_Sir Henry Morgan_
His Origin.--Goes to the West Indies.--Joins the
Buccaneers.--Meets Mansvelt the Pirate.--Conquest of St.
Catharine.--Piratic Colony there.--Ravaging the Coast of
Costa Rica.--Sympathy of the Governor of Jamaica.--Death of
Mansvelt.--Expedition of Don John.--The Island Recaptured by the
Spaniards.--Plans of Morgan.--His Fleet.--The Sack of Puerto
Principe.--Horrible Atrocities.--Retreat of the Pirates.--The
Duel.--They Sail for Puerto Velo.--Conquest of the City.--Heroism
of the Governor.
Though the name of Sir Henry Morgan has not attained equal notoriety
with that of Captain William Kidd, his achievements were far more
wonderful and infamous. He was born of a good and wealthy family in
Wales. Early developing a roaming disposition, he left his home for the
seacoast, and there took passage for Barbadoes. In those days any man
could obtain a passage to the colonies; by agreeing to pay the fare in
service on the other side. Labor was in great demand. Upon the arrival
of the ship the planters would hasten on board and pay the passage
money, which the emigrant was to repay by certain stipulated months of
labor.
In this way Henry Morgan reached Barbadoes. Here his labor was sold to
pay his passage, and he faithfully served out his term. He had come
from a virtuous home, but rapidly the reckless boy yielded to the
influences which surrounded him, until he became the worst of the bad.
From Barbadoes he wandered over to Jamaica, seeking his fortune. Though
there was then peace between England and Spain, the British Government
was encouraging private piratical excursions against the commerce of
Spain. As we have had frequent occasion to mention, these buccaneers
had nothing to fear from the English courts so long as they confined
themselves to robbing the Spanish ships.
At Jamaica, Morgan found two vessels openly fitting out for these
buccaneering expeditions. He shipped on board one of them, and made
two or three very successful voyages. Some men seem born to command.
Such do not long remain in a subordinate position. Morgan was a man of
the imperial mould. As he now had considerable money at his disposal,
he proposed, to some of his comrades, that they should join stocks,
purchase a vessel, and cruise on their own account. This was promptly
done, and Morgan was unanimously chosen commander.
Morgan was already a desperado. With a numerous crew and a well-armed
vessel he set out to cruise along that portion of the Mexican coast
called Campeachy. After an absence of a few months, he returned
triumphantly to Jamaica, his ship laden with the spoil of many
captures. This pirate took refuge beneath the flag of England and under
the guns of her fort. At that time the British Government was the most
atrocious pirate earth had ever known; for while at peace with Spain,
the Government encouraged all private piratical expeditions against her
commerce.
In the streets of Jamaica, Morgan met a notorious pirate by the name
of Mansvelt. The renown of this sea-robber had spread far and wide. He
was then equipping a very considerable fleet, intending to man it with
a sufficiency of troops to enable him to land upon the territory of the
Spaniards and to plunder their cities. Mansvelt, seeing Morgan return
with so many prizes, formed a high opinion of his skill and courage,
and appointed him vice-admiral of his squadron.
A fleet of fifteen ships was soon ready for sea, with a crew of five
hundred pirates. About a thousand miles southwest of Jamaica, in
Central America, was the Spanish province of Costa Rica, reaching
across the narrow Isthmus of Panama from sea to sea. A few leagues from
the shore, and but about one hundred miles north of the river Chagres,
was the Island of St. Catharine, where the Spaniards had a small
garrison. The pirates landed, captured the island, took the Spanish
soldiers prisoners, and garrisoned the fort with a hundred of their own
men. They left a numerous band of slaves, taken from the Spaniards,
to cultivate the soil for their new masters. A Frenchman, by the name
of Le Sieur Simon, was placed in command. He was directed to put the
island in the best posture for defence, and to set all the slaves
at work to raise provisions on the fertile plantations. He was thus
expected to revictual the fleet upon its return. It was evidently the
intention of Mansvelt to establish there a colony of buccaneers, with
fleet and army, of which colony he was to be the king. He had no fears
of being interrupted in his operations by the British Government.
Mansvelt again spread his sails, and, accompanied by his energetic
vice-admiral Morgan, cruised along the eastern coast of Costa Rica. At
various points he sent boats, armed with pirates, ashore to rob the
villages. The Spanish governor of the adjacent province of Panama,
on the south, hearing of these depredations, gathered all the forces
at his disposal, and rousing the whole country, advanced to expel
the pirates. Mansvelt retreated, and returned with his fleet to St.
