THE SACKING OF MARACAIBO
“But I thought Morgan was Governor of Jamaica and a ‘Sir,’” said Jack.
“He was. I’m coming to that presently,” replied his father. “Of course,
Morgan, having taken Porto Bello and thus won the greatest fame,
buccaneers flocked to him, begging for a chance to join him on his next
expedition. Indeed, he could have easily raised a force of several
thousand men, but Morgan, despite his faults, was a wise man, a born
leader and an experienced buccaneer and he knew that too large a force
would be a disadvantage. But realizing that he could command any number
of ships and men, he foresaw the possibility of accomplishing such
feats as no buccaneer had ever before undertaken. Naming the Island of
La Vaca, or Cow Island, south of Santo Domingo, as a rendezvous, Morgan
and his old captains set sail and there awaited the coming of the
buccaneers. And from every lair they flocked to his standard. French
and English, Dutch and Danes, from Tortuga Samaná, the Virgins and the
Caymans, they sped to join their fortunes with Morgan. Even the
Governor of Jamaica sent forth a ship, a brand-new vessel from New
England mounting thirty-six guns, the largest buccaneer ship that had
ever borne down upon the hapless Dons. Next in size to her was a French
ship, a vessel of twenty-four iron guns and twelve brass carronades
which happened to be lying at anchor at the island. Upon her Morgan
cast envious eyes and used every argument to induce her captain to join
with him. The French, however, were distrustful of the English and
flatly refused. And then the redoubtable Morgan showed his teeth and
proved himself the cowardly, underhand, treacherous rascal that he was
in reality. It seemed that some time previously this big French vessel
had been short of provision at sea and, meeting a British buccaneer,
had secured supplies, giving in payment not ready cash but bills of
exchange on Jamaica and Tortuga. Knowing of this, Morgan, finding he
could not induce the French captain to join him, seized upon the
incident as a means to carry out his nefarious ends. Inviting the
French commander and his officers to dine aboard his ship, Morgan
received them hospitably, but no sooner were they seated than he and
his men whipped out pistols, seized the Frenchmen and bound them as
prisoners. Stating that he had seized them as pirates for having taken
provisions from a British ship without pay, he informed the unhappy
Frenchmen that he intended to hang them and to confiscate their ship as
warning to others. But fate intervened and brought a just and speedy
retribution upon Morgan and his men for their treacherous act. Having
thus possessed himself of the French flagship, Morgan called a council
at which it was agreed to go to Saona Island and wait for the plate
fleet from Spain. Then, as usual, the buccaneers boarded their ships
and held a farewell feast in celebration of their coming voyage,
drinking, carousing and, as was customary, discharging their guns in
salute to one another. Half drunk, hilarious and careless, the men did
not notice that a gun discharged upon the big flagship of the fleet
dropped a bit of smoldering wadding onto the deck. There was a terrific
explosion and the vessel was blown to bits, destroying three hundred
and fifty English buccaneers and the unfortunate French prisoners who
were confined in the hold. Only thirty members of the crew, including
Morgan, escaped, they having been within the cabin at the high poop of
the vessel and away from the main force of the explosion.
“But instead of being a wholesome lesson to Morgan and his fellows,
this accident only enraged them, and, claiming that their ship had been
blown up by the French prisoners—despite the fact that they were
manacled and far from the magazine—they at once seized all the French
ships in the harbor and sent them with their crews as prisoners to
Jamaica, with word that they had been found with papers authorizing
them to commit piracy against the British. In reality the papers were
merely permits from the Governor of Barracoa permitting the French to
trade in Spanish ports and to ‘cruise against English pirates,’ the
clause being inserted as a cloak to cover the reason for the permits.
But despite their protests and the fact that they had repeatedly aided
the English buccaneers against the Dons, Morgan’s influence was such
that the Frenchmen were imprisoned and several were hanged when they
reached Jamaica.
“Morgan’s brutality was still further shown when, eight days after the
explosion, he sent out boats to gather up the bodies of the buccaneers
which were now floating about, not, as Esquemeling assures us, ‘with
the design of affording them Christian burial, but only to obtain the
spoil of their clothes and attire.’ Rings were cut from their dead
fingers, earrings torn from their ears, their weapons and garments
stripped from the corpses and the naked bodies cast back for the
sharks. Then, the loot from their dead comrades having been auctioned
off, the buccaneers set sail with fifteen ships—the largest carrying
fourteen guns—and nine hundred and sixty men.
