A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING
“Among the buccaneers who ravished the Caribbean and the Spanish Main,
but who had not joined Morgan in his endeavors, were Captain
Bartholomew Sharp, Peter Harris, Richard Sawkins, Captain Cook,
Alleston, Row and Macket. As a whole, they were far superior men to
Morgan and his kind, although no less daring, and in March, 1680, these
various buccaneer leaders chanced to meet at a favorite lair of the
corsairs, Bocas del Toro, on the Atlantic coast of what is now Panama.
Deploring the lack of rich cities to sack and the difficulty of taking
the Spanish galleons, now guarded by armed convoys, and cursing the
fate that had decreed peace between Spain and England, the disgruntled
buccaneer captains sought for new fields for their activities.
“Morgan’s raid on Panama had proved that there were rich pickings on
the Pacific, but the relentless persecution of the buccaneers by the
British authorities in the Caribbean made life uncomfortable for them,
and after a deal of discussion it was agreed that the Pacific coasts
held the best promise of fortunes to be won. But to talk of raiding the
Dons’ towns and seizing their ships on the Pacific was one thing and to
do it was quite a different matter. To sail around the Horn was a long
and tedious voyage beset with greatest dangers and to cross by the Gold
Road or the Chagres, while possible, was not only perilous, but would
be but repeating Morgan’s raid. Then, into their presence, came one
Bournano, a French buccaneer, who reported that while peace had been
established between the savage Indians of Darien and the Spaniards, yet
the Indians were still friendly to the buccaneers and hated the Dons.
Indeed, Bournano stated further that the Indians had promised to lead
him and his men to a rich town called Tocamora and that he had agreed
to return to raid the place as soon as he could secure more ships and
men.
“This exactly suited the assembled buccaneers; it was unanimously
agreed to join fortunes with the Frenchman, and, supplying their ships
with sea turtles and maize, the captains set sail for Darien. The fleet
consisted of nine vessels with four hundred and seventy-seven men and
without adventure they arrived at the San Blas Islands. Here the
Indians welcomed them, for the San Blas tribe had, from time
immemorial, been allies of the corsairs, but when they learned of the
buccaneers’ purpose they frowned upon it. Tocamora, they said, was in a
mountainous country; the way was long and rough, it was in an
uninhabited district where food was scarce, and the place was not as
rich as had been reported. Instead, the Indians suggested that the
buccaneers should cross the Isthmus, take the outlying city of El Real
de Santa Maria, which was the depot for all the gold from the
incredibly rich mines of Darien, and then proceed to attack the new
city of Panama. It was a wild, harebrained, daring and almost hopeless
scheme, but it appealed to the buccaneers and, aside from Captain Row
and Bournano, all agreed to follow the Indians’ advice.
“On April 5, 1680, the buccaneers landed on the mainland three hundred
and thirty-one strong, and, leaving a few men and Captains Alleston and
Macket to guard the ships, the dauntless buccaneers started on their
terrible march, carrying for provisions but three cakes of cassava each
and all heavily armed.
