THE BRETHREN OF THE MAIN
Although from the time that handful of refugees took Tortuga from the
Spaniards the island was nominally French, yet it was ever, to all
intents and purposes, buccaneer. Even the governors, appointed by
France, were in hearty sympathy with the freebooters and were no better
than their fellows. Moreover, the inhabitants of the isle were not by
any means all French. Attracted by the freedom of the place, the
opportunities for the semi-wild life of buccanning, in its original
sense, and the chances of “emprizing,” as they put it, against the
Dons, adventurous souls from far and near flocked to Tortuga.
Principally they were English or French, but there were not a few
Dutch, a number of Portuguese, a sprinkling of Spanish, and an endless
number of mixed breeds and men without any definite country. But, once
in Tortuga, all differences of blood, religion, and profession, as well
as of social status, were cast aside and forgotten, and they became
once and for all buccaneers, [8] bound together as “Brethren of the
Main.” And, curious as it may seem, these men, although absolutely
unprincipled and ruthless where others were concerned, were marvelously
honest and square among themselves, and with the Indians with whom they
came in contact. Of course this was a case of necessity rather than of
choice, for they realized that only by faithfulness and integrity with
one another could they succeed, and that the Indians were essential to
them, as pilots, hunters, fishermen, and guides. It is also a fact,
although lurid fiction and stories by those who know little or nothing
of buccaneer history would have us believe otherwise, that as a rule
these pirates were far more humane in their treatment of prisoners than
the regular soldiery and naval forces of their day. But, like their
dealings with the Indians, this consideration for their enemies and
captives was to the buccaneers’ advantage. They well knew, “by divers
experiences,” that unless they gave quarter to their prisoners and
released captives upon payment of ransom their own fellows would be put
to torture and the sword when captured by the Spaniards. Moreover,
through the gratitude of prisoners whom they spared, or even aided, the
pirates gained much valuable information,—far more, in fact, than
through torture,—and on more than one occasion the buccaneers who fell
into the Dons’ hands were treated courteously and were even helped on
their way by those who had received similar treatment from the
freebooters.
Of course there were exceptions to this. Such men as Montbars, Morgan,
Lolonais, and a few others seemed to glory in torture and murder, and
proved themselves fiends incarnate; and it was the deeds committed by
such men that gave the reputation for bloodthirstiness to all. In
addition, after the buccaneers had scattered and were no longer an
organized body, but carried on their piratical ventures as individuals
and were hunted by all nations, they deteriorated and became mere
pirates, who robbed and killed friend and foe with equal impartiality.
When the buccaneers first came into being, and for many years
thereafter, France and England were at war with Spain, and so raids and
attacks upon the Dons were considered legal warfare, and even long
after peace was established between the powers the buccaneers preyed
only upon their hereditary enemies the Spaniards. But as time passed
and the authorities, in order to preserve peace, were compelled to
apprehend and hang the most notorious of the buccaneers, the remainder
looked upon every peaceful man as their enemy and considered legitimate
prey every ship they could overpower. They burned, sacked, and
destroyed whenever opportunity offered, regardless of flag or
nationality.
At first the buccaneers were compelled to make their raids in small
boats,—bateaux and pirogues, or dugout canoes,—for they had no ships of
their own. But this handicap did not deter them in the least. The fact
that a contemplated prize was a great galleon bristling with guns and
swarming with armed men did not discourage them, but rather made them
the more keen to take her. Manning their little craft, the buccaneers
pulled or paddled or sailed toward their prey, steering in such a way
as to avoid the heaviest fire of the enemy’s guns (and it must be
remembered that with the clumsy, short-range, far from accurate cannon
of those days a moving small boat was a difficult mark to hit), and
meantime keeping up a steady fusillade of small arms. Literally walking
arsenals, trained marksmen, and accustomed to hunting wild cattle, the
pirates usually succeeded in killing the helmsman of the enemy’s ship,
as well as many of the gunners. Running under the vessel’s stern, they
would make fast, wedge the rudder of their prize, and with knives in
teeth swarm up chains and rigging and pour over the rail like a pack of
fiends. Nothing could withstand the onslaught of this savage crew, who,
yelling and cursing, poured over the bulwarks, cutlass in one hand,
pistol in the other, and shooting, slashing, and thrusting like madmen,
oblivious of wounds, regardless of death, hacked and slew and seemed to
be everywhere at once.
