frenchmen, who wanted to leave David. The same night four +Spaniards seized one of the prizes, and escaped to Queaquilla. Being now +within half cannon shot, the rival vessels pounded each other all day; +the French had their tackle spoiled, and sails riven, and the frigate +received five cannon-shot in the foremast, and three in the mainmast, +but had not one man killed or wounded. The next day the Spaniards +hoisted Burgundian colours, and poured in volleys of musket-shot, but +neither party boarded. The ensuing day the Buccaneer musketry was so +destructive, that the Spaniards closed their port-holes and bore up to +the wind. That day the French received sixty shots in their sides, +two-thirds between wind and water, the rigging was torn, and Ravenau and +another man were wounded. At night the Spaniards failed in an attempt to +board. We spent this night at anchor, says Lussan, to stop our cannons' +mouths, which otherwise might have sent us into the deep. To his +astonishment, the next morning the armadillas had fled. During these +successive days' fighting, the governor and officers of Queaquilla had +been brought on deck to witness the defeat of their countrymen. + +They then set their prisoners ashore and divided the plunder, the whole +amounting to 500,000 pieces of eight, or 15,000,000 livres, and in +shares to 400 pieces of eight a man. The uncoined gold and the precious +stones being of uncertain value were sold by auction, that those who had +silver and had won in gambling might buy. All who expected an overland +expedition were anxious for jewels, as more portable and less heavy than +silver. They sought now in their descent for nothing but gold and +jewels, quite disregarding silver as a mean metal and heavy to carry. +They even left many things in Queaquilla, and neglected to send a canoe +for the 100 caons of coined silver (11,000 pieces of eight in all) which +had been sent to the opposite river side. Taking advantage of their +indifference, Spanish thieves mixed with the Buccaneers, and pillaged +their own countrymen. They landed at Point Mangla, and surprised a watch +of fifteen Spanish soldiers who had been placed to guard a river +abounding in emeralds. A few days after they took a vessel from Panama +going to Porto Bello to buy negroes off the point of Harina. The French +fleet was next attacked by a Spanish galley and two piraguas. From a +prisoner they heard of 300 Frenchmen, who had defeated 600 Spaniards and +killed their leader in the savannahs. While careening in the bay of +Mapalla they were joined by these men, who proved to be part of +Grogniet's men, who had left their companions on the coast of Acapulco, +refusing to go further towards California. + +The adventurers next landed in the Bay of Tecoantepequa, and dispersing +a body of 300 Spaniards, drawn up upon an eminence, marched inland +towards the town, sleeping all night in the open air. Nothing but hunger +and despair could have induced this attack. The town was intersected by +a great and very rapid river, encompassed by eight suburbs, and defended +by 3000 men. The Buccaneers forded the river, the water up to their +middles, and after an hour's fighting forced the Spaniards from their +entrenchment. In two hours these men, enraged with hunger, took the +place by hand-to-hand fighting, and eighty sailors then dislodged the +enemy from the abbey of St. Francis, whose terraces commanded the town. +Finding the river overflowing and no ransom coming, the Buccaneers +departed the next day, and landing at Vatulco, took the old governor of +Merida prisoner, and obtained some provisions. They also landed at +Muemeluna and victualled, the Spaniards having strong entrenchments, but +making little resistance. They found upon the shore the musket and dead +body of a sailor of a frigate that had attempted to land a month before. +The Spaniards had not seen the body, or they would have cut in pieces +or burnt it, as they were in the habit of even digging up the Buccaneers +buried on their shores. At Sansonnat they landed in the face of 600 +Spaniards to fill their water-casks, being faint from thirst. One of the +men, more impatient than the rest, and goaded by four days' drought, +swam ashore and was drowned, without any being able to help him. + +They now held serious councils about the return by land. The prisoners +declared their best way was by Segovia, where they would _only_ meet +5000 or 6000 Spaniards, and that the way was easy for the sick and +wounded. The French determined to land and obtain more certain +information, and this was one of the most daring of their adventures. +They landed seventy men, and marched two days without meeting anybody, +upon which eighteen, less weary than the rest, tramped on and soon got +into a high road. Capturing three horsemen, they learnt that they were +but a quarter of a league distant from Chiloteca, a little town with +about 400 white inhabitants, besides negroes, Indians, and mulattoes, +who were not aware of their approach. Afraid to waste time in running +back after their companions, they entered the town, frightened the +Spaniards, and took the Teniente and fifty others prisoners. Had there +not been horses ready mounted, on which they made their escape, the +enemy would, every man, have submitted to be bound, being overcome with +a panic fear, and believing the enemy very numerous. They learned from +the prisoners that the Panama galley lay waiting for them at Caldaira, +and the _St. Lorenzo_, with thirty guns, at Realegua. They also said +that 600 men would be in the town by the next day. The Spaniards now +began to rally, and compelled the Buccaneers to entrench themselves in +the church. The prisoners, seeing them hurry in, and thinking them hard +pressed, ran to a pile of arms and prepared to make a resistance; but +the Buccaneers, retreating to the doors, fired at the crowd till only +four men and their wives were left alive. They then mounted horses and +retreated, carrying off four prisoners of each sex, and firing at a +herald who tried to parley. Joining their companions, whom they found +resting at a hatto, they made a stand and drove back 600 Spaniards. + +The statements of the prisoners increased their fears of the overland +route, but determining rather to die sword in hand than to pine away +with hunger, they at once resolved upon their design. Running all the +vessels ashore but the galley and piraguas, which would take them from +the island to the mainland, leaving no other means of escape to the +timorous, they formed four companies of seventy men, choosing ten men +from each as a forlorn hope, to be relieved every morning. Those who +were lamed were to have, as formerly, 1000 pieces of eight, the horses +were to be kept for the crippled and wounded. The stragglers who were +wounded were to have no reward, whilst violence, cowardice, and +drunkenness were to be punished. While maturing their plans, a Spanish +vessel approached, and anchoring, began to fire at the grounded vessels, +and soon put them out of a condition to sail. Afraid of losing their +piraguas, the Buccaneers sent their prisoners and baggage to some flats +behind the island. The next day, the Frenchmen, sheltering themselves +behind the rocks that ran out to the sea, kept the vessel at a distance; +but now afraid of total destruction, the Buccaneers sent 100 men to the +continent at night to secure horses, and wait for them at a certain +port. On the next day, the Spanish ship took fire, and put out to sea to +extinguish the flames. The next day the Buccaneers escaped by a +stratagem. Having spent the whole night in hammering the vessel, as if +careening, to prevent all suspicion of their departure, they charged all +their guns, grenades, and four pieces of cannon, and tied to them pieces +of lighted matches of various lengths, in order to keep up an alarm +throughout the night. In the twilight they departed as secretly as they +could, the prisoners carrying the surgeons' medicines, the carpenters' +tools, and the wounded men. + +On the 1st of January, 1688, the Buccaneers arrived on the continent. On +the evening of the same day the men joined them with sixty-eight horses +and several prisoners, all of whom dissuaded them in vain from +attempting to go by Segovia, where the Spaniards were fully alarmed. The +men, nothing deterred, packed up each his charge, and thrust their +silver and ammunition into bags. Those who had too much to carry, gave +it to those who had lost theirs by gaming, promising them half "in case +it should please God to bring them safe to the North Sea." Ravenau de +Lussan tells us his charge was lighter but not less valuable than the +others, as he had converted 30,000 pieces of eight into pearls and +precious stones. "But as the best part of this," he says, "was the +product of luck I had at play, some of those who had been losers, as +well in playing against me as others, becoming much discontented at +their losses, plotted together to the number of seventeen or eighteen, +to murder those who were richest amongst us. I was so happy as to be +timely advertised of it by some friends, which did not a little disquiet +my mind, for it was a very difficult task for a man, during so long a +journey, to be able to secure himself from being surprised by those who +were continually in the same company, and with whom we must eat, drink, +and sleep, and who could cut off whom they pleased of us in the +conflicts they might have with the Spaniards, by shooting us in the +hurry." To frustrate this scheme, Ravenau therefore divided his treasure +among several men, and by this means removed a weight both from his mind +and body. + +On the 2nd of January, after having said prayers and sunk their boats, +the Buccaneers set out, resting at noon at a hatto. On the 4th they lay +on a mountain plateau, the Spaniards visible on their flanks and rear. +On the 5th the barricades began, and on the 6th, at an estantia, they +found the following letter lying on a bed in the hall: "We are very glad +that you have made choice of our province for your passage homewards, +but are sorry you are not better laden with silver; however, if you have +occasion for mules we will send them to you. We hope to have the French +General Grogniet very quickly in our power, so we will leave you to +judge what will become of his soldiers." + +On the 7th the vanguard drove off an ambuscade, and lay that evening in +a hatto. The Spaniards burnt all the provisions in the way, and set fire +to the savannahs to windward, stifling the French horses with smoke and +scaring them with the blaze. While their march was thus retarded and +they waited for the fire to burn out, the enemy threw up intrenchments +and erected barricades of trees. On the 8th the French set fire to a +house at a sugar plantation, and, hiding till the Spaniards came to put +it out, captured a prisoner, who told them that 300 auxiliaries were on +the march to meet them. "These 300 men," says Lussan, "were our +continual guard, for they gave us morning and evening the diversion of +their trumpets, but it was like the _music of the enchanted palace of +Psyche_, who heard it without seeing the musicians, for ours marched on +each side of us, in places so covered with pine trees that it was +impossible to perceive them." + +During this march the Buccaneers never encamped but upon high ground, or +in the open savannah, for fear of being hemmed in. + +The advanced guard was now strengthened by forty men, who discharged +their muskets at the entries and avenues of woods, to dislodge the +ambuscades, but they did not shoot when the plain was open and free from +wood; although the Spaniards, who were lying on their bellies on each +side of them, opened their fire and killed two stragglers. On the 10th +they repulsed an ambuscade and captured some horses. On the 11th they +dispersed another ambuscade, and entered Segovia, but all the provisions +had been burnt, and the Spaniards fired upon them from among the pine +trees that grew on the hills around the town. Fortunately at this spot, +where the old guides grew uncertain of the way, they captured a new +prisoner, who led them twenty leagues to the river they were in search +of. + +The road now grew wilder, and dangers thickened around them. They had to +creep with great danger to the tops of great mountains, or to bury +themselves in narrow and dark valleys. The cold grew intense, and the +fogs lasted for some hours after daybreak. In the plains no chill was +felt, but the same heat that prevailed on the mountains after noon. +"But," says Lussan, "the hopes of getting once more into our native +country made us endure patiently all these toils, and served as so many +wings to carry us." + +On the 12th, they ascended several mountains, and had incredible trouble +to clear the road of the Spanish barricades, and all night long the +enemy fired into their camp. On the 18th, an hour before sunrise, they +ascended an eminence which seemed advantageous for an encampment, and +saw on the edge of an eminence, separated from them by a narrow valley, +what they believed to be cattle feeding. + +Rejoiced at the prospect of food, forty men were sent to reconnoitre. +They returned with the dismal intelligence that the supposed oxen were +really troopers' horses ready saddled, and that the mountain on which +they stood was encircled by three intrenchments, rising one above +another, commanding a stream that ran through the valley. They had no +other way but this to pass, and there was no possibility of avoiding it. +They added, that one of the Spaniards had seen them, and shook his naked +cutlass at them from a distance. Every man's heart fell at this news, +and their pining appetite sickened at the loss of its expected meal. +There was no time for delay, for the Spaniards from the adjacent +provinces were gathering in their rear, and if any time was lost they +must be surrounded and overpowered by numbers. Ravenau de Lussan, the +Xenophon of this retreat, did not attempt to conceal the extent of the +danger. He confesses himself that they were hard put to it, and that +escape would have seemed impossible to any other men but to those who +had been hitherto successful in almost every undertaking. He addressed +his companions, and artfully persuaded them to agree to his plans, by +first elaborating the extent of their difficulties. He said that 10,000 +men could not force their way through such intrenchments, guarded by so +many men as the Spaniards had, judging from the number of their horses. +Nor could they pass by the side of it, with all their horses and +baggage, seeing that the path could only be entered in single file. +Except the road, all was a thick, pathless forest, full of quagmires, +and encumbered by fallen trees; and even if these impediments were +passed, the Spaniards would have still to be fought with. The Buccaneers +agreed to these as truisms, but cried out that it was to no purpose to +talk of difficulties so apparent, without proposing some method of +surmounting them, and suggesting some means for its execution. Upon this +hint De Lussan spoke. He proposed to cross those woods, precipices, +mountains, and rocks, how inaccessible soever they seemed, and gaining +the weather-gauge of the enemy, take them at once in the rear, suddenly +and unexpectedly. The success of this plan he would answer for at the +peril of his life. The prisoners, horses, and baggage he resolved to +leave guarded by eighty men, to keep off the 300 Spaniards who hovered +around them at day and at night, encamped at a musket-shot distance. +These eighty men could answer for four times as many Spaniards. After +some deliberation, De Lussan's plan was agreed to, and the execution at +once resolved upon. Examining the mountain carefully with the keen eyes +of both hunters and sailors, they could see a road winding along the +side of the mountain, above the highest intrenchment. This they could +only trace here and there by light spots visible between the trees, but +once across this they were safe. Full of hope, and with every faculty +aroused, some of the men were sent to a spot higher than the main body, +to cover another party who had on previous occasions proved themselves +ingenious and expert, and who were sent to pick out the safest and most +direct spots by which they could get in the rear of the enemy before day +broke. As soon as these scouts returned the men made ready for their +departure, leaving their baggage guarded by eighty men. To prevent +suspicion, the officer in command had orders to make every sentinel he +set or relieved in the night-time fire his fusil and to beat his drum at +the usual hour. He was told that if God gave them the victory they would +send a party to bring him off, but that if an hour after all firing +ceased they saw no messenger, they were to provide for their own safety. + +The immediate narrative of this wonderful escape we give in De Lussan's +own words:--"Things being thus disposed," he says, "we said our prayers +as low as we could, that the Spaniards might not hear us, from whom we +were separated but by the valley. At the same time, we set forward to +the number of 200 men by moonlight, it being now an hour within night; +and about one more after our departure we heard the Spaniards also at +their prayers, who, knowing we were encamped very near them, fired about +600 muskets in the air to frighten us. Besides, they also made a +discharge at all the responses of the litany which they sang. We still +pursued our march, and spent the whole night (in going down and then +getting up) to advance half a-quarter of a league, which was the +distance between them and us, through a country, as I have already said, +so full of rocks, mountains, woods, and frightful precipices, that our +posteriors and knees were of more use to us than our legs, it being +impossible for us to travel thither otherwise. On the 14th, by break of +day, as we got over the most dangerous parts of this passage, and had +already seized upon a considerable ascent of the mountain by clambering +up in great silence, and leaving the Spaniards' retrenchments to our +left, we saw their party that went the rounds, who, thanks to the fogs, +did not discover us. As soon as they were gone by, we went directly to +the place where we saw them, and found it to be exactly the road we were +minded to seize on. When we had made a halt for about half an hour to +take breath, and that we had a little daylight to facilitate our march, +we followed this road by the voice of the Spaniards, who were at their +morning prayers, and we were but just beginning our march, when, +unfortunately, we met with two out-sentinels, on whom we were forced to +fire, and this gave the Spaniards notice, who thought of nothing less +than to see us come down from above them upon their intrenchments, since +they expected us no other way than from below; so that those who had +the guard thereof, and were in number about 500 men, finding themselves +on the outside, when they thought they had been within, and consequently +open without any covert, took the alarm so hot, that falling all on them +at the same time, we made them quit the place in a moment, and make +their escape by the favour of the fog." + +The sequel is soon told. The defenders of the two first lines of wall +drew up outside the lowermost, the Buccaneers firing at them for an hour +under cover of the first intrenchment. But finding they gave no ground, +and thinking the fog interfered with the aim, the French rushed forward +and fell upon them with the butt ends of their muskets, till they fled +headlong down the narrow road. Here they got entangled in their own +impediments, and the Buccaneers, commanding the road from the redoubt, +killed an enemy at every shot. Weary at last of running and killing, the +French returned to the intrenchments and drove off the 500 Spaniards, +who had now rallied, and were attacking the garrison. The pursuit ceased +only from the fatigue of the conquerors and their weariness of +slaughter. The Spaniards neither gave nor took quarter, and were saved +in spite of themselves. De Lussan says, either from pride or a natural +fierceness of temper, the Spanish soldiers, before an engagement, +frequently took an oath to their commander neither to give nor receive +quarter. The Buccaneers, struck with compassion at the quantity of blood +running into the rivulet, spared the survivors, and returned a second +time into the intrenchment with only one man killed and two wounded. The +Spaniards lost their general, a brave old Walloon officer, who had given +them the plan of their intrenchment. It was only at the solicitation of +another commander that the rounds had been set, and the sentinels placed +at the top of the mountain. The general had consented, but said there +was no danger if the French were only men. It would take them eight days +to climb up, and if they were devils, no intrenchment could keep them +out. In his pocket were found letters from the Governor of Costa Rica, +who had intended to send him 8000 men, but the Walloon asked for only +1500. He advised him to take care of his soldiers, as no glory could be +gained by such a victory. The letter concluded thus:--"Take good +measures, for those devils have a cunning and subtlety that is not in +use amongst us. When you find them advance within the shot of your +arquebuses, let not your men fire but by twenties, to the end your +firing may not be in vain; and when you find them weakened, raise a +shout to frighten them, and fall on with your swords, while Don Rodrigo +attacks them in the rear. I hope God will favour our designs, since they +are no other than for his glory, and the destruction of these new sort +of Turks. Hearten up your men, though they may have enough of that +according to your example they shall be rewarded in heaven, and if they +get the better, they will have gold and silver enough wherewith these +thieves are laden." + +Having sung a _Te Deum_ of thankfulness to God, Ravenau de Lussan +mounted sixty men upon horseback, as he words it, "to give notice to our +other people of the success the Almighty was pleased to give us." They +found them about to attack the 300 Spaniards, who seeing the night-march +the main body had made, and believing them defeated at the +intrenchments, had sent an officer to parley with the residue. He told +them that the 1500 Spaniards were lying ready to surround their troops, +but promised them good terms if they surrendered; saying that, by the +intercessions of the almoner, and for the honour of the holy sacrament +and glorious Virgin, they had spared all the prisoners they had hitherto +taken. The Buccaneers, somewhat intimidated at these threats, took heart +when they saw their companions coming, and returned the following fierce +answer: "Though you had force enough to destroy two-thirds of our +number, we should not fail to fight with the remaining part; yea, though +there were but one man of us left, he should fight against you all. When +we put ashore and left the South Sea, we all resolved to pass through +your country or die in the attempt; and though there were as many +Spaniards as there are blades of grass in the savannah, we should not be +afraid, but would go on and go where we will in spite of your teeth." +The officer at Ravenau's arrival was just being dismissed, and seeing +the new allies were booted and mounted on Spanish horses, he shrugged up +his shoulders and rode back as fast as he could to his comrades, who +were not more than a musket-shot off upon a small eminence commanding +the camp, to tell them the news. As soon almost as he could get to them, +the Buccaneers advanced with pistols and cutlasses, and without firing +fell on them and cut many to pieces before they could mount, but let the +rest go, detaining their horses. They then, with the loss of one killed +and two maimed, rejoined the main body at the intrenchments. + +The enemy now lit a fire upon the top of a neighbouring mountain to +collect the scattered troops, in order to defend an intrenchment six +leagues distant; but the Buccaneers lying in wait cut off their passage, +then hamstringing 900 horses, took 900 others to kill and salt when +they arrived at the river. On the 15th they passed the intrenchment +unfinished and undefended, and on the 16th day came very joyfully to the +long desired river. Immediately they entered into the woods that covered +the banks, and fell to work in good earnest to cut down trees and build +"piperies," or rafts. These were made of four or five trunks of the +mahot trees, a light buoyant wood, which they first barked and then +bound together with parasite creepers, which were tough and of great +length. Two men, generally standing upright, guided each of these frail +barks, the decks sunk two or three feet under water. They were built +purposely narrow, to be able to thread the rocky passes of the river +even then in sight. These rafts were dragged to the river-side and then +launched, the boatmen having furnished themselves with long poles to +push them off the rocks, against which they were sure the current would +drive them. De Lussan, who never exaggerates a danger, cannot find words +to express the terrors of this stream. "It springs," he says, "in the +mountains of Segovia, and discharges itself into the North Sea at Cape +Gracias a Dios, after having run a long way, in a most rapid manner, +across a vast number of rocks of a prodigious bigness, and by the most +frightful precipices that can be thought of, besides a great many falls +of water, to the number of at least a hundred of all sorts, which it is +impossible for a man to look on without trembling, and making the head +of the most fearless to turn round, when he sees and hears the waters +fall from such a height into those tremendous whirlpools." + +To this dangerous river and its merciless falls, these way-worn men +trusted themselves on frail rafts, and sank up to their middles in +water. Sometimes they were hurried, in spite of all their resistance, +into boiling pools, where they were buried with their rafts in the +darkness beneath the foam, at others drifted under rocks and against +fallen trees. Some tied themselves to their barks. "As for those great +falls," says Lussan, "they had, to our good fortunes, at their entrances +and goings out, great basins of still water, which gave us the +opportunity to get upon the banks of the river, and draw our piperies +ashore to take off those things we had laid on them, which were as wet +as we were. These we carried with us, leaping from rock to rock, till we +came to the end of the fall, from whence one of us afterwards returned +to put our pipery into the water, and let her swim along to him who +waited for her below. But if he failed to catch hold (by swimming) of +those pieces of wood before they got out of the basin below, the +violence of the stream would carry them away to rights, and the men were +necessitated to go and pick out trees to make another." + +The rafts at first went all together for the sake of mutual assistance; +but at the end of three days, finding this dangerous, Ravenau de Lussan +advised their going in a line apart, so that, if any were carried +against the rocks, they might get off before the next pipery arrived, +which at first occasioned many disasters. De Lussan, being himself cast +away, found much safety in this plan; for, uncording his raft, he +straddled upon one piece and his companion upon another, and floated +down, till, reaching a place less rapid, they got on land and +reconstructed the raft. By his advice, those who went first put up flags +at the end of long poles, to give notice on which side to land, not to +signal the falls, for their roar could be clearly heard a league off. + +During all these dangers the men lived on the bananas that they found +growing by the river side, some of which the Indians had sown, and +others floated down and self-planted during the inundations. The +horse-flesh they had brought the water had spoiled, compelling them to +throw it away after two days; and although game abounded on the land, +they could kill none, for their arms were continually wet and their +ammunition all damaged. + +It was at this crisis the conspirators we have before mentioned chose to +carry out their cruel plot. Hiding behind some rocks, they killed and +plundered five Englishmen, who were known to be rich. Lussan whose raft +came last of all, and followed the English float, found their bodies, +and thanked God he had given others his treasure to carry. When the +Buccaneers were all met together, lower down the river, Lussan told them +of the murder, of which they had not heard, but the murderers were seen +no more. On the 20th of February the river grew wider, slower, and +deeper, the falls ceased, but the stream was encumbered with trees and +bamboos, drifted together by the floods. These snags frequently +overturned the rafts, but the water being, though deeper, much slower, +none were drowned. Some leagues further, the stream became gentle and +free from all impediment, and they determined for the next sixty leagues +to the sea to build canoes. Dividing themselves into parties of sixty +men, they landed and cut down mapou trees, and, working with wonderful +diligence, built four canoes by the first of March. Leaving 140 men +still working, 120 embarked, eager for home, ease, and rest. The +English, too impatient to make canoes, had long since reached the +sea-shore in their piperies. They here met a Jamaica boat lying at +anchor, and attempted to persuade the captain to return, and obtain +leave for them to land, as they had no commission. The captain refused +to go without receiving L6000 in advance, which they could not afford, +as many of them had lost all by the upsetting of the piperies. The +sailors, therefore, resolved to remain with the friendly Mosquito +Indians, who dwelt about the mouth of this river, and to whom they had +often brought trinkets from Jamaica. The English, unable to buy the +boat, determined to send word to the French, hoping to get to St. +Domingo by their aid. Two Mosquito Indians were despatched in a canoe, +forty leagues up the river, to bring down forty Frenchmen, as the vessel +was small and short of provision, and could not hold more. But, in spite +of all this, 120, instead of forty, hurried down to get on board, +waiting five days for the ship that had gone to the Isle of Pearls. +Great was the delight of the French to pass Cape Gracias a Dios, and +enter the North Sea. + +The Mulattoes that lived on this cape, Lussan says, were descended from +the crew of a negro vessel, lost on a shoal. They slept in holes dug in +the sand, to avoid the mosquitoes, which stung them till they appeared +like lepers. Lussan speaks much of the fiery darts of this mischievous +insect. He says, "It is no small pain to be attacked with them, for, +besides that they caused us to lose our rest at night, it was then that +we were forced to go naked for want of shirts, when the troublesomeness +of these animals made us run into despair and such a rage as set us +beside ourselves." At last the longed-for vessel arrived, and, +regardless of lots that had been drawn, fifty of the more vigilant, +including Lussan, crowded in, one on the top of the other, and instantly +weighed anchor, engaging the master for forty pieces of eight a head to +take them to St. Domingo, afraid of venturing to Jamaica. At Cuba they +landed, and surprising some hunters, compelled them to sell them food, +uncertain whether France and Spain were at war or peace. + +On the 4th of April they rode at anchor at Petit Guaves, hoping to hear +news from France. De Lussan relates a curious instance here of the +effect of habit and instinctive imagination. "There were some of our +people," he says, "so infatuated with the long miseries we had suffered, +that they thought of nothing else but the Spaniards, insomuch that, when +from the deck they saw some horsemen riding along the sea-side, they +flew to arms to fire upon them, as imagining they were enemies, though +we assured them we were now come among those of our own nation." De +Lussan, at once going on shore, demanded of Mons. Dumas, the King's +lieutenant, in the Governor Mons. de Cussy's absence, indemnity and +protection, by favour of an amnesty granted by the French king to those +who, in remote places, had continued to make war on the Spaniards, not +hearing of the peace that had been concluded between the two nations. + +De Lussan relates with much unpretending pathos the feelings of himself +and his Ulyssean friends upon once more landing in a friendly country. +"When we all were got ashore," he says, "to a people that spoke French, +we could not forbear shedding tears for joy that, after we had run so +many hazards, dangers, and perils, it had pleased the Almighty Maker of +the earth and seas to grant a deliverance, and bring us back to those of +our own nation, that at length we may return without any more ado to our +own country; whereunto I cannot but further add, that, for my own part, +I had so little hopes of ever getting back, that I could not, for the +space of fifteen days, take my return for any other than an illusion, +and it proceeded so far with me, that I shunned sleep, for fear when I +awaked I should find myself again in those countries out of which I was +now safely delivered." + +From the preface to De Lussan's book, we learn that he returned to +Dieppe, with letters of introduction from De Cussy, the Governor of +Tortuga and St. Domingo, to Mons. de Lubert, Treasurer-General of Marine +in France. Of the end of this brave man we know nothing. He had many +requisites for a great general. