“_Adventures are to the adventurous._”
BEACONSFIELD.
[Illustration: _THE ADVENTURE SERIES._]
[Illustration]
=THE ADVENTURE SERIES.=
Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 5s.
1.
=Adventures of a Younger Son.=
By E. J. TRELAWNY. _With
an Introduction by Edward
Garnett._ Second Edition.
2.
=Robert Drury’s Journal in
Madagascar.= _Edited, with
an Introduction and Notes,
by Captain S. P. Oliver._
3.
=Memoirs of the Extraordinary
Military= Career of
John Shipp. _With an
Introduction by H. Manners
Chichester._
4.
=The Adventures of Thomas
Pellow,= of Penryn, Mariner.
_Written by himself, and
Edited with an Introduction
and Notes by Dr. Robert
Brown._
5.
=The Buccaneers and Marooners
of America.= Being an
Account of the Famous
Adventures, and Daring
Deeds of certain Notorious
Freebooters of the Spanish
Main. _Edited by Howard
Pyle._
(_OTHERS IN THE PRESS._)
[Illustration: MORGAN RECRUITING FOR THE ATTACK ON PORTO BELLO.]
[Illustration] THE BUCCANEERS
AND MAROONERS OF
AMERICA [Illustration]
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE
FAMOUS ADVENTURES AND
DARING DEEDS OF CERTAIN
NOTORIOUS FREEBOOTERS
OF THE SPANISH MAIN
A NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION
EDITED BY HOWARD PYLE
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN,
PATERNOSTER SQUARE. MDCCCXCI.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
(1) EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION 15
(2) THE TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 43
=PART I.=
THE BUCCANEERS OF AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
The Introduction--The Author sets forth for the
Western Islands, in the service of the West India
Company of France--They meet with an English
frigate, and arrive at the Island of Tortuga 49
CHAPTER II.
A description of Tortuga--The fruits and plants
there--How the French first settled there, at two
several times, and forced out the Spaniards--The
Author twice sold in the said island 54
CHAPTER III.
A description of Hispaniola--A relation of the French
Buccaneers 64
CHAPTER IV.
Original of the most famous pirates of the coasts of
America--Famous exploit of Pierre le Grand 76
CHAPTER V.
How the pirates arm their vessels and regulate their
voyages 80
CHAPTER VI.
Of the origin of Francis Lolonois and the beginning of
his robberies 95
CHAPTER VII.
Lolonois equips a fleet to land upon the Spanish
islands of America with intent to rob, sack, and
burn whatsoever he met with 100
CHAPTER VIII.
Lolonois makes new preparations to take the city of
St. James de Leon; as also that of Nicaragua; where
he miserably perishes 115
CHAPTER IX.
The origin and descent of Captain Henry Morgan--his
exploits, and the most remarkable actions of his
life 131
CHAPTER X.
Of the Island of Cuba--Captain Morgan attempts to
preserve the Isle of St. Catherine as a refuge to
the nest of pirates but fails of his design--He
arrives at, and takes, the village of El Puerto del
Principe 140
CHAPTER XI.
Captain Morgan resolving to attack and plunder the
City of Puerto Bello, equips a fleet, and with
little expense and small forces, takes it 149
CHAPTER XII.
Captain Morgan takes the City of Maracaibo, on the
coast of Nueva Venezuela--Piracies committed in
those seas--Ruin of three Spanish ships set forth
to hinder the robberies of the pirates 158
CHAPTER XIII.
Captain Morgan goes to Hispaniola to equip a new fleet
with intent to pillage again on the coast of the
West Indies 187
CHAPTER XIV.
What happened in the river De la Hacha 190
CHAPTER XV.
Captain Morgan leaves Hispaniola and goes to St.
Catherine’s which he takes 195
CHAPTER XVI.
Captain Morgan takes the Castle of Chagre with
four hundred men sent to this purpose from St.
Catherine’s 202
CHAPTER XVII.
Captain Morgan departs from Chagre at the head of
twelve hundred men to take the city of Panama 209
CHAPTER XVIII.
Captain Morgan sends canoes and boats to the South
Sea--He fires the city of Panama--Robberies and
cruelties committed there by the pirates, till
their return to the Castle of Chagre 223
=PART II.=
A TRUE ACCOUNT OF FOUR NOTORIOUS PIRATES.
CHAPTER I. OF CAPTAIN TEACH _alias_ BLACK-BEARD.
His beginning--His confederacy with Hornygold--The
confederacy broken--Takes a large Guinea
man--Engages the _Scarborough_ man-of-war--His
alliance with Major Stede Bonnet--Deposes his
new ally--His advice to the Major--His progress
and success--Takes prizes in sight of Charles
Town--Sends ambassadors to the Governor of
Carolina upon an impudent demand--Runs his ship
aground designedly--His cruelty to some of
his own companions--Surrenders to the King’s
Proclamation--The Governor of North Carolina’s
exceeding generosity to him--He marries--The
number of his wives then living--Makes a second
excursion in the way of pirating--Some State
legerdemain betwixt him and the Governor--His
frolics on shore--The merchants apply for a force
against him, and where--A proclamation with a
reward for taking or killing of pirates--Lieutenant
Maynard sent in pursuit of him--Black-beard’s
good intelligence--The lieutenant engages
Black-beard--A most execrable health drank by
Black-beard--The fight bloody; the particulars
of it--Black-beard killed--His sloop taken--The
lieutenant’s conduct--A reflection on the
humours of seamen--Black-beard’s correspondents
discovered by his papers--Black-beard’s desperate
resolution before the fight--The lieutenant and
Governor no very good friends--The prisoners
hanged--Samuel Odell saved, and why--The good
luck of Israel Hands--Black-beard’s mischievous
frolics--His beard described--Several instances
of his wickedness--Some memoranda taken from his
journal--The names of the pirates killed in the
engagement--Of those executed--The value of the
prize 239
CHAPTER II. OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM KID.
Commanded a privateer in the West Indies--Recommended
to the Government by Lord Bellamont, &c.--Not
encouraged--He is sent out in a private
man-of-war with the King’s commission--He
sails for New York--In his way takes a French
banker--Arrived there--Ships more hands--Sails to
Madeira, Bonavista, Cape de Verde Islands, and
Madagascar--Meets three English men-of-war--Meets
with nothing at Madagascar--Goes to the Malabar
coast--Cruises about Mohila and Johanna--Borrows
money and repairs his ship--At Mabbee he takes some
corn--From thence steers for Bab’s Key--He sends a
boat along the coast, and gains intelligence--He
falls in with a fleet, but is obliged to sheer
off--Goes to the Malabar coast--Takes a Moorish
vessel--Treats the men cruelly, and discharges
the vessel--Touches at Carawar, and is suspected
of piracy--Engages a Portuguese man-of-war sent
after him and gets off--Takes a Moor ship under
pretence of her being French--Keeps company
with a Dutch ship--Quarrels with and kills
his gunner--Plunders a Portuguese ship on the
Malabar coast and lets her go--His cooper is
murdered in one of the Malabar Islands--He burns
and pillages several houses--Commands a native
to be shot--He takes the _Queda_, and shares
£200 a man amongst his crew--He cheats the
Indians--Goes to Madagascar--Meets there Culliford
the pirate--Shifts into the _Queda_, and shares
the rest of her cargo--His men desert from him
to forty--Goes to Amboyna--hears he is declared
a pirate in England--Lord Bellamont prints his
justification--A pardon granted to pirates--Avery
and Kid excepted--Kid goes to, and is secured at,
New York--Some of his crew depending on the pardon,
are confined--Sent to England and condemned--Three
excepted--A distinction of the lawyers--Kid found
guilty of the murder of his gunner--Some plead the
king’s pardon to no purpose--Mullins’s plea--Kid’s
plea useless--He and his men indicted--Executed 257
CHAPTER III. OF CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW ROBERTS AND
HIS CREW.
