DAMPIER'S VOYAGES.
Leaves Captain Sharp--Land march over the Isthmus--Joins Captain
Wright--Wreck of the French fleet--Returns to England--Second voyage
with Captain Cook--Guinea coast--Juan Fernandez--Takes
Ampalla--Takes Paita--Dampier's scheme of seizing the mines--Attacks
Manilla galleon--Captain Swan--Death unknown. Van Horn--Captures
galleons--Takes Vera Cruz--Killed in a duel by Le Graff.
Dampier, one of the wisest and best of English travellers, was himself a
Buccaneer. Son of a Somersetshire farmer, he went early to sea, and
became a freebooter without much compunction, just at the time when the
brothers of the coast were sinking into mere pirates. "No peace beyond
the line" was their early motto; "Friends to God and enemies to all
mankind," was the later. The flag, once reddened by the Spaniards'
blood, grew now black with the shadows of death and of the grave.
Dampier was among those who left Captain Sharp after the dreadful
repulse from Arica. His party consisted of forty-four Englishmen and two
Mosquito Indians, who determined to re-cross the Isthmus of Darien, and
return to the North Pacific Ocean. They carried with them a large
quantity of flour and chocolate mixed with sugar, and took a mutual and
terrible oath, that if any of their number sank from fatigue, he should
be shot by his comrades, rather than allow him to fall into the hands of
the Spaniards, who would not only torture him horribly, but compel him
to betray his companions.
In a fortnight after leaving the vessels they landed at the mouth of a
river in the Bay of St. Michael, where unloading their provisions and
arms they sank their boats; and while preparing for the inland journey,
the Indians caught fish, and built huts for them to sleep in. The next
day they struck into an Indian path and reached a village, but found,
to their alarm, that the Spaniards had placed armed ships at the mouths
of all the navigable rivers to intercept them on their return. Hiring an
Indian guide, they reached the day after a native house, but the savage
would neither give them food nor information. At any other time the
Buccaneers would have at once put him on the rack, or hung him at his
own door, but they felt this was no place to be angry, for their lives
lay in the enemy's hands. Neither dollars, hatchets, nor knives, would
move this stubborn man, till a sailor pulled a sky blue petticoat from
his bag and threw it over the head of the Indian's wife. Delighted with
the gift, she coaxed her husband till he gave them information and found
a guide. It had rained hard for two days, the country was difficult and
fatiguing, and there was no path that even an Indian eye could discover.
They guided themselves by day by the rivers, and at night by the stars.
They had frequently to ford the rivers twenty or thirty times in twelve
hours. Rain, cold, fatigue, and hunger made them forget even the
Spaniards.
In a few days they reached the house of a young Spanish Indian, who had
lived with the bishop of Panama, and who received them kindly. Here,
while resting to dry their arms and powder, their surgeon, Mr. Wafer,
had his knee burnt by an accidental explosion. After dragging himself
along with pain for another day, he determined to remain behind with two
or three more. He stayed five months with the Indians, and the published
account of his experiences still exists.
The rainy season that frightened Mr. Ringrose had now set in, and the
thunder and lightning was frequent and violent. The valleys and river
banks were overflowed, and the Buccaneers had to sleep in trees or under
their shade, instead of building warm and sheltering huts. In the very
height of their misery, the slaves fled and carried away all they could.
Dampier, whose only anxiety was to preserve his journal, placed it in a
bamboo, closed at both ends with wax. In fording one of the rivers, a
Buccaneer, who carried 300 dollars on his back, was swept down the
stream and drowned, but the survivors were too hopeless and weary to
look for either body or gold.
In eighteen days the English reached the river Concepcion, and,
obtaining Indian canoes, rowed to Le Sound's Key, one of the Samballas
islands, where Buccaneers rendezvoused. Here they embarked on board a
French privateer, commanded by Captain Tristian, dismissing their Indian
guides with presents of money, beads, and hatchets. At Springer's Key,
Tristian joined them with other vessels, and would have attacked Panama
had not Dampier and his men deterred them. For a week the council
deliberated about the available towns worth plundering from Trinidad to
Vera Cruz. The French and English could not agree, but at last all
sailed for Carpenter's River, touching at the isle of St. Andreas. The
ships separated in a gale; and Dampier taking a dislike to his French
commander, induced Captain Wright, an Englishman, to fit out a small
vessel and cruise for provisions along the coast. While the sailors
shot pecary, deer, parrots, pigeons, monkeys, and cuvassow birds, their
Mosquito Indians struck turtle for their use.