“Sending some of his ships and men to plunder the farms and villages of
Santo Domingo for provisions and cattle, Morgan continued to Saona. But
his men met with reverses on the island, many of the buccaneers were
killed, and though they escaped they were empty-handed and dared not
return to Morgan with their tale of reverses. Impatient at the delay,
Morgan at last decided to go on without them, and, with his fleet
reduced to eight ships and a force of five hundred men, he started for
the Gulf of Maracaibo.
“Since it had been looted by L’Ollonois, Maracaibo and its neighboring
city of Gibraltar had prospered and grown immensely rich, the
fortifications had been greatly strengthened and a Spanish fleet was
constantly cruising near to prevent raids by the buccaneers. Arriving
off the port at night, Morgan drew close to the harbor bar unseen and
opened fire at daybreak. From morn until night the battle raged until,
feeling that they could not hold out another day, the garrison
evacuated the fort at nightfall and left a slow match leading to the
magazine in the hopes of blowing up the buccaneers if they entered. In
this they were very nearly successful, but Morgan himself discovered
the burning fuse and stamped it out when within six inches of the
explosives.
“Finding his ships could not enter the shallow harbor, Morgan embarked
in boats and canoes and after terrific fighting silenced one fort after
another and took the town. Then began an awful scene of butchery and
torture. All that L’Ollonois had done in the stricken town before was
repeated a hundredfold. The people, rounded up and shackled, were
broken on the wheel, torn to pieces on the rack, spread-eagled and
flogged to a pulp. Burning fuses were placed between their fingers and
toes. Wet rawhide thongs were twisted about their heads and allowed to
dry until, as they shrunk, the wretches’ eyes burst from their skulls
and many were cut to pieces a bit at a time or flayed alive. Those who
had no treasures whose hiding place they could divulge died under their
torments, and those who confessed were too far gone to recover. For
three terrible weeks this awful work went on, the buccaneers sparing
neither young nor old, men, women or children, and daily scouring the
countryside to bring new victims to the torture chambers. Then,
satisfied he had every cent that it was possible to secure, Morgan
loaded his remaining prisoners on his ships and sailed for Gibraltar as
L’Ollonois had done. He had sent prisoners ahead, demanding the
surrender of the town and threatening to torture and butcher every
living soul if resistance were made, but notwithstanding this the
inhabitants and the garrison put up a stiff fight. Finding he could not
take the place by assault, Morgan started his men overland through the
woods, and the people, realizing the buccaneers would take the place,
fled with what valuables they could gather into the country, first
having spiked the guns and destroyed the powder in the forts. As a
result the buccaneers entered the city without a shot fired and found
no living soul save one half-witted man. Despite the fact that he was a
demented, helpless creature the buccaneers ruthlessly placed him on the
rack until he begged for mercy and promised to guide his tormentors to
his riches. Following him, they were led to a tumble-down house
containing nothing of any value with the exception of three pieces of
eight—all the poor man’s earthly possessions. The buccaneers, however,
had gotten a crazy idea that the fellow was a rich man masquerading as
a dunce, and when in reply to their question he announced that his name
was ‘Don Sebastian Sanchez’ and ‘I am brother to the Governor,’ instead
of being convinced that he was crazy, the buccaneers believed his
ridiculous words and tortured him anew. Despite his shrieks and
heart-rending appeals he was racked, his limbs were stretched by cords
passed over pulleys and with immense weights attached to them, he was
scorched to a crisp by burning palm leaves passed over his face and
body, and not till the miserable wretch had died after half an hour of
this fiendish torment did the buccaneers cease their efforts to wring
from him the secret of his supposed wealth.
“The next day the buccaneers captured a poor farmer and his two
daughters and threatened them with torture, but the cowering wretches
agreed to lead the buccaneers to the hiding places of the inhabitants.