It was thus that Sharp and his men took the Spanish fleet and came into
possession of The Most Blessed Trinity in the harbor of Panama, and the
annals of the buccaneers are filled with similar deeds. The ship in
their hands, as a rule they either put the ordinary survivors of the
battle ashore or set them adrift in a boat, retained the captain and
his officers as prisoners for ransom, and took possession of any women
who might be aboard.
Having by such means secured seaworthy sailing-vessels, the buccaneers
were able to extend operations, and after eliminating the fancy
gilt-work and lofty stern castles, the luxuriant fittings, and all
unnecessary gear of their prizes, they would man them with crews of
several hundred each and set forth on their forays.
They seldom built ships of their own, but by selecting the handiest and
swiftest of their prizes and rerigging and refitting them to suit their
own special needs, they gradually accumulated a fleet of ships which
were noted for speed and stanchness. Moreover, the larger vessels were
seldom used. The pirates required craft which could dodge among reefs
and slip through shoal waters where the big men-of-war could not
follow, and it was only now and then that a buccaneer ship carried more
than eight guns, the usual number being four or six. The pirates
depended more upon seamanship and marksmanship than mere weight of
metal or thundering broadsides, although on some of their later and
larger enterprises they used ships carrying forty guns or more.
When we consider the heterogeneous character of their crews, and the
varied antecedents and training of those who made up their number, it
is not surprising that the corsairs succeeded against tremendous odds.
In addition to the true Tortugan hunters and buccaneers there were
logwood-cutters from the Central American coast and the bay islands,
ex-soldiers and sailors, Indians, criminals from prisons and gaols,
outlaws and bandits—all men who were trained in the use of arms, of
immense physical strength and endurance, with an extraordinary power to
undergo hunger, thirst, and other hardships, and with an utter
disregard for death or bodily suffering.
The strangest part of it was that this riffraff of adventurers was
amenable to discipline. When afloat or on one of their forays they
obeyed their leaders implicitly and were true to them even in the face
of torture or death. They never betrayed their comrades, would risk
their lives to help another buccaneer, and would share their last
centavo or their rags with a Brother of the Main at any time.
Another interesting fact is that these buccaneers were the inventors of
life and accident insurance, or we might better say employees’
compensation laws. Before starting on a cruise they made their
preparations in a most efficient way and provided for all
contingencies.
When a pirate leader decided that it was time to go a-pirating he would
give out word of his intention and call for volunteers, each man who
presented himself for the venture being supposed to bring his own arms,
ammunition, and supplies. The next step was to provide food for the
voyage, and the buccaneers, seeing no reason to use their own resources
for the purchase of supplies which could be had for the taking,
thereupon made a sortie against the nearest Spanish possession, held up
and robbed a few corrals, and, buccanning the cattle and swine thus
economically acquired, stocked the commissary department. The next step
was to arrange shares of the prospective loot, and to draw up articles
in writing very particularly setting forth the sum each man was to
receive for his services, said sum to be taken from the “common stock”
as it was called, or, in other words, the total value of prizes and
loot secured; for their unalterable rule was “No prey, no pay.”
First it was settled by vote what the captain was to receive for his
services or the use of his ship (for very often the skipper was merely
the owner of the vessel and was no navigator), then what the salaries
of the other men, such as the carpenter, the steward, the gunners, the
surgeon, were to be. Then it was agreed that the provisions and liquors
should be paid for, recompense being given the individuals who had
secured them. Finally came the matter of insurance, and a very complete
schedule was drawn up, with exact provisions for payment for nearly
every form of injury or wound. This varied somewhat according to the
danger of the undertaking, but as a rule it was about six hundred
pieces of eight for the loss of a right arm; five hundred pieces of
eight for a left arm; the same for a right leg; four hundred for a left
leg; one hundred pieces of eight for an eye, the same for a finger, and
one thousand for total disability or death. In every case slaves might
be taken in lieu of cash, the value of slaves, either white or black,
male or female, being fixed at one hundred pieces of eight each. It was
also provided that after the payment of all the aforesaid “salaries,”
refunds, and compensations the remainder of the loot should be equally
divided among the survivors of the expedition, with the exception of
the captain and other officers, the former always receiving five or six
shares to each share of the men, and the others in proportion.