His beginning--Elected captain in the room of
Davis--The speech of Lord Dennis at the
election--Lord Sympton objects against a
papist--The death of Davis revenged--Roberts sails
southward in quest of adventures--The names of the
prizes taken by them--Brazil described--Roberts
falls into a fleet of Portuguese--Boards and
takes the richest ship amongst them--Make the
Devil’s Islands--An unfortunate adventure of
Roberts--Kennedy’s treachery--Irishmen excluded
by Roberts and his crew--Articles sworn to by
them--A copy of them--Some account of the laws and
customs of the pirates--An instance of Roberts’s
cunning--He proceeds again upon business, and takes
prizes--Narrowly escapes being taken--Sails for
the Island Dominico--Another escape--Sails for
Newfoundland--Plunders, sinks, and burns twenty-two
sail in the harbour of Trepassi--Plunders ten sail
of Frenchmen--The mad behaviour of the crew--A
correspondence hinted at--The pirates caressed
at the island of St. Bartholomew--In extreme
distress--Sail for Martinico--A stratagem of
Roberts--The insolent device in his colours--Odd
compliment paid to Roberts--Three men desert the
pirates, and are taken by them--Their trial--Two
executed and one saved--The brigantine deserts
them--Great divisions in the company--A description
of Serra Leone River--The names of English
settled there, and way of life--The _Onslow_
belonging to the African Company taken--The
pirates’ contempt of soldiers--They are for
entertaining a chaplain--Their skirmish with the
Calabar negroes--The _King Solomon_, belonging
to the African Company taken--The frolics of
the pirates--Take eleven sail in Whydah Road--A
comical receipt given by the pirates--A cruel
action of Roberts--Sails for Anna Bona--The
progress of the _Swallow_ man-of-war, in pursuit
of Roberts--Roberts’s consort taken--The bravery
of Skyrme, a Welsh pirate--The surly humour of
some of the prisoners--The _Swallow_ comes up with
Roberts--Roberts’s dress described--Is killed--His
character--His ship taken--The behaviour of the
pirates when prisoners--A conspiracy of theirs
discovered--Reflections on the manner of trying
them--The form of the commission for trying the
pirates--The oath taken by the commissioners--The
names of those arraigned taken in the ship
_Ranger_--The form of the indictment--The
sum of the evidence against them--Their
defence--The names of the prisoners of the _Royal
Fortune_--Proceedings against them--Harry Glasby
acquitted--The particular trial of Captain James
Skyrme--Of John Walden--Of Peter Scudamore--Of
Robert Johnson--Of George Wilson--Of Benjamin
Jeffries--Of John Mansfield--Of William Davis--The
names of those executed at Cape Corso--The petition
of some condemned--The court’s resolution--The
form of an indenture of a pardoned pirate--The
names of those pardoned upon indenture to serve
seven years--The pirates how disposed of--The dying
behaviour of those executed 275
CHAPTER IV. OF CAPTAIN AVERY AND HIS CREW.
Romantic reports of his greatness--His birth--Is mate
of a Bristol man--For what voyage designed--Tampers
with the seamen--Forms a plot for carrying off the
ship--Executes it, and how--The pirates take a rich
ship belonging to the Great Mogul--The Great Mogul
threatens the English settlements--The pirates
steer their course back for Madagascar--Call a
council--Put all the treasure of board of Avery’s
ship--Avery and his crew treacherously leave
his confederates--Go to the Isle of Providence
in the West Indies--Sell the ship--Go to North
America in a sloop--They disperse--Avery goes to
New England--From thence to Ireland--Avery afraid
to expose his diamonds to sale--Goes over to
England--Puts his wealth into merchant’s hands of
Bristol--Changes his name--Lives at Bideford--The
merchants send him no supplies--Importunes
them--Goes privately to Bristol--They threaten
to discover him--Goes over to Ireland--Solicits
them from thence--Is very poor--Works his passage
over to Plymouth--Walks to Bideford--Dies a
beggar--An account of Avery’s confederates--Their
settlement at Madagascar--They meet other
pirates--An account of them--The pirates deposed,
and why--Marooned on the Island Mauritius--Some
account of that island--The adventures of the
company continued--Angria, an Indian pirate--His
strength by land and sea--The East India Company’s
wars with him--The pirates go to the island of
Melinda--Their barbarous behaviour there--Hear
of Captain Mackra’s designs against them--Their
reflections thereupon--Sail for Cochin, a Dutch
settlement--The pirates and the Dutch very good
friends--Mutual presents made between the pirates
and the Governor--The pirates in a fright--Almost
starved--Take a prize of an immense value--Take
an Ostend East Indiaman--A short description
of Madagascar--A prodigious dividend made by
the pirates--A fellow’s way of increasing his
diamonds--Some of the pirates quit, and join the
remains of Avery--The proceedings of the men-of-war
in those parts--Some Dutchmen petition to be
among the pirates--The pirates divided in their
measures--Break up--What became of them 384
[Illustration]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
(1) MORGAN RECRUITING FOR THE ATTACK ON PORTO BELLO (from
a drawing by Howard Pyle) _Frontispiece_
(2) BARTHOLOMEW PORTUGUES (from the portrait in “De
Americaensche Zee Roovers”) _To face p._ 85
(3) LOLONOIS (from the portrait in “De Americaensche Zee
Roovers”) _To face p._ 96
(4) CAPTAIN HENRY MORGAN (from the portrait in “De
Americaensche Zee Roovers”) _To face p._ 178
(5) CAPTAIN TEACH (from the engraving in the second edition
of Johnson’s “General History of the Pyrates”)
_To face p._ 239
(6) CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW ROBERTS (from the engraving in the
second edition of Johnson’s “General History of the
Pyrates”) _To face p._ 300
INTRODUCTION.
I.
Why is it that a little spice of deviltry lends not an unpleasantly
titillating twang to the great mass of respectable flour that goes to
make up the pudding of our modern civilization? And pertinent to this
question another--Why is it that the pirate has, and always has had, a
certain lurid glamour of the heroical enveloping him round about? Is
there, deep under the accumulated _débris_ of culture, a hidden
ground-work of the old-time savage? Is there even in these
well-regulated times an unsubdued nature in the respectable mental
household of every one of us that still kicks against the pricks of
law and order? To make my meaning more clear, would not every boy, for
instance--that is every boy of any account--rather be a pirate captain
than a Member of Parliament? And we ourselves; would we not rather
read such a story as that of Captain Avery’s capture of the East
Indian treasure-ship, with its beautiful princess and load of jewels
(which gems he sold by the handful, history sayeth, to a Bristol
merchant), than--say one of Bishop Atterbury’s sermons or the goodly
Master Robert Boyle’s religious romance of “Theodora and Didymus”? It
is to be apprehended that to the unregenerate nature of most of us,
there can be but one answer to such a query.
In the pleasurable warmth the heart feels in answer to tales of
derring-do, Nelson’s battles are all mightily interesting, but even in
spite of their romance of splendid courage, I fancy that the majority
of us would rather turn back over the leaves of history to read how
Drake captured the Spanish treasure-ship in the South Sea, and of how
he divided such a quantity of booty in the Island of Plate (so named
because of the tremendous dividend there declared) that it had to be
measured in quart bowls, being too considerable to be counted.
Courage and daring, no matter how mad and ungodly, have always a
redundancy of _vim_ and life to recommend them to the nether man that
lies within us, and no doubt his desperate courage, his battle against
the tremendous odds of all the civilized world of law and order have
had much to do in making a popular hero of our friend of the black
flag. But it is not altogether courage and daring that endears him to
our hearts. There is another and perhaps a greater kinship in that
lust for wealth that makes one’s fancy revel more pleasantly in the
story of the division of treasure in the pirate’s island retreat, the
hiding of his godless gains somewhere in the sandy stretch of tropic
beach, there to remain hidden until the time should come to rake the
dubloons up again and to spend them like a lord in polite society,
than in the most thrilling tales of his wonderful escapes from
commissioned cruisers through tortuous channels between the
coral-reefs.
