[Illustration: A FIERCE DUEL
After exchanging shots, when Teach (Blackbeard) was wounded they drew
their swords and fiercely attacked each other. Maynard’s sword broke
in his hand and had it not been for one of his own men, who wounded
Blackbeard in the throat, the duel would have ended then.]
DARING DEEDS
OF
FAMOUS PIRATES
TRUE STORIES OF THE STIRRING ADVENTURES,
BRAVERY AND RESOURCE OF PIRATES,
FILIBUSTERS & BUCCANEERS
BY
LT.-COM. E. KEBLE CHATTERTON, R.N.V.R
B.A. (OXON.),
AUTHOR OF “THE ROMANCE OF THE SHIP” “FORE AND AFT”
“SAILING SHIPS AND THEIR STORY”
_&c. &c. &c._
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOURS
LONDON
SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED
196 SHAFTESBURY AVENUE
MDCCCCXXIX
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE EARLIEST PIRATES 17
II. THE NORTH SEA PIRATES 29
III. PIRACY IN THE EARLY TUDOR TIMES 37
IV. THE CORSAIRS OF THE SOUTH 48
V. THE WASPS AT WORK 60
VI. GALLEYS AND GALLANTRY 70
VII. PIRACY IN ELIZABETHAN TIMES 79
VIII. ELIZABETHAN SEAMEN AND TURKISH PIRATES 89
IX. THE STUART NAVY GOES FORTH AGAINST THE “PYRATS” 101
X. THE GOOD SHIP _EXCHANGE_ OF BRISTOL 114
XI. A WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENT 126
XII. THE GREAT SIR HENRY MORGAN 136
XIII. “BLACK BEARD” TEACH 151
XIV. THE STORY OF CAPTAIN KIDD 162
XV. THE EXPLOITS OF CAPTAIN AVERY 172
XVI. A “GENTLEMAN” OF FORTUNE 183
XVII. PAUL JONES, PIRATE AND PRIVATEER 196
XVIII. A NOTORIOUS AMERICAN PIRATE 210
XIX. THE LAST OF THE ALGERINE CORSAIRS 217
XX. PIRATES OF THE PERSIAN GULF 224
XXI. THE STORY OF AARON SMITH 235
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A FIERCE DUEL _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
A DARING ATTACK 54
GALLEY SLAVES 76
GALLANTRY AGAINST ODDS 90
BLIGHTED HOPES 104
BOMBARDMENT OF ALGIERS 220
ATTACKING A PIRATE STRONGHOLD 232
NOTE
The contents of this book have been taken from Lieutenant Keble
Chatterton’s larger and more expensive volume entitled The Romance of
Piracy.
THE ROMANCE OF PIRACY
CHAPTER I
THE EARLIEST PIRATES
I suppose there are few words in use which at once suggest so much
romantic adventure as the words pirate and piracy. You instantly conjure
up in your mind a wealth of excitement, a clashing of lawless wills, and
there pass before your eyes a number of desperate dare-devils whose life
and occupation are inseparably connected with the sea.
The very meaning of the word, as you will find on referring to a Greek
dictionary, indicates one who _attempts_ to rob. In classical times there
was a species of Mediterranean craft which was a light, swift vessel
called a _myoparo_ because it was chiefly used by pirates. Since the
Greek verb _peirao_ means literally “to attempt,” so it had the secondary
meaning of “to try one’s fortune in thieving on sea.” Hence a _peirates_
(in Greek) and _pirata_ (in Latin) signified afloat the counterpart
of a brigand or highwayman on land. To many minds piracy conjures up
visions that go back no further than the seventeenth century: but though
it is true that during that period piracy attained unheard-of heights
in certain seas, yet the avocation of sea-robbery dates back very much
further.
Robbery by sea is certainly one of the oldest professions in the world.