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS. + + Sieur de Montauban--Wonderful escape from an explosion--Life in + Africa--Laurence de Graff--His victories--Enters French + service--Treachery--Buccaneers join in French expedition and take + Carthagena--Buccaneer sharpshooters--Treachery of French--Buccaneers + return and retake the city--Captured in return by English and Dutch + fleets--1698--Buccaneers wrecked with French--Grammont takes + Santiago--Sacks Maracaibo, Gibraltar, and Torilla--Lands at + Cumana--Enters French service--Lost in his last cruise. + + +Of all the motley characters of Buccaneer history, Montauban appears one +of the most extraordinary. His friends describe him to have been as +prudent as he was brave, blunt and sincere, relating his own adventures +with a free and generous air that convinced the hearer of their truth, +and at last consenting to write his story, not from ostentation, but +from the simple desire of giving a French minister of state a narrative +of his campaigns. He is interesting to us as the latest known Buccaneer, +and in strict parlance he can scarcely be classed as a Buccaneer at all, +attacking the English as he did more than the Spanish, and not confining +his cruises to the Spanish main. + +He begins his book with great _naivete_ thus: "Since I have so often +felt the malignant influence of those stars that preside over the seas, +and by an adverse fortune lost all that wealth which with so much care +and trouble I had amassed together, I should take no manner of pleasure +in this place to call to mind the misfortunes that befel me before the +conclusion of the last campaign, had not a desire of serving still both +the public and particular persons, as well as to let his majesty know +the affection and weddedness I have always had for his service, made me +take pen in hand to give Mons. de Phelipeaux an account of such +observations as I have made; wherein he may also find with what +eagerness I have penetrated to the remotest colonies of our enemies, in +order to destroy them and ruin their trade. I was not willing to swell +up this relation with an account of all the voyages I have made, and all +the particular adventures that have befallen me on the coasts of New +Spain, Carthagena, Mexico, Florida, and Cape Verd, which last place I +had been at twenty years ago, having begun to use the seas at the age of +sixteen." He goes on to say that he will not stop to relate how, in +1691, in a ship called the _Machine_, he ravaged the coasts of New +Guinea, and, entering the great Serelion, took a fort from the English +and split twenty-four pieces of cannon, but will confine himself simply +to his last voyage; "Some information," he says, "having been given +thereof, by the noise made in France and elsewhere of the burning my +ship, and the terrible crack it made in the air." + +In the year 1694, having ravaged the coast of Caracca, he went towards +St. Croix, to watch for some merchant ships and a fleet expected from +Barbadoes and Nevis, bound for England. Sailing towards the Bermudas, +expecting good booty, he saw them coming towards him without any +apprehension of danger. He at once attacked the convoy (_The Wolf_), and +took her and two merchant ships laden with sugar, the rest escaping +during the fight. Returning with his prizes to France, he captured an +English ship of sixteen guns from Spain and bound for England, which +surrendered after a short fight. This last vessel he took to Rochelle +and sold it, the Admiralty declaring it good prize; the last he took to +Bordeaux and sold to the merchants. Here abandoning themselves to +pleasure after a long abstinence, many of his men deserted him, and he +supplied their place with youths from the town, who soon became as +expert as veterans. "I made it," he says, "my continual care and +business to teach my men to shoot, and my so frequent exercising of them +rendered them in a short time as capable of shooting and handling their +arms as the oldest sea freebooters, or the best fowlers by land." + +Re-victualling his ship, that carried only thirty-four guns, he left +Bordeaux in February, 1695, to cruise on the coast of Guinea. From the +Azores he passed the Canary Islands, and sailed for fourteen days in +sight of Teneriffe, in hopes of meeting some Dutch vessels, that after +all escaped him, and at the Cape de Verd Islands he pursued two English +interlopers of thirty guns each, who left behind in the roads their +anchors and shallops. He then went in search of a Dutch guard-ship, of +thirty-four guns, along the neighbouring coast. Decoying the foe by +showing Dutch colours, he waited till he got within cannon shot, +hoisting the French flag, gave her a signal to strike, and then +exchanged broadsides. They fought from early morning till four in the +afternoon, without Montauban being able to get the weather-gauge, or +approach near enough to use his chief arms--his fusils. Taking advantage +of a favourable wind, the Dutchman then anchored under the fort of the +Cape of Three-points, where two other Dutch men-of-war lay, one of +fourteen and the other of twenty-eight guns. Thinking the three vessels +had leagued to fight him, Montauban anchored within a league of the +shore, hoping to provoke them out by continued insults, but the +guard-ship, already much mauled, would not move. This vessel, he found +afterwards, had driven away a French flute. At Cape St. John he took +with little difficulty an English ship of twenty guns, carrying 350 +negroes, and much wax and elephants' teeth. The English captain had +killed some of his blacks in a mutiny, and others had escaped in the +shallop, which they stole. At Prince's Isle he took a small Bradenburg +caper (a pirate), mounted with eight pieces of cannon, and carrying +sixty men. He then put into port to careen, and sent his prize to St. +Domingo to be condemned and sold, putting the Sieur de Nave and a crew +on board, but the ship was taken by some English men-of-war before +Little Goara. To keep his men employed during the careening, Montauban +fitted up the caper, and with ninety men cruised for six weeks without +success, and, then putting into the Isle of St. Thomas, trucked the +prize for provisions, and started for the coasts of Angola, hearing +that three English men-of-war and a fire-ship were fitting out against +him at Guinea. On his way he chased a Dutch interloper, laden with 150 +pounds of gold dust, but she ran ashore on the Isle of St. Omer and fell +to pieces. + +When approaching the coasts of Angola, and not far from the port of +Cabinda, he saw an English vessel of fifty-four guns bearing down upon +him. To decoy her Montauban hung out Dutch colours, while the English +fired guns, as a signal of friendship. The Frenchman, pretending to +wait, sailed slow, as if heavy laden or encumbered for want of sails and +men. "We kept in this manner," writes the privateersman, "from break of +day till ten in the forenoon. He gave me a gun from time to time without +ball, to assure me of what he was, but finding at last I did not answer +him on my part in the same manner, he gave me one again with ball, which +made me presently put up French colours, and answer him with another. +Hereupon the English captain, without any more ado, gave me two +broadsides, which I received without returning him one again, though he +had killed me seven men; for I was in hopes, if I could have got +something nearer to him, to put him out of condition ever to get away +from me. I endeavoured to come within a fusil shot of him and was +desirous to give him an opportunity to show his courage in boarding me, +since I could not so well do the same by him, as being to the leeward. +At last being come by degrees nearer, and finding him within the reach +of my fusils, which for that end I kept concealed upon the deck from his +sight, they were discharged upon him, and my men continued to make so +great a fire with them, that the enemy on their part began quickly to +flag. In the mean time, as their ship's crew consisted of above 300 men +and that they saw their cannon could not do their work for them, they +resolved to board us, which they did with a great shout and terrible +threatenings of giving no quarter, if we did not surrender. Their +grappling-irons failing to catch the stern of my ship, made theirs run +in such a manner, that their stern ran upon my boltsprit and broke it. +Having observed my enemy thus encumbered, my men plied them briskly with +their small shot, and made so terrible a fire upon them for an hour and +a-half, that being unable to resist any longer, and having lost a great +many men, they left the sport and ran down between decks, and I saw them +presently after make signals with their hats of crying out for quarter. +I caused my men therefore to give over their firing, and commanded the +English to embark in their shallops and come on board of me, while I +made some of my crew at the same time leap into the enemy's ship and +seize her, and so prevent any surprise from them. I already rejoiced +within myself for the taking of such a considerable prize, and so much +the more in that I hoped that after having taken this vessel, that was +the guard-ship of Angola, and the largest the English had in those seas, +I should find myself in a condition still to take better prizes, and +attack any man-of-war I should meet with. My ship's crew were also as +joyful as myself, and did the work they were engaged in with a great +deal of pleasure; but the enemy's powder suddenly taking fire, by the +means of a match the captain had left burning on purpose, as hoping he +might escape with his two shallops, blew both the ships into the air, +_and made the most horrible crack that was ever heard_. It is impossible +to set forth this horrid spectacle to the life; the spectators +themselves were the actors of this bloody scene, _not knowing whether +they saw it or not_, and not being able to judge of that which +themselves felt. Wherefore leaving the reader to imagine the horror +which the blowing up of two ships above 200 fathoms into the air must +work in us, where there was formed as it were a mountain of water, fire, +wreck of the ships, cordages, cannon, men, and a most horrible clap +made, what with the cannon that went off in the air, and the waves of +the sea that were tossed up thither, to which we may add the cracking of +masts and boards, the rending of the sails and ropes, the cries of men, +and the breaking of bones--I say, leaving these things to the +imagination of the reader, I shall only take notice of what befell +myself, and by what good fortune it was that I escaped. + +"When the fire first began I was upon the fore-deck of my own ship, +where I gave the necessary orders. Now I was carried up on part of the +said deck so high, that I fancy it was the height alone prevented my +being involved in the wreck of the ships, where I must infallibly have +perished, and been cut into a thousand pieces. I fell back into the sea +(_you may be sure giddy-headed enough_), and continued a long time under +water, without being able to get up to the surface of it. At last +falling into a debate with the water, as a person who was afraid of +being drowned, I got upon the face of it, and laid hold of a broken +piece of a mast that I found near. I called to some of my men whom I saw +swimming round about me, and exhorted them to take courage, hoping we +might yet save our lives, if we could light upon any one of our +shallops. But what afflicted me more than my very misfortune, was to see +two half bodies, who had still somewhat of life remaining in them, from +time to time mount up to the face of the water, and leave the place +where they remained all dyed with blood. It was also much the same thing +to see round about a vast number of members and scattered parts of men's +bodies, and most of them spitted upon splinters of wood. At last one of +my men, having met with a whole shallop among all the wreck, that swam +up and down upon the water, came to tell me that we must endeavour to +stop some holes therein, and to take out the canoe that lay on board +her. + +"We got, to the number of fifteen or sixteen of us who had escaped, near +unto this shallop, every man upon his piece of wood, and took the pains +to loosen our canoe, which at length we effected. We went all on board +her, and after we had got in saved our chief gunner, who in the fight +had had his leg broke. We took up three or four oars, or pieces of +board, which served us to that purpose, and when we had done that we +sought out for somewhat to make a sail and a little mast, and, having +fitted up all things as well as we possibly could, committed ourselves +to the Divine Providence, who alone could give us life and deliverance. +As soon as I had done working I found myself all over besmeared with +blood, that ran from a wound I had received on my head at the time of my +fall. We made some lint out of my handkerchief, and a fillet to bind it +withal out of my shirt, after I had first washed the wound with urine. +The same thing was done to the rest that had been wounded, and our +shallop in the meanwhile sailed along without our knowing where we were +going, and, what was still more sad, without victuals, and we had +already spent three days without either eating or drinking. One of our +men, being greatly afflicted with hunger and thirst at the same time, +drank so much salt water that he died of it." Most of the men vomited +continually, Montauban's body swelled, and he was finally cured of his +dropsy by a quartan-ague. All his hair and one side of his face and body +were burnt with powder, and he bled as "bombardiers do at sea," at the +nose, ears, and mouth. + +But this was no time, he says manfully, for a consultation of +physicians, while they were dying of hunger, so leaving the English, +they forced their way over the bar of Carthersna, an adverse wind +preventing their landing at the port of Cabinda. Here they found some +oysters sticking to the trees that grew round a pond, and opening them +with their clasp knives, which they lent, Montauban says, "charitably +and readily to each other," they made a lusty meal. + +Having spent two days there, they divided into three small companies, +and went up the country, but could find no houses, and see nothing but +herds of buffaloes that fled from them. On reaching Cape Corsa they +found negroes assembled to furnish ships with wood and water in exchange +for brandy, knives, and hatchets. + +Montauban, who had often traded in these parts, knew several of the +natives, and tried to make them believe he was the man he represented; +but disfigured as he was by his late misfortune, they considered him an +impostor. In their own language he told them he was dying of famine, +but could get nothing but a few bananas to eat. + +He then desired them to carry him and his men to Prince Thomas, the son +to the king of that country, upon whom he had conferred many favours. +But the Prince refused to recognize him, till he showed him the scar of +a wound in his thigh which he had once seen when they bathed together. +On seeing this the Prince rose and embraced him; commanded victuals to +be given to his men; expressed his sorrow for their misfortunes; and +quartered them among his negro lords. Montauban he kept at his own +expense, and made him eat at his own table. In a few days he took him +some leagues up the country in a canoe, to see the king his father, who +ruled over a village of 300 huts among the marshes. The high priest was +just dead, and during the funeral ceremonies, lasting for seven days, +Montauban was regaled with elephant's flesh. The king he found +surrounded by women, and guarded by negroes armed with lances and +fusils. Flags, trumpets, and drums preceded this monarch of a realm of +hunters, who was himself clothed in a robe of white and blue striped +cotton. The black prince shook the French captain by the hand, being the +first man whose hand he had ever thus honoured. He asked many questions +about his brother of France, and when he heard that he sometimes waged +war with England and Holland singlehanded, and sometimes with Germany +and Spain, the king expressed himself pleased, and, calling for palm +wine, said he would drink the French king's health, and as he drank the +drums and trumpets sounded, just as they do in Hamlet, and the negro +guard discharged their pieces. Prince Thomas then asked the name of the +French king who was so powerful, and being told it was Louis le Grand, +declared he would give that name to his son, who was about to be +baptised, and that Montauban should be godfather. He also expressed his +hope that at some future voyage Montauban would carry the child to +France, and present him to the brother monarch, and have him brought up +in that country. "Assure him," said the same prince, "that I am his +friend, and that if he has occasion for my service, I will go myself +into France, with all the lances and fusils belonging to the king my +father." The king said, if need were he would go himself in person. At +this generous promise the guard discharged their muskets frantically, +and the men and women shouted their admiration. The drums and trumpets +went to it again, and the spearmen ran from one side to the other, +uttering horrible cries, sounding like pain, but expressive of joy. Then +the glasses went round faster, and the ceremony concluded by the negro +king presenting Montauban with two cakes of wax. The white men now rose +in public estimation. Whenever they stirred out, they were followed by +crowds of negroes bringing presents of fruits and buffalo flesh, never +having seen a white face before, and generally supposing the devil to be +of that colour. Sable philosophers begged to be allowed to scrape their +skin with knives, till the king issued an edict forbidding any one, +under pain, scraping or rubbing the strangers. + +The baptism passed off with great _eclat_. There being no priest in the +town who knew how to baptize, or remembered the words of the service, a +priest was procured from a Portuguese ship lying at the Cape. The +freebooter speaks with much unction of his sponsorship. "I did it with +so much the more pleasure," quoth he, "in that I was helping to make a +Christian and sanctify a soul." + +A few days after this ceremony, which afforded so much satisfaction to +Montauban's tender conscience, he determined to embark on board an +English ship lying at the Cape; but the black king would not have him +trust himself into the hands of his enemies, and soon after he set sail +in a Portuguese vessel that arrived to barter iron, arms, and brandy, +for ivory, wax, and negroes. Two of his men, who had strayed up the +country, he left behind. The Portuguese captain turned out to be an old +friend, and took him at once to St. Thomas's, and here he stayed a +month, the governor of the island showing him a thousand civilities. He +then embarked on board an English vessel, with whose captain he +contracted an intimate friendship, in spite of the governor's warnings. +He gave up his own cabin to Montauban, to use our adventurer's own +words, "with all the pleasure and diversion he could think of, for the +solacing of my spirits under the afflictions I had from time to time +endured." + +A tedious sail of three months brought them to Barbadoes. During this +time, his provisions running short, the English captain began to regret +having taken up his French passengers, and reduced their daily allowance +by three-fourths. On arriving at the port, Colonel Russel blamed the +captain for having brought such visitors, and forbade him under pain of +death to land; but some Jewish physicians declaring that he must die if +he did not, the governor consented, keeping a strict watch upon the sick +man, and telling him to understand that he and his fellows were +prisoners of war. Montauban replied that he had only embarked on the +faith of the English captain, on whose friendship he relied. He +promised, if liberty were granted, them, he would be ever mindful of +the favour, and would either pay the colonel a ransom, or restore at a +future time any prisoners belonging to the island. + +"No," replied the governor, "I will have neither your ransom nor your +prisoners, and you are too brave a man for me to have no compassion upon +your many misfortunes. I desire, on the contrary, that you will accept +of these forty pistoles, which I present you with to supply your present +occasions." A vessel soon after arrived from Martinique, and Montauban +went on board with two of his men, all that could be collected. The +English governor, when he thanked him at parting, prayed him to be kind +to any English that fell into his hands, and lamented the war +regulations that compelled him to severity. + +On arriving at Port Royal, at Martinique, Mons. de Blenac, the governor, +who was then dying, made him stay at his house, and relate every day his +adventure with the English vessel. In the same breath, Montauban praises +De Blenac's wisdom, justice, integrity, and knowledge of all the coasts +and heights of land in America. In a few days the freebooter embarked in +the _Virgin_ for Bordeaux, and we lose sight of his stalwart figure and +scarred face among the bustling eager crowds that fill the streets of +that busy seaport. We have a shrewd suspicion that Sieur de Montauban +did not die in a bed, but with his face to the foe and his back on a +bloody plank. There is something delightfully sincere and _naive_ in the +sort of out-loud thinking with which he concludes his simple "yarn." + +"I do not know whether I have bid the sea adieu, so much has my last +misfortune terrified me, or whether I shall go out again to be revenged +on the English, who have done me so much mischief, or go and traverse +the seas with a design to get me a little wealth, or rest quiet and eat +up what my relations have left me. _There is a strange inclination in +men to undertake voyages_, as there is to gaming; whatever misfortunes +befall them, they do not believe they will be always unhappy, and +therefore will play on. Thus it is as to the sea, whatever accidents +befall us, we are in hopes to find a favourable opportunity to make us +amends for all our losses. I believe, whoever reads this account will +find it a hard task to give me counsel thereupon, or to take the same +himself." + +LAURENCE DE GRAFF, our next hero, was a Dutchman by birth, and served +first in the service of Spain as a sailor and a gunner. He soon became +remarkable as a good shot, and renowned for his address and bravery, his +bearing being equally attractive and commanding. Going to America, he +carried these talents to the best market, and, being taken prisoner by +the corsairs, became a Buccaneer, and soon rose to independent command. +His name grew so terrible to the Spaniards, that the monks used to pray +God in their prayers to deliver them from "Lorencillo," and the whole +brotherhood used his name as a war-cry to strike terror. Vessels struck +their flag when they heard that shout, and the horsemen fled before it +through the savannah. Knowing that the Spaniards would not forgive him +the injuries he had inflicted on them, De Graff never fought without +strewing powder on the deck, or having a gunner with a lighted match +ready to blow up the powder magazine at the first signal. On one +occasion the people of Carthagena, knowing that he was sailing near the +port in a single small vessel, despatched two frigates to bring him +bound to land. Lorencillo, believing himself lost, had already given +orders to blow up the vessel, when, making a last desperate effort, he +captured both of his enemies. These men were never so formidable as when +surrounded by an overwhelming force. On another occasion the admiral and +vice-admiral of the galleon fleet had orders to take him at all risks, +which they should easily have done, as each of their vessels carried +sixty guns. Finding it impossible to escape, Laurence animated his crew, +and told them that in victory lay their only hope of life. The gunner +was placed as usual ready beside the magazine, and then running boldly +between the two vessels, De Graff poured in a volley of musketry and +killed forty-eight Spaniards. The action still continued, when a French +shot carried away the mainmast of the largest galleon, and her consort, +afraid to board, left Lorencillo the conqueror. The report of this +victory produced a great sensation both at Paris and Madrid. The French +sent the conqueror letters of naturalization and a pardon for the death +of Van Horn, and the court of Spain issued orders to cut off the head of +their recreant admiral. + +At another time Laurence was cruising near Carthagena, in company with +the French captains, Michel Jonque, Le Sage, and Breac. The Spaniards, +thinking to catch him alone, sent out two thirty-six gun ships and a +small craft of six guns, which overtook him in a bay to leeward of the +city. Surprised to see him well guarded, they endeavoured to escape, but +Laurence attacked them, and after an eight hours' action, having killed +400 Spaniards, took the admiral's ship, Jonque's capturing its +companion. Laurence's prize, however, was soon after driven ashore, and +the prisoners escaped. + +Captain Laurence is at this time described as a tall, fair man, with +light hair and moustachios. He was fond of music, and kept a band of +violins and trumpets on board his ship. On one occasion landing in +Jamaica, the French levelled the three intrenchments, spiked the cannon, +burnt a town, and retreated to their ships--carrying off 3000 negroes, +and much indigo and merchandise. The island was saved by the fact of the +inhabitants of one corner having fortified all their houses, and turned +each into an inaccessible and unscalable fort. In the attack of one of +these alone Captain Le Sage and fifty men were killed. The English say +that there were 7000 fugitive negroes in the mountains, anxious to join +the French, and to escape to St. Domingo, but the French, taking them +for enemies, fled at their approach. + +Afraid of retaliation, Hispaniola now prepared for defence. Le Sieur de +Graff commanded at Cape Francois, and was to lay ambuscades and throw up +intrenchments, and dispute every inch with the Spaniards or the English. +If the enemy was too strong he was ordered to spike his cannon, blow up +his powder, and fall back to Port de Paix. In 1695 the Spaniards and +English landed with 6000 men. Contrary to all expectation, De Graff, +perhaps too old for service, wasted eight days in reconnoitring, and +abandoned post after post. His men lost all courage when they saw his +irresolution. His lieutenant, Le Chevalier de Leon, also deserted his +guns without a blow, De Graff merely remarking that it was only +twenty-eight cannon lost. A succession of disasters followed, and +nothing but climate and the quarrels of the allies saved the desolated +colony. + +In 1686, De Graff was made major in the French army, and henceforward +fought with more or less fidelity for the country that had ennobled him. +Not long after this event, the termination of all his glory, being a +widower, he married Anne Dieu le Veut, a French lady of indomitable +spirit. She was one of those French women brought over by the governor, +M. D'Ogeron, to marry to the hunters of Hispaniola. "They grew," says +Charlevoix, "perfect Atalantas, and joined in the chase, using the +musket and sabre with the best." From such Amazonian mould came some of +the Buccaneer chiefs. One day before her marriage, this heroine having +received some insult from her husband, drew out a pistol and forced him +to unsay what he had uttered. Full of admiration at her courage, and +thinking such an Amazon worthy of a hero's bed, he married her. Both she +and her children were taken prisoners by the English, and not released +for a long time after the peace. De Graff's first wife was Petroline de +Guzman, a Spanish lady. + +At the time De Graff's brevet arrived, he was on a reef near Carthagena, +having been wrecked while pursuing a bark in a vessel of forty-eight +guns and 400 men. With his canoe the wrecked men took the ship, and +landing in Darien, lost twenty-five adventurers in an Indian ambuscade. +His two prizes he sent to St. Domingo, but his crew obliged him to +continue privateering till the letters from De Cussy recalled him. One +of the chief reasons why this honour had been bestowed on him was, that, +by his great credit with the adventurers, he might draw them to settle +on land. + +About this time, the Spaniards surprised Petit Guaves, and war +commenced. Only the year before, the same nation had seized Breac, the +Flibustier captain, and hung him, with nine or ten of his men. Soon +after this, a Spanish officer, whom De Graff, now commandant at the Isle +a la Vache, had delivered from some English corsairs, informed him that +a Spanish galleon full of treasure was lying wrecked at the Seranillas +Islands, but this prize he was obliged to relinquish to the English. + +De Graff now became remarkable for his firmness and justice. He +encouraged colonization, settled differences between English and French +Buccaneers, and prohibited all privateering. His name was still so +terrible, that on one occasion 2000 Spaniards attacking Hispaniola +retreated when they heard that the old chief commanded the militia of +the island. + +The Flibustiers were found bad colonists: the French could manage to +keep them at a fortified post when a Spanish invasion was expected, but +the instant the enemy retreated, the sea grew dark with Buccaneer +vessels, eager for prizes. Indocile and desperate, they seduced all the +youth of Hispaniola from their plantations. At one time the French +governor seems to have resolved on their total destruction, but their +usefulness as light troops saved them. The descents on Jamaica in search +of slaves by the French Buccaneers grew soon so numerous, that the +English island became known as "little Guinea." + +In 1692, a French adventurer named Daviot, with 290 men, landed and +pillaged the north of Jamaica. His vessel being driven out to sea by a +storm, his men were compelled to remain fifteen days exposed to +incessant attacks from their enemies. While waiting for the vessel's +return, the dreadful earthquake happened that swallowed 11,000 souls, +and destroyed Port Royal. The Flibustiers, alarmed at the rocking of the +earth, embarked 115 sailors and forty prisoners in canoes, but the sea +was as convulsed as the land, and they lost all but sixty men, and were +driven again on shore. Attacked when he again put out to sea by two +English vessels, Daviot beat them off with a loss of seventy-six men, +only two of his own being killed. Boarded by the English a second time, +his vessel blew up, and he surrendered with twenty-one of his crew. Soon +after this, three French vessels, manned with Buccaneers, took an +English guarda costa of forty guns, killing eighteen men. + +In 1694, De Graff commanded in a Buccaneer invasion of Jamaica, sailing +to that island with fourteen vessels and 550 men. He forced the English +intrenchments in spite of 1400 musketeers and twelve guns, slew 360 of +the defenders, and captured nine ships, losing himself only twenty-two +men. He then drove off 260 troopers from Spanish Town, after two hours' +combat. The next day De Graff despatched troops to carry off cattle. + +In 1696, a process was instituted against De Graff, whom M. Du Casse +suspected of intrigues with Spain. The evidence, M. Charlevoix thinks, +showed only his extreme fear of falling into the hands of the enemy. It +is certain that the Spanish had offered to make him a vice-admiral, but +he would not trust their sincerity. The English despised him for this +supposed treachery, and when he proposed to the governor of Jamaica to +retreat to that island, if he could give him employment, the governor +replied, that he had already betrayed three nations, and would not stick +at betraying a fourth. + +The Spaniards regarded him with fear till his death, and never forgave +him the injury he had done them. "During the next war between France and +Spain," says Charlevoix, "the Marquis of Coelogon arriving at Havannah +with a French squadron that he commanded in the Mexican Gulf, having De +Graff on board, all the town ran to the shore at the news, to see the +famous Lorencillo that had so long been the terror of the West Indies, +but the Marquis would not let him land for fear of danger." + +Deprived of his command, De Graff was appointed captain of a light +frigate. This situation suited him better than land service, for which +he showed no genius, and he was frequently employed on board the French +squadrons, no man knowing better the navigation of the North Pacific. +Of his death we know nothing, but it is supposed he lived to a good age. + +One of the most important enterprises ever attempted by the French +Buccaneers, in conjunction with the French government, was the capture +of Carthagena in 1697. The fleet of M. de Poincy consisted of eighteen +vessels, besides ten Flibustier craft, carrying 700 adventurers, in +addition to his own 4658 men and two companies of negroes. The Buccaneer +captains were Montjoy, Godefroy, Blanc, Galet, Pierre, Pays, Sales, +Macary, and Colong. Their vessels were named _Le Pontchartrain_, _La +Ville de Glamma_, _La Serpente_, _La Gracieuse_, _La Pembrock_, _Le Cerf +Volant_, _La Mutine_, _Le Brigantin_, _Le Jerse_, and _L'Anglais_. The +whole force mustered 6500 men. The adventurers at first refused to +embark till a fit share of the booty was promised to them, being +accustomed to be deprived of their rights by the French officers. +Enraged at not being treated as equals, and finding one of their men +imprisoned at Petit Guaves, they invested the fort, and were only +appeased by ready concessions. The first scheme of the expedition was +to seek the galleons; but this was abandoned, though it appeared +afterwards that at that very time they were lying at Porto Bello richer +than they had been for fifty years, and laden with 50,000,000 crowns. +The second plan was to attack Vera Cruz, and the last to sail to +Carthagena. + +That most graphic and vigorous of writers, Michael Scott, describes +Carthagena as situated on a group of sandy islands, surrounded by +shallow water. A little behind the town, on a gentle acclivity, is the +citadel of Fort St. Felipe, and on the ship-like hill beyond it the +convent of the Popa, projecting like a poop-lantern in the high stern of +a ship. + +Arrived at that city, the French galliot bombarded the whole night; and +as this was the first bomb ship ever seen in the West Indies, the +splintering of shells produced a great terror in the citizens. Two days +after the fleet anchored before Bocca Chica. This fort contained +thirty-three guns; had four bastions, and was defended by a dry fosse +cut in the rocks. The ramparts were bomb proof and the walls shot +proof. Under the fire of the _St. Louis_, the galliot, and two bomb +vessels, the troops landed and advanced without opposition within a +quarter of a league of the fort. By the advice of the Buccaneers, +accustomed to such marches, 3000 men crossed through a wood by a path so +difficult that only one man could pass at a time, and, unobserved, took +possession of the road leading from Carthagena to the fort, fortifying +themselves on both sides, and cutting off the communication between the +fort and the city, taking some negroes prisoners, and losing a few men +from the shots of the enemy. + +The next morning, at daybreak, the adventurers, finding some boats on +the beach, pursued and captured a Spanish piragua containing several +monks of high rank. One of the priests in vain was sent with a flag of +truce and a drummer and trumpeter to summon the governor to surrender. +The negroes clearing the road, a battery of guns and mortars opened upon +the fort, and the Buccaneer sharp-shooters shot down the enemy's +gunners, driving back some half galleys that attempted to bring +reinforcements. The Buccaneers, pursuing the boats, found shelter under +the covered way, and killed every man who showed himself on the +batteries of the fort. The governor, who saw the adventurers rushing, as +he thought, madly to destruction, began to lament that he had employed +such people. Warned that if left alone "the brothers" would give a good +account of the place, he scornfully laughed and ordered up +reinforcements. Thinking the Flibustiers had only run under the covered +way for shelter, he pursued a few who really did turn tail with his +cane, and attempted in vain to drive them to the assault. By this time +the freebooters had won the drawbridge, and, displaying their colours on +the edge of the ditch, demanded means for the escalade. Thirty ladders +were placed, and the assault had already commenced, when the Spaniards +hung out the white flag, and, shouting "_Viva el rey!