And what a life of adventure is his to be sure! A life of constant
alertness, constant danger, constant escape! An ocean Ishmaelite, he
wanders for ever aimlessly, homelessly; now unheard of for months, now
careening his boat on some lonely uninhabited shore, now appearing
suddenly to swoop down on some merchant-vessel with rattle of
musketry, shouting, yells, and a hell of unbridled passions let loose
to rend and tear.
What a Carlislean hero! What a setting of blood and lust and flame and
rapine for such a hero!
II.
Piracy such as was practised in the flower of its days--that is,
during the early eighteenth century--was no sudden growth. It was an
evolution, from the semi-lawful buccaneering of the sixteenth century,
just as buccaneering was upon its part, in a certain sense, an
evolution from the unorganized, unauthorized warfare of the Tudor
period.
For there was a deal of piratical smack in the anti-Spanish ventures
of Elizabethan days. Many of the adventurers--of the Sir Francis Drake
school, for instance--actually overstepped again and again the bounds
of international law, entering into the realms of _de facto_ piracy.
Nevertheless, while their doings were not recognized officially by the
Government, the perpetrators were neither punished nor reprimanded for
their excursions against Spanish commerce at home or in the West
Indies; rather were they commended, and it was considered not
altogether a discreditable thing for men to get rich upon the spoils
taken from Spanish galleons in times of nominal peace. Many of the
most reputable citizens and merchants of London, when they felt that
the Queen failed in her duty of pushing the fight against the great
Catholic Power, fitted out fleets upon their own account and sent them
to levy good Protestant war of a private nature upon the Pope’s
anointed.
Some of the treasures captured in such ventures were immense,
stupendous, unbelievable. For an example, one can hardly credit the
truth of the “purchase” gained by Drake in the famous capture of the
plate-ship in the South Sea.
One of the old buccaneer writers of a century later says: “The
Spaniards affirm to this day that he took at that time twelve-score
tons of plate and sixteen bowls of coined money a man (his number
being then forty-five men in all), insomuch that they were forced to
heave much of it overboard, because his ship could not carry it all.”
Maybe this was a very greatly exaggerated statement put by the author
and his Spanish authorities, nevertheless there was enough truth in it
to prove very conclusively to the bold minds of the age that
tremendous profits--“purchases” they called them--were to be made from
piracy. The Western World is filled with the names of daring mariners
of those old days, who came flitting across the great trackless ocean
in their little tub-like boats of a few hundred tons burden, partly to
explore unknown seas, partly--largely, perhaps--in pursuit of Spanish
treasure: Frobisher, Davis, Drake, and a score of others.
In this left-handed war against Catholic Spain many of the adventurers
were, no doubt, stirred and incited by a grim, Calvinistic,
Puritanical zeal for Protestantism. But equally beyond doubt the gold
and silver and plate of the “Scarlet Woman” had much to do with the
persistent energy with which these hardy mariners braved the
mysterious unknown terrors of the great unknown ocean that stretched
away to the sunset, there in far away waters to attack the huge,
unwieldy treasure-ladened galleons that sailed up and down the
Caribbean Sea and through the Bahama Channel.
III.
Of all ghastly and terrible things old-time religious war was the most
ghastly and terrible. One can hardly credit nowadays the cold, callous
cruelty of those times. Generally death was the least penalty that
capture entailed. When the Spaniards made prisoners of the English,
the Inquisition took them in hand, and what that meant all the world
knows. When the English captured a Spanish vessel the prisoners were
tortured, either for the sake of revenge or to compel them to disclose
where treasure lay hidden. Cruelty begat cruelty, and it would be hard
to say whether the Anglo-Saxon or the Latin showed himself to be most
proficient in torturing his victim.
When Cobham, for instance, captured the Spanish ship in the Bay of
Biscay, after all resistance was over and the heat of the battle had
cooled, he ordered his crew to bind the captain and all of the crew
and every Spaniard aboard--whether in arms or not--to sew them up in
the mainsail and to fling them overboard. There were some twenty dead
bodies in the sail when a few days later it was washed up on the
shore.
Of course such acts were not likely to go unavenged, and many an
innocent life was sacrificed to pay the debt of Cobham’s cruelty.
Nothing could be more piratical than all this, nevertheless, as was
said, it was winked at, condoned, if not sanctioned, by the law; and
it was not beneath people of family and respectability to take part in
it. But by and by Protestantism and Catholicism began to be at
somewhat less deadly enmity with one another, religious wars were
still far enough from being ended, but the scabbard of the sword was
no longer flung away when the blade was drawn. And so followed a time
of nominal peace, and a generation arose with whom it was no longer
respectable and worthy--one might say a matter of duty--to fight a
country with which one’s own land was not at war. Nevertheless, the
seed had been sown; it had been demonstrated that it was feasible to
practice piracy against Spain and not to suffer therefor. Blood had
been shed and cruelty practised, and once indulged no lust seems
stronger than that of shedding blood and practising cruelty.
Though Spain might be ever so well grounded in peace at home, in the
West Indies she was always at war with the whole world--English,
French, Dutch. It was almost a matter of life or death with her to
keep her hold upon the New World. At home she was bankrupt and, upon
the earthquake of the Reformation, her power was already beginning to
totter and to crumble to pieces. America was her treasure-house, and
from it alone could she hope to keep her leaking purse full of gold
and silver. So it was that she strove strenuously, desperately to keep
out the world from her American possessions--a bootless task, for the
old order upon which her power rested was broken and crumbled for
ever. But still she strove, fighting against fate, and so it was that
in the tropical America it was one continual war between her and all
the world. Thus it came that long after piracy ceased to be allowed at
home, it continued in those far away seas with unabated vigour,
recruiting to its service all that lawless malign element which
gathers together in every newly-opened country where the only law is
lawlessness, where might is right and where a living is to be gained
with no more trouble than cutting a throat.
IV.
Such were the conditions of life that gave rise to that peculiar class
of outlaws and semi-outlaws known as the buccaneers--those pirates,
hunters, and freebooters, whose very name has become a synonym of all
that is lawless, desperate, godless.
Little or nothing is known of the lives and habits of these nomadic
hunter-pirates beyond what is to be found in a short concise history
of some of their greater exploits, written by one of their
number--John Esquemeling by name--who lived with them, and was with
Captain Morgan during his most deservedly famous attack upon the City
of Panama.
The temptation is always great to an editor to interlope his own ideas
of character and his own views of the results to the world of the
world’s happenings; but in the case of the Esquemeling history--though
more serious historians are prone to say that the statements therein
given are not to be depended upon--it should be decidedly hands off.
One touch of the modern brush would destroy the whole tone of dim
local colours of the past made misty by the lapse of time. It needs
the quaint old archaic language of the seventeenth century to tell of
those deeds of blood and rapine and cruelty, and the stiff, formal
style of the author-translator seems in some way to remove those deeds
out of the realms of actuality into the hazy light of romance. So told
the adventures of those old buccaneers still remain a part of humbler
history, but they do not sound so cruel, so revolting as they would be
told in our nineteenth-century vernacular.
And as for the lives of the buccaneers themselves--the account of how
they wrenched Tortuga from Spain, of how they peopled Western
Hispaniola with cattle-killing hunters and desperadoes, of how they
roamed through the tropical rankness of the forests, with their
half-wild dogs and their huge, unwieldy firelock guns, now hunted by
the Spaniards like wild beasts, and now like wild beasts turning at
bay to rend and tear with savage quickness--it would be, if anything,
still more a pity to mar the telling as he tells it with his pithy
conciseness. And then, after all, it is such old histories alone that
can bring one in full touch with the empty shell of a life that is
past and gone, and such a history is doubly, trebly full of interest
when told by an actor who actually lived it in the scenes of which he
writes. And so we leave honest John Esquemeling to tell his own
history in his own way.