I use the word profession advisedly, for the reason that in the earliest
days to be a pirate was not the equivalent of being a pariah and an
outcast. It was deemed just as honourable then to belong to a company of
pirates as it is to-day to belong to the navy of any recognised power.
It is an amusing fact that if in those days two strange ships met on
the high seas, and one of them, hailing the other, inquired if she were
a pirate or a trader, the inquiry was neither intended nor accepted as
an insult, but a correct answer would follow. It is a little difficult
in these modern days of regular steamship routes and powerful liners
which have little to fear beyond fog and exceptionally heavy weather,
to realise that every merchant ship sailed the seas with fear and
trepidation. When she set forth from her port of lading there was little
certainty that even if the ship herself reached the port of destination,
her cargo would ever be delivered to the rightful receivers. The ship
might be jogging along comfortably, heading well up towards her destined
port, when out from the distance came a much faster and lighter vessel
of smaller displacement and finer lines. In a few hours the latter would
have overhauled the former, the scanty crew of the merchantman would have
been thrown into the sea or pressed into the pirate’s service, or else
taken ashore to the pirate’s haunt and sold as slaves. The rich cargo of
merchandise could be sold or bartered when the land was reached, and the
merchant ship sunk or left to wallow in the Mediterranean swell.
It is obvious that because the freight ship had to be big-bellied to
carry the maximum cargo she was in most instances unable to run away from
the swift-moving pirate except in heavy weather. But in order to possess
some means of defence it was not unusual for these peaceful craft to be
provided with turrets of great height, from which heavy missiles could
be dropped on to the attacking pirate. In the bows, in the stern and
amidships these erections could easily be placed and as quickly removed.
And as a further aid oars would be got out in an endeavour to accelerate
the ship’s speed. For whilst the pirate relied primarily on oars, the
trader relied principally on sail power. Therefore in fine settled
weather, with a smooth sea, the low-lying piratical craft was at its
best. It could be manœuvred quickly, it could dart in and out of little
bays, it could shelter close in to the shore under the lee of a friendly
reef, and it was, because of its low freeboard, not easy to discern at
any great distance, unless the sea was literally smooth. But all through
history this type of vessel has been shown to be at a disadvantage as
soon as it comes on to blow and the unruffled surface gives way to high
crest and deep furrows.
It is as impossible to explain the growth of piracy as it is to define
precisely the call of the sea. A man is born with a bias in favour of
the sea or he is not: there is no possibility of putting that instinct
into him if already he has not been endowed with that attitude. So also
we know from our own personal experience, every one of us, that whilst
some of our own friends fret and waste in sedentary pursuits, yet from
the time they take to the sea or become explorers or colonisers they
find their true _métier_. The call of the sea is the call of adventure
in a specialised form. It has been said, with no little truth, that
many of the yachtsmen of to-day, if they had been living in other ages,
would have gone afloat as pirates or privateers. And so, if we want to
find an explanation for the amazing historical fact that for century
after century, in spite of all the efforts which many a nation made
to suppress piracy, it revived and prospered, we can only answer that,
quite apart from the lust of wealth, there was at the back of it all that
love of adventure, that desire for exciting incident, that hatred of
monotonous security which one finds in so many natures. A distinguished
British admiral remarked the other day that it was his experience
that the best naval officers were usually those who as boys were most
frequently getting into disfavour for their adventurous escapades. It is,
at any rate, still true that unless the man or boy has in him the real
spirit of adventure, the sea, whether as a sport or profession, can have
but little fascination for him.