_" flung their arms +and hats into the ditch. The gate being opened, 100 of the garrison were +confined in the chapel; 200 others were found wounded. The governor, +handing the keys of the fortress to M. de Poincy, said: "I deliver into +your hands the keys of all the Spanish Indies." About forty adventurers +were killed, and as many wounded, in this attack. + +The next day the fleet entered the harbour, and the Spaniards burned all +their vessels to prevent capture. The governor still refusing to +surrender, saying he wanted neither men, arms, nor courage, the +adventurers embarked to attack the convent of Nuestra Senhora de la +Popa, and to occupy the heights. M. du Casse being wounded in the thigh, +the Flibustiers refused to march under the command of M. Galifet, to +whom they had a dislike; and on his striking one of them, the man took +him by the cravat. The mutineer was instantly tied to a tree and +sentenced to be shot, but pardoned at M. Galifet's intercession. M. de +Poincy, going on board Captain Pierre's ship, seized him and ordered him +to execution, and the revolt then ceased, De Poincy threatening to +decimate them on the next outbreak. + +The convent stood on a mountain shaped like the poop of a ship, about a +gunshot from Carthagena. It had been abandoned by the monks, who had +stripped it of every valuable. + +The army then marched by sunset to the fort Santa Cruz, suffering much +from thirst. The fort mounted sixty guns, was surrounded by a wet ditch, +and on the land side accessible only through a morass, but it +surrendered without firing a shot. The adventurers then pushed on to +within a gunshot of Fort St. Lazarus, which commanded the suburbs on the +other side of the city. The French defiled round the fort, while some of +their grenadiers carried on a pretended conference with the fort. The +next day roads were cut through a hill, and the army were placed within +pistol shot of the walls, concealed by an eminence that covered them +from the enemy's fire. The Spaniards, losing their commander, abandoned +the place in disorder, and their fort, St. Lazarus, being within musket +shot of Gezemanie (the suburbs), they opened a fire of ten guns upon the +captured batteries, the Buccaneer musketry clearing the streets. Thirty +men were killed in trying to turn a chapel into a redoubt, and the camp +removed behind St. Lazarus, De Poincy having been wounded in the breast. + +The three next days several breaching batteries were completed, and the +galliot and mortars bombarded the city all night. In three days more, +the breach was pronounced practicable, and the storming commenced. M. du +Casse, although wounded, led the grenadiers, and M. Macharais the +adventurers, who set the army an example of daring. Planks were laid +over the broken drawbridge, and the troops passed over, under a +tremendous fire from the bastion of St. Catherine, one man only being +able to cross at a time. The breach and batteries were lined with +Spanish lancers, who flung their spears, nine feet long, a distance of +twelve or fifteen yards. The French had 250 men killed and wounded, and +many officers fell. Vice-admiral the Count de Coetlogon was mortally +hurt; the commander-in-chief's nephew, le Chevalier de Poincy, a young +midshipman, had his knee broken, and many were wounded in pursuing the +Spaniards to the city. + +The French gave no quarter, putting to the sword 200 Spaniards who had +thrown themselves into a church. The governor, who had ordered his +servants to carry him in his easy chair to the breach to animate his +men, fled into Carthagena. The army now advanced to the bridge which led +from Gezemanie to the city, and repulsed two sorties of the enemy. + +The French threw up intrenchments and erected batteries to breach the +walls. Two days were spent in these preparations and in dressing the +wounded. There were still great difficulties to encounter. Armies of +Indians were approaching. The Spanish garrison had six months' provision +and eighty guns mounted on their ramparts. The next day, Carthagena, +terrified at the fate of Gezemanie, surrendered. The conditions were, +that the churches should not be plundered, that those who chose might +leave the city unmolested, and that the inhabitants should surrender +half their money on pain of losing all. The governor and troops were to +depart with the honours of war. The merchants were to surrender their +account books to the French commander. The adventurers instantly +occupied the bastions and gate, and the other troops seized the +ramparts. The governor, having marched out with 700 men, M. de Poincy +proceeded to the cathedral to hear the _Te Deum_, and then repaired to +his lodgings at the house where the royal treasure was deposited. + +At first the soldiers and sailors were forbidden to enter any house on +pain of death, and the admiral's carpenter being caught plundering, and +confessing his guilt, had his head cut off on the spot. But a change +soon took place. The governor, assembling the heads of religious houses, +informed them that the treaty did not spare any convent that had money. +Many days were spent in receiving and weighing the crowns. De Poincy +declared, that before his arrival the monks had fled with 120 mules +laden with gold, and he had obtained barely nine million pieces. Other +accounts say he obtained forty million livres, _i.e._, twenty millions +without including merchandise. Every officer had 100,000 crowns, besides +his general share of the spoil, before he allowed his soldiers to enter +a house. Charlevoix confesses, that the honour the French won by their +bravery they lost by their cruelty. The capitulation was broken, +churches were profaned, church plate stolen, images broken, virgins +violated on the very altars, the monks tortured, and the sick in the +hospitals left to starve, or resort to the horrors of cannibalism. +Notwithstanding the inhabitants brought in their money, some to the +amount of 400,000 dollars, a general search was made throughout the +town, and much gold found. A few of the inhabitants hired guards of +adventurers, but, in general, these men also turned plunderers, the +officers only attempting to keep up appearances. + +Anxious to get the adventurers out of the way while he collected the +spoil, De Poincy spread a report that 10,000 Indians were approaching, +and sent the Flibustiers to drive them back. After plundering the +country for four leagues, they returned with fifty prisoners, a drove of +cattle, and 4000 crowns. During the siege, they had been employed in +skirmishing, cutting off supplies, and foraging, and were accustomed to +laugh at the sailors, who dragged the guns and called them "white +negroes." + +Disease breaking out, and carrying off 800 men in six weeks, De Poincy +embarked his plunder, and prepared to sail. Eighty-six guns he carried +off, and destroyed St. Lazarus and Bocca Chica. The Buccaneers, calling +out loudly for their share, received only 40,000 crowns. The men +instantly shouted--"Brothers, we do wrong to take anything of this dog, +our share is left at Carthagena." This proposal was received with a +ferocious gaiety, and they all swore never to return to St. Domingo. +They derided M. du Casse's promises to get them justice from the French +king, and fired at those vessels that would not follow them. The people +of Carthagena shuddered to see them return. Shutting up all the men in +the cathedral, they promised to depart on receiving five millions as a +ransom. In one day a million crowns were brought, but, this being still +inadequate, they broke open the very tombs, and goaded the citizens to +the torture, firing off guns, and pretending to put men to death in the +neighbouring rooms. Two men, guilty of cruelty, their leaders hanged. +Each man received about 1,000 crowns; and having spent four days in +collecting and dividing the gold and silver, they appointed the Isle a +la Vache as a rendezvous to divide the slaves and merchandise. + +The retribution was at hand. They had not sailed thirty leagues when +they fell in with the combined English and Dutch fleets. _Le Christ_, +with 250 men, and more than a million crowns, was taken by the Dutch, +_Le Cerf Volant_ by the English, a third was driven on shore and burnt +near St. Domingo, a fourth, running on land near Carthagena, was taken, +and her crew employed in rebuilding the fortifications they had +destroyed. Of De Poincy's plunder, 120,000 livres were carried off by +an English foray on Petit Guaves. Admiral Neville, who failed to +overtake the French deep-laden and weakly manned fleet, died of a broken +heart at Virginia. + +Du Casse was rewarded with the cross of St. Louis for his services, and +orders arrived from France to distribute 1,400,000 of De Poincy's spoil +among the freebooters, very little of which, however, reached them. A +curse, says Charlevoix, rested on the whole enterprise. + +In 1698, a French fleet, under the command of Count d'Estrees, on its +way to attack the Dutch island of Curacoa, was lost on the Aves Islands, +a small cluster of rocks surrounded by breakers. Attracted by the +distress-guns fired by the first ship that ran aground, its companions, +believing that it had been attacked by the enemy, hurried pell-mell to +its assistance, and, blinded by the fog, ran one by one on destruction. +Eighteen of them were lost. Of this disaster, Dampier, who visited the +island about a year afterwards, gives a very interesting account. The +Buccaneer part of the crew (for the Buccaneers took an active part in +these wars), quite accustomed to such chances, scrambled to shore, and +proceeded to save all they could from the wreck; but a few of them, +breaking into the stores of a stranded vessel, floated with her out to +sea, drinking and cursing on the poop, and holding up their flasks, +shouting and laughing to the drowning men around them. Every soul of +them perished. + +Several Flibustier vessels were lost at the same time, about 800 +Buccaneers having joined the expedition at Tortuga. About 300 of these +perished with the wrecks. Dampier describes the islands as strewn with +shreds of sail, broken spars, masts, and rigging. For some years, in +consequence, the Aves became the resort of Buccaneer captains, who +careened and refitted here, employing their crews in diving for plate, +and in attempts to recover guns and anchors. + +To console themselves for this failure, M. de Poincy led 800 Buccaneers +to attack Santiago, first touching at Tortuga for reinforcements. They +landed unseen, taking advantage of a bright moonlight night. The +vanguard wound their way round the base of a mountain that barred their +approach to the town, and, instead of advancing, worked round till they +met their rearguard, whom they mistook for the enemy, and furiously +attacked. They discovered their mistake at last by their mutual cries of +"Tue, tue." But it was now late; all hopes of surprise were over; the +Spaniards, alarmed, put themselves on their defence, and at daybreak +drove back the freebooters to their ships with an irresistible force of +4000 men. Another party, more successful, plundered Port au Prince, St. +Thomas's, and Truxillo on the mainland. + +Grammont, during this time, had been left behind on the Aves Islands, to +collect all that was valuable from the wreck, and to careen the +surviving vessels. Having completed this, and finding himself short of +provisions, and the season being favourable for an excursion to the Gulf +of Venezuela, Grammont decided upon a visit to Maracaibo. Arriving at +the fort of the bar, mounted with twelve guns and garrisoned by seventy +men, he commenced an attack. The French had opened a trench, had already +pushed it within cannon shot, and were preparing the ladders to scale, +when the governor surrendered on condition of obtaining the honours of +war. Passing on to the town, Grammont found it abandoned. Gibraltar also +made little resistance. From the lake he carried off three vessels, and +also took a prize of value, cannonading it with his guns, and at the +same time boarding it with a swarm of canoes. Being now master of the +whole lake, he visited all the places where his prisoners told him he +was likely to find gold hidden, defeating the Spaniards wherever he met +them. + +Then, collecting all his scattered plunderers, Grammont prepared to +attack Torilla, making a detour of forty-five leagues in order to take +it by surprise. Arriving near the town, the Buccaneers came to the banks +of a rapid river, with only one ford, which they had the good fortune to +find, crossing over under shelter of a hot fire that the rearguard kept +up upon the Spaniards, who lay intrenched upon the opposite bank. The +moment they had crossed, their enemies fled, and Torilla was their own. +The prize, however, proved not worth the winning, for the town was +abandoned, and the treasure hid. The Buccaneer rule, indeed, was that no +place was worth sacking which was taken without a blow, as the Spaniards +always fought best when they had most to fight for. The Buccaneers +departed with little booty; their 700 men having taken three towns, and +conquered a province, with the loss of only seventy men, and these +chiefly by illness. + +In 1680 Grammont made another expedition to the coast of Cumana. Having +collected twenty-five piraguas, he ascertained from some prisoners that +there were three armed vessels anchored under the forts of Gonaire, and +these he determined to cut out. He embarked all his 180 men in a single +bark, and left orders for the others to sail up to Gonaire at a given +signal. He landed with a few men at night, and surprised four watchmen, +who, however, had still time left to fire, and alarm the town, before +they could be overpowered. Gonaire leaped instantly from its sleep. The +bells rang backward; the guns fired; the musketeers hurried to the +market-place; doors were barred; and the women and children fled in +tears to the altars. Grammont, doubling his speed, arrived at the east +gate, his drums beating, trumpets sounding, and colours flying. Although +it was defended by twelve guns, he took it with the hot fierceness of a +Caesar, pushed on at once to a fort about a hundred yards distant, and +commenced a vigorous attack. At the head of his crew he entered the +embrasures, killing twenty-six out of its thirty-eight defenders. +Planting his colours on the wall, the men shouted "_Vive le Roi!_" with +such unanimity and fierceness that at the very sound the whole garrison +of the neighbouring fort at once surrendered, and forty-two men +instantly laid down their arms. These successes were obtained with only +forty-seven men--a mere handful being able to keep up in the rapid and +headlong charge. Grammont, rallying his men, then placed garrisons in +the forts, razed the embrasures, spiked the cannon, and then proceeded +to intrench himself in a strong position. The next day he entered the +town, making several vigorous sorties on the enemy, who now began to +gather in round him on all sides. Being informed that 2000 men were +advancing to meet him from Caragua, he gave orders for embarkation, the +Buccaneers seldom fighting when no booty was to be obtained. Remaining +last upon the shore to cover the retreat of his men, withstanding for +nearly twenty-four hours the onslaught of 300 Spaniards, he was at last +dangerously wounded in the throat, and one of his officers had his +shoulder broken. + +Grammont took with him the Governor of Gonaire, and 150 other prisoners, +the usual resource of the Buccaneers when a town either furnished no +booty, or gave them no time to collect it. This daring enterprise was +achieved with the loss of only eight men. On his way home to be cured of +a wound which his vexation and impatience had rendered dangerous, he +was wrecked near Petit Guaves, and his own vessel and his prize both +lost. + +About the next adventure of this chivalrous corsair some doubts are +thrown, although it is related boastingly by Charlevoix, who says: "He +then took an English vessel of thirty guns, which had defied the +Governor of Tortuga, and beaten off a Buccaneer bark. This ship, armed +with fifty guns, and navigated by a crew of 300 men, Grammont is +reported to have boarded, killing every Englishman on board but the +captain, whom he reserved to carry in triumph to shore." + +Grammont was born in Paris of a good family. His mother being left a +widow, her daughter was courted by an officer who treated Grammont, then +a student, as a rude boy. They fought, and the lover received three +mortal stabs. Obtaining the dying man's pardon, the young duellist +entered the marines, eventually commanded a privateer frigate, and took, +near Martinique, a Dutch flute, containing 400,000 livres. Having spent +all this in gaiety at St. Domingo, the young captain turned Buccaneer. +Charlevoix notices his manners and address, which were as fascinating as +those of De Graff. The writer describes "Sa bonne grace, ses manieres +honnetes, et je ne scais quoi d'aimable qui gagnoit les coeurs." + +We have described already his surprise of Maracaibo, and his expedition +to Vera Cruz. His expedition to Campeachy was against the wish of the +French Governor of St. Domingo. On their way home he quarrelled and +separated from De Graff. "With all the talent that can raise man to +command, he had," says Charlevoix, "all the vices of a corsair. He drank +hard, and abandoned himself to debauchery, with a total disregard of +religion." + +In 1686 Grammont, at the recommendation of M. de Cussy, Governor of St. +Domingo, was made Lieutenant de Roi, Cussy intending to make him +Protector of the south coast. But Grammont, elated at his new title, and +anxious to show that he deserved it, armed a ship, manned by 180 +Buccaneers, to make a last cruise against the Spaniards, and was heard +of no more. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FALL OF THE FLOATING EMPIRE. + + Peace of Ryswick--Attempts to settle--Buccaneers turn pirates--Last + expedition to the Darien mines, 1702. + + +The English were the first to attempt to put down Buccaneering, but the +last to succeed in doing it. When the freebooters had served their +purpose, the English government would have thrown them by as a soldier +would his broken sword. In 1655, after Morgan returned from Panama, Lord +John Vaughan, the new governor of Jamaica, had strict orders to enforce +the treaty concluded with Spain in the previous year, but to proclaim +pardon, indemnity, and grants of land to all Buccaneers who would turn +planters. By royal proclamation, all cruising against Spain was +forbidden under severe penalties. To avoid this irksome imprisonment to +a plot of sugar canes, many of the English freebooters joined their +brethren at Tortuga, or turned cow-killers and logwood cutters in the +Bay of Campeachy. In the next year the war broke out between England and +Holland, and many fitted out privateers. + +The unwise restrictions of France, and home interference with colonial +administration, once more fostered "the people of the coast." Annoying +prohibitions and vexatious monopolies drove the planters to sea. + +In 1690 a royal proclamation granted pardon to all English Buccaneers +who should surrender themselves. The French Flibustiers continued to +flourish during the war which followed the accession of William III. to +the throne of England. + +In 1698 the knell of the brotherhood was finally rung by the joy bells +that announced the peace of Ryswick. The English and Dutch made great +complaints to the Governor of St. Domingo of the French Flibustiers, +and demanded compensation, which was granted. A colony was established +at the Isle a la Vache in hopes of carrying on a trade with New Spain, +by orders of the French king the church plate brought from Carthagena +was returned, and Buccaneering prohibited. + +The government advised that force should be resorted to to induce those +Flibustiers to turn planters who were not willing to avail themselves of +the amnesty. Those who had settled in Jamaica, seeing in 1702 a new war +likely to break out between England and France, and determined not to +take arms against their own country, passed over to the mainland, and +settled in Bocca Toro. As soon as the war broke out, however, a great +many French Buccaneers, persecuted at St. Domingo, joined the English +under Benbow. In 1704, M. Auger, a new governor, coming to St. Domingo, +and seeing the false step his predecessors had taken, recalled the +Flibustiers, and made peace with the Bocca Toro Indians. M. d'Herville +led 1500 of them to the Havannah, and died there. He held the Buccaneers +of Hispaniola far beyond those of Martinique, and, had he lived, would +have united them all under his flag. + +In 1707 Le Comte de Choiseul Beaupre, the new governor, attempted to +revive Buccaneering as the only hope of saving French commerce in the +Indies, the English privateers carrying off every merchant ship that +approached the shores of St. Domingo. The French government approved of +all his plans, and gave him unlimited power to carry them out. He issued +an amnesty to all Flibustiers who had settled among the Indians of +Sambres and Bocca Toro. The greater part of those who had joined the +English returned; and those who had joined in the last expedition +against Carthagena received their pay. The Brothers were restored to all +their ancient privileges. The Count intended to guard the coast with +frigates while his smaller vessels harassed Jamaica, but in the midst of +these immature projects he was killed, in 1710, in a sea engagement. + +The Buccaneers, gathered from every part, now turned planters. Thus, +says Charlevoix, ended the "Flibuste de Saint Domingue," which only +required discipline and leaders of ambition to have conquered both +North and South America. Undisciplined and tumultuous as it has been, +without order, plan, forethought, or subordination, it has still been +the astonishment of the whole world, and has done deeds which posterity +will not believe. + +Attachment to old habits and difficulty in finding employment made many +turn pirates. Proscribed now by all nations, with no excuse for plunder, +and with no safe place of refuge, they sailed over the world, enemies to +all they met. Many frequented the Guinea coast, others cruised off the +coast of India, and New Providence island, one of the Bahama group, was +now the only sanctuary. Here the memorable Blackbeard, Martel, and his +associates, were at last hunted down, about 1717. + +The last achievement related of the Flibustiers is in 1702, when a party +of Englishmen having a commission from the Governor of Jamaica, landed +on the Isthmus of Darien, near the Samballas isles, and were joined by +some old Flibustiers who had settled there, and 300 friendly Indians. +With these allies they marched to the mines, drove out the Spaniards +according to Dampier's plan, and took seventy negroes. They kept these +slaves at work twenty-one days, but obtained, after all, only eighty +pounds' weight of gold. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE PIRATES OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND THE KINGS OF MADAGASCAR. + + Laws and dress--Government--Blackbeard--His enormities--Captain + Avery and the Great Mogul--Davis--Lowther--Low--Roberts--Major + Bonnet--Captain Gow--the Guinea coast. + + +The last refugee Buccaneers turned pirates, and settled in the island of +New Providence. + +The African coast, and not the main, was now their cruising ground, and +Madagascar was their new Tortuga. They no longer warred merely against +the Spaniard--their hands were raised against the world. Their cruelty +was no longer the cruelty of retaliation, but arose from a thirst of +blood, never to be slaked, and still unquenchable. There was no longer +honour among the bands, and they grew as cowardly as they were +ferocious. Flocks of trading vessels were scuttled, but no town +attacked. We waste time even to detail their guilt, and only append the +terrible catalogue as a _finis_ to our narrative. + +The following articles, signed by Roberts's crew, may furnish a fair +example of the ordinary rules drawn up by pirate captains:-- + +"Every man has a vote in affairs of moment, and an equal title to the +fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized; which he may use +at pleasure, unless a scarcity make it necessary for the good of all to +vote a retrenchment. + +"Every man shall be called fairly in turn by list on board the prizes, +and, over and above their proper share, shall be allowed a change of +clothes. Any man who defrauds the company to the value of a dollar in +plate, jewels, or money, shall be marooned. If the robbery is by a +messmate, the thief shall have his ears and nose slit, and be set on +shore at the place the ship touches at. + +"No man shall play at cards or dice for money. + +"The lights and candles to be put out at eight o'clock at night. If any +of the crew, after that hour, still remain inclined for drinking, they +are to do it on the open deck. + +"Every man shall keep his piece, pistols, and cutlass clean, and fit for +service. + +"No woman to be allowed on board. Any man who seduces a woman, and +brings her to sea disguised, shall suffer death. + +"Any one deserting the ship, or leaving his quarters during an +engagement, shall be either marooned or put to death. + +"No man shall strike another on board, but the disputants shall settle +their quarrel on shore with sword or pistol. + +"No man shall talk of breaking up the company till we get each L100. +Every man losing a limb, or becoming a cripple in the service, shall +have 800 dollars, and for lesser hurts proportional recompence. + +"The captain and quartermaster shall receive two shares of every prize. +The master, boatswain, and gunner one share and a-half, and all other +officers one and a-quarter. + +"The musicians to rest on Sundays, but on no other days without special +favour." + +From another set of articles we find, that + +"He that shall be found guilty of taking up any unlawful weapon on board +a prize so as to strike a comrade, shall be tried by the captain and +company, and receive due punishment. + +"All men guilty of cowardice shall also be tried. + +"If any gold, jewels, or silver, to the value of a piece of eight, be +found on board a prize, and the finder do not deliver it to the +quartermaster within twenty-four hours, he shall be put to his trial. + +"Any one found guilty of defrauding another to the value of a shilling, +shall be tried. + +"Quarter always to be given when called for. + +"He that sees a sail first, to have the best pistols or small arms on +board of her." + +One of the most cruel of their punishments was "sweating," an ingenuity +probably invented by the London rakes and "scourers" of Charles the +Second's reign. They first stuck up lighted candles circularly round the +mizenmast, between decks, and within this circle admitted the prisoners +one by one. Outside the candles stood the pirates armed with penknives, +tucks, forks, and compasses, and the musicians playing a lively dance, +they drove the prisoner round, pricking him as he passed. This could +seldom be borne more than ten minutes, at the end of which time the +wretch, maddened with fear and pain, generally fell senseless. + +Their diversions were as strange as their cruelties. On one occasion +some pirates captured a ship laden with horses, going from Rhode Island +to St. Christopher's. The sailors mounted these beasts, and rode them +backwards and forwards, full gallop, along the decks, cursing and +shouting till the animals grew maddened. When two or three of these +rough riders were thrown, they leaped up and fell on the crew with their +sabres, declaring that they would kill them for not bringing boots and +spurs, without which no man could ride. + +In dress the pirates were fantastic and extravagant. Their favourite +ornament was a broad sash slung across the breast and fastened on the +shoulder and hip with coloured ribbons. In this they slung three and +four pairs of pistols, for which, at the sales at the mast, they would +often give L40 a-pair. Gold-laced cocked hats were conspicuous features +of their costume. + +For small offences, too insignificant for a jury, the quartermaster was +the arbitrator. If they disobeyed his command, except in time of battle, +when the captain was supreme, were quarrelsome or mutinous, misused +prisoners, or plundered when plundering should cease, or were negligent +of their arms, as the master he might cudgel or whip them. He was, in +fact, the manager of all duels, and the trustee of the whole company, +returning to the owners what he chose (except gold and silver), and +confiscating whatever he thought advisable. The quartermaster was, in +fact, their magistrate, the captain their king. + +The captain had always the great cabin to himself, and was often voted +parcels of plate and china. Any sailor, however, might use his +punch-bowl, enter his room, swear at him, and seize his food, without +his daring to find fault, or contest his rights. The captain was +generally chosen for being "pistol proof," and in some cases had as +privy council a certain number of the elder sailors, who were called +"lords." + +The captain's power was uncontrollable in time of chase or battle: he +might then strike, stab, or shoot anybody who disobeyed his orders. The +fate of the prisoner depended much upon the captain, who was oftener +inclined to mercy than his crew. + +Their flags were generally intended to strike terror. Roberts's was a +black silk flag, with a white skeleton upon it, with an hour-glass in +one hand, and cross-bones in the other, underneath a dart, and a heart +dripping blood. The pennon bore a man with a flaming sword in one hand, +standing on two skulls, one inscribed A.B.H. (a Barbadian's head), and +the other, A.M.H. (a Martiniquian's head). + +EDWARD TEACH, _alias_ Blackbeard, was born in Bristol, and at a seaport +town all daring youths turn sailors. He soon became distinguished for +daring and courage, but did not obtain any command till 1716, when a +Captain Benjamin Hornigold gave him the command of a sloop, and became +his partner in piracy, till he surrendered. + +In the spring of 1717, the pair sailed from their haunt in New +Providence towards the Spanish main, and taking by the way a shallop +from the Havannah, laden with flour, supplied their own vessels. From a +ship of Bermuda they obtained wine, and from a craft of Madeira they got +considerable plunder. + +Careening on the Virginian coast, they returned to the West Indies, and +capturing a large French Guinea-man, bound for Martinique, Teach went +aboard as captain, and started for a cruise. Hornigold, returning to New +Providence, surrendered to proclamation, and gave himself up to Governor +Rogers. + +Blackbeard had in the mean time mounted his prize with forty guns, and +christened her the _Queen Anne's Revenge_. Cruising off St. Vincent, he +captured the _Great Allan_, and having plundered her, and set the men on +shore, fired the ship, and let her drift to sea. + +A few days after, Teach was attacked by the _Scarborough_ man-of-war, +who, finding him well manned, retired to Barbadoes, after a cannonade of +some hours. On his way to the mainland, Teach was joined by Major +Bonnet, a gentleman planter, turned pirate, who joined with him, +commanding a sloop of ten guns. Finding he knew nothing of naval +affairs, Teach soon deposed him, and took him on board his own ship, on +pretext of relieving him from the fatigues and cares of such a post, +wishing him, as he said, to live easy and do no duty. + +While taking in water near the Bay of Honduras, they surprised a sloop +from Jamaica, which surrendered without a blow, striking sail at the +first terror of the black flag. The men they took on board Teach's +vessel, and manned it for their own use. + +At Honduras they found a ship and four sloops, some from Jamaica, and +some from Boston. The Americans deserted one vessel, and escaped on +shore, and the pirates burnt it in revenge. The other vessel they also +burnt, because some pirate had been lately hung at Boston. The three +sloops they allowed to depart. + +Taking turtles at the Grand Caiman's islands, they sailed to the +Havannah, and from the Bahamas went to Carolina, capturing a brigantine +and two sloops. For six days they lay off the bar of