Seeing their enemies coming, the Spaniards fled still farther, and the
disgruntled Englishmen hanged the peasant and his daughters to trees by
the wayside. The buccaneers then set diligently at work, scouring the
countryside for prisoners. In one spot they captured a slave, and,
promising him freedom and vast amounts of gold if he would show them
the hiding places of the Dons, he readily agreed and led them to a
secluded house where the buccaneers made prisoners of a number of
Spaniards. Then, to make sure that their slave guide would not dare
desert them, the buccaneers forced him to murder a number of the
helpless Dons before the eyes of the others. This party of Spaniards
totaled nearly two hundred and fifty and these the buccaneers examined
one at a time, torturing those who denied knowledge of treasure. One
man, over seventy years old, a Portuguese by birth, was reported by the
treacherous slave to be rich. This the old fellow stoutly denied,
claiming that his total wealth was but one hundred pieces of eight and
that this had been stolen from him two days previously. In spite of
this and his age, the buccaneers, under Morgan’s personal orders, broke
both his arms and then stretched him between stakes by cords from his
thumbs and great toes. Then, while suspended in this way, the inhuman
monsters beat upon the cords with sticks. Not content with this, they
placed a two hundred pound stone upon his body, passed blazing palm
leaves over his face and head, and then, finding no confession could be
wrung from him they carried him to the church and lashed him fast to a
pillar where he was left for several days with only a few drops of
water to keep him alive. How any mortal could have survived—much less
an aged man—is miraculous, but live he did and finally consented to
raise five hundred pieces of eight to buy his liberty. The buccaneers,
however, scoffed at this, beat him with cudgels and told him it would
take five thousand pieces of eight to save his life. Finally he
bargained for freedom for one thousand pieces, and a few days later,
the money having been paid, he was set at liberty, though, as
Esquemeling tells us, ‘so horribly maimed in body that ’tis scarce to
be believed he survived many weeks after.’
“But even these fearful and disgusting torments were mild as compared
to some that Morgan inflicted on the men and women in his mad lust to
wring their riches from them. Dozens were crucified, others were staked
out by pointed sticks driven through them into the earth; others were
bound with their feet in fires, others roasted alive. For five long,
awful weeks they continued their unspeakable atrocities until, finding
further efforts useless, and fearing that his retreat to sea would be
cut off, Morgan left the stricken town, carrying a number of prisoners
for hostages.
“At Maracaibo they learned that Spanish warships had arrived and that
three armed vessels were blockading the harbor mouth. The largest of
these carried forty guns, the second thirty and the smallest
twenty-four. That the buccaneers, with no heavy guns and with only
small vessels, could escape seemed impossible, but Morgan once more
showed himself the resourceful commander and sent a Spanish prisoner to
the Admiral in command of the ships demanding a free passage to sea as
well as a ransom if Maracaibo was not to be burned. To this the Admiral
replied contemptuously, telling Morgan that, provided he would
surrender all the plunder and prisoners he had taken, he would allow
him and his men to depart, but otherwise would totally destroy them and
give no quarter. This letter Morgan read aloud to his men, asking them
whether they preferred to fight or lose their plunder. The reply was
unanimously that they had rather fight till their last drop of blood
rather than abandon what they had won. Then one of the men suggested
that they fit up a fire ship, disguise her by logs of wood dressed as
men on deck and with dummy cannon at the ports, and let her drift down
on the Spanish vessels. Although all approved the idea, still Morgan
decided to try guile and diplomacy—with a deal of bluff—before
resorting to strenuous measures. Consequently he dispatched another
messenger to the Admiral, offering to quit Maracaibo without firing it
or exacting ransom, and agreeing to liberate all the prisoners if he
and his men were allowed to pass. But the doughty old Spanish commander
would have none of this and replied that unless Morgan surrendered
according to the original terms within two days he would come and take
him.