Catharine. Here he found that his agent had been very efficient, and
that an ample supply of provisions was ready for his ships.
This most infamous of pirates returned to the Island of Jamaica, held
an interview with the governor, informed him frankly of his plans,
and solicited the loan of a portion of his garrison to enable him to
hold the island against any attempt of the Spaniards to regain it.
The governor received the pirate courteously, expressed the fear that
the King of England might not exactly approve of such undisguised
hostility, when there was peace between the two countries, and stating
also that his garrison was then so feeble that he could not with safety
diminish its strength.
Mansvelt then repaired, with one of his ships, to the celebrated
rendezvous of the buccaneers at Tortuga. While endeavoring to raise
recruits among the desperadoes assembled there, he was taken sick, and
passed away, to answer for his guilty life at the tribunal of God.
In the mean time, on the 14th of July, 1665, Don John, the governor of
Panama, commenced organizing an expedition to regain the island. He
sent a ship, under Captain Joseph Ximines, thoroughly equipped, and
manned by three hundred and eighty-two soldiers. The ship touched at
Carthagena, with a letter to the commandant of the Spanish settlement
there. He promptly added to the expedition three small armed vessels,
with one hundred and twenty-six men. On the 2d of August this little
fleet came in sight of the western end of the Island of St. Catharine.
The wind was contrary. It was not until the 12th they entered the
harbor and cast anchor before the pirates’ strong fort.
There was an interchange of a few shots between the stone castle and
the fleet, which effected but little injury on either side. Ximines
sent one of his officers on shore bearing a flag of truce, with the
following summons:
“In the name of the King of Spain, I demand the surrender of this
island. It was taken in the midst of peace between England and Spain.
If the surrender is refused, and I am forced to take the works by
storm, I shall certainly put all the garrison to the sword.”
The piratic commander returned the answer. “This island once belonged
to the King of England. It rightly belongs to him now. We will sooner
die than surrender.”
During the night of Friday, the 13th, three slaves swam off to the
ships, and informed the commandant that there were but seventy-two
soldiers in the fort and that they were in great consternation in view
of the force brought against them. Saturday was devoted to preparations
for landing in the boats and storming the works.
The morning of the Sabbath dawned beautifully over the Eden-like
luxuriance of the tropical isle.
The vessels brought their broadsides to bear upon the fort, and, under
cover of their fire, three strong parties were landed in the boats.
Captain Leyva led sixty men to attack the principal gate. Captain
Galeno, at the head of ninety men, took a circuitous route through
the forest to attack the castle in the rear. The commander-in-chief,
Ximines, with a still stronger force, assailed one of the sides. The
conflict was short, but not very bloody. Six of the pirates were
killed, and a pretty large number wounded. The Spaniards lost but one
man killed and four wounded.
The pirates endeavored to escape into the woods, but were cut off and
all captured. There were found, in the fort, eight hundred pounds of
powder, two hundred and fifty pounds of bullets, and also a large
supply of provisions and other material of war. Two Spaniards were
taken who had enlisted with the buccaneers, to rob the commerce of
Spain. They were immediately led out and shot.
The fort proved to be very strong, and an excellent piece of
workmanship. It was built of stone, quadrangular in form, with walls
eighty-eight feet high. While these scenes were transpiring, Captain
Morgan, unconscious of them, was at Jamaica. Hearing of the death of
Mansvelt, he, without opposition, assumed the admiralship. He was
straining every nerve to retain possession of St. Catharine, and so
to strengthen the works as to make the island a safe and convenient
store-house for the vast plunder of the buccaneers.
As the governor of Jamaica declined adding to the piratic force, in St.
Catharine, at the expense of his own garrison, Morgan wrote to leading
merchants in Virginia and New England, urging them, by the promise of
the most liberal pay, to send him provisions, ammunition, and other
necessary articles. When the tidings reached him that the Spaniards
had regained the island, he lost no time in unavailing regrets, but
immediately turned, with demoniac energy, to other enterprises.
With great vigor he commenced organizing a new fleet. His agents
proudly strode through every English port, openly purchasing vessels
and ammunition, and mounting the guns. All the vessels were ordered to
rendezvous, within a given time, at a solitary harbor on the south side
of the Island of Cuba.