Charlestown, taking +many vessels, and a brigantine laden with negroes. The people of +Carolina, who had not long before been visited by the pirate Vane, were +dumb with terror. No vessel dared put out, and the trade of the place +stood still. To add to these misfortunes, a long and expensive war with +the natives, only just concluded, had much impoverished the colony. + +Teach detained all the ships and prisoners, and being in want of +medicines, sent a boat's crew of men ashore, with one of the prisoners, +to ask the governor to supply him with the drugs. The pirates were +insolent in their demands, and, swearing horribly, vowed, if any +violence was offered to them, that their captain would murder all the +prisoners, send their heads to the governor, and then fire the vessels +and slip cable. These rude ambassadors swaggered through the streets, +insulting the inhabitants, who longed to seize them, but dared not, for +fear of endangering the town. The governor did not deliberate long, for +one of his brother magistrates was in the murderer's hands, and at once +sent on board a chest, worth about L400, which the pirates returned with +in triumph. Blackbeard then released the prisoners, having first taken +about L1500 out of the ships, besides provisions. + +From the bar of Charlestown the kingly villains sailed to North +Carolina, where Teach broke up the partnership, objecting to any +division of money, preferring all the risk and all the profit. Running +into an inlet to clean, he purposely grounded his ship, and Hands, +another captain, coming to his assistance, ran ashore by his side. He +then with forty men took possession of the third vessel, and marooned +seventeen other men upon a sandy island, about a league from the main, +where neither herb grew nor bird visited. Here they would have perished, +had not Major Bonnet taken them off two days after. + +Teach then surrendered himself, with twenty of his men, to the Governor +of North Carolina, and received certificates and pardons from him, +having soon crept into his favour. Through the governor's permission, +the _Queen Anne's Revenge_, though avowedly the property of English +merchants, was forfeited by an Admiralty Court, as a Spaniard, and +declared the property of Teach. Before setting out again to sea +Blackbeard married his fourteenth wife, twelve more being still alive. +The governor, who seems to have been half a pirate, and wholly a rogue, +performed the ceremony. + +In June, 1718, he steered towards Bermudas, and meeting several English +vessels, plundered them of provisions. He also captured two French +vessels, one of which was loaded with sugar and cocoa, and bound to +Martinico. The loaded vessel he brought home, and the governor, calling +a court, condemned it as a derelict, and divided the plunder with Teach, +receiving sixty hogsheads of sugar as his dividend, and his secretary +twenty. For fear the vessel might still be claimed, Teach declared it +was leaky, and burnt her to the water's edge. + +He now spent three or four months in the river, lying at anchor in the +coves, or sailing from inlet to inlet, bartering his plunder with any +ship he met, giving presents to the friendly, and ransacking those who +resisted. His nights he spent in revelries with the planters, to whom he +made presents of rum and sugar, sometimes, when he grew moody, laying +them under contribution, and even bullying his confederate, the +villainous governor. + +The plundered sloops, finding no justice could be obtained in Carolina, +determined with great secresy to send a deputation to the Governor of +Virginia, and to solicit a man-of-war to destroy the pirates. + +The governor instantly complied with their request. The next Sunday a +proclamation was read in every church and chapel in Virginia, and by the +sheriffs at their country houses. For Blackbeard's head L100 was +offered, if brought in within the year, for his lieutenant's L20, for +inferior officers L10, and for the common sailors L10. The _Pearl_ and +_Lime_, men-of-war, lying in St. James's river, manned a couple of small +sloops, supplied by the governor. They had no guns mounted, but were +well supplied with small arms and ammunition. The command was given to +Lieutenant Robert Maynard, of the _Pearl_, a man of courage and +resolution. + +On the 7th of November the Lieutenant sailed from Picquetan, and on the +evening of the 21st reached the mouth of the Ollereco inlet, and +sighted the pirates. Great secresy was observed: all boats and vessels +met going up the river were stopped to prevent Blackbeard knowing of +their approach. But the governor contrived to put him on his guard, and +sent back four of his men, whom he found lounging about the town. + +Blackbeard, frequently alarmed by such reports, gave no credit to the +messenger, till he saw the sloops. He instantly cleared his decks, +having only twenty-five of his forty men on board. Having prepared for +battle with all the coolness of an old desperado, he spent the night in +drinking with the master of a trading sloop, who seemed to be in his +pay. + +Maynard, finding the place shoal and the channel intricate, dropped +anchor, knowing there was no reaching the pirate that night. The next +morning early he weighed, sent his boat ahead to sound, and, coming +within gunshot of Teach, received his fire. The lieutenant then, boldly +hoisting the king's colours, made at him with all speed of sail and oar, +part of his men keeping up a discharge of small arms. Teach then cut +cable and made a running fight, discharging his big guns. In a little +time the pirate ran aground, and the royal vessel drawing more water +anchored within half a gunshot. The lieutenant then threw his ballast +overboard, staved all his water, and then weighed and stood in for the +enemy. + +Blackbeard, loudly cursing, hailed him. "D---- you villains, who are +you? From whence come you?" The lieutenant replied, "You see by our +colours we are no pirates." Teach bade him send a boat on board that he +might know who he was. Maynard answered that he could not spare his +boat, but would soon board with his sloop. Whereupon Blackbeard, +drinking to him, cried, "Devil seize my soul if I give you quarter or +take any." Maynard at once replied, "He should neither give nor take +quarter." + +By this Blackbeard's sloop floated, and the royal boats were fast +approaching. + +The sloops being scarcely a foot high in the waist, the men were exposed +as they toiled at the sweeps. Hitherto few on either side had fallen. +Suddenly Blackbeard poured in a broadside of grape, and killed twenty +men on board one ship and nine on board the other; his vessel then fell +broadside to the shore to keep its one side protected, and the disabled +sloop fell astern. The Virginia men still kept to their oars, however +exposed, because otherwise, there being no wind, the pirate would +certainly have escaped. + +Maynard finding his own sloop had way, and would soon be on board, +ordered his men all down below, for fear of another broadside, which +would have been his total destruction. He himself was the only man that +kept the deck, even the man at the helm lying down snug; the men in the +hold were ordered to get their pistols and cutlasses ready for close +fighting, and to come up the companion at a moment's signal. Two ladders +were placed in the hatchway ready for the word. As they boarded, Teach's +men threw in grenades made of case-bottles, filled with powder, shot, +and slugs, and fired with a quick match. Blackbeard, seeing no one on +board, cried out, "They are all knocked on the head except three or +four, and therefore I will jump on board and cut to pieces those that +are still alive." + +Under smoke of one of the fire-pots he leaped over the sloop's bows, +followed by fourteen men. For a moment he was not heard, during the +explosion, nor seen for the smoke. Directly the air cleared Maynard gave +the signal, and his men, rising in an instant, attacked the pirates with +a rush and a cheer. + +Blackbeard and the lieutenant fired the first pistols at each other, and +then engaged with sabres till the lieutenant's broke. Stepping back to +cock his pistol, Blackbeard was in the act of cutting him down, when one +of Maynard's men gave the pirate a terrible gash in the throat, and the +lieutenant escaped with a small cut over his fingers. + +They were now hotly engaged, Blackbeard and his fourteen men--the +lieutenant and his twelve. The sea grew red round the vessel. The ball +from Maynard's first pistol shot Blackbeard in the body, but he stood +his ground, and fought with fury till he received twenty cuts and five +more shot. Having already fired several pistols (for he wore many in his +sash), he fell dead as he was cocking another. Eight of his fourteen +companions having now fallen, the rest, much wounded, leaped overboard +and called for quarter, which was granted till the gibbet could be got +ready. + +The other vessel now coming up attacked the rest of the pirates, and +compelled them to surrender. So ended a man that in a good cause had +proved a Leonidas. + +With great guns the lieutenant might have destroyed him with less loss, +but no large vessel would have got up the river, so shallow, that, small +as it was, the sloop grounded a hundred times. The very broadside, +although destructive, saved the lives of the survivors, for Blackbeard, +expecting to be boarded, had placed a daring fellow, a negro named +Caesar, in the powder room, with orders to blow it up at a given signal. +It was with great difficulty that two prisoners in the hold dissuaded +him from the deed when he heard of his captain's death. + +The lieutenant cutting off Blackbeard's head, hung it at his boltsprit +end, and sailed into Bath Town to get relief for his wounded men. In +rummaging the sloop, the connivance of the governor was detected; the +secretary, falling sick with fear, died in a few days, and the governor +was compelled to refund the hogsheads. + +When the wounded men began to recover, the lieutenant sailed back into +James's river, with the black head still hanging from the spar, and +bringing fifteen prisoners, thirteen of whom were hung. + +Of the two survivors, one was an unlucky fellow captured only the night +before the engagement, who had received no less than seventy wounds, but +was cured of them all and recovered. The other was the master of the +pirate sloop, who had been shot by Blackbeard, and put on shore at Bath +Town. His wound he received in the following way: One night, drinking in +the cabin with the mate, a pilot, and another sailor, Blackbeard, +without any provocation, drew out a small pair of pistols and cocked +them under the table. The sailor, perceiving this, said nothing, but +got up and went on deck. The pistols being ready, Blackbeard blew out +the candle, and, crossing his hands under the table, discharged the +pistols. The master fell shot through the knee, lamed for life, the +other bullet hit no one. Being asked the meaning of this cruelty, +Blackbeard answered, by swearing that if he did not kill one of them now +and then, they would forget who he was. + +This man was about to be executed, when a ship arrived from England with +a proclamation prolonging the time of pardon to those who would +surrender. He pleaded this, was released, and ended his days as a beggar +in London. + +It is a singular fact that many of Blackbeard's captors themselves +eventually turned pirates. + +Teach derived his nickname from his long black beard, which he twisted +with ribbons into small tails, and turned about his ears. This beard was +more terrible to America than a comet, say his historians. In time of +action he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols +hanging to it in holsters like bandoliers. He then stuck lighted matches +under his hat, and this, with his natural fierce and wild eyes, gave him +the aspect of a demon. + +His frolics were truly satanic, and only madness can furnish us with any +excuse for such crimes. Pre-eminent in wickedness, he was constantly +resorting to artifices to maintain that pre-eminence. One day at sea, +when flushed with drink, "Come," said he, "let us make a hell of our +own, and try how long we can bear it." He then, with two or three +others, went down into the hold, and, closing up all the hatches, +lighted some pots of brimstone, and continued till the men, nearly +suffocated, cried for air and pushed up the hatches. Blackbeard +triumphed in having held out longest. + +The night before he was killed, as he was drinking, one of his men asked +him, if anything should happen to him, if his wife knew where he had +buried his money. He answered that nobody but himself and the devil +knew where it was, and the longest liver should have all. + +These blasphemies had filled the crew with superstitious fears, and +perhaps unnerved their arms in the last struggle. The survivors declared +that, once upon a cruise, a man was found on board more than the crew, +sometimes below and sometimes above. No one knew whence he came and who +he was, but believed him to be the devil, as he disappeared shortly +before their great ship was cast away. + +In Blackbeard's journal were found many entries illustrating the fear +and misery of a pirate's life. For instance-- + +"3rd June, all rum out; our company somewhat sober; rogues a plotting; +great talk of separation; so I looked sharp for a prize. 5th June, took +one with a great deal of liquor on board, so kept the company hot, d---- +hot; then all things went well again." + +Some sugar, cocoa, indigo, and cotton were found on board the pirate +sloops, and some in a tent on the shore. This, with the sloop, sold for +L2500. The whole was divided amongst the crews of the _Lime_ and +_Pearl_, the brave captors getting no more than their dividend, and that +very tardily paid, as such things usually are by English governments. + +CAPTAIN ENGLAND began life as mate of a Jamaica sloop, and being taken +by a pirate named Winter, before Providence was turned into a freebooter +fortress, became master of a piratical vessel. He soon became remarkable +for his courage and generosity. + +When Providence was taken by the English, England sailed to the African +coast, a hot place, but not too hot for him, like the shores of the +main. He here took several ships, among others the _Cadogan_, bound from +Bristol to Sierra Leone--Skinner, master. Some of England's crew had +formerly served in this ship, and, having proved mutinous, had been +mulcted of their wages and sent on board a man of war, from whence +deserting to a West Indian sloop, they were taken by pirates, and +eventually joined England and started for a cruise. + +As soon as Skinner struck to the black flag, he was ordered on board +the pirate. The first person he saw was his old boatswain, who addressed +him with a sneer of suppressed hatred. "Ah, Captain Skinner," said he, +"is that you? the very man I wished to see. I am much in your debt, and +will pay you now in your own coin." + +The brave seaman trembled, for he knew his fate, and shuddered as an ox +does when it smells the blood of a slaughter-house. The boatswain, +instantly shouting to his companions, bound the captain fast to the +windlass. They then, amidst roars of cruel laughter, pelted him with +glass bottles till he was cut and gashed in a dreadful manner. After +this, they whipped him round the deck till they were weary, in spite of +his prayers and entreaties. At last, vowing that he should have an easy +death, as he had been a good master to his men, they shot him through +the head. England then plundered the vessel and gave it to the mate and +the crew of murderers, and they sailed with it till they reached death's +door, and the port whose name is terrible. + +Taking soon after a ship called the _Pearl_, England fitted her up for +his own use, and re-christened her the _Royal James_. With her they took +several vessels of various nations at the Azores and Cape de Verd +Islands. + +In 1719 the rovers returned to Africa, and, beginning at the river +Gambia, sailed all down the torrid coast as far as Cape Corso. In this +trip they captured the _Eagle Pink_, six guns, the _Charlotte_, eight +guns, the _Sarah_, four guns, the _Wentworth_, twelve guns, the _Buck_, +two guns, the _Castanet_, four guns, the _Mercury_, four guns, the +_Coward_, two guns, and the _Elizabeth_ and _Catherine_, six guns. Three +of these vessels they let go, and four they burnt. Two they fitted up as +pirates, and calling them the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ and the _Flying +King_, many of the prisoners joined their bands. + +These two ships sailed to the West Indies, and careening, started for +Brazil, taking several Portuguese vessels, but were finally driven off +by a Portuguese man-of-war. The _Revenge_ escaped, but soon after went +down at sea; the _Flying King_ ran ashore; twelve of the seventy men +were killed, and the rest taken prisoners. Thirty-two English, three +Dutch, and two Frenchmen of these were at once hung. + +But to return to England. In going down the coast, he captured two more +vessels, and detained one, releasing the other. Two other ships, seeing +them coming, got safe under the guns of Cape Corso castle. The pirates, +turning their last prize into a fire-ship, resolved to destroy both the +fugitives, but, the castle firing hotly upon them, they retreated, and +at Whydah road found Captain la Bouche, another pirate, had forestalled +their market. + +Here England fitted up a Bristol galley for his own use, calling it the +_Victory_. Committing many insolences on shore, the negroes rose upon +them and compelled them to retire to their ship, when they had fired one +village, and killed many of the natives. + +They now put it to the vote what voyage to take, and, deciding for the +East Indies, arrived at Madagascar (1720), and, taking in water and +provisions, sailed for the coast of Malabar, in the Mogul's territory. +They took several Indian vessels, and one Dutch, which they exchanged +for one of their own, and then returned to Madagascar. England now sent +some men on shore, with tents, powder, and shot, to kill hogs, and +procure venison, but they searched in vain for Avery's men. + +Cleaning their ships, they then set sail for Panama, falling in with two +English ships, and one Dutch, all Indiamen. Fourteen of La Bouche's crew +boarded the Englishmen in canoes, declaring that they belonged to the +_Indian Queen_, twenty-eight guns, which had been lost on that coast, +and that their captain, with forty men, was building a new vessel. The +two English captains, Mackra and Reily, were about to sink and destroy +these castaways, when England's two vessels, of thirty-four and +thirty-eight guns, stood in to the bay. In spite of all promises of aid, +the _Ostender_ and _Kirby_ deserted Mackra, a breeze admitting of their +escape, while the pirate's black and bloody flags were still flaunting +the air. Mackra, undaunted by their desertion, fought desperately for +three hours, beating off one of the pirates, striking her between wind +and water, and shooting away their oars, when they put out their sweeps +and tried to board. Mackra being wounded in the head, and most of his +officers killed, ran ashore, and England following, ran also aground, +and failed in boarding. The engagement then commenced with fresh vigour, +and, had Kirby come up, the pirates would have been driven off. England, +obtaining three boats full of fresh men, was now in the ascendant, and +soon after Kirby stood out to sea, leaving his companion in the very +jaws of death. Mackra, seeing death inevitable, lowered the boats and +escaped to land, under cover of the smoke, and the pirate, soon after +boarding, cut three of their wounded men in pieces. The survivors fled +to Kingstown, a place twenty-five miles distant. + +England offered 10,000 dollars for Mackra's head, but the king and chief +people being in his interest, and a report being spread of his death, he +remained safe for ten days, then obtaining a safe conduct from the +pirate, Mackra had an interview with their chief. England and some men +who had once sailed with Mackra protected him from those who would have +cut him to pieces, with all who would not turn rovers. Finding that they +talked of burning their own ships, and refitting the English prize, +Mackra prevailed on them to give him the shattered ship, the _Fancy_, of +Dutch build, and 300 tons burden, and also to return 129 bales of the +Company's cloth. + +Fitting up jury masts, Mackra sailed for Bombay, with forty-five +sailors, two passengers, and twelve soldiers, arriving after much +suffering, and a passage of forty-three days, frequently becalmed +between Arabia and Malabar. In the engagement he had thirteen men killed +and twenty-four wounded, and killed nearly a hundred of the pirates. If +Kirby had proved staunch, he might have destroyed them both, and secured +L100,000 of booty. Opposed to him were 300 whites and eighty blacks. We +are happy to record that this brave fellow was well rewarded, and +honoured with fresh command. + +Nothing but despair could have driven Mackra, he said in his published +account, to throw himself upon the pirates' mercy, still wounded and +bleeding as they were. He did not either seem to know how friendly the +Guiana people were to the English, so much so, that there was a proverb, +"A Guiana man and an Englishman are all one." + +When he first came on board, England took him aside and told him that +his interest was declining among his crew, that they were provoked at +his opposition to their cruelty, and that he should not be able to +protect him. He advised him, therefore, to win over Captain Taylor, a +man who had become a favourite amongst them by his superiority in +wickedness. Mackra tried to soften this wretch with a bowl of punch, and +the pirates were in a tumult whether to kill him or no, when a sailor, +stuck round with pistols, came stumping upon a wooden leg up the +quarterdeck and asked for Captain Mackra, swearing and vapouring, and +twirling a tremendous pair of whiskers. The captain, expecting he was +his executioner, called out his name. To his delight, the bravo seized +him by the hand, and, shaking it violently, swore he was d----d glad to +see him. "Show me the man," cries he, "that dares offer to hurt Captain +Mackra, for I'll stand by him; he's an honest fellow, and I know him +well." + +This put an end to the dispute. Taylor consented to give the ship, and +fell asleep on the deck. Mackra put off instantly, by England's advice, +lest the monster should awake and change his mind. + +This clemency soon led to England's deposition, and on a rumour that +Mackra was fitting out a force against them, he was marooned with three +more on the island of Mauritius, and making a boat of drift wood, +escaped to Madagascar. + +The pirate, detaining some of Mackra's men, set sail for the Indies. +Seeing two ships which they supposed to be English, they commanded one +of their prisoners to show them the Company's private signals, or they +would cut him in pound pieces. On approaching, they proved to be Moorish +ships from Muscat, loaded with horses. They rifled the ships and put +the officers to the torture, and left them without sails and with the +masts cut through. + +The next day they fell in with the Bombay fleet of eight vessels and 100 +men, despatched to attack Angria, a Malabar chief. Afraid to show their +fear, the pirates attacked the fleet and destroyed two laggers, +torturing the crew and sending them adrift. The commodore of the fleet +would not fight the pirates without orders, which so enraged the +governor of Bombay, that he appointed Mackra the commander, and enjoined +him to pursue and engage England wherever he met him. + +Some time after this, the same fleet, aided by the Viceroy of Goa, +landed 10,000 men at Calabar, Angria's stronghold, but were compelled to +retreat. + +The next day between Goa and Carwar the pirates drove two grabs under +the guns of India-diva castle, and would have taken the island but for +the delay. At Carwar they took a ship, and sent in a prisoner to demand +water and provisions, for which they offered to surrender their prize. +Failing in this they sailed for the Laccadeva islands, and landing at +Melinda, violated the women, destroyed the cocoa trees, and burnt the +churches. At Tellechery they heard of Mackra's expedition, and cursed +his ingratitude. Some wished to hang the dogs who were left, but the +majority agreed to keep them alive to show their contempt and revenge. + +At Calicut they attempted to take a large Moorish ship in the roads, but +were prevented by some guns mounted on the shore. One of Mackra's men +they obliged to tend the braces on the booms amid all the fire. When he +refused, they threatened to shoot him or loaded him with blows. His old +tormentor, Captain Taylor, being gouty, could not hold a cudgel. Some +interceded for him, but Taylor declared if he was let go he would +disclose all their plans. + +They next arrived at Cochin, and, sending on shore a fishing boat with a +letter, ran into the road, saluting the fort. At night boats came off +with provisions and liquor. The governor sent a boat full of arrack and +sixty bales of sugar, and received in return a present of a table clock, +and a gold watch for his daughter. The boatmen they paid some L7000, and +threw them handfuls of ducatoons to scramble for. The fiscal brought out +cloths and piece goods for sale, but the fort opened fire when they +chased a vessel under its shelter. They were soon after chased by five +tall ships, supposed to be Mackra's, but escaped. Their Christmas for +three days they spent in a carouse, using the greater part of their +fresh provisions, so that in their voyage to the Mauritius they were +reduced to a bottle of water and two pounds of beef a day for ten men. + +Fitting up at Mauritius, they sailed again in two months, leaving this +inscription on one of the walls: "Left this place the 5th of April, to +go to Madagascar for limes." At the island of Mascarius they fell upon a +great prize, finding the Viceroy of Goa in a Portuguese ship of seventy +guns, lying dismasted on the shore. Of diamonds alone she had a cargo +worth four millions of dollars. The viceroy coming calmly on board, +taking them for English, was captured with all his officers, and +ransomed for 2000 dollars. To the leeward of the island they found an +Ostend vessel, which they sent to Madagascar to prepare masts for the +prize, and followed soon after with a cargo of 2000 Mozambique negroes. +When they reached Madagascar they found that the Dutch crew had made the +pirates drunk, and sailed back to Mozambique, and from thence to Goa +with the governor. + +They now divided their plunder, most of them receiving forty-two small +diamonds as their share. The madman, who obtained one large one, broke +it in a mortar, swearing he had got now a better share than any of them, +for he had forty-three sparks. + +Some of the pirates now gave up their wild life and settled in +_matelotage_ at Madagascar, on the tontine principle of the longest +liver inheriting all. + +The two prizes were then burnt, and Taylor sailed for Cochin to sell his +diamonds to the Dutch, and thence to the Red and China Seas, to avoid +the English men-of-war. + +The pirates, about this time, had 11 sail and 1500 men in the Indian +seas, but soon separated for the coast of Brazil and Guinea, or to +settle and fortify themselves at Madagascar, Mauritius, Johanna, and +Mohilla. A pirate named Condin, in a ship called the _Dragon_, took a +vessel from Mocha with thirteen lacs of rupees (130,000 half-crowns), +and burning the ship settled at Madagascar. The commander of the English +fleet, still in pursuit of these pirates, attempted to prevail on +England to serve him as spy and pilot, but in vain. + +Taylor, resolving to sail to the Indies, but hearing of the four +men-of-war, started for the African main, and put into Delagoa, +destroying a small fort of six guns. This fort belonged to the Dutch +East India Company, but its 150 men had been deserted, and left to pine +away and starve; sixteen turned pirates, but the rest, being Dutch, were +left to die. They stayed in this den of fever three months, and having +careened, paid the Dutch with bales of muslins and chintzes. + +Some now left, and returned to settle in Madagascar. The rest sailed for +the West Indies, and, escaping the fangs of two English men-of-war, +surrendered themselves to the Governor of Porto Bello. Eight of them +afterwards passed to Jamaica as shipwrecked sailors, and shipped for +England. Captain Taylor entered the Spanish service, and commanded the +man-of-war that afterwards attacked the English logwood-cutters in the +bay of Honduras, and caused the Spanish war. + +CAPTAIN AVERY was a more remarkable man than England, and his ambition +of a wider kind. He was a native of Plymouth, and served as mate of a +merchant vessel in several voyages. Before the peace of Ryswick, the +French of Martinique carried on a smuggling trade with the natives of +Peru, in spite of the Spanish _guarda costas_. The Spaniards, finding +their vessels too weak for the French, hired two Bristol vessels of +thirty guns and 220 men, which were to sail first to Corunna or the +Groine, and from thence to the main. + +Of one of these ships, the _Duke_, Gibson was commander, and Avery first +mate. Avery, planning with the boldest and most turbulent of the crew, +plotted to run away with the vessels, and turn pirates on the Indian +coasts. + +The captain, a man much addicted to drink, had gone to bed, when sixteen +conspirators from the other vessel, the _Duchess_, came on board and +joined the company. Their watchword was, "Is your drunken boatswain on +board?" Securing the hatches, they slipped their cable and put to sea, +without any disorder, although surrounded by vessels. A Dutch frigate of +forty guns refused to interrupt their progress, although offered a +reward. + +The captain, awoke by the motion of the ship and the noise of working +the tackle, rang his bell, and Avery and two others entered the cabin. +The captain, frightened and thinking the ship had broken from her +anchors, asked, "What was the matter?" Avery replied coolly, "Nothing." +The captain answered, "Something has happened to the ship; does she +drive? what weather is it?" "No, no," said Avery, "we're at sea with a +fair wind and good weather." "At sea?" said the captain, "how can that +be?" Upon which Avery told him to get up and put on his clothes, and he +could tell him a secret, for he (Avery) was captain, and that was his +cabin, and that he was on his way to Madagascar to make his fortune and +that of all the brave fellows who were with him. + +Avery then bade the captain not to be afraid, for if he was sober and +minded his business, he might in time make him one of his lieutenants. +At his request, however, he sent him on shore with six others. + +On reaching Madagascar they found two sloops lying at anchor, which the +men had run away with from the West Indies, and who, taking his vessel +for a frigate, fled into the woods and posted themselves in a strong +place with sentinels. Discovering their mistake, after some cautious +parleying, they united together and sailed for the Arabian coast. Near +the river Indus they espied a sail and gave chase, believing they had +caught a Dutch East Indian ship, but found it to be one of the Great +Mogul's vessels, carrying his daughter with pilgrims and offerings to +Mecca. The sloops boarded her on either side, and she at once struck her +colours. The Indian ship was loaded with treasure, the slaves and +attendants richly clad and covered with jewels, and all having vessels +of gold and silver, and large sums of money to defray their expenses in +the land journey. + +Taking all the treasure, they let the princess go, and the ship put back +for India. The Mogul, on learning it, threatened to drive the English +from India with fire and sword, but the Company contrived to pacify him +by promising to deliver up to him the pirate ship and her crew. + +The rumours of this adventure occasioned a report at Wapping that Jack +Avery had married the Great Mogul's daughter, founded an empire, and +purchased a fleet. + +Avery, having secured his prize, determined to return to Madagascar, +build a fort and magazine where he could leave a garrison to overawe +the natives when he was absent on a cruise. A fresh scheme suggesting +itself, he resolved to plunder his friends the sloops, and return to New +Providence. He began by sending a boat on board each of his allies, +desiring their captain to come and attend a general council. At this +meeting he represented to them that if they were separated in a storm +they must be taken, and the treasure would then be lost to the rest. He +therefore proposed, as his ship was so strong that it could hold its own +against any vessel they could meet with on those seas, to put the +treasure on board in his care, in a chest sealed with three seals, and +that a rendezvous should be appointed in case of separation. The two +captains at once agreed to the proposal as manifestly for the common +good. + +That day and the next the weather was fair, and they all kept company. +In the mean time Avery persuaded his men to abscond with the plunder, +and escape to some country where they might spend the rest of their days +in splendour and luxury. Taking advantage of a dark night, they steered +a new course, and by morning had lost sight of the outwitted sloops. + +Avery now resolved to steer for America, change his name, purchase a +settlement, and die in peace and charity with all the world--a calm, +rich Christian. They first visited New Providence, afraid that they +might be detected in New England as the deserters from the Groine +expedition. Avery, pretending that his vessel was a privateer that had +missed her mark and was sold by the owners, disposed of her to good +advantage, and bought a sloop. + +In this vessel he touched at several parts of the American coast, giving +his men their dividends, and allowing those who chose to leave the ship. +The greater part of the diamonds he had concealed at the first plunder +of the vessel. Some of his men settled at Boston; but he, afraid of +selling his diamonds in New England, betook