International law and the growth of navies have practically put an end to
the profession of piracy, though privateering would doubtless reassert
itself in the next great naval war. But if you look through history you
will find that, certainly up to the nineteenth century, wherever there
was a seafaring nation there too had flourished a band of pirates. Piracy
went on for decade after decade in the Mediterranean till at length it
became unbearable, and Rome had to take the most serious steps and use
the most drastic measures to stamp out the nests of hornets. A little
later you find another generation of sea-robbers growing up and acting
precisely as their forefathers. Still further on in history you find the
Barbarian corsairs and their descendants being an irrepressible menace to
Mediterranean shipping. For four or five hundred years galleys waylaid
ships of the great European nations, attacked them, murdered their crews
and plundered the Levantine cargoes. Time after time were these corsairs
punished: time after time they rose again. In vain did the fleets of
southern Christian Europe or the ships of Elizabeth or the Jacobean navy
go forth to quell them. Algiers and Tunis were veritable plague-spots
in regard to piracy. Right on through time the northern coast of Africa
was the hotbed of pirates. Not till Admiral Lord Exmouth, in the year
1816, was sent to quell Algiers did Mediterranean piracy receive its
death-blow, though it lingered on for some little time later.
But piracy is not confined to any particular nation nor to any particular
sea, any more than the spirit of adventure is the exclusive endowment
of any particular race. There have been notorious pirates in the North
Sea as in the Mediterranean, there have been European pirates in the
Orient just as there have been Moorish pirates in the English Channel.
There have been British pirates on the waters of the West Indies as there
have been of Madagascar. There have flourished pirates in the North,
in the South, in the East and the West—in China, Japan, off the coast
of Malabar, Borneo, America and so on. The species of ships are often
different, the racial characteristics of the sea-rovers are equally
distinct, yet there is still the same determined clashing of wills, the
same desperate nature of the contests, the same exciting adventure; and
in the following pages it will be manifest that in spite of differences
of time and place the romance of piratical incident lives on for the
reason that human nature, at its basis, is very much alike the whole
world over.
But we must make a distinction between isolated and collected pirates.
There is a great dissimilarity, for instance, between a pickpocket and
a band of brigands. The latter work on a grander, bolder system. So it
has always been with the robbers of the sea. Some have been brigands,
some have been mere pickpockets. The “grand” pirates set to work on a
big scale. It was not enough to lie in wait for single merchant ships:
they swooped down on to seaside towns and villages, carried off by sheer
force the inhabitants and sold them into slavery. Whatever else of value
might attract their fancy they also took away. If any important force
were sent against them, the contest resolved itself not so much into a
punitive expedition as a piratical war. There was nothing petty in piracy
on these lines. It had its proper rules, its own grades of officers and
drill. _Lestarches_ was the Greek name for the captain of a band of
pirates, and it was their splendid organisation, their consummate skill
as fighters, that made them so difficult to quell.
I have said that piracy was regarded as an honourable profession. In
the earliest times this is true. The occupation of a pirate was deemed
no less worthy than a man who gained his living by fishing on the sea
or hunting on land. Just as in the Elizabethan age we find the sons of
some of the best English families going to sea on a roving expedition to
capture Spanish treasure ships, so in classical times the Mediterranean
pirates attracted to their ships adventurous spirits from all classes of
society, from the most patrician to the most plebeian: the summons of
the sea was as irresistible then as later on. But there were definite
arrangements made for the purpose of sharing in any piratical success, so
there was an incentive other than that of mere adventure which prompted
men to become pirates.
To-day, if the navies of the great nations were to be withdrawn, and
the policing of the seas to cease, it is pretty certain that those so
disposed would presently revive piracy. Nothing is so inimical to piracy
as settled peace and good government. But nothing is so encouraging
to piracy as prolonged unsettlement in international affairs and weak
administration. So it was that the incessant Mediterranean wars acted
as a keen incentive to piracy. War breeds war, and the spirit of unrest
on sea affected the pirate no less than the regular fighting man.
Sea-brigandage was rampant. These daring robbers went roving over the sea
wherever they wished, they waxed strong, they defied opposition.
And there were special territories which these pirates preferred to
others. The Liparian Isles—from about 580 B.C. to the time of the Roman
Conquest—were practically a republic of Greek corsairs. Similarly the
Ionians and the Lycians were notorious for piratical activities. After
the period of Thucydides, Corinth endeavoured to put down piracy, but in
vain. The irregularity went on until the conquest of Asia by the Romans,
in spite of all the precautions that were taken. The Ægean Sea, the
Pontus, the Adriatic were the happy cruising-grounds for the corsairs.