However, of the differentiation of the buccaneer pirate from the
buccaneer proper something may, perhaps, be added to aid the reader in
a clearer understanding of the manner in which they came to graduate
from cattle-stealing to throat-cutting.
V.
The buccaneers took their name from a peculiar method of curing beef
by drying it in the sun, which was termed buchanning. The beef so
cured was, itself wild or half-wild cattle, stolen from the
neighbouring Spaniards of the great Island of Hispaniola--the San
Domingo of our day. The chief rendezvous of these nomadic hunters and
curers of meat was upon a little hunch of an island known as Tortuga
de Mar, so called from its supposed resemblance to the sea-turtle. Of
the manner in which the French settled upon this island of the
sea-turtle, of their bloody fights with the Spaniards, of the conquest
of the island by the one, of its recapture by the other, of its
recapture again by the French, the author tells at length. Suffice it
to be said here that, in spite of all the power of Spain, the
buccaneers finally made conquest of Tortuga, and that a French
governor was sent to rule over them.
No better situation could have been found for the trade in which they
were busied. Tortuga, lying as it does off the north-west shore of
Hispaniola and at the outlet of the Old Bahama Channel (a broad
stretch of navigable water extending between the Island of Cuba and
the great Bahama Banks), was almost in the very centre of the main
route of travel between the Western World and Europe, along which the
commerce of the West Indies came and went, ebbed and flowed. It
afforded, perhaps, one of the most convenient ports of the whole
Western World in which home-returning vessels might provision and take
in water. The captains and owners of the trading vessels asked no
questions as to the means whereby cattle were procured. It sufficed
them that the meat was well dried and well cured, and, having been
stolen, was cheaper than that to be had at Porto Bello, Santa
Catharina, and other Spanish ports. So buccaneering (in its proper
sense) was quite a profitable business, and prospered accordingly; the
step from stealing cattle to piracy was not so very great.
Among the buccaneers were to be found the offscourings of all the
French and English West Indies--a mad, savage, unkempt phase of
humanity, wilder than the wildest Western cow-boys--fierce, savage,
lawless, ungoverned, ungovernable. The Spaniards were merely the means
whereby money was to be gained--money to spend in the wild
debaucheries, for which the world has afforded few better
opportunities than were to be found in the Spanish West Indies. The
old days of legalized piracy had never been forgotten, and by and by
it began to be felt by the wild cattle-hunters that beef-curing was
too slow and laborious a means of earning doubloons. It needed only
the leadership of such a one as Pierre le Grand to awaken dormant
piracy to a renewed vigour of life.
Our author only gives us meagre details concerning the result of that
first bold expedition of the buccaneers under Pierre le Grande into
the Carribbean Sea. He tells us but little of the capture of the great
galleon by the pirate crew of the long-boat, and as to the gains made
by the buccaneers upon the occasion he tells us only that “he (Pierre)
set sail for France, carrying with him all the riches he found in that
huge vessel, and that there he continued without ever returning to the
parts of America again.” But though our author does not tell just what
was the plunder taken upon this memorable occasion, it must have been
very considerable indeed, and one can imagine how the success of the
venture set agog all the buccaneers of Tortuga and Hispaniola. One can
fancy what a ferment the rumour of the great capture occasioned; what
a hurrying hither and thither; what a crowding of crews of desperadoes
into long-boats and hoys! It was so infinitely much easier, so vastly
quicker and so much more congenial a means of getting rich upon
ill-gotten gains than the dangerous and monotonous business of hunting
and stealing cattle in an enemy’s country. So, in a little while--a
few years--the West Indian seas were alive with pirates--English,
French, Dutch, and Portuguese.
Nearly always, though our author does not explicitly say so, the
buccaneers appear to have sailed under some semi-official letters of
marque, granted by the colonial governors. It was under such that the
famous Captain Morgan sailed in his expedition against Porto Bello,
Santa Catharina, and Panama. But such unauthorized letters of marque
only made piracy all the more strenuous, unrelaxing, merciless giving
as they did some sanction to the cruel and bloody warfare. French and
English West Indian towns--such, for instance, as Port Royal, in
Jamaica--grew fabulously rich with an unbelievable quickness. In ten
or twelve years Spain had lost millions upon millions of dollars,
which vast treasure was poured in a golden flood into those hot
fever-holes of towns, where Jews and merchants and prostitutes
battened on the burning lusts of the wild hunters whose blood was
already set aflame with plunder and rapine. At last the risks of
Spanish West Indian commerce became so great that no vessel dared
venture out of port, excepting under escort of men-of-war. Even then
they were not secure always of protection, for there are records that
tell of the capture of rich prizes from the very midst of the
surrounding plate fleet.
Cargoes of value from the Western provinces of Central and South
America, instead of being sent to Spain across the Isthmus from Panama
as heretofore, were carried more often by way of the Strait of
Magellan, there being less danger in that long and toilsome voyage
than in the pirate-infested Carribbean Sea in spite of its trade-winds
and steady ocean currents. So it came that by and by the trade of
freebooting no longer returned the great profits that had been one
time realized by those who embarked in it. It seemed for awhile as
though the business were likely to find its death in the very thing
that had given it birth--the weakness of Spanish power, decaying to
ruin.
It was in this time of its threatened decadence that Francis Lolonois
gave a new impulse to the free trade--as it was sometimes called--of
the times.
In the temporary paralysis of commerce vast wealth had gathered and
accumulated in the great treasure-houses of the walled and fortified
towns of the West Indies--Cartagena, Porto Bello, Maracaibo, Havana,
and numerous other centres of Spanish power. It was Lolonois who
conceived the scheme of descending upon these storehouses of treasure,
there to gather in one swoop a prize such as a score of ventures in
times past could not return.
It was upon Maracaibo that the first attack was made, and in the
matter-of-fact way with which our author describes the sacking of that
city and of the town of Gibraltar a picture of a phase of the times is
given, so grim, so terrible, that were it not for the further bearing
out of the impeachable records, we of these days of light might well
doubt that such things could really be in lands calling themselves
Christian. The result of the expedition was all--more than all--that
Lolonois’ most sanguine hopes could have anticipated; and when he
returned in triumph to Tortuga, almost a howl of exultation went up
from all the West Indies not under Spanish rule, for there were many
other and richer towns than Maracaibo.
VI.
It was upon the lines marked out by Lolonois that the greatest of all
the buccaneers reaped fame and wealth--Sir Henry Morgan, the hero of
the author’s book, the Alexander of his history. Of the birth,
parentage, and family of Morgan but little is known, that little being
quite apocryphal in its nature. Our author tells us that he was a
Welshman, as was to be supposed from his name; that he was of good
strain, as was also to be supposed; and that his father was a rich
yeoman. The history further tells us that Captain Morgan was, upon his
first coming to the Americas, sold for his passage, such being the
customary manner of dealing with the steerage passengers of the day.
Having served his time he went to Jamaica, where he entered into the
service of one Mansvelt, a buccaneer of not a little note, and
presently his name becomes famous in the nether history of the period.
Another history, not so picturesque as that written by Esquemeling,
but perhaps more accurate, tells us of the great buccaneer’s having
been commissioned by Sir Thomas Modyford, then Governor of Jamaica, to
levy war upon Spain and other nationalites upon behalf of the King of
England.