This magnificent island is eight hundred miles in length, and from
twenty-five to one hundred and thirty in breadth. The principal towns
of Cuba, at that time, were Havana on the north and Santiago on the
south. Havana was fortified by three strong forts. There were many
other small and flourishing settlements scattered along the extended
coast. There were ten thousand families in Havana, and its commerce was
immense.
Captain Morgan had, in the course of two months, assembled in his
retired harbor a fleet of twelve vessels, large and small, with over
eight hundred fighting men. He called a council of his officers to
decide as to the enterprise upon which they should embark. Several
urged a midnight attack upon Havana. They said that there was immense
wealth in the city, that it might be attacked by surprise, as no one
suspected danger; and that the city could be plundered before the
inhabitants would have any time to organize for defence.
Others affirmed that they were not strong enough for so great an
achievement; that they needed at least fifteen hundred men to attempt
the capture of a city of fifty thousand inhabitants. After much
discussion it was decided to attack a flourishing inland town of Cuba,
called Puerto Principe. It was situated a few leagues from the southern
shore, and was utterly unprepared for such an attack as the pirates
could bring against it. One of the pirates was familiar with the place
and with all of its approaches. He said that the town had never been
sacked, and consequently was very rich.
The whole fleet speedily set sail, and ran along the southern shore
of Cuba toward the doomed town. The nearest available landing-place,
for Principe, was at a bay called St. Mary’s. Here, in the night, a
Spanish prisoner, on board one of the ships, secretly let himself down
into the dark water, and, at the imminent danger of being devoured by
sharks, swam ashore. He hastened through the mule-paths of the forest
to Principe, with the tidings of the terrible danger impending over the
town.
The inhabitants were thrown into an awful state of consternation. They
knew full well that they had as much to dread from the pirates as from
so many fiends from the bottomless pit. Men, women, and children were
running in all directions to convey away and hide their treasures.
All these Spanish towns had a governor appointed over them by the king.
The governor summoned all the able-bodied men he could, and armed the
slaves, and placed his little force in ambush along the route which
he supposed that the pirates must of necessity traverse. He had also
the immense trees of the dense tropical forest felled across the path,
and other obstructions thrown in the way, to retard their march.
But Morgan, as he approached these impediments, cut a new road with
great difficulty through the woods, and thus escaped falling into the
ambuscades.
Morgan had left but a small guard to keep the fleet. Nearly eight
hundred men were on the march with him. The pirates advanced in three
divisions, with beating of drums, flying banners, and an ostentatious
display of military array. The town was in the centre of a smooth
plain. The governor had retreated from his ambush, and, as the pirates
approached, stood before the town at the head of a troop of horsemen.
Morgan formed his men in a semicircle, and marched down upon them.
Both parties fought with desperation. The greatly outnumbering pirates
soon shot down the governor, and so many of his soldiers, that the
remainder attempted to escape to the woods. They were hotly pursued,
and most of them were killed. The battle, with the skirmishing, lasted
nearly four hours.
The pirates, having encountered but little loss, entered the town.
Still, as they marched through the narrow streets which were ever found
in these old Spanish towns, many of the inhabitants continued a brave
resistance. They fired upon the pirates from the windows of their stone
houses, and hurled down heavy articles of furniture upon their heads
from the roofs. Morgan had it loudly proclaimed that if they continued
this resistance he would lay the whole town in ashes, and put every
man, woman, and child to the sword.
The Spaniards, hoping that by submission they might save their own
lives and their houses from conflagration, threw down their arms and
raised the white flag. There were several large stone churches in the
place. The demoniac pirates drove the whole population, men, women,
and children, into these churches, and imprisoned them there. They
then commenced their system of plunder and wanton destruction. Every
house and by-place, and the region all around, were searched. The night
was rendered hideous by their drunken orgies. There was scarcely a
conceivable crime of which these wretches were not guilty. They were
fiends of the foulest dye, with no pity. Their outrages cannot be
described. Even the imagination of most readers cannot conceive of the
crimes they perpetrated.
They either forgot the captives they had crowded into the churches or
intentionally left them to starve. No provision whatever was made for
their wants, and they were not furnished with any food. The piteous
moans of women and children touched not their hearts. Large numbers
perished in the lingering agonies of starvation.