“Following their Indian guides, the buccaneers divided into six
companies and entered the jungle. The very first day their hardships
began. So impenetrable was the forest that it was necessary to hew a
way every yard, there were rivers to cross, swamps to wade through, and
clouds of mosquitoes made life miserable. The first day four men gave
up and returned to the coast, but the others, of whom, as I have said,
Dampier was a member, kept doggedly on. Through pouring rain, climbing
precipitous mountains, swimming rivers, the buccaneers proceeded on
their way and at the close of the second day had covered nearly
eighteen miles. Often, as Ringrose tells us, they were obliged to cross
the same river over and over again, but at noon of the third day they
came to a village of the wild Kuna Indians. Ringrose and Dampier
describe the Indians very well, speaking particularly of the painted
wooden crowns, the red caps and the gold nose rings worn by the chiefs,
exactly as they are to-day. The Indians were friendly, they supplied
the buccaneers fruit and provisions, and the footsore corsairs spent
the day resting in the Indians’ huts. On the tenth of April a river
large enough to be navigable by canoes was reached, and Captains Sharp,
Coxon, Cook and Ringrose, with seventy men, embarked in fourteen
dugouts. But they soon found that gliding down the Chukunaque River was
by no means a relief from the overland tramp. Fallen trees and bars
filled the stream; at every few yards the buccaneers were compelled to
haul their craft bodily over the obstructions, and, being separated
from their comrades, they began to fear the Indians intended to cut
them off and betray them to the Spaniards. On April 13th they reached
the junction of the Tuira and Chukunaque Rivers, and in the afternoon
of the same day they were overjoyed to see their missing companions who
had come through the jungle in safety. Throughout this awful trip,
Dampier had preserved his writings in his ‘joyente of bamboo,’
carefully jotting down, despite all difficulties, his observations of
bird and animal life, notes on plants and descriptions of the Indians
and their lives. But the difficulties of the crossing were practically
over. In sixty-eight canoes the three hundred and twenty-seven men
embarked with fifty Indians and swept swiftly down stream towards
unsuspecting El Real. Camping a scant half mile above the town, the
buccaneers prepared to attack at dawn and were awakened by the drums of
the garrison. Priming their pistols and muskets, the buccaneers marched
on the village, which was surrounded by a twelve-foot palisade, but the
corsairs made short work of this and took the town with a loss of but
two men wounded. Within were two hundred and sixty men, but the
buccaneers soon learned, to their chagrin, why no resistance had been
made. The gold, brought from the mines, and, which they had hoped to
gain, had been taken the day before to Panama—a treasure of three
hundred pounds of bullion—and there was utterly nothing worth taking in
the place, which was a mere outpost of straw and palm-thatched huts.
Unlike Morgan and his fellows, Sharp and his men treated the Dons
humanely and even prevented their Indian allies from butchering the
captives, a diversion they had started the moment they had entered the
place. Disappointed at their ill luck, the buccaneers were more than
ever determined to attack Panama, and, choosing Captain Coxon as
commander, the buccaneers, deserted by all but three Indians, prepared
for the most hazardous venture ever attempted. Cut off, as they were,
from retreat by the long journey through the jungle, in a hostile
country, without provisions or ships, yet these fearless, indomitable
men were about to hurl themselves upon the most strongly fortified town
on the Pacific, and attack a city of thousands with less than three
hundred and twenty men, for twelve of their number had left and had
gone back with the Indians after taking El Real.
“On April 17, 1680, the buccaneers embarked in thirty-six canoes and
slipping down river with the ebb tide entered the great Gulf of San
Miguel. Soon the party became separated, and Ringrose’s canoe was
wrecked. Without food or clothing other than the few rags on their
bodies and with no shoes on their feet, the buccaneers set forth afoot.
By good fortune they met Indians, secured canoes, and, sending their
prisoners back free, they continued on their way. The very next night,
seeing fires on shore, the weary fellows thought they had found their
missing comrades and hastily landed, only to fall into the hands of a
party of Spaniards. But here the humane actions of the buccaneers were
rewarded. The Dons, learning who their captives were, and hearing from
a prisoner how the British had saved them from massacre by the Indians,
fed and clothed the buccaneers and gave them their liberty.
“The next morning, to every one’s unspeakable delight, the other
parties were met. Several small sailboats were also captured, and now,
once more well equipped and confident, the entire party gathered at
Chepillo Island and prepared for their descent on Panama, about thirty
miles distant. And here, too, the buccaneers suddenly, for ‘reasons
which I can not dive into,’ as Ringrose puts it, threw aside their
former humanity and ordered the Indians to butcher the few remaining
Spanish prisoners. Luckily, the captives managed to escape, however,
and only one was killed. Rowing stealthily along the shores under cover
of the night, and drenched by torrential rains, the buccaneers came at
dawn within sight of the city to find two great ships and three smaller
men-of-war anchored in the bay and ready to resist the buccaneers. Here
were unexpected troubles. They had counted on taking the place by
surprise, on being led into the city by a captive whose life they had
saved, and, instead, their presence was known and five powerful armed
ships swarming with Spaniards were prepared for them. And, to make
matters worse, a large part of their men were absent. During the night
and the storm they had become separated, the largest of the boats, in
command of Captain Sharp, had put into outlying islands for water, and
the heavier piraguas were far astern of the lighter canoes. These, five
in number and with one piragua, contained but sixty-eight out of the
three hundred odd buccaneers, and these were weary with their long row
and in no condition to fight. But there was no time for indecision. The
three Spanish war vessels were already bearing down upon the
buccaneers, and although so near that Ringrose says they feared they
would be run down, yet the English fell to their oars and, pulling
desperately into the wind, evaded the Dons’ ships and got to windward.