As was said before, the governors of the non-Spanish West India
Islands were accustomed to issue such warrants to the buccaneer
privateersmen, but during Sir Thomas Modyford’s time some effort was
beginning to be made by the home governments to put a stop to this
semi-legal piracy. Sir Thomas, who, it was said, shared in the gains
of the freebooters, was carried as prisoner to England to answer for
the assumption of his authority in having declared war against a
nation with whom the country was then at peace. Nevertheless the
latent sympathy of the Government was still on the side of the
buccaneers, and it was on account of his attack upon Panama that
Captain Morgan was created Sir Henry Morgan by his Majesty King
Charles II.
In the historical records of Jamaica his name appears twice as
Lieutenant-Governor: once during the time that Sir Thomas Modyford,
who had granted him commission, was a State prisoner in the
Tower--once, succeeding Charles Earl, of Carlisle, in 1680.
It was perhaps a part of the paradoxical management of State affairs
that he was finally recalled to England in 1683 by order of the
Secretary of State, for breaking the peace with the Spaniards,
contrary to his Majesty’s express orders, and it seems a very fitting
epilogue to the comedy of fate that he should have died in the Tower
of London for the very deeds for which he was knighted.
Such are the bald and meagre details of his life. Of his renown the
world has heard more or less blatant blasts upon the trumpet of Fame
for two hundred years and more, the notes whereof are not a little
attuned to the history of his deeds written by honest John
Esquemeling, the first English edition of which is here edited.
VII.
If, as some assert, the popularity of a book is to be estimated
according to the number of editions through which it passes, the
history of Captain Sir Henry Morgan has, at least in past few
generations, been very dear to English-speaking people.
At least this is true of the Esquemeling history; the first English
edition was printed under date of 1684--about the time that the hero
of it was a State prisoner standing his trial for levying war against
Spain, contrary to his Majesty’s express orders, and for the doing of
those deeds of conquest for which he had once been honoured. Upon the
title page of the quaint old volume is given briefly and concisely the
bibliography of the history to its then condition. That it was
originally written in Dutch, thence translated into Spanish by Alonso
de Bonne-Maison, and now faithfully rendered into English for the
first time.
More particularly, the Dutch history from which the Spanish
translation was taken is a work published at Amsterdam in 1678,
entitled, “De Americaensche Zee Roovers.” A number of other
translations beside the Spanish and English accounts were made
cotemporarily with other European languages, the best known of which
is, perhaps, the French “Histoire des Aventuriers qui se sont signaley
dans les Indies,” published originally in 1686. Another French
edition, considerably enlarged and appearing in four volumes, was
published in 1775.
In each new translation and each new edition the original narrative
was expanded by additional matter. A year or two after the appearance
of the earliest English edition--that of 1684--a second appeared in
the same general form with the first, but with a supplement treating
of the adventures of Captain Sharp, Sawkins, Coxon, and others on the
coasts of the South Sea from the journal kept by Mr. Basil Ringrose.
Both of these two editions are now of considerable rarity, and, being
rather better printed than cotemporary volumes of the kind, and being,
besides, well and interestingly illustrated by portraits of the more
prominent freebooters, curious maps and quaint plates, they are in
considerable esteem with collectors of old books. Of the two the
second edition is the more valued because of the additional matter and
maps, but for ordinary literary purposes the first edition is,
perhaps, more preferable. The whole value of the history culminates
and centres with Captain Morgan, and that part treating of the
adventures of Captain Sparks and the others is not only dull,
protracted, and prosy, but excessively tedious. Accordingly for the
present purposes it has been deemed better to adhere to the scheme of
the first edition, which is in reality a history of Captain Morgan’s
expeditions, rather than to unnecessarily extend the volume upon the
lines more usually followed.
From these two earlier editions has sprung a host of successors. The
second--that containing the adventures of Captain Sharp, Sawkins,
Coxon, and others--with some further additions was reprinted in
Walker’s “British Classics” (12mo, 1810), besides which the history
has appeared in a score of cheaper forms adapted to more popular
reading and far too obscure and too numerous to trace and follow.
In the edition here presented some few changes have been made, some of
the long and tedious bits of description have been omitted, but as a
whole the history of Captain Morgan and his fellow buccaneers stands
almost exactly as originally told by the English translation of the
Spanish translation of the Dutch Buccaneer Pirate Story.
VIII.
It was about 1680-5 that the English Government, as was shown in the
case of Sir Henry Morgan and others, seriously took in hand the
suppression of freebooting. Morgan was only one of many punished for
having at one time or another levied private war upon Spain. Then came
the Peace of Ryswick between France and Spain, which gave the
finishing blow to buccaneering as a semi-legal venture; henceforth
nothing remained but open piracy to those bold spirits, too active in
the ferment of their passions to be contained by the bottle of law.
Both France and England joined in stamping out freebooting, and for a
little while it seemed as if they had succeeded--but it was only for a
little while.
Filibustering and semi-piracy had become too much a part of the life
of the West Indies, and was too thoroughly congenial to those who
sought escape from the restraints of civilization to be thus easily
put an end to. It was only the stem of buccaneering that had been
lopped away by the sword of the law; from the roots sprung a new and
more vigorous offshoot--the flower of Piracy itself. Under the new
order it was no longer Spain alone that suffered, but the lawful
commerce of all nations that became the prey of these ocean wolves.
During the early eighteenth century the Spanish main and adjacent
waters swarmed with pirate crafts, and the fame of their deeds forms a
chapter of popular history that may almost take rank with that which
tells of Robin Hood, Friar Rush, Schinderhannes, and other worthies of
the like kidney of a more or less apocryphal nature.
Who has not heard tell of Black-beard? Who does not know of the name
of the renowned Captain Kid? Who has not heard the famous ballad which
tells of his deeds of wickedness?--a rhythmical chant such as has from
the beginning of time been most taking to the popular ear:--
“Oh! my name is Captain Kid,
As I sailed,
As I sailed,
Oh! my name is Captain Kid,
As I sailed,
Oh! my name is Captain Kid,
And God’s laws I did forbid,
And right wickedly I did
As I sailed.”
So far as the knowledge of the editor of this work extends no such
ballad has been written concerning the doings of that other famous
knight of the black flag whose name is no less renowned in the history
of his kind--Captain Edward Teach, better known as Black-beard. But,
though so far as ballad fame is concerned he is at a disadvantage with
the other, Captain Teach stands _par excellent_ in an unique
personality of his own. Perhaps there are few figures so picturesque
as that suggested in the description of his get-up upon the occasions
of public appearances--the plaited beard, the face smeared black with
gunpowder, the lighted matches thrust under his hat brim, the burning
sparks thereof hanging down about his face. The fiendish grimness of
that figure has made fully as much impression upon the clay of the
past as even that of Captain Kid, in spite of the celebrated song that
emphasizes his fame. But the two together stand head and shoulders
above all others of their kidney as the best-known pirates of the
early eighteenth century. Even to this day it is safe to say that
nowhere along the Atlantic coast of the whole United States, from
Maine to Florida, are their names unknown, and that in all that
stretch of sea-board there is hardly a lonesome sandy beach but is
reputed to have held treasure hidden by the one or the other of them.
Each is the hero of half a hundred legends and fantastically
exaggerated tales, and it was Captain Kid who buried the treasure that
Poe discovered in the delightful romance of “The Gold Bug.”
But, nevertheless, though the fame of these two worthies is so
pre-eminent, there are others only second to them in renown--others
whose names and deeds have also been chronicled by Captain Johnson,
the famous historian of scoundreldom. Captain Bartholomew Roberts, for
instance, if he may not have had the fortune to be so famous as the
two above-mentioned worthies, yet, in his marvellous escapes and deeds
of daring, he well deserves to stand upon the same pedestal of renown.
And Captain Avery, though his history is, perhaps, more apochryphal in
its nature, nevertheless there is sufficient stamina of trust in the
account of his exploits to grant him also place with his more famous
brothers, for the four together--Black-beard, Kid, Roberts, and
Avery--form a galaxy the like of which is indeed hard to match in its
own peculiar brilliancy.