Disappointed in the amount of treasure they found, they began to put
their prisoners to the torture, men, young girls, and even little
children, to extort from them the confession of where riches were
secreted. While perpetrating atrocities which cannot be named, a man
was captured who had letters from the governor of Santiago to some of
the leading inhabitants. In these documents the governor wrote:
“Do not be in too much haste to ransom your town or persons from the
pirates. Put them off as long as you can, with excuses and delays. In a
short time I will certainly come to your aid.”
This alarmed Morgan. He feared that the governor of Santiago might
rally a sufficient force perhaps to seize his ships, perhaps to cut
off his retreat. He ordered his men immediately to march, as rapidly
as possible, to their fleet, with all the plunder they had gathered.
He also made renewed efforts, by all the energies of torture, to wrest
from the wretched inhabitants the treasure which he supposed they had
hidden. Those who had nothing to reveal, had their nerves lacerated and
their bones crushed to force a confession of that which did not exist.
He compelled his captives to drive all the cattle to the bay, kill
them and salt them, and convey the barrels to his ships.
A quarrel arose between two of the pirates. One challenged the other to
a duel. The party consequently went ashore in the boats. As they drew
near the appointed spot, one of the two, treacherously approaching the
other from behind, ran him through the back with his sword, and he fell
dead. Morgan, who had just committed crimes which should cause the foul
fiend himself to blush, said that it was not _just_ and _honorable_ to
kill a comrade thus treacherously. He therefore, with the assent of the
whole demoniac gang, put the offender in irons and hung him.
The fleet speedily set sail for a distant island, where they were to
divide their ill-gotten plunder. Here they were greatly disappointed
in the amount which they had taken. It was all estimated at but fifty
thousand dollars. This was a small sum to be divided among so many
greedy claimants. This being known, it excited a general commotion.
Many of the pirates owed debts in Jamaica, which they were anxious
_honorably_ to pay.
Some of the gang were so dissatisfied that they left, with a part of
the vessels, to cruise on their own account. Morgan soon inspired
those who remained with his own indomitable energy. In a few days he
gathered a fleet of nine sail, manned by four hundred and seventy-five
pirates. Morgan told them that he had formed a plan which would
enrich them all. It was, however, necessary to keep it a profound
secret. If any one should turn traitor and reveal it, the plan might
be frustrated. They must therefore, for the present, trust in him and
implicitly follow his directions. He had already inspired them with
such confidence in his sagacity, zeal, and courage, that, without a
murmur, they yielded to these demands.
The whole fleet set sail for the continent, and, in a few days, arrived
off the coast of Costa Rica. Then Morgan assembled the captains of all
the vessels in his cabin, and informed them of his plan, which they
were to communicate to their several crews.
“I intend,” said Morgan, “to attack and plunder the city of Puerto
Velo. I am resolved to sack the whole city. Not a single corner shall
escape my vigilance. Large as the city is, the enterprise cannot fail
to succeed. We shall strike the people entirely by surprise; for I have
kept my plan an entire secret, and they cannot possibly know of our
coming.”
Some of the captains were alarmed in view of so bold an undertaking.
They said:
“Puerto Velo is the largest Spanish city in the New World excepting
Havana and Carthagena. It contains a population of between two and
three thousand, and has a garrison of three hundred soldiers. It has
two forts, which are deemed impregnable. These forts guard the entry
to the harbor, so that no ship or boat can pass without permission. We
have not a sufficient number of men to assault so strong a place.”
Morgan replied: “If we are few in numbers, we are bold in heart. The
fewer we are the greater will be each man’s share of the plunder.”
This last consideration had great weight with the pirates. The number
engaged in the sack of Puerto Principe was so great, that each one
murmured at the meagre share he received. Morgan was very familiar
with all this region, and was thoroughly acquainted with the avenues
to the city. In the dusk of the evening he ran his little fleet into
a solitary harbor, called Naos, about thirty miles from Puerto Velo.
There was a river, flowing into the harbor from the west, threading a
dense, tangled, almost uninhabited wilderness. Leaving their ships at
anchor, under guard of a few men, the pirates, “armed to the teeth,”
in crowded boats and canoes, ascended the river until, at midnight,
they reached a point but a few miles distant from the city. They
then landed and rapidly marched through a solitary Indian trail,
overshadowed by the gloom of a dense tropical forest, until they came
within sight of the lights gleaming from the battlements of the forts.