On returning to Le Sound's Key they were joined by Mr. Wafer, who had
escaped from the Darien Indians, but he was so painted and bedizened
that it was some time before they could recognize him. An Indian chief
had offered him his daughter in marriage, and he had only got away by
pretending to go in search of English dogs for hunting. Passing
Carthagena, they cast wistful eyes at the convent dedicated to the
Virgin, situated on a steep hill behind the town. There was immense
wealth hoarded in this place, rich offerings being frequently made to
it, and many miracles worked by our Lady. Any misfortune that befel the
Buccaneer was attributed to this Lady's doing, and the Spaniards
reported that she was abroad that night the _Oxford_ man-of-war blew up
at the isle of Vaca, and that she came home all wet, and with clothes
soiled and torn.
Captain Wright's company pillaged several small places about the Rio de
la Hache and the Rancherias pearl fisheries, and captured, after a
smart engagement, an armed ship of twelve guns and forty men, laden with
sugar, tobacco, and marmalade, bound to Carthagena from Santiago, in
Cuba. The Dutch governor of Curacoa, having much trade with the
Spaniards, would not openly buy the cargo, but offered, if it was sent
among the Danes of St. Thomas, to purchase it through his agents. The
rovers, declining this, sold it at another Dutch colony, and then sailed
for the isle of Aves, so called from the quantity of boobies and
men-of-war birds. On a coral reef, near this island, Count d'Estrees had
shortly before lost the whole French fleet. He himself had first run
ashore, and firing guns to warn the rest of the danger, they hurried on
to the same shoal, thinking, in the darkness, that he had been attacked
by the enemy. The ships held together till the next day, and many men
were saved. The ordinary seamen died of hunger and fatigue, but the
Buccaneers, hardier, and accustomed to frequent wrecks, made the escape
an excuse for revel and debauchery. As Dampier says, they, "being used
to such accidents, lived merrily, and if they had gone to Jamaica with
L30 in their pockets, could not have enjoyed themselves more; for they
kept a gang by themselves and watched when the ships broke up, to get
the goods that came out of them, and, though much was staved against the
rocks, yet abundance of wine and brandy floated over the reef where they
waited to take it up." * * "There were about forty Frenchmen on board
one of the ships, in which was good store of liquor, till the after part
of her broke, and floated over the reef and was carried away to sea,
with all the men drinking and singing, who, being in drink, did not mind
the danger, but were never heard of afterwards."
This wreck having left the Bird Island a storehouse of masts and spars,
the Buccaneer vessels had begun to repair thither to careen and refit.
Among others, a Captain Pan, a Frenchman, had been there. A Dutch vessel
of twenty guns, despatched from Curacoa to fish up the sunken cannon,
observing the privateer, resolved to capture him before he began his
diving. Pan, afraid of the Dutchman's superior force, abandoned his
vessel, and, landing his guns, prepared to throw up a redoubt. While
thus engaged, a Dutch sloop entered the road, and at night anchored at
the opposite end of the island. In the night, Pan, with two canoes,
boarded the ship, and made off, leaving his empty hulk for the Dutch
man-of-war.
At this island, Dampier's men careened their largest vessel, scrubbed
the sugar prize, and recovered two guns from the wreck. At the island of
Rocas, a Knight of Malta, captain of a French thirty-six gun ship,
bought ten tons of their sugar. Failing to sell any more sugar at Petit
Guaves, they sailed for Blanco, an uninhabited island, full of
lignum-vitae trees, and teeming with iguanas, that were to be found in
the swamps, among the bushes, or in the trees. Their eggs were eaten by
the Buccaneers, who made soup of the flesh for their sick.
While cruising on the Caraccas coast, they landed in some of the bays,
and took seven or eight tons of cocoa, and three barks laden with
hides, brandy, earthenware, and European goods. Returning to the Rocas,
they divided the spoil, and Dampier and nineteen others embarking in one
of the prizes, reached Virginia July 1682.
Dampier's next voyage was with a Creole, named Cook, who arrived at
Virginia with a French vessel he had captured by a trick at Petit
Guaves. He had been quartermaster, or second in command, under a French
Flibustier named Gandy. By the usual Buccaneer law, he had been made
captain of a large Spanish prize. The French commanders in the same
fleet, jealous of this promotion, seized the ship, plundered the English
prize crew, and sent them ashore. Tristan, another French captain, took
ten of them with him to Petit Guaves. Cook and his nine companions,
taking advantage of a day when Tristan and many of his men were absent,
overpowered the rest of the crew, sent them ashore, and sailed to the
Isle a la Vache. Here he picked up a crew of English Buccaneers, and
steered for Virginia, taking two prizes by the way, one of which was a
French vessel, laden with wines. He then sold his wine and two of the
ships, and equipped the largest, the _Revenge_, with eighteen guns.