IX.
Through circumstances the hunter name of buccaneers was given to the
seventeenth-century pirates and freebooters; the term “marooners” was
bestowed upon those who followed the same trade in the century
succeeding. The name has in itself a terrible significance. The
dictionary tells us that to maroon is to put ashore as upon a desert
island, and it was from this that the title was derived.
These later pirates--the marooners--not being under the protection of
the West Indian governors, and having no such harbour for retreat as
that, for instance, of Port Royal, were compelled to adopt some means
for the disposal of prisoners captured with their prizes other than
taking them into a friendly port.
Occasionally such unhappy captives were set adrift in the ship’s
boats--with or without provisions, as the case might be. A method of
disposing of them maybe more convenient, certainly more often used,
was to set them ashore upon some desert coast or uninhabited island,
with a supply of water perhaps, and perhaps a gun, a pinch of powder,
and a few bullets--there to meet their fate, either in the slim chance
of a passing vessel or more probably in death.
Nor was marooning the fate alone of the wretched captives of their
piracy; sometimes it was resorted to as a punishment among themselves.
Many a mutinous pirate sailor and not a few pirate captains have been
left to the horrors of such a fate, either to die under the
shrivelling glare of the tropical sun upon some naked sandspit or to
consume in the burning of a tropical fever amid the rank wilderness of
mangroves upon some desert coast.
Hence the name marooners.
X.
As the marooners followed the buccaneers in actual fact, so should
they follow them in the history that treats of West Indian
freebooters.
Nor is it merely a matter of correctness of form to add the more
unusual histories the four famous pirates here incorporated. There is
another, a deeper, a more humanitarian reason for such a sequel. For
is not the history of the savage outlawry of the marooners a
verisemblance of the degeneration, the quick disintegration of
humanity the moment that the laws of God and man are lifted? The Tudor
sea-captains were little else than legalized pirates, and in them we
may see that first small step that leads so quickly into the smooth
downward path. The buccaneers, in their semi-legalized piracy,
succeeded them as effect follows cause. Then as the ultimate result
followed the marooners--fierce, bloody, rapacious, human wild beasts
lusting for blood and plunder, godless, lawless, the enemy of all men
but their own wicked kind.
Is there not a profitable lesson to be learned in the history of such
a human extreme of evil--all the more wicked from being the rebound
from civilization?
Thus, in the present volume, it has been deemed best to add as a
sequel to the redoubtable narrative of the honest Dutchman
Esquemeling, the history, first of Captain Kid--who stood upon a sort
of middle ground between the buccaneers and the marooners proper--and
then the story of the lives of Black-beard, Roberts, and Avery:
roaring, ranting, raving pirates _per se_.
As a rule it is generally difficult to find any actual data, any
tangible history of the popular villain-hero. Now and then the curious
collector of such ephemeral trifles gathers together a few chap-book
histories of such, but as a rule any positive material passes quickly
away and is lost in the oblivion of past things. Their deeds and
actions are usually of small moment in the policy of nations, and it
is only in popular romance and fiction that their name and fame is
embalmed and preserved. But in the case of Kid and of Black-beard,
however, and the more famous pirates and notorious rogues of their
generation--both land-thieves and water-thieves, land-rats and
water-rats--a Pliny has arisen, who has handed down their names and
the history of their deeds to the present time--Captain Charles
Johnson, who, in the earlier half of the eighteenth century collected
and edited numberless chap-book histories of famous pirates and
highwaymen.
As in the case of “The History of the Buccaneers,” Johnson’s works
have gone through numberless editions, so that if by the quantity of
books we measure the popular regard, Black-beard and Kid and Avery
with their land-types--Duval, Shepherd, and Jonathan Wild--have a very
dear place in the hearts of the people.
The first of these collected histories appeared under place and date,
London, 1724, 8vo. It was entitled, “General History of the Pyrates of
the New Providence,” &c., and appeared again in a second edition of
two volumes in 1727. In this history, most quaint and rare, appear the
lives both of Black-beard and Kid, and it is now numbered among the
more interesting and curious of Americana.
In 1734 was published in folio form “The History of Highwaymen and
Pirates,” &c.; but although the history of Black-beard appears in this
edition, that of Captain Kid is, for some reason, omitted. In 1742
followed a second edition of this same history, printed from the
original plates. Both this and the first edition (some of the copies
of which bear the date 1736) are now grown quite rare and curious,
being not often met with outside the libraries of the book-collector.
From them so numerous a progeny had sprung that, as in the case of
“The History of the Buccaneers,” it is almost an impossible task to
follow and particularize them. One of the more notable reprints
appeared in 1839, another with additions by C. Whitehead in 1840, and
again in 1853. These are but a few of a numerous tribe of the grand
family in which these popular heroes act their life under the gaze of
our far-away time.
To them the reader must turn if he would seek further in the dark
passages of such lives as are here presented in the most notorious
examples, perhaps, of all.
HOWARD PYLE.
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE,
_November, 1890_.
THE TRANSLATOR
TO THE
READER (OF 1684).
_The present Volume, both for its Curiosity and Ingenuity, I dare
recommend unto the perusal of our English Nation, whose glorious
actions it containeth. What relateth unto the curiosity hereof, this
Piece, both of Natural and Humane History, was no sooner published in
the =Dutch Original=, than it was snatch’t up for the most curious
Library’s of =Holland=; it was Translated into =Spanish= (two
impressions thereof being sent into =Spain= in one year); it was taken
notice of by the learned Academy of Paris; and finally recommended as
worthy our esteem, by the ingenious Author of the =Weekly Memorials
for the Ingenious=, printed here at =London= about two years ago.