himself with a few +companions to Ireland, putting into one of the northern ports, and +avoiding St. George's Channel. The sailors now dispersed. Some went to +Dublin, and some to Cork, to obtain pardons from King William. + +Avery, still afraid of being apprehended as a pirate if he offered his +diamonds for sale, passed over to England, and sent for some Bristol +friends to Bideford. They agreed, for a commission, to put the stones +into the hands of Bristol merchants who, being men of wealth and credit, +would not be suspected. The merchants, after some negotiation, visited +him at Bideford, and, after many protestations of honour and integrity, +received several packets of diamonds and some vessels of gold to dispose +of. They gave him some money for his present necessities and departed. +Changing his name Avery continued to live at Bideford, visited by those +relations to whom he confided his secret. The merchants, after many +letters and much importunity, sent him small supplies of money, scarce +sufficient to pay his debts and buy him bread. Weary of this life, he +ventured over privately to Bristol, and to his dismay, when he desired +them to come to an account with him, they threatened to proclaim him as +a pirate, for men who had been robbed by him could be found on the +'Change, in the docks, or in any street. + +Afraid of their threats (for he never showed much personal courage), or +detected by some sailor, he fled to Ireland, and from thence again +solicited the merchants, but in vain, for a supply. In a short time +reduced to beggary, he resolved to throw himself upon their throats, and +obtain money or revenge, and, working his passage on board a trading +vessel to Plymouth, travelled on foot to Bideford. In a few days he fell +sick and died, and was buried at the expense of the parish. + +To return to the deserted crews of the sloops. They, believing the +separation an accident, sailed at once to the rendezvous, and then +discovering the cheat, and having no more fresh provisions, resolved to +establish themselves on land. They therefore made tents of their sails, +and unloaded their vessels. On shore they were joined by the crew of a +privateer which had been despatched by the government of Bermuda to take +the French factory of Goree, in the river Gambia, and had turned +pirates by the way, Captain Tew, their captain, capturing a large +Arabian vessel in the strait of Babelmandel, in spite of its crew and +300 soldiers. By this prize his men gained L3000 a-piece, and but for +the cowardice and mutiny of the quartermaster and some others would have +captured five other ships. This leading to a quarrel, the band left off +pirating, and retired to Madagascar. Captain Tew sailed to Rhode Island, +and obtained a pardon. + +The pirates lived at Madagascar like little princes, each with his +harem, and with large retinues of slaves, whom they employed in fishing, +hunting, and planting rice. The English sided with some of the negro +princes in their wars, and struck such terror in their adversaries by +their fire-arms, that whole armies fled at the sight of two or three of +the white faces. At first, these piratical chieftains waged war on each +other, but at last, alarmed by a revolt of the negroes, united in strict +union. + +Before this they tied their slaves to trees, and shot them to death for +the smallest offence; and at last the negroes, uniting in a general +conspiracy, resolved to murder them all in one night. As they lived +apart, this would undoubtedly have been done, had not one of their black +concubines run nearly twenty miles in three hours to discover the plot. +They instantly, upon this alarm, flocked together in arms, and compelled +the advancing negroes to retire. This escape made them very cautious. +They therefore fomented war between the native tribes, but henceforward +remained neutral. All murderers and outlaws they took under their +protection, and turned into body-guards, whilst the vanquished they +defended. By this diplomacy, worthy of the most civilized people, they +soon grew so powerful and numerous as to be compelled to branch out in +colonies, parting into tribes, each with their wives and children. + +They had now all the power and all the fears of despotism. Their houses +were citadels, and every hut a fortress. They generally chose a place +overgrown with wood, and situated near a spring or pool. Round this +spot they raised a rampart, encircled by a fosse. This wall was straight +and steep, could not be ascended without scaling ladders, and had but +one entrance. The hut was so hidden that it might not be seen at a +distance. The passage that led to it was intricate, labyrinthine, and +narrow, so that only one person could walk it abreast, and the path +wound round and round, with so many cross-paths, that any one +uninitiated might search for hours and not find the cabin. All along the +sides of the path, huge thorns peculiar to the island were stuck into +the ground, with points uppermost, like _chevaux-de-frise_, sufficient +to impale the assailant who ventured by night. + +These men were found in this state by Captain Woods Rogers, when he +visited Madagascar in the _Delicia_ (40 guns), wishing to buy slaves, to +sell to the Dutch of New Holland. The men he met had been twenty-five +years on the island, and had not seen a ship for seven years. The petty +kings of the bush were covered with untanned skins, and were savage +wretches, overgrown with beard and hair. They bartered slaves for +cloths, knives, saws, powder, and ball. They went aboard the _Delicia_ +and examined her with care, and, talking familiarly with the men, +invited them on shore, intending to surprise the ship by night when +there was a slender watch kept, having plenty of boats and arms. They +wanted the men to surprise the captain, and clap those who resisted +under hatches. At a given signal, the negroes were to row on board, and +then all would start as pirates and roam round the world. The captain, +observing the intimacy, would not suffer his men to even speak with the +islanders, choosing an officer to negotiate with them for slaves. + +These pirate kings were all foremast men, and could read no more than +their chief secretaries could write. The chief prince of this Newgate +paradise had been a Thames waterman, who had committed a murder on the +river. + +As even a few years since an old sailor at Minehead was known as the +"King of Madagascar," we suppose divine right and hereditary succession +still continue in that Eden of gaol-birds. + +During the time of war the pirates diminished in number and turned +privateersmen, but increased at the peace of Utrecht, when the disbanded +privateersmen again turned thieves for want of excitement and some more +honest employment. + +About 1716, Captain Martel appeared as commander of a pirate sloop of +eight guns and eighty men, that, cruising off Jamaica, captured a galley +and another small vessel, from the former of which he plundered L1000. +In their way to Cuba they took two more sloops, which they rummaged and +let go, and off Cavena hoisted the black flag, and boarded a galley of +twenty guns, called the _John and Martha_. Part of the men they put +ashore and part enrolled in the crew. + +The cargo of logwood and sugar they seized, and, taking down one of the +ship's decks, mounted her with twenty-two guns and 100 men, and +proceeded to cruise off the Leeward Islands, capturing a sloop, a +brigantine, and a Newfoundland vessel of twenty guns. + +They soon after plundered a Jamaica vessel, and two ships from +Barbadoes, detaining all the best men, and from a Guinea galley they +stole some gold dust, elephants' teeth, and forty slaves. + +In 1717, they put into Santa Cruz to clean and refit with a small +piratical fleet of five vessels, warping up a little creek, very +shallow, but guarded by rocks and sands. They then erected a battery of +four guns on the island, and another of two guns near the road, while a +sloop with eight guns protected the mouth of the channel. + +In November, 1716, the commander-in-chief of all the Leeward islands +sent a sloop to Barbadoes for the _Scarborough_, of thirty guns and 140 +men, to inform her of the pirate. The captain had just buried twenty +men, and having forty sick could scarcely put out to sea. However, +putting on a bold heart, he left his sick behind and beat up for +recruits at all the islands he passed. At Antigua he took in twenty +soldiers, at Nevis ten, and the same number at St. Christopher's. + +Unable to find the pirate, he was on the point of putting back, when a +boat from Santa Cruz informed him of a creek where he had seen a vessel +enter. The _Scarborough_ instantly sailed to the spot and discovered the +pirates, but the pilot refused to enter. The pirates all this while +fired red-hot shot from the shore; but at length the ship anchored +alongside the reef and cannonaded the vessels and batteries. The sloop +in the channel soon sank, and the larger vessel was much punished, but +the _Scarborough_, fearing the reef, stood off and on for a day or two +and blockaded the creek. The pirates, endeavouring to warp out and slip +away, ran aground, and, seeing the _Scarborough_ again standing in, +fired the ship and ran ashore, leaving twenty negroes to perish. +Nineteen escaped in a sloop, and the captain and twenty other negroes +fled to the woods, where it is supposed they perished, as they were +never heard of again. + +Captain CHARLES VANE, our next Viking, is known as one of the men who +helped to steal the silver which the Spaniards had fished up from their +sunk galleons in the gulf of Florida. + +When Captain Rogers with his two men-of-war conquered Providence, and +pardoned all the pirates who submitted, Vane slipped his cable, fired a +prize in the harbour, hoisted the black flag, and, firing a broadside at +one of the men-of-war, sailed boldly away. Capturing a Barbadoes vessel, +he manned it with twenty-five hands, and, unloading an interloper of its +pieces of eight, careened at a key, and spent some time in a revel. + +In the next cruise they captured some Spanish and New England vessels, +and one laden with logwood. The crew of the latter they compelled to +throw the lading overboard, intending to turn her into a pirate vessel, +but in a fit of caprice suddenly let the men go and the ship with them. +The prize captain, offended at Vane's arrogance, left him, and +surrendered himself and 90 negroes to the governor of Charlestown, +receiving a free pardon. Vane saluted the runaway with a broadside as +he left, and lay wait for some time for him, but without success. Soon +after this two armed sloops started in pursuit of Vane, and, failing in +the capture, attacked and took another pirate vessel that was clearing +at Cape Fear. + +In an inlet to the northward Vane met Blackbeard, and saluted him, +according to piratical etiquette, with a discharge of his shotted guns. +Off Long Island he attacked a vessel that proved to be a French +man-of-war, and gave chase; Vane was for flight, but many of the men, in +spite of the enemy's weight of metal and being twice their force, were +for boarding. A pirate captain in all cases but that of fighting was +controlled by a majority, but in this case had an absolute power; Vane +refused to fight, and escaped. + +The next day Vane was branded by vote as a coward and deposed, and +Rackham, his officer, elected captain. Vane and the minority were turned +adrift in a sloop. Putting into the bay of Honduras, Vane captured +another sloop, and fitted it up as a pirate vessel, and soon after +captured two more. Vane was soon after shipwrecked on an island near +Honduras, and most of his men drowned; he himself being supported by the +turtle fishermen. While in this miserable state, a Jamaica vessel +arrived, commanded by a Buccaneer, an old acquaintance, to whom he +applied to help him. The man refused, declaring Vane would intrigue with +his men, murder him, and run off as a pirate. On Vane expressing +scruples about stealing a fisherman's boat from the beach, the Buccaneer +declared that if he found him still there on his return he would take +him to Jamaica and hang him. + +Soon after his friend's departure a vessel put in for water, and, not +knowing Vane to be a pirate, took him on board as a sailor. On leaving +the bay the Buccaneer met them and came on board to dine. Passing to the +cabin he spied Vane working in the hold, and asked the captain if he +knew that that was Vane, the notorious pirate. The other then declared +he would not have him, and the Buccaneer, sending his mate on board with +at loaded pistol, seized Vane and took him to Jamaica, where he was +soon after hung. + +Rackham, after a cruise among the Caribbee islands, spent a Christmas on +shore, and when the liquor was all gone put to sea. Their first prize +was an ominous one, a ship laden with Newgate convicts bound for the +plantations, which was soon after retaken by an English ship of war. Two +others of his prizes were also recaptured while careening at the Bahama +islands by Governor Rogers, of New Providence. + +They then sailed to the back of Cuba, where Rackham had a settlement, +and there spent their plunder in debauchery. As they were fitting out +for sea, they were attacked by a Spanish guarda costa that had just +captured an English interloper. Rackham being protected by an island, +the Spaniards warped into the channel at dusk and waited for day. The +pirates, roused to despair, boarded the Spanish prize with pistols and +cutlasses in the dead of the night, and, threatening the crew with death +if they spoke, captured her almost without a blow, and slipping the +cable stood out to sea. When day broke the Spaniards opened a +tremendous fire upon the deserted pirate vessel, but soon discovered +their mistake. + +1720 was spent in small cruises about Jamaica, their crew being still +short; they then swept off some fishing boats from Harbour Island, and +landing in Hispaniola, carried off some wild cattle and several French +hunters. + +He then captured several more vessels, and was joined by the crew of a +sloop in Dry Harbour Bay. But their end was at hand. The governor of +Jamaica despatched a sloop in pursuit of them, who found the pirates +carousing with a boat's crew from Point Negril, and they were soon +overpowered. + +A fortnight after sentence of death was passed upon nine of them at a +court of admiralty held at St. Jago de la Vega. Five of them were +executed at Gallows Point in Port Royal, and the four others the day +after at Kingston. Rackham and two more were afterwards taken down and +hung in chains, one at Plumb Point, one at Busk-key, and the other at +Gun-key. By the terrible Draconic laws of Jamaica, the nine boatmen +from Port Negril were also hung by their side. After such justice, can +we wonder at the crimes to which despair too often drove the pirates? + +Among these "unfortunate brave," as Prior generously calls them, two +female pirates are not to be forgotten. The first of these, Mary Reed, +was the daughter of a sailor, whose wife having after his death given +birth to an illegitimate girl, palmed it off as a boy, in order to +excite the compassion of her husband's mother. Being reduced in +circumstances she put the girl out as a foot-boy, but she soon after ran +to sea, and entered on board a man-of-war. Quitting the sea service Mary +Reed wintered over in Flanders and obtained a cadetship in a regiment of +foot, behaving herself in many actions with a great deal of bravery, and +finally entering a regiment of horse. Here she fell in love with a +comrade, a young Fleming, whom she eventually married, and set up an +eating-house at Beda, called "The Three Horse-shoes." Her husband dying, +and the peace ruining her trade, Mary went into Holland, and joined a +regiment quartered on a frontier town, but, finding preferment slow, she +shipped herself on board a vessel bound for the West Indies. + +The vessel was taken by English pirates, and the amazon, being the only +English sailor, was detained. A pardon soon afterwards being issued, the +crew surrendered themselves, but Mary Reed sailed for New Providence, +and joined a privateer squadron fitting out there against the Spaniards. +The crews, who were pardoned pirates, soon rose against their commander, +and resumed their old trade, and Mary Reed among them. Abhorring the +life of a pirate, she still was the first to board, and was as resolute +as the bravest. By chance Anne Bonny, another disguised woman, being +with the crew, discovered her sex, and soon after she fell in love with +a sailor whom they took prisoner, and was eventually married to him. Her +husband hated his new profession as much as herself, and they were about +to quit it when they were both taken prisoners. + +On one occasion Mary Reed, to prevent her husband fighting a duel, +challenged his opponent to meet her on a sand island near which their +ship lay, with sword and pistol, and killed him on the spot. + +At the trial she declared that her life had been always pure, and that +she had never intended to remain a pirate. When they were taken, only +she and Anne Bonny kept the deck, calling to those in the hold to come +up and fight like men, and when they refused firing at them, killing one +and wounding several. In prison she said the fear of hanging had never +driven her from piracy, for but for the dread of that there would be so +many pirates that the trade would not be worth following. + +Great compassion was evinced for her in the court, but she was still +found guilty, though being near her pregnancy, her execution was +respited. She might have been pardoned, but a violent fever coming on +soon after her trial she died in prison. + +Her companion, Anne Bonny, was the illegitimate daughter of a Cork +attorney. Her father, disguising the child as a boy, pretended it was a +relative's son, and bred it up for a clerk. Becoming ruined he emigrated +to Carolina, and turning merchant bought a plantation. Upon her mother's +death Anne Bonny succeeded to the housekeeping. She was of a fierce and +ungovernable temper, and was reported to have stabbed an English servant +with a case-knife. Marrying a penniless sailor, her father turned her +out of doors, and she and her husband fled to New Providence, where he +turned pirate. Here she was seduced by Captain Rackham, and ran with him +to sea, dressed as a sailor, and accompanied him in many voyages. The +day that Rackham was executed she was admitted to see him by special +favour, but she only taunted him and said that she was sorry to see him +there, but that if he had fought like a man he would not have been hung +like a dog. + +Becoming pregnant in prison she was reprieved, and, we believe, finally +pardoned. + +Captain HOWEL DAVIS, our next sea king, was a native of Milford, who, +being taken prisoner by England, was appointed captain of the vessel of +which he had been chief mate. At first, he declared he would rather be +shot than turn pirate, but eventually accepted sealed orders from +England, to be opened at a certain latitude. On opening them, he found +they directed him to make the ship his own, and go and trade at Brazil. +The crew, refusing to obey Davis, steered for Barbadoes, and put him in +prison, but he was soon discharged. + +Starting for New Providence, the pirates' nest, he found the island had +just surrendered to Captain Woods Rogers. He here joined the ships +fitting out for the Spanish trade, and at Martinique joined in a +conspiracy, secured the masters, and started on a cruise against all the +world. At a council of war, held over a bowl of punch, Davis was +unanimously elected commander, and the articles he drew up were signed +by all the crew. + +They then sailed to Coxon's-hole, at the east end of Cuba, to clean, +that being a narrow creek, where one ship could defend itself against a +hundred, and, having no carpenter, they found some difficulty in +careening. On the north side of Hispaniola, they fell in with a French +ship of twelve guns, which they took, and sent twelve men on board to +plunder, being now very short of provisions. They had scarcely leaped on +deck before another French vessel of twenty-four guns and sixty men hove +in sight. This vessel Davis proposed to attack, quite contrary to the +wish of his crew, who were afraid of her size. When Davis approached, +the Frenchmen bade him strike, but giving them a broadside, he said he +should keep them in play till his consort arrived, when they should have +but hard quarters. At this moment came up all the prisoners, having been +dressed in white shirts, and forced on deck, and a dirty tarpaulin was +hoisted for a black flag. The French captain, intimidated, instantly +struck, and was at once, with ten of his hands, put in irons. + +The guns, small arms, and powder in the small ship were then removed, +and the prize crew sent on board the larger vessel. Part of the +prisoners were put in the smaller and now defenceless bark. At the end +of two days, finding the French prize a dull sailer, Davis restored her +to the captain, minus her ammunition and cargo. The Frenchman, vexed at +being so outwitted, would have destroyed himself had not his men +prevented him. + +Davis then visited the Cape de Verd islands, and left some of his men as +settlers among the Portuguese. They also plundered many vessels at the +Isle of May, obtained many fresh hands, and fitted one of their prizes +with twenty-six guns, and called her the _King James_. At St. Jago the +governor accused them of being pirates, and Davis resolved to resent the +affront by surprising the fort by night. Going on shore well armed, they +found the guard negligent, and took the place, losing only three men. +The fugitives barricaded themselves in the governor's house, into which +the pirates threw grenades. By daybreak the whole country was alarmed, +and poured down upon them, but they, unwilling to stand a siege, +dismounted the fort guns and fought their way to their ships. + +Mustering their hands, and finding themselves still seventy strong, they +proposed to follow Davis's advice, and attack Gambia castle, where a +great deal of money was always kept, for they had now such an opinion of +Davis's courage and prudence that they would have followed him anywhere. + +Having come within sight of the place, he ordered all his men below but +such as were absolutely necessary for the working of the vessel, that +the people on shore might take her for a trader. He then ran close under +the fort, anchored, and ordering out the boat, manned her with six +plain-dressed men, himself as the master, and the rest attired as +merchants. The men were instructed what to say. + +At the landing-place they were received by a file of musqueteers, and +led to the governor, who received them civilly. They said they were from +Liverpool, bound to the river of Senegal to trade for gums and ivory, +but being chased to Gambia by two French men-of-war, were willing to +trade for slaves; their cargo, they said, being all iron and plate. The +governor, promising them slaves, asked for a hamper of European liquor, +and invited them to stay and dine. Davis himself refused to stay, but +left his two companions. + +On leaving he observed there was a sentry at the entrance, and a +guard-house near, with the arms of the soldiers on duty thrown in one +corner. Going on board he assured his men of success, desired them to +keep sober, and when the castle flag struck to send twenty hands +immediately ashore. He then seized a sloop that lay near, for fear the +crew should discern their preparations. + +He put two pairs of loaded pistols in his pocket, and made all his crew +do the same, bidding them get into conversation with the guard, and when +he fired a pistol through the governor's window, leap up and secure the +piled arms. + +While dinner was getting ready, the governor began to brew a bowl of +punch, when Davis, at a whisper of the coxswain who had been +reconnoitring the house, suddenly drew out a pistol, and, clapping it to +the governor's breast, bade him surrender the fort and all his riches, +or he was a dead man. The governor, taken by surprise, promised to be +passive. They then shut the door, and loaded the arms in the hall, while +Davis fired his piece through the window. The men, hearing this signal, +cocked their pistols, got between the soldiers and the arms, and carried +them off, locking up the men in the guard-room, and guarding it without. +Then striking the flag, the rest of the crew tumbled on shore, and the +fort was their own without the loss of a man. Davis at once harangued +the soldiers, and persuaded many to join him, and those who resisted he +sent on board the sloop, which he first unrigged. The rest of the day +they spent in salutes--ship to castle and castle to ship, and the next +day plundered. Much money had been lately sent away, so they found only +L2,000 in bar gold, and many rich effects. They then dismounted the +guns, and demolished the fortifications. + +A French pirate of 14 guns, and sixty-four men, half French, half +negroes, soon joined Davis, and they sailed down the coast together. +They soon after met another pirate ship, of 24 guns, and spent several +days in carousing. They then attacked in company the fort of Sierra +Leone, and the garrison, after a stiff cannonade, surrendered the place +and fled. Here they spent seven weeks careening; and, capturing a +galley, La Bouce, the second captain, cut her half deck, and mounted her +with 24 guns. They now sailed together, and appointed Davis commodore, +but, like men of a trade, soon quarrelled, and parted company. Off Cape +Apollonia Davis took several vessels, and off Cape Points Bay attacked a +Dutch interloper, of 30 guns, and ninety men. After many hours' fighting +the Dutchman surrendered to the black flag, having killed nine of +Davis's men at one broadside. This vessel Davis called the _Rover_, +fitted with 32 guns and 27 swivels, and, sailing to Anamaboe, captured +several ships laden with ivory, gold dust, and negroes, saluting the +fort, and then started for Prince's island, a Portuguese settlement near +the same coast. + +They here captured a Dutchman, a valuable prize, having the governor of +Acra and L150,000, besides merchandise, on board, and recruited their +force with thirty-five hands. The _King James_ springing a leak, they +deserted her and left her to sink. At the isle of Princes Davis passed +himself off for an English man-of-war in search of pirates, and was +received with great honours by the governor, who approved of his openly +plundering a French vessel which he accused of piracy. A few days after +Davis and fourteen of his men attempted to carry off the chief men's +wives from a small village in which they lived, but failed in the +attempt. But Davis had determined to plunder the island by means of the +following stratagem. He resolved to present the governor with a dozen +negroes in return for his civilities, and afterwards to invite him with +the friars and chief men of the island to an entertainment on board his +ship. He would then clap them in irons, and not release them under a +ransom of L40,000. + +This plot proved fatal to him. A Portuguese negro, swimming ashore at +night, disclosed the whole. The governor dissembled and professed to +fall into the snare. The next day Davis went himself on shore to bring +the governor on board, and was invited to take some refreshment at the +government house. He fell at once into the trap. A prepared ambuscade +rose and fired a volley, killing every pirate but one, who, running to +the boat, got safely to the ship. Davis, though shot through the bowels, +rose, made a faint effort to run, drew out his pistols, fired at his +pursuers, and fell dead. + +Upon Davis's death, Bartholomew Roberts was at once chosen commander, in +preference to many other of the _lords_ or head seamen. The sailors +said, that any captain who went beyond their laws should be deposed, but +that they must have a man of courage and a good seaman to defend their +commonwealth. One of the lords, whose father had suffered in Monmouth's +rebellion, swore Roberts was a Papist. In spite of all, Roberts, who +had been only taken prisoner six weeks before, was chosen commander. He +told them that, "since he had dipped his hands in muddy water, and must +needs be a pirate, he would rather be commander than mere seaman." + +Their first thought was to avenge Davis's death, for he had been much +beloved for his affability and good nature. Thirty men were landed, and +attacked the fort in spite of the steep hill on which it was situated. +The Portuguese deserted the walls, and the pirates destroyed the guns. +Still unsatisfied, they would have burnt the town, had it not been +protected by a thick wood, which furnished a cover to the enemy. They, +however, mounted the French ship with twelve guns, running into shoal +water, battered down several houses, and then sailed out of the harbour +by the light of two ships to which they set fire. Having taken two more +vessels and burnt one of them, they started by general consent for +Brazil. + +Cruising here for nine weeks and taking no prize, the pirates grew +quite discouraged, and resolved to steer for the West Indies, but soon +after fell in with forty-two sail of Portuguese ships laden for Lisbon, +and lying off the bay of los Todos Santos, waiting for two men-of-war of +seventy guns each for their convoy. Stealing amongst them, Roberts hid +his men till he had closed upon the deepest of them, threatening to give +no quarter if the master was not instantly sent on board. The +Portuguese, alarmed at the sudden flourish of cutlasses, instantly came. +Roberts told him they were gentlemen of fortune, and should put him to +death if he did not tell them which was the richest vessel of the fleet. +The trembler pointed out a ship of forty guns and 150 men, more force +than Roberts could command; but Roberts, replying "They are only +Portuguese," bore down at once upon it. Finding the enemy was aware of +their being pirates, Roberts poured in a broadside, grappled, and +boarded. The dispute was short and warm. Two of the pirates fell, and +many of the Portuguese. By this time it was pretty well seen that a fox +had got into the poultry-yard. Signals of top-gallant sheets were +flying, and guns fired to bring up the convoy that still rode at anchor. +Roberts, finding his prize sail heavy, waited for the first man-of-war, +which, basely declining the duel, lingered for its consort till Roberts +was out of sight. The prize proved exceedingly rich, being laden with +sugar, skins, tobacco, and 4000 moidors, besides many gold chains and +much jewellery. A diamond cross, which formed part of this spoil, they +afterwards gave to the governor of Caiana. Elated with this spoil, they +fixed on the Devil's Islands, in the Surinam river, as a place for a +revel, and, arriving there, found the governor ready to barter. + +Much in want of provision, Roberts threw himself, with forty men, into a +prize sloop, in hopes of capturing a brigantine laden with provision +from Rhode Island, which was then in sight, and was kept at sea by +contrary winds for eight days. Their food ran short, and failing in +securing the prize, they despatched their only boat to bring up the +ship. + +Landing at Dominica, Roberts took on board thirteen Englishmen, the +crews of two New England vessels that had been seized by a French guarda +costa. At this island they were nearly captured by a Martinique sloop, +but contrived to escape to the Guadanillas. Sailing for Newfoundland +they entered the harbour with their black colours flying, their drums +beating, and trumpets sounding. The crews of twenty-two vessels fled on +shore at their approach, and they proceeded to burn and sink all the +shipping and destroy the fisheries and the houses of the planters. +Mounting a Bristol galley that he found in the harbour with sixteen +guns, Roberts destroyed nine sail of French ships, and carried off for +his own use a vessel of twenty-six guns. From many other prizes they +pressed men and got plunder. The passengers on board the _Samuel_, a +rich London vessel, he tortured, threatening them with death if they did +not disclose their money. His men tore up the hatches, and, entering the +hold with axes and swords, cut and ripped open the bales and boxes. +Everything portable they seized, the rest they threw overboard, amidst +curses and discharges of guns and pistols. They carried off L9000 worth +of goods, the sails, guns, and powder. They told the captain "They +should accept of no act of grace. The king might be d---- with their act +of grace for them: they weren't going to Hope Point to be hung up +sun-drying like Kidd's and Braddish's company were; and if they were +overpowered they would set fire to the powder, and _go all merrily to +hell together_." + +While debating whether to sink or burn the prize, they espied a sail, +and left the _Samuel_ tumultuously to give chase. It proved to be a +Bristol vessel, and hating Bristol men because the Martinique sloops +were commanded by one, he used him with barbarous cruelty. + +Their provisions growing scarce, Roberts put into St. Christopher's, +and, being refused succours, fired on the town and burnt two ships in +the road. They then visited St. Bartholomew, where they were well +received. Sailing for Guinea, weary of even debauchery, they captured a +rich laden vessel from Martinique, and changed ships. By some +extraordinary ignorance of navigation, Roberts, in trying to reach the +Cape Verd islands, got to leeward of his port, and, obliged to go back +again with the trade wind, returned to the West Indies, steering for +Surinam, 700 leagues distant, with one hogshead of water for 124 souls. + +Great suffering followed their pleasures in the islands of the Sirens; +each man obtained only one mouthful of water in twenty-four hours. Many +drank their urine or the brine and died fevered and mad; others wasted +with fluxes. The rest had but an inch or two of bread in the day, and +grew so feeble they could hardly reef and climb. They were all but +dying, when they were suddenly brought into soundings, and at night +anchored in seven fathoms water. + +Thirsty in the sight of lakes and streams, and maddened with hunger, +Roberts tore up the floor of the