Amongst the crew were Dampier, Wafer, and Cowley, all of whom have
written narratives of their voyages. They sailed from the Chesapeak on
the 23rd of August 1683, and captured a Dutch vessel, laden with wine
and provisions. At the Cape de Verd islands they encountered a dreadful
storm, that lasted a week. While the ship scudded before wind and sea
under bare poles, she was suddenly broached to by order of the master,
and would have foundered but for Dampier and another man who, going
aloft and spreading out the flaps of their coats, righted the ship. At
the isle of Sal, the sailors feasted on flamingo tongues. These birds
stood in ranks round the feeding ponds, so as to resemble a new brick
wall. They purchased here some ambergris, which Dampier says he had in a
lump of 100 lbs. weight. Its origin was at that time unknown; it is now
believed to be a secretion of the whale. The governor and his court at
this island rejoiced in rags, their revenues being small, and drawn
principally from the salt ponds, from which the island derives its name.
Having dug wells, watered, and careened, they went to Mayo to obtain
provisions, but were not allowed to land, as only about a week before
Captain Bond, a pirate of Bristol, had carried off the governor and some
of his people.
Steering to the Straits of Magellan, they were driven to the Guinea
coast, and there captured a Danish ship by a stratagem. Captain Cook,
concealing his men under deck, approached the Dane like a weak, unarmed
merchant vessel. When quite close, he commanded in a loud voice the helm
to be put one way, while by a preconcerted plan the steersman shifted
into another, and fell on board the Dane, which was captured with the
loss of only five men. She was double their size, carried thirty-six
guns, and was equipped and victualled for a long voyage.
This vessel they called _The Bachelor's Delight_, and they at once
burned the _Revenge_, that she might "tell no tales."
During frequent tornadoes near the straits, being short of fresh meat,
the sailors caught sharks during the calms, and boiling their flesh,
stewed it with pepper and vinegar. When they reached the Falkland, or
Sebald de Weist islands, as they were then called, Dampier proposed to
the captain to reach Juan Fernandez by Cape Horn, avoiding the straits.
Their men being privateers, wilful, and not much in command, he feared
would not give sufficient attention in a passage so difficult, and,
though he owns they were more than usually obedient, he says he could
not expect to find them at an instant's call in critical moments. At
these islands they found the sea for a mile round red with shoals of
small, scarlet-shelled lobsters. Dampier's advice was not taken, but on
entering the South Sea they met the _Nicholas_, of London, a vessel
fitted out ostensibly as a trader, but being in reality a Buccaneer. The
captain came on board, related his adventures, and gave them a supply of
bread and beef. They reached Juan Fernandez together, and heard from the
_Nicholas_ of a vessel from London, called the _Cygnet_, commanded by
Captain Swan, which was sailing in those latitudes. It was a trader,
holding a licence from the Duke of York, then High Admiral of England.
The crews discovered on the island the Mosquito Indian left behind by
Captain Watling, in Lussan's expedition, because he was hunting goats
when the vessel sailed. He was warmly greeted by Dampier, a
fellow-countryman named Robin, and some old messmates. Robin, running up
to him, fell flat on his face at his feet, and then rose and embraced
him. They found he had killed three goats, and prepared some cabbage
palms, to feast his visitors. The interview, writes Dampier, was tender,
solemn, and affecting. When abandoned, William had nothing with him but
his gun and a knife, some powder, and some shot. By notching his knife
into a saw, he cut his gun barrel into pieces. These he hammered in the
fire, and ground them into lances, harpoons, hooks, and knives. He
hunted goats, fished, and killed seals. His clothes he made of skins,
and with these also he had lined his hut; and he had contrived to elude
the search of the Spaniards. Wild goats, originally brought by the
Spaniard, abounded on the hills and in the grassy valleys. There was
abundance of water and good timber, and the bays abounded with seals and
sea-lions, that covered the sea for a mile.
Remaining here sixteen days, for the sake of the sick and those ill with
the scurvy, and getting in water and provision, Cook then steered for
the American coast, standing out fourteen or fifteen leagues to escape
the notice of the Spaniard. The ridges were blue and mountainous. They
soon captured a timber ship from Guayaquil laden with timber for Lima,
from whose crew they heard that their arrival was known. They anchored
next at the sandy islet of Lobos de la Mar, and scrubbed their ships.
Captain Eaton, of the _Nicholas_, proposing to march with them in their
descents, and the two vessels mustering 108 able men, Cook soon took
another prize, and Eaton two more, which he pursued. They were laden
with flour from Lima for Panama, and in one of them was eight tons of
quince marmalade. The prisoners informed them that, on the rumour of
their approach, 800,000 pieces of eight had been landed at an
intermediate port. They sailed next to the Galapagos islands, abandoning
a design on Truxillo, which they heard had been lately fortified. On
these rocky, barren shores they feasted on turtle, pigeons, fish, and
the leaves of the mammee tree. Off Cape Blanco, Captain Cook died, and
was buried on land.