“Finding cajolery useless, Morgan at once hustled about to make the
most of his time and to try to escape by force. A ship taken at
Gibraltar was loaded with brimstone, powder, palm leaves soaked in
pitch and other combustibles. Kegs of powder were placed under the
dummy guns and dressed and armed logs were posed upon the decks to
resemble buccaneers. Then all the male prisoners were loaded into one
boat; all the women, the plate and the jewels into another; the
merchandise and things of lesser value in a third. Then, all being
ready, the little fleet set forth with the fireship in the lead. It was
on the 30th of April, 1669, that the buccaneers started from Maracaibo
on this desperate, dare-devil effort to escape, and night was falling
as they sighted the three Spanish warships riding at anchor in the
middle of the entry to the lake. Unwilling to proceed farther, Morgan
anchored his boats, maintained a sharp watch and at daybreak hoisted
anchors and headed directly for the Spanish ships. Realizing that
Morgan was actually about to attempt to battle with them, the Dons
hoisted anchors and prepared to attack. Manned by its courageous if
villainous crew, the fireship crashed straight into the Spanish
flagship and instantly its men threw grappling irons, binding their
combustible vessel to the warship and then, touching match to fuses,
took to the small boats. Before the Dons realized what had happened the
fireship was a blazing mass; the powder exploding threw flaming tar and
brimstone far and near; and in an incredibly short space of time the
Spanish flagship was a seething, roaring furnace and, blowing in two,
sank to the bottom of the lake. Meanwhile the second warship, fearing a
like fate, was run ashore by its crew and was set afire by the
Spaniards to prevent her falling into the buccaneer’s hands, while the
third ship was captured by Morgan’s men.
“But Morgan and his men were not out of the trap yet. The forts
controlled the harbor entrance and, flushed with their easy victory
over the ships, the buccaneers landed and attacked the castle. But they
failed miserably in this and after heavy losses withdrew to their
boats.
“The following day Morgan, having made a prisoner of a Spanish pilot
and learning from him that the sunken ships carried vast riches, left a
portion of his men to recover what they could and sailed back to
Maracaibo with the captured warship. Here, being once more in a
position to dictate terms, he sent a demand to the Admiral, who had
escaped and was in the castle, demanding thirty thousand pieces of
eight and five hundred head of cattle as his price for sparing the town
and his prisoners. He finally consented to accept twenty thousand
pieces of eight with the cattle, however, and the following day this
was paid. But Morgan was shrewd and refused to deliver the prisoners
until he was out of danger and had cleared the harbor, and with his
captives set sail. To his delight he found that his men had recovered
nearly twenty thousand pieces of eight in coins and bullion from the
sunken ships, but he was still doubtful of being able to pass the
forts. He thereupon notified his prisoners that unless they persuaded
the Governor to guarantee him safe passage he would hang all the
captives on his ships. In view of this dire threat a committee of the
prisoners went to His Excellency, beseeching him to grant Morgan’s
demands. But Don Alonso was no weakling. His reply was to the effect
that, had they been as loyal to their King in hindering the buccaneer’s
entry as he intended to be in preventing their going out that they
would not have found themselves in such troubles. Very crestfallen the
poor fellows returned with the ill news. But for once Morgan was not as
ruthless as was his wont and forgot all about his threat to execute the
blameless captives. He, however, sent word to Don Alonso that if he was
not permitted to pass he would get by without a permit and, feeling
that he might fail, he at once proceeded to divide the booty. This
totaled over a quarter of a million pieces of eight in money, vast
quantities of plate and jewels, silks, merchandise of various kinds and
many slaves.
“All being properly divided, the question arose as to how the little
flotilla would pass to sea under the heavy guns of the castle, but this
Morgan accomplished by a most brilliant ruse. On the day before he
planned to make his dash he loaded his canoes with men and had them
paddled towards the shore as if intending to land them. Here, among the
low-hanging foliage, the boats waited for a while and then, with all
but two or three men lying flat in the bottoms of the canoes, they
paddled back to the ships. This was repeated over and over again, and
the Spaniards, seeing canoes full of men coming ashore and apparently
empty craft returning, were convinced that Morgan intended to make an
attack on the land side of the fort. In order to defend themselves the
Dons moved practically all their guns and the greater part of their men
to the landward side of the castle, exactly as Morgan had foreseen.
Then, as night fell, Morgan weighed anchor and without setting sail let
his ships drift down with the ebb tide. Not until they were under the
walls of the fort were sails hoisted and all speed made towards the
harbor mouth.
“With shouts and cries the Dons gave the alarm and madly they ran and
scurried to get their guns back in position, but the wind was fresh and
fair and before the first shot was fired the buccaneers were almost out
of range. A few balls tore through the sails, a few round shot
splintered the bulwarks and the high poops, and a few men fell, but the
damage was of little moment. Out of reach of the guns, Morgan brought
his ships to, and, loading his prisoners into small boats, sent them
ashore. Then, with a parting shot of seven guns in a broadside, Morgan
spread sails once more and headed for Jamaica.”