In addition to all this, each member of the company was compelled to
take a solemn oath (not infrequently signed in blood) not to conceal,
hide, or keep anything for himself, to turn all loot into the common
fund, and to abide by the articles of agreement, obey his leaders, and
not desert. The penalty for violation of this oath varied all the way
from death to being marooned, forfeiting a share in the plunder, or
being drummed out of the Brethren, according to the extent of the
delinquent’s offense.
Seldom, however, was it necessary to inflict any of these punishments,
for it was extremely rare for a buccaneer to violate his oath or break
his promises. It was largely this remarkable loyalty, this honor among
themselves, their wonderful organization, their supreme confidence in
their leaders, that enabled the buccaneers successfully to engage
trained troops outnumbering them ten to one, to storm and take
supposedly impregnable fortresses, and to sack towns in the heart of
the enemy’s country. To be sure, the prominent members of the
brotherhood were born leaders, able executives, men of almost
superhuman bravery and physical strength; in almost any legitimate
undertaking they would have succeeded as well as in their chosen
profession of piracy, and their personal courage and magnetism caused
their followers to look upon them almost as demigods. The buccaneers
would flock by thousands to the call of Mansvelt, Pierre le Grand,
Michael le Basque, Alexandre, John Davis, Lolonais, De Graaf, or
Morgan, and, regardless of how perilous the undertaking in hand, would
follow them through untold horrors and sufferings, through hunger and
thirst, through blood and fire; laughing at death, jeering at
privations, and faithful to the last. To be sure, they were men to whom
fighting and pillage were as the very breath of life, and in those
days, when a man’s life was valued at only one thousand pieces of eight
(approximately one thousand dollars), the bait was large enough to
warrant any one taking long chances. Not infrequently a successful
foray would result in so vast an amount of loot that when the prizes
were divided even the common sailors would receive as much as five
thousand pieces of eight as their share for a few weeks’ work. The
purchasing power of such a sum was then equivalent to about a quarter
of a million at the present time. We can readily imagine what risks men
of the rough, buccaneer type would take to-day, what hardships they
would undergo, and what atrocities they would be willing to commit with
a reward of quarter of a million dollars dangling before their eyes,
and with virtually no risk of punishment for their actions.
Moreover, the great buccaneer leaders rose almost without exception
from the rank and file, by sheer force of character as well as through
savagery and cruelty, and very often they were chosen by popular vote
of the men. Roche or Rock Brasiliano, a German by birth, who was given
his nickname because he had lived long in Brazil, was thus elected
captain by men who with him deserted their ship after a disagreement
with their commander. Within a few days, this fellow who hitherto had
been an inconspicuous sailor succeeded in taking a great Spanish
galleon and a vast amount of loot. This at once gave him prestige as a
leader, and followers flocked to his standard. But Brasiliano was a
degenerate and brutal rascal, who, in the words of Esquemelling (who
served under him) “had no good behavior or government over himself in
his domestic or private affairs and would oftentimes show himself
brutal or foolish, running up and down the streets in drink, beating
and wounding whom he met.” A most unpleasant personage to have about,
even in a buccaneer town! His cruelty was such as even to bring
protests from his fellow pirates, his favorite pastime being to roast
prisoners alive on revolving spits over slow fires. But he was
undeniably brave, and on one occasion, when shipwrecked on the coast of
Yucatan and marching overland with less than thirty survivors from his
ill-fated ship, Brasiliano and his men attacked and routed over one
hundred Spanish cavalrymen. Taking possession of the Dons’ horses, they
continued on their way, and made themselves masters of the Spanish
fleet riding to anchor off the coast of Campeche. Brasiliano was a
resourceful scoundrel, and when later he was cast into a dungeon after
being captured during an espionage tour of the city of Campeche, which
he planned to take, he won his freedom by sending the Spanish governor
a letter purporting to come from the commandant of a buccaneer flotilla
and threatening dire vengeance if the prisoner were not instantly
released.
John Davis, a native Jamaican, also was elected captain and later
admiral of the buccaneers because of his signal bravery as a common
mariner. His most noteworthy venture was the sacking of San Juan,
Nicaragua, and the taking of over fifty thousand dollars’ worth of
loot. Later he attacked and sacked St. Augustine, Florida, without the
loss of a man. Moreover, Davis, according to his historians, was a
gentlemanly rascal and very “kind and considerate even when in his
cups,” a decided contrast to Brasiliano in this respect.