Neither all this undeservedly, seeing it enlargeth our acquaintance of
Natural History, so much prized and enquired for, by the Learned of
this present Age, with several observations not easily to be found in
other accounts already received from =America=: and besides, it
informeth us (with huge novelty) of as great and bold attempts, in
point of Military conduct and valour, as ever were performed by
mankind; without excepting, here, either =Alexander the Great=, or
=Julius Cæsar=, or the rest of the =Nine Worthy’s of Fame=. Of all
which actions, as we cannot confess ourselves to have been ignorant
hitherto (the very name of =Bucaniers= being, as yet, known but unto
few of the =Ingenious=; as their Lives, Laws, and Conversation, are in
a manner unto none) so can they not choose but be admired, out of this
ingenuous Author, by whosoever is curious to learn the various
revolutions of humane affairs. But, more especially by our =English
Nation=; as unto whom these things more narrowly do appertain. We
having here more than half the =Book= filled with the unparallel’d, if
not inimitable, adventures and =Heroick= exploits of our own
Country-men, and Relations; whose undaunted, and exemplary courage,
when called upon by our King and Country, we ought to emulate._
_From whence it hath proceeded, that nothing of this kind was ever, as
yet, published in =England=, I cannot easily determine; except, as
some will say, from some secret =Ragion di Stato=. Let the reason be
as t’will; this is certain, so much the more we are obliged unto this
present Author, who though a stranger unto our Nation, yet with that
Candour and Fidelity hath recorded our Actions, as to render the Metal
of our true English Valour to be the more believed and feared abroad,
than if these things had been divulged by our selves at home. From
hence peradventure will other Nations learn, that the English people
are of their Genius more inclinable to act than to write; seeing as
well they as we have lived unacquainted with these actions of our
Nation, until such time as a Foreign Author to our Country came to
tell them._
_Besides the merits of this Piece for its curiosity, another point of
no less esteem, is the truth and sincerity wherewith everything
seemeth to be penned. No greater ornament or dignity can be added unto
History, either humane or natural, than truth. All other
embellishments, if this be failing, are of little or no esteem; if
this be delivered, are either needless or superfluous. What concerneth
this requisite in our Author, his lines do every-where declare the
faithfulness and sincerity of his mind. He writeth not by hearsay, but
was an eye witness, as he somewhere telleth you, unto all and every
one of the bold and hazardous attempts which he relateth. And these he
delivereth with such candour of stile, such ingenuity of mind, such
plainness of words, such conciseness of periods, so much divested of
Rhetorical Hyperboles, or the least flourishes of Eloquence, so hugely
void of Passion or national Reflections, as that he strongly
perswadeth all-along to the credit of what he saith; yea, raiseth the
mind of the Reader to believe these things far greater than what he
hath said; and having read him, leaveth onely this scruple or concern
behind, that you can read him no longer. In a word, such are his
deserts, that some persons peradventure would not stickle to compare
him to the Father of Historians, =Philip de Comines=; at least thus
much may be said, with all truth imaginable, that he resembleth that
great Author in many of his excellent qualities._
_I know some persons have objected against the greatness of these
prodigious Adventures, intimating that the resistance our =Bucaniers=
found in =America=, was every-where but small. For the =Spaniards=,
say they, in the =West Indies=, are become of late years nothing less,
but rather much more degenerate than in =Europe=. The continual Peace
they have enjoyed in those parts, the defect of Military Discipline,
and =European= Souldiers for their Commanders, much contributing
hereunto. But more especially, and above all other reasons, the very
luxury of the Soil and Riches, the extreme heat of those Countries,
and influence of the Stars being such, as totally inclineth their
bodies unto an infinite effeminacy and cowardize of minds._
_Unto these Reasons I shall only answer in brief. This History will
convince them to be manifestly false. For as to the continual Peace
here alleadged, we know that no Peace could ever be established
=beyond the Line=, since the first possession of the =West-Indies= by
the =Spaniards=, till the burning of =Panama=. At that time, or few
months before, =Sir William Godolphin= by his prudent negotiation in
quality of Embassadour for our most Gracious Monarch, did conclude at
=Madrid= a peace to be observed even =beyond the Line=, and through
the whole extent of the Spanish Dominions in the =West-Indies=. This
transaction gave the Spaniards new causes of complaints against our
proceedings, that no sooner a Peace had been established for those
parts of =America=, but our forces had taken and burnt both =Chagre=,
=St. Catherine=, and =Panama=. But our reply was convincing. That
whereas eight or ten months of time had been allowed by Articles for
the publishing of the said Peace through all the Dominions of both
Monarchies in =America=, those Hostilities had been committed, not
onely without orders from his Majesty of =England=, but also within
the space of the said eight or ten months of time. Until that time the
Spanish Inhabitants of =America= being, as it were, in a perpetual War
with =Europe=, certain it is that no Coasts nor Kingdoms in the World
have been more frequently infested nor alarm’d with the invasions of
several Nations than theirs. Thus from the very beginning of their
Conquests in America, both =English=, =French=, =Dutch=, =Portuguese=,
=Swedes=, =Danes=, =Curlanders=, and all other nations that navigate
the =Ocean=, have frequented the =West-Indies=, and filled them with
their Robberies and Assaults. From these occasions have they been in
continual watch and ward, and kept their =Militia= in constant
exercise, as also their Garrisons pretty well provided and paid; as
fearing every sail they discovered at Sea, to be =Pirats= of one
Nation or another. But much more especially, since that =Curasao=,
=Tortuga=, and =Jamaica= have been inhabited by =English=, =French=,
and =Dutch=, and bred up that race of =Hunts-men=, than which, no
other ever was more desperate, nor more mortal enemies to the
Spaniards, called Bucaniers. Now shall we say, that these People,
through too long continuation of Peace, have utterly abolished the
exercises of War, having been all-along incessantly vexed with the
Tumults and Alarms thereof?_
_In like manner is it false, to accuse their defect of Military
Discipline for want of =European= Commanders. For who knoweth not that
all places, both Military and Civil, through those vast dominions of
the West-Indies, are provided out of =Spain=? And those of the Militia
most commonly given unto expert Commanders, trained up from their
infancy in the Wars of =Europe=, either in =Africa=, =Milan=,
=Sicily=, =Naples=, or =Flanders=, fighting against either =English=,
=French=, =Dutch=, =Portuguese=, or =Moors=? Yea, their very
Garrisons, if you search them in those parts, will peradventure be
found to be stock’d three parts to four with Souldiers both born and
bred in the Kingdom of =Spain=._
_From these Considerations it may be inferr’d, what little difference
ought to be allowed betwixt the Spanish Souldiers, Inhabitants of the
=West-Indies=, and those of =Europe=. And how little the Soil or
Climate hath influenced or caused their Courage to degenerate towards
cowardize or baseness of mind. As if the very same Argument, deduced
from the nature of that Climate, did not equally militate against the
valour of our famous Bucaniers, and represent this to be of as
degenerate Metal as theirs._
_But nothing can be more clearly evinced, than is the Valour of the
=American Spaniards=, either Souldiers or Officers, by the sequel of
this History. What men ever fought more desperately than the Garrison
of =Chagre=? Their number being 314, and of all these, only thirty
remaining; of which number scarce ten were unwounded; and among them,
not one officer found alive? Were not 600 killed upon the spot at
=Panama=, 500 at =Gibraltar=, almost as many more at =Puerto del
Principe=, all dying with their Arms in their hands, and facing
bravely the Enemy for the defence of their Country and private
Concerns? Did not those of the Town of =San Pedro= both =fortifie=
themselves, lay several Ambuscades, and lastly sell their lives as
dear as any European Souldier could do; Lolonois being forced to gain
step by step his advance unto the Town, with huge loss both of bloud
and men? Many other instances might be produced out of this
compendious Volume, of the generous resistance the =Spaniards= made in
several places, though Fortune favoured not their Arms._
_Next, as to the personal Valour of many of their Commanders, What man
ever behaved himself more briskly than the Governour of =Gibraltar=,
than the Governour of =Puerto del Principe=, both dying for the
defence of their Towns; than Don Alonso del Campo, and others? Or what
examples can easily parallel the desperate courage of the Governour of
=Chagre=? who, though the =Palizada’s= were fired, the Terraplens were
sunk into the Ditch, the Breaches were entred, the Houses all burnt
above him, the whole Castle taken, his men all killed; yet would not
admit of any quarter, but chose rather to die under his Arms, being
shot into the brain, than surrender himself as a Prisoner unto the
=Bucaniers=. What Lion ever fought to the last gasp more obstinately
than the Governour of =Puerto Velo=? who, seeing the Town enter’d by
surprizal in the night, one chief Castle blown up into the Air, all
the other Forts and Castles taken, his own assaulted several ways,
both Religious men and women placed at the front of the Enemy to fix
the Ladders against the Walls; yet spared not to kill as many of the
said Religious persons as he could. And at last, the walls being
scaled, the Castle enter’d and taken, all his own men overcome by fire
and smoke, who had cast down their Arms, and begged mercy from the
Enemy; yet would admit of none for his own life. Yea, with his own
hands killed several of his Souldiers, to force them to stand to their
Arms, though all were lost. Yea, though his own Wife and Daughter
begged of him upon their knees that he would save his life by craving
quarter, though the Enemy desired of him the same thing; yet would
hearken to no cries nor perswasions, but they were forced to kill him,
combating with his Arms in his hands, being not otherwise able to take
him Prisoner, as they were desirous to do. Shall these men be said to
be influenced with Cowardize, who thus acted to the very last =Scene=
of their own =Tragedies=? Or shall we rather say that they wanted not
Courage, but Fortune? It being certainly true, that he who is killed
in a Battle, may be equally couragious with him that killeth. And that
whosoever derogateth from the Valour of the =Spaniards= in the
=West-Indies=, diminisheth in like manner the Courage of the
=Bucaniers=, his own Country-men, who have seemed to act beyond mortal
men in =America=._
_Now, to say something concerning =John Esquemeling=, the first Author
of this History. I take him to be a =Dutch-man=, or at least born in
=Flanders=, notwithstanding that the Spanish Translation representeth
him to be Native of the Kingdom of =France=. His printing this History
originally in Dutch, which doubtless must be his native Tongue, who
otherwise was but an illiterate man, together with the very sound of
his name, convincing me thereunto. True it is, he set sail from
=France=, and was some years at Tortuga; but neither of these two
Arguments, drawn from the History, are prevalent. For were he to be a
=French-man= born, how came he to learn the =Dutch= language so
perfectly as to prefer it to his own? Especially that not being spoken
at =Tortuga= nor =Jamaica=, where he resided all the while._
_I hope I have made this English Translation something more plain and
correct than the Spanish. Some few notorious faults either of the
Printer or the Interpreter, I am sure I have redressed. But the
Spanish Translator complaining much of the intricacy of Stile in the
Original (as flowing from a person who, as hath been said, was no
Scholar) as he was pardonable, being in great haste, for not rendring
his own Version so distinct and elaborate as he could desire; so must
I be excused from the one, that is to say, Elegancy, if I have
cautiously declined the other, I mean Confusion._
THE HISTORY
OF THE
BUCCANEERS OF AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
The introduction--The author sets forth for the Western Islands,
in the service of the West-India Company of France--They
meet with an English frigate, and arrive at the Island of
Tortuga.