Capturing some Spanish Indians who had been sent as spies by the
Governor of Panama, they used them as guides, and landed on the coast in
search of cattle. Here a few of the men were surprised by fifty armed
Spaniards, and their boat burned. The sailors thus imperilled waded out
neck deep to an insulated rock near the shore, and remained there for
seven hours exposed to the Spanish bullets, till they were taken off by
a boat from their ship just as the tide was rising to devour them. The
Spanish, lurking in ambush, made no attempt to resist the rescue.
The quartermaster, Edward Davis, was now elected commander; and after
cutting lancewood for the handles of their oars, they bore away for Ria
Lexa, steering for a high volcano that rises above the town and the
island that forms the harbour. But here, too, the Spaniards had thrown
up breast-works and placed sentinels, and the Buccaneers sailed for the
Gulf of Ampalla and the island of Mangera. Davis captured the padre of a
village and two Indian boys, and, proceeding to Ampalla, informed the
people that he commanded a Biscay ship, sent by the King of Spain to
clear those seas of pirates, and that he had come there to careen. The
sailors were well received, and entertained with feasts and music, and
they all repaired together to celebrate a festival by torchlight in the
church. Here Davis hoped to cage them till he could dictate a ransom,
but the impatience of one of his men frustrated the plan. Pushing in a
lingering Indian, the man spread an alarm, the people all fled, and the
Buccaneers, firing, killed one of their chiefs. They remained, however,
good friends, and these very Indians soon after helped to store the
ship with cattle belonging to a nunnery, situated on an island in the
gulf. On leaving, Davis gave them one of his prize ships, and a quantity
of flour, and released the priest who had helped him in his first
stratagem.
The crews now quarrelled, and Davis, who claimed the largest share of
the common plunder, left them, taking Dampier with him. Eaton touched at
Cocos island, purchased a store of flour, and took in water and cocoa
nuts. Davis landed at Manta, a village near Cape St. Lorenzo, and
captured two old women, in order to obtain information. They learnt that
many Buccaneers had lately crossed the isthmus, and were coming along
the coast in canoes and piraguas. The viceroy had left no means untried
to check them; the goats on the uninhabited islands had been destroyed,
provisions were removed from the shore, and ships even burnt to save
them from the enemy. At La Plata, Davis was joined by Captain Swan in
the _Cygnet_, who had turned freebooter in self-defence. He had been
joined by Peter Harris, who commanded a small bark, and was nephew of
the Buccaneer commander killed in a sea-fight at Panama three years
before. They now sent for Eaton, but found from a letter at the
rendezvous at Lobos, that he had already sailed for the East Indies.
While the ships were refitting at La Plata, a small bark taken by Davis,
after the Spaniards had set it on fire, captured a Spaniard of 400 tons,
laden with timber, and brought word that the viceroy was fitting out ten
frigates to sweep them from the seas. Captain Swan, at this crisis,
turned wholly freebooter, and cleared his ship of goods by selling them
to every Buccaneer on credit. The bulky bales he threw overboard, the
silks and muslins he kept, and retained the iron bars for ballast. In
compensation for these sacrifices, the Buccaneers agreed to set aside
ten shares of all booty for Captain Swan's owners.
Having cleaned the vessels and fitted up a fire-ship, the squadron
landed at Paita, but found it deserted. Anchoring off the place, they
demanded as ransom 300 pecks of flour, 3000 pounds of sugar,
twenty-five jars of wine, and 1000 of water, and having coasted six days
and obtained nothing, they burnt the town in revenge, and sailed away.
They found afterwards that Eaton had been there not long before, landed
his prisoners, and burnt a ship in the road. Burning Harris's vessel,
which proved unseaworthy, the squadron steered for the island of Lobos
del Tierra, and, being short of food, took in a supply of seals,
penguins, and boobies, their Mosquito men supplying them with turtle,
while the ships were cleaned and provided with firewood, preparatory to
a descent upon Guayaquil. Embarking in their canoes, they captured in
the bay a small ship laden with Quito cloth and two vessels full of
negroes. One of these they dismasted, and a few only of the slaves they
took with them. From disagreement between the two crews, the expedition
failed. Having lain in the woods all night, and cut a road with great
difficulty, they abandoned the scheme without firing a shot, when almost
within a mile of the town, which they believed was alarmed, and on the
watch.