The pirate-admiral or, as he was designated, _archipeirates_, with his
organised fleet of assorted craft, was a deadly foe to encounter. Under
his command were the myoparones, already mentioned—light and swift they
darted across the sea; then there were, too, the hemiolia, which were so
called because they were rowed with one and a half banks of oars; next
came the two-banked biremes and the three-banked triremes, and with these
four classes of ships the admiral was ready for any craft that might
cross his wake. Merchantmen fled before him, warships by him were sent to
the bottom: wherever he coasted there spread panic through the sea-girt
towns. Even Athens itself felt the thrill of fear.
Notorious, too, were the Cretan pirates, and for a long time the Etruscan
corsairs were a great worry to the Greeks of Sicily. The inhabitants
of the Balearic Islands were especially famous for their piratical
depredations and for their skilful methods of fighting. Wherever a fleet
was sent to attack them they were able to inflict great slaughter by
hurling vast quantities of stones with their slings. It was only when
they came to close quarters with their aggressors the Romans, and the
latter’s sharp javelins began to take effect, that these islanders
met their match and were compelled to flee in haste to the shelter of
their coves. At the period which preceded the subversion of the Roman
commonwealth by Julius Cæsar, there was an exceedingly strong community
of pirates at the extreme eastern end of the Mediterranean. They
hailed from that territory which is just in the bend of Asia Minor and
designated Cilicia. Here lived—when ashore—one of the most dangerous body
of sea-rovers recorded in the pages of history. It is amazing to find
how powerful these Cilicians became, and as they prospered in piracy so
their numbers were increased by fellow-corsairs from their neighbours the
Syrians and Pamphylians, as well as by many who came down from the shores
of the Black Sea and from Cyprus. So powerful indeed became these rovers
that they controlled practically the whole of the Mediterranean from east
to west. They made it impossible for peaceful trading craft to venture
forth, and they even defeated several Roman officers who had been sent
with ships against them.
And so it went on until Rome realised that piracy had long since ceased
to be anything else but a most serious evil that needed firm and instant
suppression. It was the ruin of overseas trade and a terrible menace to
her own territory. But the matter was at last taken in hand. M. Antonius,
proprætor, was sent with a powerful fleet against these Cilician pirates;
they were crushed thoroughly, and the importance of this may be gathered
from the fact that on his return to Rome the conqueror was given an
ovation.
In the wars between Rome and Mithradates the Cilician pirates rendered
the latter excellent service. The long continuance of these wars and
the civil war between Marius and Sylla afforded the Cilicians a fine
opportunity to increase both in numbers and strength. To give some idea
of their power it is only necessary to state that not only did they take
and rob all the Roman ships which they encountered, but they also voyaged
among the islands and maritime provinces and plundered no fewer than 400
cities. They carried their depredations even to the mouth of the Tiber
and actually took away from thence several vessels laden with corn. Bear
in mind, too, that the Cilician piratical fleet was no scratch squadron
of a few antique ships. It consisted of a thousand vessels, which were of
great speed and very light. They were well manned by most able seamen,
and fought by trained soldiers, and commanded by expert officers.
They carried an abundance of arms, and neither men nor officers were
lacking in daring and prowess. When again it became expedient that these
Cilicians should be dealt with, it took no less a person than Pompey,
assisted by fifteen admirals, to tackle them; but finally, after a few
months, he was able to have the sea once more cleared of these rovers.