Realizing that the sooner they struck the better, the buccaneers turned
their boats and, pulling directly towards the huge Spanish ships,
picked off the helmsmen and the gunners with their muskets. With their
vessels aback, unable to maneuver, the Dons were, for the moment,
helpless, and while their broadsides threw round shot and chain shot
among the buccaneers and killed a number, the light swift boats were
hard targets to hit, and before a second broadside could be fired they
were under the vessels’ side where the cannons could not reach them.
Then the battle raged thick and fast. Picking off the Dons whenever
they showed their heads above the bulwarks, cutting sheets and braces
with their shots, the buccaneers forced their tiny craft under the
warships’ sterns, jammed the rudders, and, sinking their own craft to
make sure the men must do or die, they swarmed up ropes, chains and
quarter galleries onto the Spaniards’ decks.
“Ringrose and his party attacked the Admiral’s ship, and leaping over
the bulwarks cut down the Admiral, swept like demons among the Spanish
crew, cutting, slashing, shooting and converting the decks to a bloody
shambles. Not until two-thirds of the crew were killed did the Dons
surrender, however. With the flagship in their hands, Captain Coxon
took charge and at once sent two canoes of buccaneers to aid Sawkins,
who had thrice been beat back from the decks of the other warship.
Hardly had the reënforcements arrived when two explosions took place on
the ship and in the confusion the buccaneers swarmed onto the ship’s
deck and took the vessel without resistance, for not one Spaniard was
left alive and uninjured aboard! But on every ship the slaughter was
terrific. Of the original crew of eighty-six on the flagship, only
twenty-five men remained alive and only eight of these were able to
stand. Indeed, even Ringrose and his fellows, hardened to slaughter and
bloodshed as they were, were amazed at the butchery they had wrought,
and, in their journals, Ringrose and Dampier state that ‘blood ran down
the decks in whole streams and not one place upon the ships was found
that was free of blood.’ And yet this victory, this awful carnage, had
been carried out by sixty-eight buccaneers in frail canoes and small
boats, truly a most marvelous feat of daring and bravery, and, more
remarkable yet, the buccaneers’ losses amounted to but eighteen killed
and twenty-two wounded!
“With the two men-of-war in their possession the buccaneers at once
sailed for the big galleons, but, to their surprise, found them
absolutely deserted, every member of their crews having been placed
aboard the warships in their attack upon the buccaneers. But before
deserting their ships the Dons had made every effort to prevent any
possibility of their falling into the buccaneers’ hands. The largest
galleon, which was called the Santissima Trinidad (Blessed Trinity) had
been set afire and scuttled, but the buccaneers’ victory was so rapidly
won that they reached her in time, extinguished the fire, stopped the
leak and transferred their wounded to her. The battle had begun soon
after sunrise and by noon the last shot had been fired, the fleet was
in the hands of the buccaneers, and the standards of Sawkins, Sharp,
Coxon and the others were floating from the mastheads in place of the
gold and scarlet banners of Spain.
“Never in the annals of the buccaneers had such a victory been won;
never had there been a sharper, bloodier battle, and even the captive
Spanish captains were loud in their praise and admiration of the valor
of the English. ‘Captain Peralta declared,’ says Ringrose, that ‘surely
you Englishmen are the valiantest men in the world, who designed always
to fight open whilst other nations invented all ways imaginable to
barricade themselves and fight as close as they could, and yet,
notwithstanding, you killed more of your enemies than they of you.’
“And there, resting upon a gun still hot from recent fighting, Dampier
drew his paper and ink-horn from his bamboo joint and on the
blood-stained deck proceeded to make one of his ‘particular draughts’
of the harbor and to write an account of the brave and exciting deeds
through which he had just passed.
“It was, of course, out of the question for the buccaneers to attempt
to take Panama, for the defenses were powerful, it was surrounded with
an immense, heavily armed wall, it swarmed with soldiers, as well as
its thousands of citizens, and the large ships could not approach
within cannon shot. But the buccaneers had little cause to complain.