cabin, and, patching together a canoe +with rope yarn, paddled to shore and procured water. After some days, +the boat returned with the unpleasant intelligence that the lieutenant +had absconded with the vessel. + +This Lieutenant Kennedy's sail into Execution Dock we will give before +we return to Roberts. Upon leaving Caiana Roberts's treacherous crew +determined to abandon piracy. Their Portuguese prize they gave to the +master of the prize sloop, a good-natured man, whose quiet philosophy +under misfortune had astonished and pleased them. Off Barbadoes Kennedy +took a Quaker's vessel from Virginia, the captain of which allowed no +arms on board, and his equanimity so attracted the pirates that eight of +them returned with him to Virginia. These men rewarded the sailors and +gave L250 worth of gold dust and tobacco to the peaceful captain. At +Maryland the treacherous Quaker surrendered his friends, who were all +hung on the evidence of some Portuguese Jews whom they had brought from +Brazil. + +Off Jamaica Kennedy captured a flour vessel from Boston, in which +himself and many others embarked. This Kennedy had been a pickpocket and +a housebreaker, could neither read nor write, and had been only elected +captain for his cruelty and courage. + +His crew, at first afraid of his treachery, would have thrown him +overboard, but relented, on his taking solemn oaths of fidelity. Of all +these men only one knew anything of navigation, and he was so ignorant +that, trying to reach Ireland, he ran them ashore on Scotland. Landing +they passed at first for shipwrecked sailors; seven of them reached +London in safety, the rest were seized at Edinburgh and hung, having +attracted attention by rioting and drunken squandering. Two others were +murdered on the road. + +Kennedy turned robber, and some years after was arrested as a pirate by +the mate of a ship he had plundered, turned king's evidence, but was +hung in 1721. + +We must now return to Roberts, whom we left swearing and vapouring on +the coast of Newfoundland. He began by drawing up a code of laws and +establishing stricter discipline, and then steered for the West Indies, +capturing several vessels by the way, and was soon after pursued by a +Bristol galley of twenty guns and eighty men, and a sloop of ten guns +and forty men, despatched by the Governor of Barbadoes. Roberts, taking +them for traders, attempted to board, but was driven off by a broadside, +the king's men huzzaing as they fired. Roberts, crowding all sail, took +to flight and escaped, after a galling pursuit, by dint of throwing +overboard his guns and heavy goods. He was henceforward particularly +severe to Barbadian vessels, so deeply established were the principles +of justice and compensation in the mind of this great man. + +In the morning, they saw land, but at a great distance, and dispatching +a boat, it returned late at night with a load of water: they had reached +Surinam. The worst blasphemer heard the words, and fell upon his knees +to thank a God whom he had so often denied. They swore that the same +Providence which had given them drink would bring them meat. + +Taking provisions from several vessels, Roberts touched at Tobago, and +then sailed to Martinique to revenge himself on the governor. Adopting +the custom of the Dutch interlopers, he hoisted a jack and sailed in as +if to trade. He was soon surrounded by a swarm of sloops and smacks; +then sending all the crews on shore on board one vessel, minus their +money, he fired twenty others. His new flag bore henceforward a +representation of himself trampling on the skulls of a Barbadian and +Martinique man. At Dominica he took several vessels, and several others +at Guadaloupe, and then put into a key off Hispaniola to clean and +refit. + +While here, the captains of two piratical sloops visited him, having +heard of his fame and achievements, to beg from him powder and arms. +After several nights' revel, Roberts dismissed them, hoping "the Lord +would prosper their handy works." Three of their men, who had long +excited suspicion by their reserve and sobriety, deserted, but being +recaptured were put upon their trial. The jury sat in the steerage, +before a bowl of rum punch; the judge on the bench smoked a pipe. +Sentence was already passed, when one of the jury, with a volley of +oaths, swore Glashby (one of the prisoners) should not die. "He was as +good a man as the best of them, and had never turned his back to a man +in his life. Glashby was an honest fellow in spite of his misfortune, +and he loved him. He hoped he would live and repent of what he had done; +but d---- if he must die, he would die along with him," and as he spoke +he handled a pair of loaded pistols, and presented them at two of the +judges, who, thinking the argument good, at once acquitted Glashby. The +rest, allowed to choose their executioners, were tied to the mast and +shot. + +Amply stocked with provision, they now sailed for Guinea to buy gold +dust, and on their passage burnt and sank many vessels. Roberts, finding +his crew mutinous and unmanageable, assumed a rude bearing, offering to +fight on shore any one who was offended, with sword or pistol, for he +neither feared nor valued any. On their way to Africa they were deserted +by a prize, a brigantine, which they had manned. Roberts being insulted +by a drunken sailor, killed him on the spot. His messmate returning from +shore declared the captain deserved the same fate. Roberts hearing this +stabbed him with his sword, but in spite of the wound the seaman threw +him over a gun and gave him a beating. A general tumult ensued, which +was appeased by the quartermaster, and the majority agreeing that the +captain must be supported at all risks, the sailor received two lashes +from every man on board as soon as he recovered from his wound. This man +then conspired with the captain of the brigantine and his seventy hands, +and agreed to desert Roberts, as they soon after did on the first +opportunity. + +Near the river of Senegal the pirates were chased by two French cruisers +of ten and sixteen guns, who mistook him for one of those interlopers +for whom they were on the look-out. The pair surrendered, however, with +little resistance on the first shot of the _Jolly Roger_, and with these +prizes they put into Sierra Leone. About thirty retired Buccaneers and +pirates lived here, one of whom, who went by the name of Crackers, kept +two cannon at his door to salute all pirate ships that arrived. + +They found that the _Swallow_ and _Weymouth_ men-of-war, fifty guns, had +just been there, and would not return till Christmas; so, after six +weeks' debauch, they put out again to sea, plundering along the coast. +They exchanged one of their vessels for a French frigate-built ship, +pressing the sailors, and allowing some soldiers on board to sail with +them for a quarter share. + +They found an English chaplain on board, and wanted him to go with them +to make punch and say prayers, but as he refused they let him go, +detaining nothing of the property of the church but three prayer-books +and a corkscrew. This ship they altered by pulling down the bulkheads +and making her flush. They then christened her the _Royal Fortune_, and +mounted her with forty guns. + +They next proceeded to Calabar, where a shoal protected the harbour. +Enraged at the negroes refusing to trade, they landed forty men under +protection of the ships' fire, drove back a party of 2000 natives, and +then burnt their town. Still unable to obtain provisions, they returned +to Cape Apollonia. Here they took a vessel called the _King Solomon_, +boarding her from the long boat in spite of a volley from the ship, the +pirates shouting defiance. The captain would have resisted, but the +boatswain made the men lay down their arms and cry for quarter. They +then cut her cable, and rifled her of everything. They next cut the mast +of a Dutch vessel, and strung the sausages they found on board round +their necks, killing the fowls, and inviting the captain to drink from +his own but, singing obscene French and Spanish songs from his Dutch +prayer-book. + +Going too near the land they alarmed the coast, and the English and +Dutch factories spread signals of danger. + +Entering Whydah with St. George's ensign and a black flag flying, eleven +ships instantly surrendered without a blow; most of the crews being, in +fact, ashore. Each captain ransomed his cargo for 8 lbs. of gold dust, +upon which they gave him acquittals, signed with sham names, as +"Whiffingpin" and "Tugmutton." One vessel full of slaves refusing to +give any ransom, he set fire to it, and burnt eighty negroes who were +chained in the hold; a few leaped overboard to avoid the flames, and +were torn to pieces by the sharks that swarmed in the road. + +Discovering from an intercepted letter that the _Swallow_ was after him, +Roberts put back to the island of Anna Bona, but the wind failing +steered for Cape Lopez. The cruiser had lost 100 men from sickness in a +three weeks' stay at Prince's island, and, unable to return to Sierra +Leone, turned to Cape Corso, unknown to Roberts, who was ignorant of the +causes that had led to their return. Receiving many calls for help, and +finding the trade of the whole coast disturbed, the _Swallow_ sailed for +Whydah. The crew were impatient to attack the pirates, learning that +they had an arms' chest full of gold, secured by three keys. Recruiting +thirty volunteers, English and French, the _Swallow_ reached the river +Gaboon, and soon discovered the pirates, one of whom gave them chase, +believing her a Portuguese sugar vessel, and the sugar for their punch +now ran short. + +The pirates were cursing the wind and the sails that kept them from so +rich a prey, when the _Ranger_ suddenly brought to and hauled up her +lower ports, while the first broadside brought down their black flag. +Hoisting it again, they flourished their cutlasses on the poop, but +tried to escape. Some prepared to board, but, after two hours' firing, +their maintop came down with a run, and they struck, having had ten men +killed and twenty wounded. The _Swallow_ did not lose one. The _Ranger_ +carried thirty-two guns, and was manned by sixteen Frenchmen, +seventy-seven English, and ten negroes. Their black colours were thrown +overboard. As the _Swallow_ was sending a boat to board, an explosion +was heard, and a smoke poured out of the great cabin. It appeared that +half a dozen of the most desperate had fired some powder, but it was too +little to do anything but burn them terribly. + +The commander, a Welshman, had had his leg shot off, and had refused to +allow himself to be carried below. The rest were gay and brisk, dressed +in white shirts and silk waistcoats, and wearing watches. + +An officer said to a man whom he saw with a silver whistle at his +belt--"I presume you are boatswain of this ship." "Then you presume +wrong," said the pirate, "for I am boatswain of the _Royal +Fortune_--Captain Roberts, commander." "Then, Mr. Boatswain, you'll be +hanged," said the officer. "That is as your Honour pleases," said the +man, turning away. + +The officer asking about the explosion, he swore "they are all mad and +bewitched, for I have lost a good hat by it." He had been blown out of +the cabin gallery into the sea. "But what signifies a hat, friend?" said +the officer. "Not much," he answered. + +As the sailors stripped off his shoes and stockings, the officer asked +him if all Robert's crew were as likely men as himself? He answered, +"There are 120 of them as clever fellows as ever trod shoe-leather; +would I were with them." "No doubt on't," said the officer. "It's naked +truth," said the man laughing, as he looked down at his bare feet. + +The officer then approached another man, black and scorched, who sat +sullenly alone in a corner. He asked him how it happened. "Why," said +he, "John Morris fired a pistol into the powder, and if he had not done +it I would." The officer said he was a surgeon, and offered to dress his +wounds, which he bore without a groan. He swore it should not be done +and he would tear off the dressing, so he was then overpowered and +bandaged. At night he grew delirious and raved about "brave Roberts," +who would soon release him. The men then lashed him down to the +forecastle, as he resisted with such violence to his burnt sore flesh +that he died next day of mortification. The other pirates they fettered, +and sent the shattered ship, scarcely worth preserving, into port. + +The next day Roberts appeared in sight with a prize, and his men ran to +tell him of the cruizer as he was dining in the cabin with the prisoner +captain. Roberts declared the vessel was his own returning, or nothing +but a Portuguese or French slave ship, and laughed at the cowards who +feared danger, offering to strike the most apprehensive. As soon as he +discovered his mistake he slipped his cable, got under sail, and ordered +his men to arms, declaring it was "a bite." + +He appeared on deck dressed in crimson damask, with a red feather in his +cocked hat, a gold chain and diamond cross round his neck, a sword in +his hand, and two pairs of pistols hanging pirate-fashion from a silk +sling over his shoulders. His orders were given in a loud voice and with +unhesitating boldness. Informed by a deserter that the _Swallow_ sailed +best upon a wind, he resolved to go before it, if disabled to run ashore +and escape among the negroes, or if, as many of his men were drunk, +everything else failed, to board and blow up both vessels. + +Exchanging a broadside he made all sail he could crowd, but steering ill +was taken aback and overtaken. At this critical moment a grapeshot +struck him on the throat, and he sat calmly down on the tackle of a gun +and died. The man at the helm running to his assistance, and not seeing +a wound, thought his heart had failed him, and bade him stand up and +fight it out like a man, and remember the _Jolly Roger_. Discovering his +mistake the rough sailor burst into tears, and prayed the next shot +might strike him. The pirates then threw their captain overboard, with +all his arms and ornaments, as he had often requested in his life. + +When Roberts fell the men deserted their quarters and fell into a +torpor, till their mainmast being shot away compelled them to surrender. +Some of the crew lit matches and tried to blow up the magazine, but the +rest prevented them. The black flag, crushed under the fallen mast, they +had no time to destroy. + +The _Royal Fortune_ was found to have forty guns and 157 men, forty-five +of them being negroes. Only three were killed in the action, and the +_Swallow_ did not lose a man. She had upwards of L2000 of gold dust in +her. From the other vessel the same quantity was embezzled by an English +captain, who sailed away before the _Swallow_ arrived. + +The prisoners were mutinous under restraint, and cursed and upbraided +each other for the folly that had brought them into that trap. For fear +of an outbreak they were manacled and shackled in the gun-room, which +was strongly barricaded, and officers with pistol and cutlass placed to +guard it night and day. + +The pirates laughed at the short commons, and swore they should be too +light to hang. Those who read and prayed were sneered at by the others. +"Give me hell," said one blasphemer; "it is a merrier place than heaven, +and at my entrance I'll give Roberts a salute of thirteen guns." The +whole of the prisoners made a formal complaint against "the wretch with +a prayer-book," as a common disturber. + +A few of the more violent conspired, having loosened their shackles, to +rise, kill the officers, and run away with the ship. A mulatto boy who +attended them, conveyed messages from one to the other, but the very +evening of the outbreak two prisoners heard the whispers, and warned +the officers. They were then treated rougher, and heavier chains put on. + +The negroes and surgeon on board the other ship also contrived a +conspiracy, the surgeon knowing a little of the Ashantee language. They +were betrayed by a traitor, all re-chained, and brought to Cape Corso +castle to be tried. Here they grew chapfallen, forgot to jest, and +begged for good books. Some joined in prayers, and others sang psalms. +Brawny, sunburnt, scarred men were seen spelling out hymns, and, through +the blood-red haze of a thousand crimes, trying with moistened eyes to +look back to calm Sunday evenings when fond mothers had first taught +them the words of long since forgotten prayers. + +When the ropes were fitting only one appeared dejected, and he had been +ill with a flux. A surgeon of the place was charitable enough to offer +himself as chaplain, and represented to them the urgent need of +repentance and the tender forgiveness of a Saviour. They hardly listened +to him, but some begged caps of the soldiers, for the sun was burning +on their bare heads. Others asked for a single draught of water. When +they were pressed to speak of religion, they burst into curses, and +imprecated vengeance on their judge and jury, saying they were hung as +poor rogues, but many worse escaped because they were rich. + +He then implored them to be in charity with all the world, and asked +their names and ages. They said, "What is that to you? we suffer the +law, and shall give no account but to God." One cursed a woman in the +crowd for coming to see him hung, and another laughed at their tying his +hands behind him, "for he had seen many a good fellow hung, but never +that done before." A third said, the sooner the better, so he might get +out of pain. + +Nine others showed much penitence. One obtained a short reprieve, and +devoted it to prayer, singing the thirty-first Psalm at the foot of the +gallows. Another (the deserter) exhorted the seamen to a good life, and +sang a psalm. The next instant a gun was fired, and he swung from the +fore-yard-arm. Bunce, the youngest of them all, made a pathetic speech, +and begged forgiveness of God and all mankind. Seeing the gallows +standing on a rock above the sea, he took a last look at the element +which he had so often braved, and saying, he stood "as a beacon on a +rock to warn mariners of danger," was turned off by the hangman. + +CAPTAIN WORLY, the next adventurer, embarked in an open boat, with eight +other men, from New York in 1718, captured a shallop up the Delaware +river, and soon took many other vessels, pursuing an English cruiser +from Sandy Hook. He had now twenty-five men and six guns, and his crew +had taken an oath to receive no quarter. While careening in an inlet in +North Carolina he was attacked by two government sloops. These cruisers +boarded him on either side, and the pirates fought so desperately that +only the captain and another man were taken prisoners, and being much +wounded were hung the next day for fear they should die, and the law not +have its due. + +Captain GEORGE LOWTHER was originally second mate on board a vessel +carrying soldiers to a fort of the Royal African Company's on the river +Gambia, the very one that had been destroyed by Davis. Captain Massey, +who commanded these men, offended at the arrogance of the merchants, +plotted with Lowther, who had been ill-treated by his captain, to run +away with the vessel. They then started as pirates--their vessel, the +_Delivery_, having fifty men and sixteen guns. The worthy partners soon +quarrelled, Massey knowing nothing of the sea and Lowther nothing of the +land. Massey wished to land with thirty men and attack the French in +Hispaniola, but Lowther refused his consent; and when Lowther resolved +to scuttle a ship, Massey interposed in its behalf. Massey, soon after +this, being put on board a prize with ten malcontents, gave himself up +at Jamaica, and was sent to cruise in search of his old partner. Massey +wrote to the African Company, and prayed to be forgiven, or at least +shot as a soldier, and not hung as a pirate. He then came to London, +gave himself up, and was soon after hung. + +Off Hispaniola Lowther captured two vessels--one of them a Spaniard, the +crew of which, in consideration of their being also pirates, and having +just boarded an English ship, were drifted off in their own launch, but +the English sailors were enrolled in their own crew. They then put into +a key, cleaned, and spent some time in revelry. Starting again about +Christmas, at the Grand Caimanes they met with a small pirate vessel, +commanded by a captain named Low, who now became Lowther's lieutenant. +The old ship they sank, and soon after attacked a Boston vessel, the +_Greyhound_, which, though only 200 tons, refused to bring to in answer +to Lowther's gun, and held out for an hour before she struck her ensign, +seeing resistance hopeless. The pirates whipped, beat, and cut these men +cruelly, and at last set fire to their vessel, and left them to burn and +perish. They soon after burnt and sank several New England sloops; a +vessel of Jamaica they generously sent back to her master, and two +other vessels they fitted up for their own use, mounting one with eight +carriage and ten swivel guns. + +With this little fleet, Admiral Lowther, in the _Happy Delivery_, went +to the gulf of Matique to careen, carrying ashore all their sails and +stores, and putting them in tents on the beach. While the ships, +however, were on the keel, and the men busy heaving, scrubbing, and +tallowing, they were attacked by a large body of the natives. Burning +the _Happy Delivery_, their largest ship, and leaving all their stores +behind, they then turned one sloop adrift, and all embarked in the +other, the _Ranger_. This disaster, and the shortness of provisions, +soon produced mutiny and mutual recrimination. + +In May 1721 they went to the West Indies, capturing a brigantine, which +they plundered and sank, and then started for New England. Low and +Lowther always quarrelling, at last parted, Low taking forty-four hands +in the brigantine, and leaving the same number in the sloop to Lowther. +The latter for some time captured nothing but fishing vessels, and a +New England ship with a cargo of sugar from Barbadoes. Off the coast of +South Carolina, being pursued by an English vessel that he had +imprudently attacked, he was driven on shore in his attempts to escape. +The English captain, in attempting to board, was shot, and his mate +declined the combat. The pirate sloop soon put again to sea, but much +shattered, and with many of the crew killed and wounded. The winter Low +spent in repairing, in an inlet of North Carolina, where his men pitched +tents, and lived on the wild cattle they shot in the woods, while in +very cold nights they slept on board the ship. + +After a cruise round Newfoundland the pirates sailed for the West +Indies, and put into a creek in the island of Blanco, not far from +Tortuga, to careen. Here they were attacked by the _Eagle_ sloop of +Barbadoes, belonging to the South Sea Company. She fired a gun first to +make Lowther show his colours, and then boarded. Lowther and twelve of +his crew made their escape out of a cabin window after their vessel had +struck. The master of the _Eagle_, with twenty-five men, spent five +days in search of the fugitives, and, capturing eight only of them, +returned to Cumana. + +The Spanish governor applauding the _Eagle_ condemned the sloop, and +sent a small vessel with twenty-five hands to scour the patches of +_lignum vitae_ trees that covered the low level island, and took four +pirates, but Lowther and three men and a boy still escaped. It is +supposed he then destroyed himself, as he was found soon after by some +sailors dead, beside a bush, with a burst pistol by his side. Of his +companions nine were hung at St. Christopher's, two pardoned, and five +acquitted; four the Spaniards condemned to slavery for life, three to +the galleys, and the others to the Castle of Arraria. + +Captain Spriggs was another of this same gang, having been quartermaster +to Lowther. In 1723 Spriggs, with eighteen men, sailed by night from the +coast of Guinea, in the _Delight_ (a man-of-war) taken by Low, for they +had quarrelled as to the punishment of a pirate who had murdered +another. Low was for mercy and Spriggs for the yard-arm. + +They then chose Spriggs captain, hoisted the black flag, and fired all +their guns to honour his inauguration. In their voyage to the West +Indies they plundered a Portuguese bark, tortured the crew, set them +adrift in a boat with a small quantity of provisions, and then burnt the +vessel. The crew of a Barbadoes sloop they cut and beat for refusing to +serve with them, and turned them off like the Portuguese. They next +rummaged a logwood ship from Jamaica, cut the cable, broke the windows, +destroyed the cabins, and when the mate refused to go with them, every +man in the vessel gave him ten lashes, which they called "writing his +discharge" in red letters flaring on his back. George the Second's +birthday they spent in roaring out healths, shouting, and drinking, +expecting that there would be an amnesty at his accession, and vowing, +if they were excepted, to murder every Englishman they met. They next +gave chase to a vessel (supposed to be a Spaniard), till the crew made a +lamentable cry for quarter, and they discovered it was the logwood +vessel they had turned off three days before, not worth a penny. Enraged +at this, fifteen of them flew at the captain and cut him down, though +his mate, who had joined the pirates, interceded for his life. It being +midnight, and nearly all, as usual at such an hour, drunk, it was +unanimously agreed to make a bonfire of the Jamaica ship. They then +called the bleeding captain down into the cabin to supper, and made him, +with a sword and pistol at his breast, eat a dish of candles, treating +all the crew in the same way. Twenty days afterwards they landed the +captain and a passenger on a desert island in the Bay of Honduras, +giving them powder, ball, and one musket. Here they supported life for +fifteen days, till two marooned sailors coming in a canoe paddled them +to another island, where they got food and water. Espying a sloop at +sea, they made a great smoke and were taken off after nineteen days' +more suffering. Spriggs, while laying wait to take his revenge on the +_Eagle_, was pursued by a French man-of-war from Martinique, and then +went to Newfoundland to obtain more men and attack Captain Harris, who +had lately taken another pirate vessel. Of their future fate we hear +nothing. Let us hope they sailed on till they reached Gallows Point and +there anchored. + +JOHN GOW was one of the crew of an Amsterdam galley, who in 1724, in a +voyage to Barbary, plotted to murder the captain and seize the vessel. +Having first cut his throat they tried to throw him overboard, but as he +grappled with them Gow and the second mate and gunner shot him through +the body. They then murdered the chief mate and the clerk, who was +asleep in his hammock; the latter, handing the key of his chest, begged +for time to say his prayers, but a sailor shot him as he knelt, with a +pistol that burst as he fired. + +The murders being over, one of the red-handed men came on deck, and, +striking a gun with his cutlass, cried "You are welcome, Captain Gow, to +your new command." Gow then swore that if any whispered together or +refused to obey orders, they should go the same way as those that had +just gone. They plundered a French fruit vessel and some others, but +were soon after stranded on the Orkney coast, where they had intended to +clean, were apprehended by a gentleman named Fea, and brought up to +London. + +Gow obstinately refusing to plead, his thumbs were tied with whipcord +till they broke. As he still remained silent he was ordered by the +Draconic law of those days to be pressed to death. When the preparations +were completed Gow's courage failed him, he sullenly pleaded not guilty, +and was soon after, with nine of his crew at the same time, executed. + +Captain WEAVER, of the _Good Fortune_, brigantine, which had taken some +sixty sail off the banks of Newfoundland, on his return from thence came +to Bristol, and passed himself off as a sailor who had escaped from +pirates, walking openly about the town. Here he was met by a captain +whom he had once plundered, and who invited him to share a bottle in a +neighbouring tavern, telling him he had been a great sufferer by the +loss of his ship, but that for four hogsheads of sugar he would never +mention the affair again. Unable to obtain this compensation he arrested +Weaver, who was soon after hung. + +Captain EDWARD LOW, our last commodore, was originally a London thief, +the head of a gang of Westminster boys, and a gambler among the footmen +in the lobby of the House of Commons. One of his brothers was the first +thief who stole wigs by dressing as a porter, and carrying a boy on his +head in a covered basket. He ended his days at Tyburn. + +Low was originally a logwood cutter at Honduras, but quarrelling with +his captain, and attempting his life, put off to sea with twelve +companions, and taking a sloop, hoisted a black flag, and declared war +against the world. Of his adventures with Lowther we have already made +mention. In May, 1722, while off Rhode Island, the governor ordered a +drum to beat up for volunteers, and fitted out two sloops with 140 men +to pursue him, but Low contrived to escape, and soon after running into +Port Rosemary, seized thirteen vessels at one stroke, arming a schooner +of ten guns for his own use, putting eighty men on board, and calling +her the _Fancy_. He was soon after beaten off by two armed sloops from +Boston. Low waiting too long for his consort, a brigantine, to come up, +in steering for the Leeward Islands, they were overtaken by a dreadful +storm, the same which drowned 400 people at Jamaica, and nearly +destroyed the town of Port Royal. The pirates escaped by dint of +throwing over all their plunder and six of their guns, and put into one +of the Caribbees to refit, buying provisions of the natives. In this +storm it was that forty sail of ships were cast away in Port Royal +harbour. + +Once refitted, Low sailed into St. Michael's road, and took seven sail, +threatening with present death all who dared to resist. Being without +water, he sent to the governor demanding some, and declaring that if +none were sent he would burn all his prizes. On the governor's +compliance he released six, and fitted up the seventh for himself. +Another one they burnt. The crews they compelled to join them, all but +one French cook, who was so fat that they said he would fry well. They +then bound him to the mast, and allowed him to burn with the ship. The +crew of another galley they cruelly cut and mangled, and two Portuguese +friars they tied up to the yard-arm, pulling them up and down till they +were dead. A Portuguese passenger looking sorrowfully on at these +brutalities, one of the pirates cried out that he did not like his +looks, and cut open his belly with his cutlass, so that he fell down +dead. Another of the men, cutting at a prisoner, slashed Low across the +upper lip, so as to lay the teeth bare. The surgeon was called to stitch +up the wound, but the medical man being drunk, Low cursed him for his +bungling. He replied by striking Low a blow in the mouth that broke the +stitches, telling him to sew up his chops himself. + +Off Madeira, they seized a fishing boat, and obtained water by a threat +of hanging the fishermen. While careening at the Cape Verd Islands, +after making many prizes, Low sent a sloop to St. Michael's in search +of two vessels, but his crew were seized and condemned to slavery for +life. + +In careening his other ship, it was lost, and Low had now to fall back +on his old schooner, the _Fancy_, which he sailed in with a hundred men. +Proceeding to the West Indies, they captured, after some resistance, a +rich Portuguese vessel called the _Nostra Signora de Victoria_, bound +home from Bahia. Several of the crew they tortured till they confessed +that during the chase their captain had hung a bag of 11,000 moidors out +of the cabin window, and when the ship was taken dropped it into the +sea. The pirates, in a fury at this, cut off his lips, broiled them +before his face, and then murdered him and thirty-two of his crew. In +the next month they seized four vessels, burning all those from New +England. + +In the Bay of Honduras Low boarded a Spanish sloop of six guns and +seventy men, that had that morning captured five English vessels. +Finding out this from the prisoners in the hold, these butchers +proceeded to destroy the whole crew, plunging among them with +pole-axes, swords, and pistols. Some leaped into the hold and others +into the sea. Twelve escaped to shore: the rest were knocked on the head +in the water. While the pirates were carousing on land, one wounded +wretch, fainting with his wounds, came to them and begged in God's name +for quarter, upon which a brutal sailor replied, he would give him good +quarters, and, forcing him down on his knees, ran the muzzle of his gun +down his throat, and shot him. They then burnt the vessel, and forced +the English prisoners to return to New York, and not to Jamaica. + +Hating all men of New England, Low cut off the ears of a gentleman of +that nation, and tied burning matches between the fingers of some other +prisoners. The crew of a whaler he whipped naked about the deck, and +made the master eat his own ears with pepper and salt. + +On one occasion, the captain of a Virginian vessel refusing to pledge +him in a bowl of punch, he cocked a pistol and compelled him to drain +the whole quart. Off South Carolina, his consort was taken by a +cruiser, but Low basely deserting him, escaped, and off Newfoundland +took eighteen ships, and in July, 1723, he fitted up a prize called the +_Merry Christmas_, with thirty-four guns, and assumed the title of +admiral, hoisting a black flag, with the figure of death in red. At St. +Michael he cut out of the road a London vessel of fourteen guns, which +the men refused to defend. The ears of the captain Low cut off, for +daring to attempt resistance, and giving him a boat to escape in, burnt +his ship. + +He then visited the Canaries, Cape de Verd Islands, and lastly, the +coast of Guinea. At Sierra Leone he captured the _Delight_, of twelve +guns, which he supplied with sixteen guns, and sixty men, appointing +Spriggs, his