We can well sympathise with the merchant seamen of those days. The perils
of wind and wave were as nothing compared with the fear of falling into
the hands of powerful desperadoes, who not merely were all-powerful
afloat but in their strong fortresses on shore were most difficult to
deal with. With the Balearic Islanders in the west, the Cilicians in the
east, the Carthaginians in the south, the Illyrians along the Adriatic in
their low, handy liburnian galleys, there were pirates ready to encircle
the whole of the Mediterranean Sea. It is worth noting—for he who reads
naval history must often be struck with the fact that an existing navy
prevents war, but the absence of a navy brings war about—that as long
as Rome maintained a strong navy piracy died down: but so soon as she
neglected her sea-service piracy grew up again, commerce was interrupted
both east and west, numerous illustrious Romans were captured and
either ransomed or put to death, though some others were pressed into
the service of the pirates themselves. By means of prisoners to work at
the oars, by the addition of piratical neighbours and by mercenaries as
well, a huge piratical community with a strong military and political
organisation continued to prevent the development of overseas trade. This
piracy was only thwarted by keeping permanent Roman squadrons always
ready.
Of course there were pirates in these early times in waters other than
the Mediterranean. On the west coast of Gaul the Veneti had become very
powerful pirates, and you will recollect how severely they tried Cæsar,
giving him more trouble than all the rest of Gaul put together. They
owned such stalwart ships and were such able seamen that they proved most
able enemies. During the time of the Roman Empire piracy continued also
on the Black Sea and North Sea, though the Mediterranean was now for the
most part safe for merchant ships. But when the power of Rome declined,
so proportionately did the pirates reappear in their new strength. There
was no fearful navy to oppose them, and so once more they were able to
do pretty much as they liked. But we must not forget that long before
this they had ceased to be regarded as the equivalent of hunters and
fishermen. They were, by common agreement, what Cicero had designated
“enemies of the human race”: and so they continued till the nineteenth
century, with only temporary intervals of inactivity.
The thousand ships which the Cilician pirates employed were disposed
in separate squadrons. In different places they had their own naval
magazines located, and during that period already mentioned, when they
were driven off the sea, they resisted capture by retreating ashore to
their mountain fastnesses until such time as it was safe for them to
renew their ventures afloat. When Pompey defeated them he had under him a
fleet of 270 ships. As the inscription, carried in the celebration of his
triumph on his return to Rome, narrated, he cleared the maritime coasts
of pirates and restored the dominion of the sea to the Roman people. But
the pirates could always boast of having captured two Roman prætors, and
Julius Cæsar, when a youth on his way to Rhodes to pursue his studies,
also fell into their hands. However, he was more lucky than many another
Roman who, when captured, was hung up to the yard-arm, and the pirate
ship went proudly on her way.
In the declining years of the Roman Empire the Goths came down from
the north to the Mediterranean, where they got together fleets, became
very powerful and crossed to Africa, made piratical raids on the coast
and carried on long wars with the Romans. Presently the Saxons in the
northern waters of Europe made piratical descents on to the coasts of
France, Flanders and Britain. Meanwhile, in the south, the Saracens
descended upon Cyprus and Rhodes, which they took, seized many islands
in the Archipelago, and thence proceeded to Sicily to capture Syracuse,
and finally overran the whole of Barbary from Egypt in the east to the
Straits of Gibraltar in the west. From there they crossed to Spain and
reduced the greater part thereof, until under Ferdinand and Isabella
these Moors were driven out of Spain and compelled to settle once more
on the north coast of Africa. They established themselves notably at
Algiers, took to the sea, built themselves galleys and, after living
a civilised life in Spain for seven hundred years, became for the next
three centuries a scourge of the Mediterranean, a terror to ships and
men, inflicted all the cruelties which the fanaticism of the Moslem
race is capable of, and cast thousands of Christians into the bonds
of slavery. In many ways these terrifying Moorish pirates—of which to
this day some still go afloat in their craft off the north coast of
Africa—became the successors of those Cilician and other corsairs of
the classical age. In due course we shall return to note the kind of
piratical warfare which these expatriated Moors waged for most of three
hundred years. But before we come to that period let us examine into an
epoch that preceded this.