They had taken five ships, the largest, the Holy Trinity, a galleon of
four hundred tons, and while the cargoes consisted of sugar, skins,
soap and flour of little value, still, with good ships under their
command, the buccaneers were in a position to take prizes and raid
towns. To retain all five ships was not practical and, accordingly, two
were promptly fired and sunk. Those saved were the Trinity; a
sugar-laden ship of about two hundred tons, which was taken over by
Cook; and a fifty-ton piragua in command of Coxon. Coxon was
disgruntled, having been accused of backwardness in the fight, and
three days after the battle he left the buccaneers with twenty of his
sympathizers and sailed away to Darien to march back to the Atlantic
and his ship, taking with him the Indian guides.
“A day or two later, Captain Sharp arrived, having taken a small
Spanish bark while on his search for water, and shortly afterwards
Captain Harris turned up, also with a prize. During Sharp’s absence,
Sawkins had been elected commandant, and, having turned loose all but
their most important prisoners, the buccaneers proceeded to Taboga
Island to repair and refit the captured ships.
“While there the buccaneers were visited by a number of Spanish
merchants from Panama who brought various supplies and goods to sell to
the buccaneers, for, incredible as it may seem, the corsairs had a most
remarkable habit of dealing fairly with tradesmen, even though they
were slaughtering and robbing others. To these Spanish merchants the
buccaneers disposed of much of the material they had found on the
ships, and Ringrose informs us that they paid excellent prices,
offering two hundred pieces of eight for each slave the English could
spare. You may wonder why unprincipled robbers and cut-throats like the
buccaneers should dispose of their goods when they could have so easily
possessed themselves of their visitors’ money without giving anything
in return, but it was one of their codes of honor to deal fairly under
such conditions and there is no record that they ever used violence or
robbed a visitor or one who came to them on a friendly mission.
“While at Taboga, several ships were captured by the buccaneers, one of
which proved a rich prize, as it contained two thousand jars of wine,
fifty kegs of gunpowder and fifty-one thousand pieces of eight. Also,
from this ship, the English learned of a galleon due from Lima with
over one hundred thousand pieces of eight, and, rubbing their hands
with satisfaction, the buccaneers proceeded to make ready to receive
her.
“Meanwhile, the governor of Panama sent a message to Sawkins asking
why, in time of peace, British had attacked Spaniards and for what
reason the buccaneers had come to Panama. To this Sawkins facetiously
replied that they had come ‘to assist the King of Darien, who was true
Lord of Panama,’ and that ‘having come so far they should have some
satisfaction.’ Adding that ‘should His Excellency be pleased to send
five hundred pieces of eight for each man and one thousand for each
commander and would promise not further to annoy the Indians, but give
them full liberty, then the buccaneers would depart peacefully,
otherwise they would remain to get what they might!’ And here also
occurred another of the odd incidents which showed the buccaneers’
strange natures and point of view. One of the Spanish merchants brought
word to Captain Sawkins that the Bishop of Panama had formerly been the
Bishop of Santa Marta and had been a captive of Sawkins when the latter
took the place. Thereupon Sawkins sent the Bishop two loaves of sugar
with his best wishes. In return, the Bishop sent a gold ring and his
compliments and also a second message from the Governor. This time His
Excellency wished to know from whom the buccaneers had commissions and
to whom he should complain of the damages they had done. Evidently
Sawkins was a humorous man, for he replied that, ‘As yet the company
are not all together, but when they are they will visit His Excellency
in Panama and bring their commissions in the muzzles of their guns, at
which time you shall read them as plain as the flame of powder can make
them.’ But such interchanges of pleasantries did not serve to satisfy
the impatient men, and provisions were getting woefully low. In vain
their commanders urged that they await the arrival of the plate ship
from Peru. They demanded action and food and at last, finding open
mutiny would break out if he refused, Sawkins hoisted sail and, leaving
Taboga, cruised westward along the coast in search of towns to sack and
vessels to capture. In this they were quite successful. They took
Otoque Island, looted the pearl catch from Coiba and attacked Puebla
Nueva. But they met with disaster as well. Two of their vessels
foundered, with a loss of twenty-two men, and on the attack upon Puebla
Nueva brave Captain Sawkins met his death, and the buccaneers were
beaten off.