Dampier now proposed a scheme as feasible and grand as any of
Raleigh's. He declared that they never had a greater opportunity of
enriching themselves. His bold plan was, with the 1000 negroes lying in
the three prizes, to go and work the gold mines of St. Martha. The
Indians would at once join them from their hatred of the Spaniards. For
provision they had 200 tons of flour laid up in the Galapagos islands;
the North Sea would be open to them; thousands of Buccaneers would join
them from all parts of the West Indies; united they would be a match for
all the forces of Peru, and might be at once masters of the west coast
as high as Quito. This golden cloud melted into mere fog. The Buccaneers
returned to La Plata, divided the Quito cloth, and turned the Guayaquil
vessel into a tender for the _Swan_. The old Buccaneers of Davis now
quarrelled with the new recruits in the _Swan_, accused them of
cowardice and of having baulked the attempt on Guayaquil, and complained
of having to supply them with flour and turtle, for they had neither
provisions nor Indian fishermen. Unable to divorce, the ill-assorted
pair proceeded to attack together Lavelia, in the Bay of Panama. From
charts found in the prizes they checked the deceptions and errors of the
Spanish and Indian prisoners whom they employed as pilots. Their object
was now to search for canoes in rivers unvisited by the Spaniards, where
their schemes might remain still undiscovered.
Such rivers abounded from the equinoctial line to the Gulf of St.
Michael. When five days out from La Plata they made a sudden swoop on
the village of Tomaco, and captured a vessel laden with timber, with a
Spanish knight, eight sailors, and a canoe containing twelve jars of old
wine. A boat party that rowed up the St. Jago river visited a house
belonging to a lady of Lima, whose servants traded with the Indians for
gold, several ounces of which were found left by them in their
calabashes when they fled.
The twin vessels next sailed for the island of Gallo, capturing by the
way a packet boat from Lima, fishing up the letters, which the Spaniards
had thrown overboard attached to a buoy. From these they learnt that the
governor of Panama was hastening the departure of the triennial plate
fleet from Callo to Panama, where it would be carried on mules across
the isthmus. To intercept this fleet and to grow millionaires in a day
was now their only dream. They proceeded at once to careen their ships
at the Pearl islands in the bay of Panama. Their force consisted of two
ships, three barks, a fire-ship, and two small tenders. Near the
uninhabited island of Gorgona they captured a flour ship, and landing
most of their prisoners at Gorgona, they proceeded to the bay, captured
a small provision boat, and continued their watch, cruising round the
city.
Having cut off all communication between Panama and the islands in the
bay, Davis proposed an exchange of prisoners, surrendering forty monks,
whom he was glad to get rid of, for one of Harris's band and a sailor
who had been surprised while hunting on an island. The Lima fleet still
delaying, the Buccaneers anchored at Tavoga, an island abounding in
cocoa and mammee trees, and beautiful water. About this time they were
nearly ensnared by a Spanish ship, sent to the island at midnight under
pretence of clandestine traffic. This scheme originated in Captain Bond,
an English pirate who had deserted to the enemy. The squadron, which had
scattered in alarm, to avoid the fire-ship, were just re-uniting and
looking for their abandoned anchors, when a cry rose that a fleet of
armed canoes were steering direct towards them through the island
channel. This was the French Flibustiers of which we have given an
account in the adventures of Ravenau de Lussan. After joining in the
sea-fight off Panama, and the descent upon Leon and Ria Lexa, the
Buccaneers again split into small parties. Dampier joined Swan and
Townley, who determined to cruise along the shores of the mine country
of Mexico, and then, sailing as high as the south-west point of
California, cross the Pacific, and return to England by India. At
Guatalico, famous for its blowing rock, they landed their sick for a few
days, and obtained provisions, and, in a descent near Acapulco, stopped
a string of sixty laden mules and killed eighteen beeves, carrying off
all the cattle safely to their ships.
To obtain provisions, Swan sacked the town of St. Pecaque, on the coast
of New Gallicia, where large stores were kept for the use of the slaves
of the neighbouring mines. A great many of these he carried off the
first day on horseback and on the shoulders of his men. These visits
were repeated--a party of Buccaneers keeping the town till the Spaniards
had collected a force. Of this Captain Swan gave his men due warning,
exhorting them, on their way to their canoes with the burdens of maize,
to keep together in a compact body, but they chose to follow their own
course, every man straggling singly while leading his horse, or carrying
a load on his shoulder. They accordingly fell into the ambush the
Spaniards had laid for them, and to the amount of fifty were surprised
and mercilessly butchered. The Spaniards, seizing their arms and loaded
horses, fled, before Swan, who heard the distant firing, could come to
the assistance of his men. Fifty-four Englishmen and nine blacks fell in
this affair, which was the most severe the Buccaneers had encountered
in the South Sea. Dampier relates that Captain Swan had been warned of
this disaster by an astrologer he had consulted before he sailed from
England. Many of the men, too, had foreboded the misfortune; and the
previous night, while lying in the church of St. Pecaque, had been
disturbed by frequent groanings which kept them from sleeping.
This disaster drove Swan from the coast to careen at Cape St. Lucas, the
south point of California--in revenge for his loss leaving his pilot and
prisoners on an uninhabited island. While lying here, Dampier was cured
of dropsy by being buried all but his head in hot sand. The whole 150
men were now living on short allowances of maize, and the fish the
Indians struck salted for store. One meal a-day was now the rule, and
the victuals were served out by the quartermaster with the exactness of
gold. Yet, even in this distress, two dogs and two cats received their
daily shares. They now started for their cruise among the Philippines.