quartermaster, as captain, who two days after deserted him, +and sailed for the West Indies. + +Of the end of this detestable monster we know nothing, but if there is +any truth in old adages, he could not have well perished by a mere +storm. + +The best account of a pirate's life extant is to be found in Captain +Roberts's Narrative of the Loss of his Vessel in 1721, preserved in +Astley's amusing Collection of Voyages, four dusty quartos, that contain +a mine of "auld warld" information. + +This Captain Roberts, it appears, contracted with some London merchants +to go to Virginia, to fit out a sloop, named the _Dolphin_, with a cargo +"to slave with" on the coast of Guinea, and then to return to trade at +Barbadoes. Arriving at that island, in 1722, he was discharged, and upon +that bought the _Margaret_ sloop, and started again for the African +coast. At Curisal he turned up to procure a supply of wood and water, +and the next morning after his arrival, it being calm as day broke, he +looked out and espied three sail of ships off the bay, and making one of +them plain with his glass, observed that she was full built and loaded, +and supposed that she and her companions wanted water, as they first +brought to, then edged away without making any signals. + +As soon as the day broke clean and they made his ship, one of them +stood right in towards her, and as the sun rose and the wind freshened, +tacked more to the eastward. As she drew nigher, Roberts found her by +his glass to be a schooner full of hands, all in white shirts; and when +he saw a whole tier of great guns grinning through the port-holes, he +began to suspect mischief. But it was now too late to escape, as it held +calm within the bay, and the three ships came crowding in as fast as the +wind, flaunting out an English ensign, jack, and pendant. Roberts then +hoisted his ensign. The first of the three that arrived had 8 guns, 6 +patereroes, 70 men, and stretching ahead hailed him. Roberts said he was +of London, and came from Barbadoes. They answered, with a curse, that +they knew that, and made him send a boat on board. + +The pirate captain, John Lopez, a Portuguese, who passed himself off as +John Russel, an Englishman, from the north country, asked them where +their captain was. They pointed him out Roberts, walking the deck. He +instantly called out, "You dog, you son of a gun, you speckled shirt +dog!" for Roberts had just turned out, wore a speckled Holland shirt, +and was slipshod, without stockings. Roberts, afraid if he showed +contempt by continued silence they would put a ball through him, thought +it best to answer, and cried "Holloa!" upon which Russel said, "You dog +you, why did you not come aboard with the boat? I'll drub you within an +inch of your life, and that inch too." + +Roberts meekly replied that only the boat being commanded aboard, he did +not think he had been wanted, but if they would please to send the boat, +he would wait upon him. "Ay, you dog you," said the Portuguese, "I'll +teach you better manners." Upon this eight of the pirates boarded, and +took possession of the ship, and as soon as Roberts came alongside, the +pirate began again to threaten to drub him for daring to affront him; +and when he declared he meant no offence, cried out, "D--n you, you dog, +don't stand there to chatter, come aboard," and stood with a cutlass +ready drawn to receive him. While still hesitating, the gunner, who +wore a gold-laced hat, looked over the side, and said, "Come up, master, +you shan't be abused." When he got up, the pirate raised his sabre as if +to cut him down, asking what a dog deserved for not coming aboard when +the boat was first sent. Roberts replied, if he had done amiss, it was +through ignorance, as he did not know what they were. "Curse you," said +the pirate, "who do you think we are?" Roberts now trembled for fear, +for having once been captured by pirates at Newfoundland, he knew--one +wrong word and the knife was at his throat. After a short pause, he +said, "I believed you were gentlemen of fortune belonging to the sea." +At this the Portuguese, a little pacified, said, "You lie, we are +pirates." + +After vapouring for some time, the pirate asked, in a sneering tone, why +Roberts had not put on his clothes to visit gentlemen. Roberts replied, +that he did not know of the visit when he dressed, and, besides, came in +such a fright on account of their threats, that he had very little +thought or stomach to change clothes, still, if it would please them to +grant him the liberty, he would go and put on better clothes, hoping it +was not yet too late. "D--n you," said the pirate, "yes, it is too late; +what clothes you took you shall keep, but your sloop and what is in her +is ours." Roberts said, he perceived it was, but hoped, as he lay at +their mercy, they would be so generous as to take only what they had +occasion for and leave him the rest. + +The Portuguese said, "that was a company business, and he could say +nothing about that yet." He then bade him give an account of his cargo +and money, and of everything aboard his sloop, for if upon rummaging +they found the least article concealed, they would burn the vessel and +him in her. The pirates standing by also begged him to make a full +discovery of all money, arms, and ammunition, which were the chief +things they sought after, for it was their way to punish liars and +concealers very severely. Roberts then drew up an account from memory, +and asked to see his ship's papers that he might complete it. Russel +said, "No, he would take care of the papers, and if anything was found +missing in the inventory he must look out for squalls." During this time +the pirates were rummaging the sloop, but found nothing but a ring and a +pair of silver buckles not inserted in the list. + +During the capture a Portuguese priest and six black fishermen, taken on +board at the Isle of Sal, who had been sent on shore, escaped to the +hills. Russel, seeing them, told Roberts that he had captured the +fishing sloop to which the fugitives belonged, but one of his gang had +run away with it, carrying off L800 in cash, in addition. Russel then +slipped cable and made Roberts pilot them to Paraghisi, in company with +their other vessel, the _Rose Pink_, of thirty-six guns, commanded by +Edmund Loe, their commodore. At Paraghisi they landed thirty-five men +and captured the fugitive priest, five negroes, and the old governor's +son. Russel on his return was received with great ceremony by his +commander, the gunner acting as master of the ceremonies and presenting +Roberts. + +Captain Loe welcomed him aboard with the usual compliments, "It's not my +desire, captain," he said, "to meet with any of my countrymen (but +rather foreigners), excepting some few whom I want to chastise for their +roguishness; but, however, since fortune has ordered it so that you have +fallen into our hands, I would have you be of good cheer and not cast +down." + +Roberts replied, "I am very sorry, sir, that I chanced to fall in your +way, but I feel I am still in the hands of gentlemen of honour and +generosity, in whose power it is still to make my capture no +misfortune." + +Loe said, "It does not lie singly in my breast, for all business of this +nature is determined by a majority of votes in the whole company, and +though neither I nor, I believe, any of the rest desire to meet with any +of our nation, yet when we do it cannot well be avoided to take as our +own what Providence sends us; and, as we are gentlemen who depend +entirely on fortune, we durst not be so ungrateful to her as to despise +any of her favours, however mean, for fear that she might withdraw her +hand and leave us to perish for lack of those very things we had +slighted." + +After this philosophical utterance, the great man, who sat astride on a +great gun, and not, like other potentates, in a chair of state, without +moving from his place, begged Roberts, with much condescension, to make +himself at home, requesting to know what he would drink. The +broken-spirited man, still trembling for his life, replied, "He did not +care then much for drinking, but out of a sense of the honour they did +him in asking he would drink anything he chose." Loe told him "Not to be +cast down, it was the fortune of war: d----, sir, care killed the cat, +and fretting thinned the blood and was d---- bad for the health. To +please the company he should be brisk and cheerful and he would soon +have better fortune." + +He then rang the bell and bade one of the _valets de cabin_ bring in a +bowl of punch. This was brought and mixed in a rich silver bowl holding +two gallons. He then called for some wine, and two bottles of claret +being brought, Roberts sipped at the claret while Loe drained the bowl +with his usual philosophy and contentment. As he grew warm with the +fragrant draught, he told Roberts that he was a d----d good fellow, and +he would do him all the favours he could, but wished he had had the good +fortune to have been captured ten days earlier, when they had taken two +Portuguese outward bound Brazilmen, laden with cloth, woollens, hats, +silk, and iron, for he believed he could have prevailed on his company +to have loaded Roberts's ship. "But now unfortunately," he added, as he +put down the empty bowl, "they had no goods at all, having flung all the +Brazil stuffs into David Jones's locker (the sea). He did not know, +however, but he might meet Roberts again (such things did come round), +and then if it lay in his way he would make Roberts a return for his +loss, for he might depend on his readiness to serve him as far as his +power or interest could reach." To this outburst of sympathy Roberts +replied by bowing and sipping his unrelished glass of claret. + +While they were talking word was brought that Quartermaster-General +Russel had arrived with the prisoners, and the commodore, ordering the +empty bowl to be removed, bade them come in. Russel, the chief officers, +and the prisoners then crowded into the cabin, and to the question of +"How goes the game?" Russel gave an account of his expedition. On +landing they had at once seized two blacks, who had been sent by the +governor as heralds, and used them as guides. Though the road was uneven +and rocky they reached the town, twelve miles distant, that night, +surprising the governor and priest. Russel told them, that hearing they +had great stores of dollars hoarded up, he had come to share it with +them, as it was one rule of his trade to keep money moving and +circulation brisk. The priest said they had none, and the island was +barren and uncultivated. Russel said he had only two senses, seeing and +feeling, which could convince him the information was false. The priest +then lit a number of consecrated wax-candles, and allowed them to +search. They found, however, nothing but twenty dollars, which he did +not think worth taking. The men then lay down to sleep, keeping their +arms loaded and their pistols slung, and setting a watch. The next +morning he carried the prisoners to the boats. + +Upon this tame conclusion, Loe, who had been sitting patient and quiet +as a judge, started up and said, interrupting Russel, "Zounds! what +satisfaction is this to me or the company? We did not want these black +fools, d----n them! No, we wanted their money, and if they had none, +they might have stayed ashore or gone to the devil." + +Russel, nettled at this rebuke, replied fiercely, "I have as much +interest in getting the money as any of the company, and did as much to +find it: I don't believe there was more than we saw, and that wouldn't +have been sixpence a head, a trifle not worth having our name called in +question for. For my part, I am for something that is worth taking, and +if I can't light on such, I never will give the world occasion to say +that I am a poor sneaking rogue and mean-spirited fellow. No, I will rob +for something of value, or not at all, especially among these people, +where, if our company breaks, we may look for a place of refuge; and I +boldly affirm that it is a fool's act to draw on us their odium by such +peddling thefts, that would be by all men accounted a narrow-souled, +beggarly action, and would be cursed to all futurity by this fraternity, +who might suffer for its effects." + +Captain Loe, abashed by the murmur of approval that followed this +speech, said, "it was all very true, and carried a deal of reason with +it, that he was satisfied with Russel's judgment and courage in the +affair; but come," says he, "let us do nothing rashly"--and filling a +bumper, drank to Russel, wishing Roberts better success in his next +voyage. + +Russel then went on shore again, and, finding the priest had escaped to +the mountains, told the governor, an old negro, that he should burn the +town to ashes if he was not brought in in three hours' time. The +governor said the thing was impossible, that he lay at their mercy, and +hoped he would not destroy the innocent for the guilty. Russel declared +the doom should not be deferred, but promised the priest should not be +killed if he surrendered himself. While parties of blacks were on the +hunt, Russel ordered an ox to be roasted for his men, and a pipe of wine +to be broached; and on the priest being captured, treated all the +natives at their Christian minister's expense, leaving him to extract it +from them again in tithes. + +The priest and governor, when they heard they were to be taken on board, +to assure Loe of their poverty, prayed not to be detained as slaves. +Russel told them he was a Catholic, and no harm should be done them. +They were soon afterwards released. Loe then ordered a hammock for +Roberts, till his own and ship's fate were decreed by the company, +telling him generously, in language rather metaphorical than strictly +accurate, that everything in the ship was at his command, and begging +him not to vary his usual course of hours, drinking, or company. Next +morning about eight, as Roberts was pacing unemployed and melancholy on +the deck, three pirates came up to him, and said that they had once +sailed with him on board the _Susannah_, in 1718. They expressed sorrow +for his ill luck, and promised to do something for him. They said they +had fifty pieces of white linens, and eight of silk, and that when the +company had agreed to restore him his ship, they would make interest to +load it. Then looking about as if wishing to tell him a secret, and +seeing the deck clear, which it seldom was in pirate vessels, with much +concern they informed him that if he did not take abundance of care, he +would be forced to stay with them, for their mate had found that he knew +the coast of Brazil, whither they were bound after they had scoured that +of Guinea, and they would take him as pilot. Then enjoining him to +secresy (for their lives depended upon it), they said they had been in +close consultation as to his fate, and had almost agreed to take him as +a forced prisoner. They had praised him as kind to his men, and a good +paymaster, and, knowing the pirate law that no married man could be +forced to join their ships, swore at a hazard that he was married, and +had four children. His mate had turned informer, but he was as yet +ignorant of their articles, which they never showed till they were +signed. His only chance of escape was to keep up to their story. Russel, +one of the council, had been in favour of breaking through the law in +this special case, and keeping Roberts at all events till they could +catch another guide, but Loe was opposed to it, telling them it would be +an ill precedent and of bad consequence, for that if once they took the +liberty of breaking their articles and oath, nothing would be sure. They +added that most of the company being of Loe's opinion, Russel was vexed +and determined if possible to break the articles. + +Soon after they were gone, Loe came on deck, and bidding him good +morrow, with many compliments, ordered the flag, the signal for +consultation, to be hoisted. This they called "the green trumpeter," and +was a green silk flag, with the figure of a trumpeter in yellow, and +hoisted on the mizen peak. Upon this all came on board to breakfast, +crowding both cabin and steerage. + +After breakfast Loe asked Roberts, as if casually, if he was married and +had children. The latter answered he had five and perhaps six, for one +was on the stocks when he came away. He then asked him, if he had left +them well provided for. Roberts replied, he had left his wife in such +indifferent circumstances, having met with recent misfortunes, that the +greater part of his substance was in that ship and cargo, and if that +failed they would want even for bread. + +Loe then turned to Russel and said, "It won't do, Russel." + +"What won't do?" replied the quartermaster. + +"You know what I mean," said Loe; "it must not and it shall not be, +by----" + +"It must and shall be, by----" replied Russel; "'Self-preservation is +the first law of nature,' and 'Necessity knows no law,' says the adage." + +"Well," says Loe, "it shall never be by my consent." + +The rest of the company then declared it was a pity, and ought to be +seriously weighed and put to the vote. Loe said, indeed it ought, and +that there was no time like the present to determine the matter. The +rest all cried, "Ay, it is best to end it now." Loe then ordered all +hands upon deck, and bade Roberts stay in the cabin. + +In about two hours (awful hours for Roberts, to sit listening for shouts +or cries), Loe came down, and asked him how he did. Russel said, with a +frown, "Master, your sloop is very leaky." + +Roberts replied it was, wishing to depreciate its value. + +"Leaky," said Russel, "I don't know what you could do with her if we +gave her you, for all your hands now belong to us." Russel then +continued to taunt him for his want of cargo and provision, as if to +give a keener edge to his misery. + +At last, "Come, come," said Loe, "let us toss the bowl about, and call a +fresh course." + +They then proceeded to carouse and talk of their past transactions at +Newfoundland, the Western Islands, the Canaries, &c., and at dinner +tore their food one from the other, thinking such ferocity looked +martial. + +Next morning one of the three men contrived to speak to Roberts, and +apologized for his caution, as they had an article making it death to +hold any secret correspondence with a prisoner. He then informed him +that his own mate was his great enemy, and seemed likely to turn rogue +and enter with them, leaving him only a boy and a child to manage the +sloop. Both he and his companions heartily wished to join him, but found +it would be death even to mention it, as they had an article that any of +the company advising or merely speaking of separation should be shot to +death by the quartermaster's order, without even court-martial. Russel +had been Roberts' friend till the mate had told him of his captain's +knowledge of Brazil, and had even planned a gathering for him nearly +equal in value to what they had taken, for it was a custom in pirate +vessels to keep a spare stock of linen, silk, gold lace, and clothes, to +give to any prisoner whom they took a liking to or had known before. +Loe was his friend, the sailor assured him, but that he could do little +against Russel, who had really more power and sway than anyone else. + +Some time after this man left him, Captain Loe turned out, and, passing +the usual compliments, sent for some rum, and discoursed on many +indifferent subjects. Upon all of these Roberts was obliged to appear +interested, dreading this sea-despot's displeasure. Perhaps a +button-holder, like this Trunnion, never had so attentive an auditor, or +so hearty an applauder of anecdotes, good or bad. + +About ten o'clock Russel, the evil genius, came on board, and accosted +Roberts in an agreeable manner, trying to conciliate him into consenting +to his proposal. He said, he had been considering Roberts's scheme, and +did not see how he could carry it through. He believed Roberts was a man +of understanding, but in this case was directed by sheer desperation +rather than reason. For his part he did not think it would stand with +the credit or reputation of the company to put it into his power to +throw himself wilfully away, as he seemed determined to do. Wishing him +indeed well, he had been thinking all night upon a scheme which, without +exposing him to danger, would turn out more to his advantage than +anything he could expect by getting the sloop. (Here Roberts's eye +brightened.) He had resolved to sink or burn the sloop, and detain +Roberts as a prisoner, all the company promising to give him the first +prize they took, or to allow him to join their crew. This would be the +making of him, and enable him to soon leave off sea, and live ashore if +he were so inclined. + +Roberts thanked him, but said he thought he should gather no advantage +from such a plan, for he could not dispose of a ship or cargo without a +lawful power to sell, and if the owners heard of it, he should be either +obliged to make restitution, or be thrown into prison, and run the +hazard of his own life. + +Russel replied that his objections were frivolous, and could easily be +evaded. To avoid detection, they would make him a bill of sale, and +give him powers in writing that would answer any inquiry. As for the +owners, they would take care from the ship's writings, which they always +first seized, to let him know who were the owners of the cargo, and +where they lived. These writings should be made in a false name, which +Roberts could assume till all were sold. + +Roberts said there was abundant address in his contrivance and much +plausibility in the whole. But were he even sure that all would turn out +well, he had a still stronger motive than any he had yet mentioned, and +that was his dread of the continual sting and accusation of his +conscience. He then with more courage than he had hitherto shown, began +to expatiate on the duty of restitution, and tried to awaken his hearers +to some sense of the sin of piracy. + +Many said, with a laugh, he would do well to preach a sermon, and would +make a good chaplain. Others shouted that they wanted no preaching +there. "Pirates had no god but money, no saviour but their muskets." A +few approved of what he said, and declared that if a little goodness, +or at least rude humanity, was in practice among them, their reputation +would be a little better both with God and man. + +A short silence followed, which captain Russel broke by employing some +Jesuitical sophistry, to persuade Roberts that it would be no sin for +him merely to accept what they had stolen, since he had no hand in the +theft, and was their constrained prisoner. "Suppose," he said, "we +should still resolve to sink or burn your sloop, unless you will accept +of her. Now, where I pray, is the owner's property when the ship is sunk +or burnt. I think the impossibility of his ever having her again cuts it +off to all intents and purposes, and our power was the same, +notwithstanding our giving her to you, if we had thought fit to make use +of it." + +Loe and the rest here burst out laughing, declared it was as good as a +play to hear the two argue, and that Roberts was a match for Russel, +though few could generally stand up to him in a fight with mere words. + +Roberts not allowing this praise to over-balance his prudence, would +not drive Russel further, seeing him vexed at their applause. He merely +said that he knew he was absolutely in their power to dispose of as they +pleased, but that having hitherto been treated so generously by them, he +could not doubt of their future goodness to him. That if they would +please to give him his sloop again, it was all he requested at their +hands, and that, he doubted not, by his honest endeavours he should be +able to retrieve his present loss. + +Upon this Captain Loe said, "Gentlemen, the master, I must needs say, +has spoke nothing but what I think is very reasonable, and I think he +ought to have his sloop. What do you say, gentlemen?" The majority cried +out with one voice, "Ay, ay, by G---- let the poor man have his sloop +again, and go in God's name and seek a living in her for his family." + +In the evening Russel insisted on treating Roberts on board his own +schooner before his departure. All passed off well till after supper, +when a bowl of punch and half a dozen of claret were put on the table. +The captain first took a bumper, wishing success to the undertaking, and +this toast passed round, Roberts not daring to refuse to drink. The next +health was, "Prosperity to our trade." The third, "Health to the King of +France." Russel then proposed "The King of England's health," and all +drank it, some repeating his words, others saying, "the aforesaid +health." Just before it came to Roberts, Russel poured two bottles of +claret into the punch, and his prisoner disliking this mixture, begged +to pledge the health in a bumper of claret. + +At this heresy, Russel, who had laid his trap, flew into a passion, +"D----" he said, "you shall drink in your turn a full bumper of that +sort of liquor the company does." "Well then, gentlemen," said Roberts, +"rather than have words, I will drink, though it is in a manner poison +to me." "Curse you," said Russel; "if it be in a manner or out of a +manner, or really rank poison, you shall drink as much and as often as +anyone here, unless you fall down dead, dead." + +Then Roberts, dreading a quarrel with his old enemy, took the glass, +which held about three-quarters of a pint, and filling a bumper, said, +"The aforesaid health." "What health is that?" said Russel. "Why," +answered Roberts, "the health you have all drank--the King of England's +health." "Who is king of England?" said Russel. "In my opinion," said +Roberts, "he that wears the crown is certainly king of England." "Well," +argued his opponent, "and who is that?" Upon his saying King George, he +swore at him, and said the English had no king. Roberts replied, +laughing, "He wondered he should begin and drink a health to a person +who was not in being." At this quip, Russel drew a pistol from his sash, +and would have shot his unoffending enemy dead, had not the gunner +snatched it out of his hand. At this Russel, who was a Roman Catholic +and a Jacobite, grew still more maddened, and fired another at Roberts, +saying, "The Pretender is the only lawful king." The master striking +down the barrel, the pistol went off without doing mischief. + +High words then arose between Russel and the gunner, and the latter, +addressing the company, said, "Well, gentlemen, if you have a mind to +maintain these laws, made, established, and sworn to by us all, as I +think we are obligated by the strongest ties of reason and self-interest +to do, I assure you my opinion is that we ought to secure John Russel, +so as to prevent his breaking our constitution." + +When Russel attempted, still in a passion, to defend his conduct, the +gunner declared, "That no man's life should be taken away in cold blood +till the company, under whose care he was, had so decreed it." Then +accusing him of hating Roberts, merely because he had been prevented +from breaking the articles by detaining him, he left the spot. + +Russel's arms were next taken away, and Roberts, being guarded during +the night, was sent to the commodore in the morning, there being a law +among them to receive no boats aboard after nine o'clock at night. + +About four in the afternoon Russel came to Loe, with Spriggs, the +commander of the other ship, and told him that Roberts's mate was +willing to join them as a volunteer. Loe said, in that case Roberts +would have no one but a child to help him; and he thought, in reason, +they could not give him less than the mate and two boys. + +Russel said he could not help that, "the mate was a brisk lusty young +fellow, and had been upon the account before. He had declared he would +not go in the sloop unless forced; that when he first came to Barbadoes +his resolve had been to ship himself on board the first pirate he met +with." Loe replied, "That to give the master a vessel without men was +only putting him to a lingering death, and they had better knock him on +the head at once." + +Russel replied, "as for that they might do as they pleased; he spoke for +the good of the company and according to articles, and he should like to +see or hear the man who dared to gainsay it. He was quartermaster, and +by the authority of that office should at once enter the mate, and had a +pistol and a brace of bullets for any who opposed him." Loe said he +would not argue against law and custom, but he thought if they kept the +mate they should substitute another man. + +Russel said, with an oath, grinding his teeth, "No, the sloop's men were +enrolled already in his books, and he should rub no names out." Then +turning to Roberts, he added, "The company, master, has decreed you your +sloop, and you shall have her; you shall have your two boys, that's all: +but you shall have neither provisions nor anything else more than she +has now. And, as I hear some of the company design to make a gathering +for you, that also I forbid, by the authority of my office, because we +are not certain but we may have occasion ourselves for those very things +before we get more. And I swear by all that's good and bad, if I know +anything that's carried or left on board the sloop against my order, or +without my knowledge, I will set her on fire that very instant, and you +with her." + +After a little more dispute and feeble and intimidated resistance to +this violence, Russel's stern resolution and heartless villany carried +the day, and about dusk they parted, each to his own ship, several +professing kindness to Roberts, but none giving him anything. When +Russel was ready, he sent Roberts into his boat, and bringing him to his +own ship, ordered supper for him, and bottles, and pipes and tobacco, +being set on the table, he invited Roberts and his officers into his +cabin. + +His revenge was now accomplished and the wretch, now resolved to make +Roberts taste the tortures of death, by anticipation, addressed him with +a sneer worthy of the applause of hell. + +"Captain Roberts," he said, "you are very welcome, and I pray you eat +and drink heartily, for you have as tedious a voyage to go through as +Elijah in his forty days' journey to Horeb, and, as far as I know, +without a miracle, it must be only by the strength of what you now eat, +for you shall have neither eatables nor drinkables with you in the +sloop." Roberts replied, "I hope not so," but Russel answered he would +find it certainly true. + +Roberts then said, that rather than be put on board the sloop in that +manner, when there was no possibility of escaping but by a miracle, he +should be glad to be sent ashore on some island off the coast of Guinea, +or even to tarry on board till an opportunity occurred to land where he +pleased, for he would yield to anything else they should think fit to do +with him, except entering into their service. + +Russel answered with an oath, the usual prelude of a pirate's harangue, +that it had been once in his power to have been his own friend, but as +he chose to slight their proffered favours, and had made that choice, he +must now take it, as all apologies were too late; and he thought he had +proved himself a better friend than Roberts could have expected, since +he had caused him to have more differences with his company than he had +ever had before. + +Roberts pleaded the innocence of his intentions, and intreated Russel +and all the gentlemen present to consider him an object rather of pity +than vengeance. But his tormentor, more inexorable than a headsman, +said: "All your whining arguments, you dog, are now too late. You not +only refused our commiseration when it was offered, but ungratefully +despised it. Your lot is cast, and you have nothing to do but to go +through your chance with a good face. Fill your belly with victuals and +good drink, and strengthen yourself for three days or so, or have some +brandy and die drunk, and be happy. This is your last meal in this +world, so fail not to make the most of it. Yet, perhaps, such a +conscientious man as you pretend to be may have a miracle worked for +you, but for my own part I don't believe God himself, if there is one, +could help you. I pity the boys, and have a great mind, Roberts, to keep +them on board, and let the miracle be worked on you alone." + +The master and governor said they heard the boys were willing to take +their chance with the master, let it be what it would. "Nay, then," said +Russel, "it is fit the young devils should, and I suppose the master has +made them as religious and conscientious as himself. However, master," +he cried, "eat and drink heartily; this is your last supper, as the +priests call it, and don't try to change your allotted fate, or it may +provoke us to treat you worse." + +"Gentlemen," said Roberts, with a resignation that would have touched +any other man, "I have done; you can do no more than God is pleased to +permit you, and I own for that reason I ought to take it patiently. God +forgive you." "Well, well," said Russel, "if it is done by God's +permission, you need not fear He will permit any harm to befall one of +his peculiar elect." + +About ten at night, in order that darkness might add to his dismay, some +of Russel's partisans brought the sloop's boat. In answer to an inquiry +as to whether they had cleared the vessel as he had ordered, they +replied with an oath, "Ay, ay, she has nothing on board except ballast +and water." "Zounds," said Russel, stamping on the deck, "did I not bid +you stave all the casks that had water in them?" "So we have," was the +reply; "the water we mean is salt water leaked in, and now above the +ballast, for we have not pumped her, we don't know when." He asked if +they had brought away the sails. They said they had, all but the +mainsail that was bent, for the other old mainsail was so rotten it was +only fit to cut up for parcelling, and was so torn it could not be +brought to, and was past mending. + +"Zounds," said Russel, "we must have it, for I want it to make us a +mainsail. The same miraculous Power that brings the rogue provisions +will bring him sails." + +"What a devil! is he a conjuror?" said