We set sail from Havre-de-Grace in France, from whence we set sail in
the ship called _St. John_, May 2, 1666. Our vessel was equipped with
twenty-eight guns, twenty mariners, and two hundred and twenty
passengers, including those whom the company sent as free passengers.
Soon after we came to an anchor under the Cape of Barfleur, there to
join seven other ships of the same West-India company, which were to
come from Diep, under convoy of a man-of-war, mounted with
thirty-seven guns, and two hundred and fifty men. Of these ships two
were bound for Senegal, five for the Caribbee islands, and ours for
Tortuga. Here gathered to us about twenty sail of other ships, bound
for Newfoundland, with some Dutch vessels going for Nantz, Rochel, and
St. Martin’s, so that in all we made thirty sail. Here we put
ourselves in a posture of defence, having noticed that four English
frigates, of sixty guns each, waited for us near Aldernay. Our
admiral, the Chevalier Sourdis, having given necessary orders, we
sailed thence with a favourable gale, and some mists arising, totally
impeded the English frigates from discovering our fleet. We steered
our course as near as we could to the coast of France, for fear of the
enemy. As we sailed along, we met a vessel of Ostend, who complained
to our admiral, that a French privateer had robbed him that very
morning; whereupon we endeavoured to pursue the said pirate; but our
labour was in vain, not being able to overtake him.
Our fleet, as we sailed, caused no small fears and alarms to the
inhabitants of the coasts of France, these judging us to be English,
and that we sought some convenient place for landing. To allay their
fright, we hung out our colours; but they would not trust us. After
this we came to an anchor in the bay of Conquet in Brittany, near
Ushant, there to take in water. Having stored ourselves with fresh
provisions here, we prosecuted our voyage, designing to pass by the
Ras of Fontenau, and not expose ourselves to the Sorlingues, fearing
the English that were cruising thereabouts. The river Ras is of a
current very strong and rapid, which, rolling over many rocks,
disgorges itself into the sea, on the coast of France, in 48 deg. 10
min. latitude; so that this passage is very dangerous, all the rocks,
as yet, being not thoroughly known.
Here I shall mention the ceremony, which, at this passage, and some
other places, is used by the mariners, and by them called baptism,
though it may seem little to our purpose. The master’s mate clothed
himself with a ridiculous sort of garment, that reached to his feet,
and on his head he put a suitable cap, made very burlesque; in his
right hand he had a naked wooden sword, and in his left a pot full of
ink: his face was horribly blacked with soot, and his neck adorned
with a collar of many little pieces of wood. Thus apparelled, he
commanded every one to be called who had never passed through that
dangerous place before; and then, causing them to kneel down, he made
the sign of the cross on their foreheads, with ink, and gave every one
a stroke on the shoulders with his wooden sword. Meanwhile, the
standers-by cast a bucket of water upon each man’s head; and so ended
the ceremony. But that done, each of the baptized must give a bottle
of brandy, placing it nigh the main-mast, without speaking a word;
even those who have no such liquor not being excused. If the vessel
never passed that way before, the captain is obliged to distribute
some wine among the mariners and passengers; but as for other gifts,
which the newly-baptized frequently offer, they are divided among the
old seamen, and of them they make a banquet among themselves.
The Hollanders likewise, not only at this passage, but also at the
rocks called Berlingues, nigh the coast of Portugal, in 39 deg. 40
min. (being a passage very dangerous, especially by night, when, in
the dark, the rocks are not distinguishable, the land being very high)
they use some such ceremony: but their manner of baptizing is very
different from that of the French; for he that is to be baptized is
fastened, and hoisted up thrice, at the main-yard’s end, as if he were
a criminal. If he be hoisted the fourth time, in the name of the
Prince of Orange, or of the captain of the vessel, his honour is more
than ordinary. Thus every one is dipped several times in the main
ocean; but he that is dipped first has the honour of being saluted
with a gun. Such as are not willing to fall, must pay twelve pence for
ransom; if he be an officer, two shillings; and if a passenger, at
their own pleasure. If the ship never passed that way before, the
captain is to give a small rundlet of wine, which, if he denies, the
mariners may cut off the stem of the vessel. All the profit accruing
by this ceremony is kept by the master’s mate, who, after reaching
their port, usually lays it out in wine, which is drank amongst the
ancient seamen. Some say this ceremony was instituted by the Emperor
Charles V. though it is not amongst his laws. But here I leave these
sea customs, and return to our voyage.
Having passed the Ras, we had very good weather, till we came to Cape
Finis Terræ: here a sudden tempest surprised us, and separated our
ship from the rest that were in our company. This storm continued
eight days; in which time it would move compassion to see how
miserably the passengers were tumbled to and fro, on all sides of the
ship; insomuch, that the mariners, in the performance of their duty,
were compelled to tread upon them. This boisterous weather being over,
we had very favourable gales again, till we came to the tropic of
Cancer. This tropic is an imaginary circle, which astronomers have
invented in the heavens, limiting the progress of the sun towards the
north pole. It is placed in the latitude of 23 deg. 30 min. Here we
were baptized a second time, as before. The French always perform this
ceremony at the tropic of Cancer, as also under the tropic of
Capricorn. In this part of the world we had very favourable weather,
at which we were very glad, because of our great want of water; for
that element was so scarce with us, that we were stinted to two half
pints a man every day.
About the latitude of Barbadoes, we met an English frigate, or
privateer, who first began to give us chase; but finding herself not
to exceed us in force, presently got away: hereupon, we pursued her,
firing several guns, eight-pounders, at her; but at length she
escaped, and we returned to our course. Soon after, we came within
sight of Martinico. We were bent to the coast of the isle of St.
Peter, but were frustrated by a storm, which took us hereabouts. Hence
we resolved to steer to Gaudaloupe, yet we could not reach this
island, by reason of the said storm; so that we directed our course to
the isle of Tortuga, being the very same land we were bound to. We
passed along the coast of Punta Rica, which is extremely agreeable and
delightful to the sight, being adorned with beautiful woods, even to
the tops of the mountains. Then we discovered Hispaniola (of which I
shall give a description), and we coasted about it till we came to
Tortuga, our desired port. Here we anchored, July 7, in the same year,
not having lost one man in the voyage. We landed the goods that
belonged to the West-India company, and, soon after, the ship was sent
to Cal de Sac with some passengers.