In a long run of 7,302 miles they saw no living thing--neither bird,
fish, nor insect, except one solitary flight of boobies. At the end of
the voyage the men were almost in mutiny at the want of food, and had
secretly resolved to kill and eat their captain (Swan), and afterwards,
in regular order, all who had promoted the voyage. At the island of
Gualan, where there was a Spanish fort and a garrison of thirty men, the
Buccaneers traded with the natives, who took them for Spaniards from
Acapulco.
Captain Eaton, who had visited the island before them on his way to
India, had, at the instigation of the Spaniards, plundered and killed
many of the natives, and driven the rest to emigration. While trading
here the Acapulco vessel arrived, and, being signalled by the governor,
took to flight; but in her hurry to escape ran upon a shoal, from which
she was with difficulty extricated. Swan, who now grew anxious for quiet
commerce, discouraged the pursuit, and proceeded quietly on his voyage.
At Mindanao, Captain Swan and thirty-six men were left behind by his
crew, who were only anxious for plunder, and soon after captured a
Spanish vessel bound for Manilla. Captain Swan was eventually drowned
while attempting to escape to a Dutch vessel lying in the river. Weary
of the mean robberies of the crew, who now turned mere pirates, Dampier
left them at the Nicobar islands, and, embarking in canoes, reached
Sumatra, and eventually sailed for England.
The Buccaneers left behind in the South Sea prospered, and made many
successful descents. At Lavelia Townley captured the treasure and
merchandise landed from the Lima ship in the former year, for which Swan
had watched so long in vain, and for which the Buccaneers had fought in
the Bay of Panama. Townley died of his wounds. Harris followed Swan
across the Pacific; and Knight, another English Buccaneer, satiated with
plunder, returned home laden with Spanish gold; and off Cape Corrientes
they lay in wait in vain for the Manilla ship, the great prize aimed at
by all adventurers. Soon after, a malignant fever breaking out among the
crews, many left the squadron and returned towards Panama, carrying
back the Darien Indians, but leaving the Mosquito Indians in the
_Cygnet_.
Davis sailed from Guayaquil to careen at the Galapagos islands, which
were in the South Pacific what Tortuga was in the North, the harbour and
sanctuary of the Buccaneers. In returning by Cape Horn, Davis discovered
Easter island, and left five of his men and five negro slaves on Juan
Fernandez. These men had been stripped at the gambling-table, and were
unwilling to return empty-handed. The _Bachelor's Delight_ eventually
doubled Cape Horn, and he reached the West Indies just in time to avail
himself of a pardon offered by royal proclamation.
Dampier reached England in 1691, and having published his travels, was
sent out in 1691 by William III. on a voyage of discovery to New
Holland, and was wrecked near Ascension. In Queen Anne's reign, during
the war of the succession, he commanded two privateers, and cruised
against the Spaniards in the South Sea. His objects were to capture the
Spanish plate vessels sailing from Buenos Ayres, to lie in wait for the
gold ship from Boldivia to Lima, and to seize the Manilla galleon. Off
Juan Fernandez he fought a French Buccaneer vessel for seven hours, but
parted without effecting a capture. So strong were his old Flibustier
habits upon him, that he confesses it with reluctance he attacked any
vessel not a Spaniard. Before they reached the proper latitude the
Boldivia vessel had sailed.
Captain Stradling, the commander of his companion ship, parted company.
A surprise of Santa Maria, in the bay of Panama, failed, but Dampier
made a few small prizes. While lying in the gulf of Nicoya, his chief
mate, John Clipperton, mutinied, and, seizing his tender, with its
ammunition and stores, put out to sea. A worse disappointment awaited
the commander--off the Fort de Narida he came suddenly upon the Manilla
galleon, and gave her several broadsides before she could clear for
action. But even at this disadvantage the Spaniards' twenty-four
pounders soon silenced Dampier's five pounders, drove in the rotten
planks of his vessel, the _St. George_, and compelled him to sheer
off--the galleon's crew quadrupling that of the English.
The men growing despondent and weary of the voyage, Dampier put
thirty-four of them into a prize brigantine of seventy tons, and
appointed one named Funnel as their commander. Allowing them to sail for
India, he with twenty-nine men returned to Peru and plundered the town
of Puna. The vessel being no longer fit for sea, they abandoned her at
Lobos de la Mar, and embarking in a Spanish brigantine crossed the
Pacific. In India, Dampier, having had his commission stolen by some of
his deserters, was imprisoned by the Dutch. When he reached England at
last, he found that Funnel had returned and published his voyage to the
West Indies. A few of his men who had lost their money in gambling
remained in the _Bachelor's Delight_ with Davis.