one. + +"No, no!" replied Russel, "but he expects miracles to be wrought for +him, or he would never have chosen what he has." + +"Nay, nay, if he be such a one, he will do well enough." + +"But I doubt," cried another, "if he be such a mighty conjuror, for if +he was, how the devil was it that he did not conjure himself clear of +us?" + +"Pish!" cried a third, "may be his conjuring books were all shut up." + +"Ay," said a fourth, "now we have all his conjuration books over board, +I doubt he'll be hard put to it." + +The gunner alone seemed to retain any trace of humanity, he bade Russel +take care he had not this to answer for some day when he would be sorry +for it. "Howsum-dever," he said, "you've got the company's assent, I +can't tell how, and, therefore, I shall say no more, only that I, and I +believe most of the gentlemen came here to get money, but not to kill, +except in fight, much less in cold blood, or for private revenge. And I +tell you, Jack Russel, if ever such cases as these be any more +practised, my endeavours will be to leave this company as soon as +convenient." + +Russel made no answer, but ordered his men to fetch the mainsail from +the sloop. He then gave Roberts an old worm-eaten musket, a damp +cartridge, and two half pounds of tobacco "as a parting present." His +victim was then conducted with great ceremony over the side into his own +boat, and put on board with his two boys. + +As their boat was putting away, Roberts thought he heard his mate's +voice, so he called to him and said, "Arthur! what, are you going to +leave me?" A voice replied, for it was pitch dark, "Ay." "What!" said +Roberts, "do you do it voluntarily, or are you forced?" He answered +faintly, "I am forced, I think!" Roberts answered "Very well." The mate +then called out and asked Roberts, if he ever had an opportunity, to +write and give his brother an account of him. Roberts asked where he +lived, and the mate replied at Carlingford, in Ireland. Now this mate +the captain had picked up at Barbadoes, a naked shipwrecked man, who had +served in a New England sloop. He had bought him clothes and +instruments, and treated him with sympathy and kindness. He was a rigid +Presbyterian, a great arguer on theological points, and a loud inveigher +against the Church of England. Although he had never before been heard +to utter an oath, as soon as Russel persuaded him to join the pirate +crew, he became constantly drunk, and outdid them all in blasphemy and +wickedness, but he had told his new companions so much of Roberts's +kindness, that but for Russel they would not have allowed him to join +them. + +Next morning Roberts proceeded to rummage the sloop, and sweeping out +the bread lockers, he found about his hat crown full of biscuit crumbs, +some broken pipes, and a few screws of tobacco. They had left his +fore-staff, but took his bedding, although they generally lay upon deck, +or against a gun carriage. In the hold, the more merciful had left ten +gallons of rum in one hogshead, and thirty pounds of rice in another, +with three pints of water and a little flour, together with some needles +and twine, sufficient to repair his rotten sails. A day or two +afterwards they caught a shark, which they boiled for several dinners, +using the shark's liver, melted, for oil. He soon after reached Curisal, +obtained a negro crew, was wrecked, built a boat, and was eventually +taken home by an English ship. + +Scarcely less interesting than this narrative of Roberts is that of +Captain William Snelgrave, who was engaged in the slave trade on the +Guinea coast in 1738. Having escaped one of the dreaded Salee rovers, he +was taken at Sierra Leone by Captain Cocklyn of the _Rising Sun_, a +pirate commanding three vessels and a gang of eighty men. He had been +marooned by a man named Moody, but had gradually collected men, and +captured, in a short time, ten English vessels. Moody's crew, soon after +Cocklyn's departure, disliking their captain's cruelty, put him and +twelve more in an open boat, which they had taken from the Spaniards off +the Canary Islands, and chose a Frenchman named Le Bouce as their +commander, who instantly put back and joined Cocklyn, whom they liked +because he was fierce and brutal, being resolved to have no more +gentlemanlike captains like Moody. + +The next day Davis, the pirate, arrived with 150 well disciplined men, +the black flag flying at his mast head. + +The evening Snelgrave entered the river, he observed a suspicious smoke +on land, but his mate said it was only travellers roasting oysters, and +it appeared afterwards that he was a traitor. On standing in for the +river's mouth, the pirate vessels appeared in sight. Towards dusk he +heard a boat approaching, so he ordered twenty men to get ready their +firearms and cutlasses. Lanterns being brought and the boat hailed, the +pirates fired a volley at the ship, being then within pistol shot +distance, a daring act for twelve men, who were attacking a ship of +sixteen guns and forty-five men. + +When they began to near, the captain called out to fire from the +steerage port-holes. This not being done, he went below, and found his +people staring at each other, and declaring they could not find the arm +chest. The pirates instantly boarded, fired down the steerage, shooting +a sailor in the loins, and throwing hand grenades amongst them. On their +calling for "mercy," the quartermaster, who always headed the pirate +boarders, came down from the quarterdeck and inquired for the captain, +asking how he dared to fire. On Snelgrave saying it was his duty to +defend his ship, the quartermaster presented a pistol at his breast, but +he parried it, and the bullet passed under his arm. The wretch then +struck him on the head with the butt end, bringing him on his knees. On +his getting up and running to the quarterdeck, the pirate boatswain made +a blow at his head with his broad sword, swearing no quarter should be +offered to any captain who dared to defend his vessel. The blow missed +him, but the blade cut an inch deep in the quarterdeck rail, and there +broke. The pirate's pistols being all unloaded, he then struck at him +with the butt end of one of them till the crew cried out for his life, +and said they had never sailed with a better man. One of the crew, +however, had his chin cut off; another fell for dead on the deck. The +quartermaster who came up, told him he should be cut to pieces if his +men did not recover the pirate's boat that had run adrift. On recovering +this, he took him by the hand, and declared his life was safe if none of +his crew complained of him. The pirate then fired several vollies for +joy at their recovery, but forgetting to hail their companions, were +fired on by the other ships. When Snelgrave questioned the +quartermaster why he did not use his speaking trumpet, he asked him +angrily whether he was afraid of going to the devil by a great shot, +"for that he hoped to be sent to hell by a cannon ball some time or +other." + +The pirates now prepared for dinner by cramming geese, turkeys, fowls, +and ducks, all unpicked, into the furnace, with some Westphalia hams, +and a large sow in pig, which they only bowelled, leaving the hair on. +Soon after this, a sailor came to Snelgrave to ask him what o'clock it +was, and on the captain's presenting him with his watch, laid it on the +deck, and kicked it about, saying it would make a good football. One of +the pirates then caught it up, and said it should go into the common +chest, and be sold at the mast. + +Snelgrave was soon after carried on board the pirate ship. The commander +told him he was sorry for the bad usage he had met with, but it was the +fortune of war, and that if he did not answer truly every question he +would be cut into even ounces, but that if he told the truth they would +make it the best voyage he had ever taken. One of them asked if his ship +sailed well on wind, and on his saying, "Very well," Cocklyn threw up +his hat, saying she would make a brave pirate man-of-war. A tall fellow, +with four pistols in his belt, and a broadsword in his hand, then came +up and claimed him as an old schoolfellow, and told him secretly that he +was a forced man, having been mate in a Bristol vessel lately captured, +and was obliged to go armed. He told him also that at night, when the +pirates drank hard, was the time of most danger for prisoners. + +A bowl of punch was then ordered, and the men, going into the great +cabin, sat on the floor cross-legged, for want of seats, drinking the +Pretender's health by the name of "King James the Third." At midnight +they gave Snelgrave a hammock, and his old schoolfellow kept guard over +him with a drawn sword, but he could not sleep for the songs and +cursing. About two o'clock the pirate boatswain came on board, and +hearing Snelgrave was asleep, declared he would slice his liver for +daring to fire at the boat, and refusing to give up his watch. Griffin +threatened to cleave him if he came nearer, and struck at him with his +sword. In the morning, when all were sober, the sentinel complained of +the boatswain for infringing the pirate law, "that no ill usage be +offered to prisoners when quarter has once been given." The crew +proposed the offender should be whipped, but Snelgrave prudently begged +him off. Soon after, his own first mate came to tell him that, being +badly off and having a scolding wife, he had joined the pirates. He +found out afterwards that he had hid the arm-chest, and dissuaded the +men from resistance. + +The pirate then began to rummage the vessel, and, not caring for +anything but money, threw overboard, before night, about L4000 worth of +Indian bales. They broke up his escritoires, and destroyed his chests of +books, swearing there was "jaw work enough for a whole nation." Against +all religious books they exercised a strict censorship, for fear of any +of the crew being roused to qualms of conscience, or taking a dislike +to the profession. The wine too began to be passed freely round, and the +pirates grew merciful, and good-humouredly made up a bundle of clothes +for the prisoners. At this moment one of Davis's crew, a pert young +fellow of 18, broke open a chest for plunder, and on the quartermaster +complaining, replied "that they were all equal, and he thought he was in +the right." The quartermaster then struck at him with his sword, and +pursued him into Davis's cabin, where he thrust at him, and ran him +through the hand, wounding the captain as well. Davis vowed revenge, +saying that if his man had offended, no one had a right to punish him, +and especially in his presence. He then instantly went on board his own +ship, and bore down upon Cocklyn, who finally consented to make the +quartermaster beg pardon for his fault. + +Snelgrave was sitting in the cabin with the carpenter and three or four +other pirates, when the boatswain came down very drunk, and beginning to +abuse him was turned out of the place. Soon after a puff of wind put +out the candle, and the boatswain returning, declared Snelgrave had put +it out, with the design of going into the powder-room and blowing up the +ship; and in spite of the carpenter declaring it was done by accident, +he drew a pistol and swore he would blow out the dog's brains. In rising +to blow in the candle Snelgrave and the carpenter had, unknown to the +boatswain, changed places. The pistol flashing in the pan, the carpenter +saw by the light that he must have been shot if it had gone off, and in +a rage ran in the dark to the boatswain, wrenched the pistol from his +hand and beat him till he was nearly dead. The noise alarmed the ship, +and the disturber was carried off to bed. + +The next morning Davis's crew came on board to divide the wines and +liquors. They hoisted on deck a great many half hogsheads of claret and +French brandy, knocked out their heads and dipped out cans and bowls +full, throwing them at each other, and washing the decks with what was +left. The bottles they took no trouble to mark, but "nicked" them, as +they called it, by striking off their necks with a cutlass, spilling the +contents of about one in every three. The eatables were wasted in the +same way. Three drunken pirates coming into the cabin, and tumbling over +Snelgrave's bundles of clothes, threw three of the four overboard. A +fourth pirate, more sober than the rest, opened the remaining bundle, +and taking out a black suit and a wig, put them on and strutted on deck, +throwing them over in an hour when the crew had drenched him with +claret. When Snelgrave mildly expostulated with him on this robbery, he +struck him on the shoulder with the flat of his sword, whispering at the +same time a caution never to dispute the will of a pirate for fear he +might get his skull split for his impudence. + +When night came on, Snelgrave had nothing left of four bundles of +clothes but a hat and a wig, and these were soon after put on by a +drunken man, who staggered into the cabin, saying he was "one of the +most respectable merchants on the African coast." As he was leaving the +room, a sailor came in and beat him severely for taking what he had no +right to, and thinking he was one of the crew. The interposer then +comforted Snelgrave, and promised to recover what he had lost, while +others of the crew brought him food. + +Next day, Davis, ordering all the crews on the quarter-deck, made a +speech in Snelgrave's behalf, persuading them to give him a ship and +several thousand pounds' worth of miscellaneous plunder. One of the men +proposed they should take him with them down the Guinea coast, and if +they took a Portuguese vessel, to give him a cargo of slaves. Down the +coast he might sell his goods for gold dust, and then, sailing for St. +Thomas's, sell his ship and the slaves to the Danes, and return to +London a rich man. Snelgrave demurring to this, they grew angry, +thinking their gift would have been legal, but Davis kindly said, "I +know this man and can easily guess his thoughts, he thinks he would lose +his reputation. Now, I am for allowing everybody to go to the devil in +their own way, so beg you to give him the remains of his own cargo and +let him do as he thinks fit." + +This they granted, but of his own adventure not more than L50 worth was +now left. The sailors had taken rolls of fine Holland and opened them to +lie down in on the deck. Then when the others came and flung buckets of +claret over them, they flung the stained parcels overboard. In loading, +the pirates always dropped the bales over, if they were not passed as +quickly as they expected. The Irish beef they threw away, Cocklyn saying +Snelgrave had horsebeans enough to last his crew six months. + +Soon after this the brutal quartermaster fell sick of a fever, and sent +to Snelgrave to beg his forgiveness, for having attempted to shoot him. +He said he had been a wicked wretch, and that his conscience tormented +him, for he feared he should roll in hell fire. When Snelgrave preached +repentance he declared his heart was hardened, but he would try, and he +ordered Snelgrave to take any necessaries he wanted from his chest, but +died that night in terrible agonies and cursing God. This so affected +many of the new recruits that they begged Snelgrave to get them off, and +promised not to be guilty of murder or other cruelty. In the cabin the +pirates found some proclamations, and being unable to read asked the +prisoner to do it for them. He then read His Majesty's proclamation for +a pardon to all pirates that should surrender themselves at any of the +British plantations by the 1st of July, 1719. The next was the +declaration of war against Spain. When they heard the latter, some said +they wished they had known it before they left the West Indies, as they +might have turned privateersmen, and have enriched themselves. Snelgrave +told them it was not yet too late, there being still three months left +of the term prescribed. But when they heard the rewards offered for the +apprehension of pirates, a Buccaneer who had been guilty of murder, +treated the proclamation with contempt, and tore it in pieces. Amongst +other men that consulted Snelgrave was a sailor named Curtis, who, being +sick, walked about the deck wrapped in a silk gown. He had sailed with +Snelgrave's father. Among other spoil the three pirate captains had +found a box with three second-hand embroidered coats, which they seized +and put on. The longest falling to Cocklyn's share, who was a short man, +it reached to his ankles, but Le Bouce and Davis refused to change with +him, saying that as he was going on shore where the negro ladies knew +nothing of white men's fashions, it did not matter, and moreover, as his +coat was scarlet embroidered with silver, he would be the bravest of +them all. + +These clothes being taken contrary to law, and without the +quartermaster's leave, the crew were offended, declaring that if they +suffered such things, the captains would assume a new power, and soon +take whatever they liked. The next morning when their captains returned, +the coats were taken from them, and put into the common chest; and it +having been reported that Snelgrave had advised the costume, many of the +men turned against him, one of them threatening to cut him to pieces. A +sailor who stood near told Snelgrave not to be frightened at the man's +threat, for he always spoke in that way, and advised him to call him +"captain" when he came on board, for the fellow had once been commander +of a pirate sloop, did not like the post of quartermaster, and loved to +be called by his old title. On entering the ship, Snelgrave said softly +to him, "Captain Williams, pray hear me on the point you are so offended +about." Upon this Williams gave him a playful blow on the shoulder with +the flat of his sword, and said "I have not the heart to hurt thee." He +then explained the affair, drank a glass of wine with him, and they were +friends ever after. The pirates next captured a French ship that they +had at first taken for a forty-gun ship in pursuit of them. The men +drunk and newly levied, might at this time have easily been cut off, and +the hundred sail of ships they afterwards destroyed saved. When some of +the men cried out that they had never seen a gun fired in anger, Cocklyn +caned them, telling them they should soon learn to smell gunpowder. The +French captain they hung at the yard-arm for not striking at their +first shot. When they had pulled him up and down several times till he +was almost dead, Le Bouce interfered for his countryman, protesting he +would sail no longer with such barbarous villains. They then gave him +the French ship, first destroying her cargo, cutting her masts by the +board, and running her on shore, as old and useless. + +Snelgrave's ship being now fitted up by the pirates, he was invited to +its christening. The officers stood round the great cabin, holding +bumpers of punch in their hands; and on Captain Cocklyn saying, "God +bless the Wyndham galley," they drank the liquor, broke their glasses, +and the guns thundered a broadside. + +The new ship being galley built with only two flush decks, the +powder-room scuttle was in the chief cabin, and at that time stood open. +One of the guns blowing at the touch-hole, set fire to some cartouch +boxes that held small arm cartridges, the shot of which flew about, +filling the room with smoke. When it was over, Davis remarked on the +great danger they had been in, the scuttle having been all the time +open, and 20,000 lb. weight of powder lying under. Cocklyn replied with +a curse, "I wish it had taken fire, for it would have been a noble blast +to have gone to hell with." + +The next day the pirate captains invited Snelgrave to dinner, and during +supper a trumpeter and other musicians, who had been taken from various +prizes, played and sang. About the middle of supper there was a sudden +cry of fire, and a sailor boy, running in, with a pale face, said the +main hatchway was on fire. The crew were then nearly drunk, and many of +them leaped into the boats, leaving the officers and the fifty +prisoners. On Snelgrave remarking to Davis the danger they were in, +being left without a boat, Davis fired a great gun at the fugitives, and +brought them back. The gunner then put wet blankets on the bulk head of +the powder-room, and so saved it from destruction. This immense store of +powder had been collected from various prizes, as being an article in +great request with the negroes. Snelgrave took one of the quarterdeck +gratings and lowered it over the ship's side with a rope, in case he +should be obliged to leave the ship, and all this time the drunken +sailors were standing on the quarterdeck, to the horror of the +prisoners, shouting, "Hurrah for a quick passage to hell!" + +About ten o'clock the master, a brisk and courageous man, who, with +fifteen more, had spared no pains to conquer the flames, came up +miserably burnt, and calling for a surgeon, declared the danger was now +all over. The fire had arisen from the carelessness of a negro, who +being sent to pump out some rum, held his candle so near the bung-hole +of the hogshead that a spark caught the spirit. This soon fired another +tub, and both their heads flew off with the report of a cannon; but +though there were twenty casks of rum, and as many of pitch and tar in +the store, all the rest escaped. + +Before morning, the gunner's mate having spoken in favour of Snelgrave's +conduct during the fire, the crew sent for him to attend the sale of his +effects on board the Wyndham galley. Some promised to be kind to him; +and the captain offered to buy his watch. As they were talking, a mate, +half drunk, proposed that Snelgrave should be kept as a pilot till they +left the coast, but Davis caned him off the quarter deck. + +Two days after this the pirates took a small vessel belonging to the +African Company. Snelgrave's first mate then told them that he had been +once very badly served by this company, and begged that they would burn +the vessel in revenge. This was about to be ordered when Stubbs, a +quick-witted sailor, stood up and said, "Pray, gentlemen, hold, and I +will prove to you that the burning of this ship will only advance the +company's interests. The vessel has been out two years; is old, crazy, +and worm-eaten; her stores are worth little, and her cargo consists only +of red wood and pepper, the loss of which will not harm the company, who +will save the men's wages, which will be three times the value of the +cargo." This convinced the crew, who at once spared the vessel, and +returned her to the captain. + +A few days afterwards, Snelgrave's things were sold at the mast, many of +the men returning him their purchases, his old school-fellow in +particular begging hard on his behalf. When the fiercer men observed the +great heap of things he had collected, they swore the dog was +insatiable, and said it would be a good deed to throw them overboard. +Hearing this, Snelgrave loaded his canoe, and, by the advice of his +friends, returned to shore. Soon after he left, his watch was put up for +sale, and run to L100 in order to vex Davis, who, however, bought it at +that enormous price. One of the sailors, enraged at this, tried the case +on a touch-stone, and, seeing it looked copperish from the alloy in the +gold, swore it was bad metal. They then declared Snelgrave was a greater +rogue than any of them, since he had cheated them all. Russel laughed at +this, and then vowed to whip him when he came next. Upon the advice of +his friends, Snelgrave hid in the woods till the pirates left the river, +and soon after returned with several other ruined men to England. + +Of the MADAGASCAR PIRATES some scanty record in Hamilton's Account of +the East Indies, published in 1726. He mentions the fact that the +pirates had totally destroyed the English slave trade in that island, in +spite of several squadrons of men-of-war sent against them. To use the +author's own rather ambiguous words, "A single ship, commanded by one +Millar, did more than all the chargeable fleets could do, for, with a +cargo of strong ale and brandy, which he carried to sell them in 1704, +he killed about 500 of them by carousing, though they took his ship and +cargo as a present from him, and his men entered, most of them, into the +society of the pirates." Commodore Littleton lent them blocks and +tackle-falls to careen, and, for some secret reasons, released some of +their number. + +The author concludes in the following manner: "Madagascar is environed +with islands and dangerous shoals both of rocks and sand. St. Mary's, on +the east side, is the place which the pirates first chose for their +asylum, having a good harbour to defend them from the weather, though +in going in there are some difficulties. But hearing the squadrons of +English ships were come in quest of them, they removed to the main +island for more security, and there they have made themselves free +denizens by marriage." And the author is of opinion it will be no easy +matter to dispossess them. In 1722 Mr. Matthews went in search of them, +but found they had deserted St. Mary's Island, leaving behind them some +marks of their robberies, for in some places he found pepper strewed a +foot thick on the ground. The commodore went, with his squadron, over +into the main island, but the pirates had carried their ships into +rivers or creeks, out of danger of the men-of-war, and to burn them with +their boats would have been impracticable, since they could have easily +distressed the crews from the woods. The commodore had some discourse +with several of them, but they stood on their guard, ready to defend +themselves in case any violence had been offered them. + +The 11th and 12th of William III., and the 8th George I., are both +statutes against piracy, and are indications of the years in which their +ravages were peculiarly felt. By the first, any natural-born subject +committing an act of hostility against any of his Majesty's subjects, +under colour of a commission from any foreign power, could be tried for +piracy. And further, any commander betraying his trust, and running away +with the ship, or yielding it up voluntarily to a pirate, or any one +confining his captain to prevent him fighting, was adjudged a pirate, +felon, and robber, and was sentenced to death. + +The later acts make it piracy even to trade with known pirates. + +Commanders or seamen wounded, or their widows slain in piratical +engagements, were entitled to a bounty not exceeding one-fiftieth part +of the value of the cargo, and wounded men received the pension of +Greenwich Hospital. If the commander behaved cowardly, he was to forfeit +all his wages, and suffer six months' imprisonment. + +Such are a few of the facts connected with the almost unrecorded and +uncertain history of the pirates of New Providence and Madagascar, the +most loathsome wretches that perhaps, since Cain, have ever washed their +hands in human blood. Ferocious yet often cowardly, they were subtle and +cruel, with none of the frequent generosity of outlaws, and little of +the enterprise of the military adventurers. Long ago have their bones +crumbled from the dark gibbets on the lonely sand islands of the +Pacific, and they remain without monument or record, except in prison +chronicles and forgotten voyages. We have reviewed their history simply +as the natural sequel of our annals, and as an illustration of the +character of the English seaman in its most brutal and satanic aspect. + + + + +THE END. + + + + +CHIEF AUTHORITIES. + +BUCCANEER WRITERS. + + +JOHN (JOSEPH?) ESQUEMELING'S[1] Bucaniers of America; or, an Account of +the most Remarkable Assaults committed on the Coasts of the West Indies +by the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga; with the Exploits of Sir Henry +Morgan. Translated into English from the Dutch, with a Portrait of Sir +H. Morgan, a Map and Plates, with a Table. 4to. London. 1684. + +[1] Rich, in his "Bibliotheca Americana Nova," 1835, confounds +Esquemeling, the Dutchman, with Oexmelin, the Frenchman. The English +translation of 1684 speaks of Esquemeling's work as written by a +Frenchman and Dutchman together, the name being French and the language +Dutch. Rich describes it as first printed in Dutch, 1678; then +translated into Spanish; then from Spanish into English, and from +English into French; the author's name being changed in the latter +translation. + + ---- De Americanische Zee Roovers. 4to. Amsterdam. 1678. + + ---- Hisp. 12mo. Col. Ag. 1682. + + ---- Eng. 12mo. London. 1684. + + ---- 4to. Col. Ag. 1684. + + ---- 12mo. 4 vols. Maps and Plates. Trevoux. +(Augmentee de l'Histoire des Pirates Anglais depuis leur Etablissement +dans l'Isle de Providence jusqu'au Present.): 1775. + +OEXMELIN, ALEXANDRE OLIVIER--Histoire des Avanturiers qui se sont +signales dans les Indes Occidentales depuis Vingt Ans. Traduite de +l'Anglais par le Sr. de Frontignieres; avec un Traite de la Chambre de +Comptes etablie dans les Indes par les Espagnols, traduit de l'Espagnol; +le tout enriche des Cartes et des Figures, avec des Tables. 2 vols. +12mo. Paris. 1688. + +---- 8vo. Paris. 1688. 2 tom. + + +JESUIT HISTORIANS. + +PIERRE FRANCOIS XAVIER CHARLEVOIX--Histoire de l'Isle Espagnole, ou de +St. Domingue, ecrite sur des Memoires Manuscrits du P. Jean Baptiste le +Tertre, Jesuite Missionaire a St. Domingue, et sur les Pieces Originales +qui se conservent au Depot de la Marine; avec des Cartes, des Plans, et +des Tables. 2 vols. 4to. Paris. 1730-31. + +Piratas de la America y Luz a la Defensa de las Costas de Indias +Occidentales. Traducida del Flamenco en Espanol, por el Doctor Buena +Maison, Medico Practico en la Amplissima y Magnifica Ciudad de Amsterdam +Dala a Luz esta Tercera Edicion, D.M.G.R. Madrid. 4to. 1763. 12mo. 1682. +4to. 1684. + +JEAN BAPTISTE DU TERTRE, missionaire apostolique dans les +Antilles--Histoires des Antilles Habitees par les Francois; avec des +Figures. 4 vols. 4to. Paris. 1667-71. + +JEAN BAPTISTE LABAT, Dominicain Parisien, professeur des Philosophies a +Nanci, etc.--Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l'Amerique. 8 vols. 12mo. +Paris. 1742. + +CAPTAIN WILLIAM DAMPIER'S Voyage Round the World. Illustrated with Maps +and Plates. 4 vols. in 3. 8vo. London. 1703-9. + +CAPTAIN COWLEY'S Voyage Round the Globe. 8vo. London. 1679. + +LIONEL WAFER'S Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. 8vo. +London, 1699. 8vo. London, 1704. + +CAPTAIN JAMES BURNEY'S Chronological History of the Discoveries in the +South Sea or Pacific Ocean. 3 vols. 4to. 1803-13-17. + +CAPTAIN T. SOUTHEY'S Chronological History of the West Indies. 3 vols. +8vo. London. 1817. + + + + +LIST OF BUCCANEER CHIEFS, + +FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THEIR EMPIRE TO ITS DOWNFALL. + + +LOUIS SCOTT. PIERRE LE GRAND. PIERRE FRANCOIS. ROC THE BRAZILIAN. +BARTHELEMY PORTUGUES. LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL. ALEXANDRE BRAS DE FER. +MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR. MOSES VAN VIN. PIERRE LE PICARD. TRIBUTOR. +CAPTAIN CHAMPAGNE. LE BASQUE. SIR HENRY MORGAN. CAPTAIN SWAN. CAPTAIN +SHARP. CAPTAIN BRADLEY. CAPTAIN COXEN. CAPTAIN BETSHARP. DAMPIER. +CAPTAIN GROGNIET. CAPTAIN YANKEY. LAURENT DE GRAFF. SIEUR DE GRAMMONT. +SIEUR DE MONTAUBAN. DE LISLE. ANNE LE ROUX. VAUCLIN. OVINET. ELIAS WARD. +WILLIS. D'OGERON. CAPTAIN DAVIS. VAN HORN. CAPTAIN MICHAEL. CAPTAIN +ROSE. CAPTAIN DAVIOT. + + + + +LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET. + + + + +Just Published, Illustrated with Portraits, + +THE THIRD AND FOURTH VOLUMES, + +COMPLETING THE WORK, OF THE + +MEMOIRS OF THE COURT & CABINETS OF GEORGE III. + +FROM ORIGINAL FAMILY DOCUMENTS. + +BY THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM & CHANDOS, K.G. + +Among the principal important and interesting subjects of these volumes +(comprising the period from 1800 to 1810) are the following:--The Union +of Great Britain and Ireland--The Catholic Question--The retirement from +office of Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville--The Addington Administration--The +Peace of Amiens--The connection of the Prince of Wales with the +Opposition--The Coalition of Pitt, Fox, and Grenville--The Downfall of +the Addington Ministry--The conduct of the Princess of Wales--Nelson in +the Baltic and at Trafalgar--The Administration of Lord Grenville and +Mr. Fox--The Abolition of the Slave Trade--The Walcheren Expedition--The +Enquiry into the conduct of the Duke of York--The Convention of +Cintra--The Expeditions to Portugal and Spain--The Quarrel of Lord +Castlereagh and Mr. Canning--The Malady of George III.--Proceedings for +the establishment of the Regency. The Volumes also comprise the Private +Correspondence of Lord Grenville, when, Secretary of State and First +Lord of the Treasury--of the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, when President +of the Board of Control and First Lord of the Admiralty--of the Duke of +Wellington, during his early Campaigns in the Peninsula; with numerous +confidential communications from George III., the Prince of Wales, Lords +Castlereagh, Elgin, Hobart, Camden, Essex, Carysfort, Melville, Howick, +Wellesley, Fitzwilliam, Temple, Buckingham, Mr. Fox, Mr. Wyndham, &c. +&c. + +N.B.--A FEW COPIES OF THE FIRST AND SECOND VOLUMES OF THIS WORK MAY +STILL BE HAD. + + "These volumes contain much valuable matter. There are three periods + upon which they shed a good deal of light--the formation of the + Coalition Ministry in 1783, the illness of the King in 1788, and the + first war with Republican France."--_Times._ + + "A very remarkable and valuable publication. In these volumes the + most secret history of many important transactions is for the first + time given to the public."--_Herald._ + +HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, + +SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, + +13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Mismatched quotation marks in one paragraph of Chapter I + were left as in the original. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME III +(OF 3)*** + + +******* This file should be named 38633.txt or 38633.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/6/3/38633 + + + +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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