On the main avenue to the city, not far from the gate, they came upon
a solitary sentry, pacing his beat. Four men crept cautiously forward
in the darkness, seized him, gagged him, and brought him a prisoner
to Morgan. The pirate questioned his captive minutely, respecting the
troops in the city, and the means for defence. The trembling man was
threatened with death by the most horrible tortures, should it be found
that he had in the slightest degree deceived them. Having gained this
important information, they advanced upon the city.
The march of a mile brought them to the main fort, or Castle, as it was
called. The morning had not yet dawned. In the darkness they surrounded
it so completely that no one could either go in or out. Morgan then
sent the sentinel, whom he had captured, into the fort, with a demand
for its immediate surrender.
“If you yield at once,” said the message of the pirate, “your lives
shall be spared. But if there be the least resistance, or any delay,
I will cut to pieces every individual within the fort. Not one shall
escape.”
The commandant of the castle heeded not the threat, but opened fire
upon his foes. The report of his guns roused the city. The governor, as
speedily as possible, rallied all his forces and made such preparation
as he could for defence. The slumbering garrison, attacked so utterly
by surprise, were speedily overpowered. The pirates, breaking down the
gates, rushed in, and soon gained possession of the works. The castle
was but feebly prepared to repel an assault from the land side.
Morgan wished to strike a blow which should appal the whole city. The
magazine was abundantly stored with powder. There was a room by its
side, into which Morgan drove all his prisoners. Barring them in,
he laid a slow match, applied the torch, and with his gang retired.
There were a few moments of appalling silence. Then came a roar as
of ten thousand thunders. The very earth shook beneath the terrific
convulsion. There seemed to be a volcanic eruption of forked flame,
rocks, earth, guns, and mangled limbs, and the castle disappeared.
Every one of its inmates perished beneath its ruins.
The consternation in the city was terrible. There were runnings to and
fro, cries of anguish from mothers and maidens, while some were seeking
to conceal their treasures by throwing them into the wells or hastily
burying them in the cellars and the fields. In the frenzy of the hour
the governor found his attempts to rally the citizens utterly in vain.
With a few soldiers he threw himself into the second and only remaining
castle. The little band here assembled, knowing that no mercy could be
expected from the pirates, resolved to make as many of them bite the
dust as possible, before they themselves should fall. They therefore
opened an incessant and well-directed fire upon their assailants.
Near by there was a cloister, where there were priests and nuns. The
Spaniards regarded these religious orders with superstitious reverence.
Morgan seized them all as prisoners. He ordered his carpenters
immediately to make a number of scaling-ladders, so broad that four men
could ascend them abreast. He then compelled the ecclesiastics and the
nuns to carry the ladders and place them upon the walls of the fort.
The armed soldiers followed closely behind, shielded by their bodies.
The governor believed that the life of every Spaniard would be
sacrificed should they be taken. And he thought it better for both
priests and nuns that they should die outright than that they should
be left in the hands of the pirates. He therefore opened a vigorous
fire upon the approaching assailants, notwithstanding the rampart of
living bodies they had so infamously placed before them. The unhappy
inhabitants of the cloister cried out piteously to the governor,
imploring him to surrender the castle and thus spare their lives.
But the governor steeled his heart against their appeal. He fought
with desperation. Many of the priests and nuns were shot down. But
the pirates, in overpowering numbers, rushed on. They reached the top
of the wall. They threw down fire-balls and hand-grenades upon the
despairing defenders. When many had perished they leaped down, sword
in hand, amidst smoke and flame, and mercilessly slaughtered all the
survivors.
The heroic governor fought to the last. His wife and children, weeping
bitterly and upon their knees, entreated him to yield, hoping that thus
his life might be spared.
“No!” he exclaimed, “never. I had rather die like a soldier than be
hanged like a coward.”
Covered with wounds, he was at length cut down, and his gory, mangled
body was left uncared for. The castle was taken. The soldiers were
destroyed. The city was at the mercy of the captors. All the surviving
inhabitants of the town, who had not escaped into the woods, were
driven into the castle. Then the pirates commenced a scene of carousal
which pandemonium could not outrival. The nuns and all the mothers
and maidens were at their mercy. A veil must be cast over their horrid
deeds. When satiated with drunkenness, and every conceivable excess,
they commenced plundering the city.