It is supposed he now fell into very extreme poverty, for in 1708 we
find him acting as pilot to the two Bristol privateers that
circumnavigated the globe, and were as successful as he had been
unfortunate. At Juan Fernandez the commander, Woodes Rogers, brought off
the celebrated Alexander Selkirk, who had been abandoned here four years
before, by Dampier's mutinous consort, Captain Stradling, and, by the
traveller's advice, the poor outcast was made second mate of the _Duke_.
At Guayaquil, where Dampier commanded the artillery, they obtained
plunder to the value of L21,000, besides 27,000 dollars, as ransom for
the town. Off Cape Lucas they captured a rich Manilla ship, laden with
merchandise, and containing L12,000 in gold and silver. They also
encountered the great Manilla galleon, but were beaten off after a
severe engagement with a loss of twenty-five men. After a run of two
months they reached Gualan, and obtained provisions by anchoring under
Spanish colours. Visiting Batavia, they waited a long time at the Cape
for a home-bound fleet, and in July, 1711, entered the Texel
five-and-twenty sail, Dutch and English; and in October sailed up the
Thames with booty valued at L150,000. Of the great Dampier we hear no
more, and his very burial place is unknown.
VAN HORN was originally a common Dutch sailor, who, having, by dint of
the prudence of his nation, saved 200 dollars, entered into partnership
with a messmate who had laid by the same sum, and, going to France,
obtained a privateer's commission, and fitted up a fishing-boat with a
crew of thirty men. Cruising first as Dutch, he then purchased a large
vessel at Ostend, and, hoisting the French flag, made war on all
nations. The French court ordered M. d'Estrees to detain this Flying
Dutchman, whose commission had now expired, and a ship was sent for the
purpose; but as the commander had no orders to proceed to extremities,
and Van Horn was determined not to go alive, he was suffered to escape.
Quite undaunted he proceeded to Puerto Rico, entered the bay, sounding
his trumpets, and, sending on shore, told the governor that he had come
to offer his services to escort the galleons which were then ready to
sail. The governor accepted the offer, and Van Horn sailed off with
them; but being soon joined by some Buccaneer companions, he turned on
the prey, seized the richest, sank some others, and pursued the rest.
Such was the commencement of this adventurer's career. His after life
was worthy of such a beginning.
Van Horn was immensely rich. He usually wore a string of pearls of
extraordinary size, and a large ruby of great beauty. His widow lived
afterwards at Ostend.
In 1683, Van Horn, who had all his life fought under French colours,
though not very scrupulous about what nation a vessel was, so it were
rich, having gone to St. Domingo to sell negroes, had his ship
confiscated by the Spanish governor. The Buccaneer's ungovernable
passions could no more brook such an insult than a knight would have
borne a blow. Buccaneer pride desired revenge; Buccaneer cupidity
desired redress. Resolved on vengeance, the angry Dutchman hastened to
Petit Guaves, and took out a commission from the governor of Tortuga,
and at once enrolled 300 of the bravest Buccaneers, with a determination
of attacking Vera Cruz. Among his crew were enrolled several of the
leading Buccaneer chiefs. Grammont, who had lately lost his ship at the
Isles des Aves, lately a commander, was now a mere volunteer. Such were
the vicissitudes of Buccaneer life. Laurence de Graff was also there. He
was a Dutchman like Van Horn, but one came from Ostend and the other
from Dort. Among the less celebrated were Godefroy and Jonque. Their
numbers soon swelled to 1,200 picked men, in six vessels, under the
command of Van Horn and De Graff, who had each a frigate of fifty guns,
while the rest had simple barks. Their common aim was Vera Cruz, the
emporium of all the riches of New Spain, and they needed no other
incitement to urge them to speed and unity.
From some Spanish prisoners they heard that two large vessels laden with
cocoa were hourly expected at Vera Cruz from the Caraccas. The
Buccaneer leaders instantly fitted up two of their largest ships in the
Spanish fashion, and, hoisting the Spanish flag, sent them boldly into
the harbour, as if just returning as peaceful but armed traders from a
long and successful voyage. It was the eve of the Assumption, crowds of
sailors and townsmen lined the quays, and the expectant populace cheered
the rich merchantmen as they steered with a stately sweep into the
haven. The keener eyes, however, soon observed that the Caraccas vessels
advanced very slowly, although the wind was good, and their suspicions
became excited almost before the Buccaneers could work into port. Some
even ran to tell the governor that all was not right, but Don Luis de
Cordova told them that their fears were foolish, the two vessels he knew
by unmistakable signs to be the two vessels he expected; and he returned
the same answer to the commander of the fort at St. Jean d'Ulloa, who
also sent to bid him be upon his guard.