Probably the most atrociously cruel of the buccaneers who made Tortuga
their home was Francis L’Ollonais (usually spelled Lolonais), who, born
in France, was sold as a slave in the West Indies, and, escaping,
reached the French settlement at Tortuga. Like Brasiliano and others,
Lolonais was for some time an ordinary seaman, but his daring and
ability attracted the attention of Governor de la Place, who provided
the promising young pirate with a ship and grub-staked him in the gay
game of buccaneering. For a time Lolonais was extremely lucky and took
ship after ship and sacked town after town successfully, meanwhile
piling up a comfortable fortune for himself and his sponsor, Monsieur
de la Place. But the inhumanities he practised were so unspeakable that
even his own men became disgusted with him. Moreover, his fortunes
turned, and after he had lost his ship on the coast of Yucatan his men
were routed and he himself was seriously wounded. Eventually, however,
by marching overland, he reached Campeche, entered the city in
disguise, secured the services of a few slaves, and in a small boat
returned to Tortuga. Here he equipped an expedition and sailed for
Maracaibo, which he took and held for over two months, finally
departing, after having committed every form of atrocity and
abomination, with booty valued at more than half a million dollars.
Thus having recouped his fortunes and again established himself in the
favor of his fellows and the governor, this “most execrable scoundrel,”
as Esquemelling calls him, set sail to ravish the coasts of Cuba and
Central America. For a time he succeeded beyond all expectations,
taking countless ships and towns, his blood-lust and cruelty ever
increasing with his victories. He had, in fact, become a veritable
monster in human form, no doubt actually insane, until his men openly
expostulated. The culmination came when, in Honduras, marching on
Puerto Caballos, Lolonais took a number of Spanish prisoners, whom he
questioned regarding the routes to the city. Being dissatisfied with
the replies, he flew into a passion and, seizing one of the prisoners,
he slashed open the fellow’s breast with his cutlass, tore out his
still living heart, and began to bite and gnaw at it with his teeth,
like a ravenous beast. Shortly after this cannibalistic exhibition of
his fury he was again shipwrecked, losing all the booty he had won and
many of his men. Nothing daunted, Lolonais prepared to build a
long-boat in which to continue his depredations. At the mouth of the
San Juan River in Nicaragua he was attacked by Spaniards and Indians,
and most of his surviving men were killed. Defeated for the first time,
he decided to go southward and attack Cartagena, depending, as was the
custom of the buccaneers, upon securing canoes and provisions from the
Kuna Indians of Darien. But so utterly despicable had he been that even
the savage Kunas had turned against him. To quote Esquemelling once
more:
Hither L’Ollonais came (being rather brought by his evil conscience
that cried for punishment of his crimes) thinking to act in this
country his former cruelties. But the Indians within a few days
after his arrival took him prisoner and tore him to pieces alive,
throwing his body limb by limb into the fire and his ashes into the
air, to the intent no trace or memory might remain of such an
infamous inhuman creature. Thus ended the life and history and
miserable death of that infernal wretch L’Ollonais who, full of
horrid, execrable and enormous deeds, and also debtor to so much
innocent blood, died by cruel and butcherly hands, such as his own
were in the course of his life.
Surely, when a fellow pirate and one of his own companions penned such
an indictment, we may safely consider Lolonais the most outrageous
rascal who ever scourged the Spanish Main.
It was owing partly to the inhuman methods of the French buccaneers,
such as Lolonais, partly to jealousies and the fact that the French
were favored, partly to natural distrust and dislike for one another,
and partly to more or less loyalty to their own governments, that the
British pirates and the French freebooters of Tortuga began to quarrel.
At first it was merely a matter of brawls among the men, but gradually
the breach widened; armed parties of French and British clashed, riots
took place, and at last open antagonism broke out and the French,
outnumbering the English, in 1641 drove their erstwhile allies from the
island. Scattering about the Caribbean, the English freebooters
established themselves here and there among the Virgin Islands, on the
Bay Islands, in Samana Bay, and elsewhere, until in 1654, when Penn and
Venables sought to take Jamaica from Spain, they rallied under the
British ensign and joined the navy of their king.
It was largely owing to the part the English buccaneers took in this
concerted attack on Jamaica, in which they won the admiration of the
British admirals and officers for their courage and resourcefulness,
that Jamaica became a colony of the English crown. The acquisition of
this island by the British provided the English buccaneers with a base
for their operations and a safe refuge, and for many years Jamaica—or,
rather Port Royal, its chief port—became the most notorious resort of
the pirates.