About midnight the French, under cover of the dark, landed at the old
town, about three leagues to the west of the more modern city. They
obtained easy access to the place, and surprised the governor in his
bed. The drowsy sentinels once overpowered, the small fortress with its
twelve guns was in the possession of their men. At every corner pickets
were placed. The surprise was so complete, that when the tocsin rang at
daybreak, the watchmen being alarmed at some musket shots they heard,
they found the town already bound hand and foot. At the first clang of
the bell, the garrison rushed out of their barracks, and ranged
themselves under their colours, but saw the French already in arms at
the head of all the principal streets. They were surrounded and
helpless. When the day broke, nobody dare show themselves, for all those
who ran out armed were instantly struck down. Sentinels were placed at
every door in the principal streets, a barrel of powder with the lid off
by their sides, ready to fire the train that connected one with the
other at the least signal of danger. We believe it was on this occasion
that Van Horn forced a monk into the cathedral, who preached to the
people on the vanity of worldly riches, and the necessity of abandoning
them to the spoiler. The Buccaneers then drove all the Spaniards into
their houses, and forced the women and children into the churches. Here
they remained, crowded together, weeping and hungry, for three days,
while their enemies collected the booty. The Buccaneers, now safe,
abandoned themselves, as usual, to debauchery and gluttony--some dying
from immoderate gluttony. Fortunately for this wretched people, the
bishop of the town, happening to be near Vera Cruz at the time, began to
treat for their ransom. It was fixed at two million piastres, of which a
part was paid the very same day--the Buccaneers only dispensing with the
remaining million, as the Vice-Royal was already approaching the town at
the head of a large force. Dangers were now hemming in the Dutchman and
his band. About eleven o'clock in the morning, the look-out on the tower
of St. Catherine's reported that a fleet of fourteen sail was
approaching the city.
The Buccaneers, alarmed, sprang to arms. Aghast at this intelligence,
the French, dreading to be shut in between two fires, decided upon an
immediate retreat. The townspeople, terrified at the prospect of being
massacred by their infuriated and despairing enemies, were as
apprehensive of danger as the Buccaneers themselves. Van Horn embarked
with speed all the plate and cochineal, and the more valuable and
portable of the spoil, and waited eagerly for the ransom which was now
almost in sight. It, however, never arrived, for the drivers of the
mules, hearing the firing, halted till the fleet came within sight. The
Buccaneers had no time to lose, and compensated themselves by carrying
off 1,500 slaves to their vessels, which lay moored at some leagues'
distance, at Grijaluc, a place of safety.
They spent the night in great disorder, in continual apprehension of
being attacked by the Spanish fleet, which was, at the same time,
congratulating itself on reaching Vera Cruz unharmed. The danger of the
Buccaneers was indeed not yet removed, for they had neither water nor
sufficient provisions, and some 1,500 prisoners were on board. About
these hostages the leaders differed in opinion, and words ran high. The
two chiefs fought, and Van Horn received a sword thrust in the arm from
De Graff. The several crews took up their captains' quarrels, and would
have come to blows, had not De Graff divided the prey, and at once set
sail. Van Horn followed, but died on the passage, a gangrene having
formed upon a wound at first very slight. He was devotedly beloved by
his men, says Charlevoix, though he was in the habit of cutting down any
sailor whom he saw flinch at his guns. He left his frigate with his
dying breath to Grammont, who reached St. Domingo, after dreadful
sufferings, having lost three-fourths of his prisoners by famine--his
patache being cast away and taken by the Spaniards. De Graff's vessel
was also wrecked, but the crew made their way one by one to St. Domingo,
where, in spite of the ill reception of the governor, they were welcomed
by the hospitality of the inhabitants, who longed to share the treasure
of Vera Cruz. The governor, M. de Franquesnoy, without fortress or
garrison, and exposed to the inroads of the Spaniards, could make no
resistance to these wild refugees, who, on one occasion, hearing that he
intended to seize upon part of the Vera Cruz booty, surrounded his house
to the number of 120 men, and threatened his life. At this time, a
general outbreak of the French was expected.
It was in the very next year that the governor of Carthagena, hearing
that Michael le Basque and Jonque were cruising near his port, sent two
vessels against them, one of 48 guns and 300 men, and the other of 40
guns and 250 men, with a small bark as a decoy. The Buccaneer chiefs
each commanded a vessel of 30 guns and 200 men. They both grappled the
Spaniards, held them for an hour and a-half, swept their decks with
musketry, tortured them with hand grenades and missiles, and eventually
bore them off in triumph. All the Spaniards who were not killed were put
on shore with a note to the governor, thanking him for having sent them
two such good vessels, as their own had long been unfit for service.
They, moreover, promised to wait fifteen days off Carthagena for any
other vessel he might wish to get rid of, provided he would send money
in them, of which they were in great need.
END OF VOL. II.
LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET.