long-boat and twenty-four men, to go and take possession of the ship;
and appointed my carpenter to go and see to the repairs that were
necessary to be done to her: and some days after, I sent Captain
Merlotte with the supercargo, in our sloop, to go and secure the
possession, and to cover the retreat of any of the men who might have a
mind to come away, and might be opposed by the rest; and this was done
at the request of the gunner who foresaw there might be some debate
about it.
They spent six weeks and some odd days in fitting out this ship,
occasioned by the want of a convenient place to lay her on shore in,
which they were obliged to make with a great deal of labour; however,
she was at last completely fitted up.
When she was equipped, they laid in a good store of provisions, though
not so well cured as to last a great while. One of the best things we
got a recruit of here was casks, which, as said before, we greatly
wanted, and which their coopers assisted us to trim, season, and fit up.
As to bread, we had no help from them; for they had none but what they
made of rice, and they had not sufficient store of that.
But we had more to do yet: for, when the ship was fitted up, and our men
had the possession of her, they were surprised one morning, on a sudden,
with a most horrible tumult among the pirates: and had not our
brigantine been at hand to secure the possession, I believe they had
taken the ship from our men again, and perhaps have come down with her
and their two sloops, and have attacked us. The case was this:
The gunner, who was a punctual fellow to his word, resolved that none of
the men should go in the ship but such as he had singled out; and they
were such as were generally taken out of merchant ships by force: but
when he came to talk to the men of who should go, and who should stay,
truly they would all go, to a man, there was not a man of them would
stay behind; and, in a word, they fell out about it to that degree that
they came to blows, and the gunner was forced to fly for it, with about
twenty-two men that stood to him, and six or seven were wounded in the
fray, whereof two died.
The gunner being thus driven to his shifts, made down to the shore to
his boat, but the rogues were too nimble for him, and had got to his
boat before him, and prepared to man her and two more, to go on board
and secure the ship.
In this distress, the gunner, who had taken sanctuary in the woods at
about a mile distance, but unhappily above the camp, so that the
platform of guns was between him and the ship, had no remedy but to send
one of his men, who swam very well, to take a compass round behind the
pirates' camp and come to the water-side below the camp and platform, so
to take the water and swim on board the ship, which lay near a league
below their said camp, and give our men notice of what had happened; to
warn them to suffer none of their men to come on board, unless the
gunner was with them; and if possible, to send a boat on shore to fetch
off the gunner and his men, who were following by the same way, and
would be at the same place, and make a signal to them to come for him.
Our men had scarce received this notice, when they saw a boat full of
men put off from the platform, and row down under shore towards them:
but as they resolved not to suffer them to come on board, they called to
them by a speaking-trumpet, and told them they might go back again, for
they should not come on board, nor any other boat, unless the gunner was
on board.
They rowed on for all that, when our men called to them again, and told
them, if they offered to put off, in order to come on board, or, in
short, to row down shore any farther than a little point which our men
named, and which was just ahead of them, they would fire at them. They
rowed on for all this, and even till they were past the point; which,
our men seeing, they immediately let fly a shot, but fired a little
ahead of them, so as not to hit the boat, and this brought them to a
stop; so they lay upon their oars awhile, as if they were considering
what to do, when our men perceived two boats more come off from the
platform, likewise full of men, and rowing after the first.
Upon this, they called again to the first boat with their
speaking-trumpet, and told them, if they did not all go immediately on
shore, they would sink the boat. They had no remedy, seeing our men
resolved, and that they lay open to the shot of the ship; so they went
on shore accordingly, and then our men fired at the empty boat, till
they split her in pieces, and made her useless to them.
Upon this firing, our brigantine, which lay about two leagues off in the
mouth of a little creek, on the south of that river, weighed
immediately, and stood away to the opening of the road where the ship
lay; and the tide of flood being still running in, they drove up towards
the ship, for her assistance, and came to an anchor about a cable's
length ahead of her, but within pistol-shot of the shore; at the same
time sending two-and-thirty of her men on board the great ship, to
reinforce the men on board, who were but sixteen in number.
Just at this time, the gunner and his twenty-one men, who heard the
firing, and had quickened their pace, though they had a great compass to
fetch through woods and untrod paths, and some luggage to carry too,
were come to the shore, and made the signal, which our men in the ship
observing, gave notice to the officer of the brigantine to fetch them on
board, which he did very safely. By the way, as the officer afterwards
told us, most of their luggage consisted in money, with which, it seems,
every man of them was very well furnished, having shared their wealth at
their first coming on shore: as for clothes, they had very few, and
those all in rags; and as for linen, they had scarce a shirt among them
all, or linen enough to have made a white flag for a truce, if they had
occasion for it: in short, a crew so rich and so ragged, were hardly
ever seen before.
The ship was now pretty well manned: for the brigantine carried the
gunner and his twenty-one men on board her; and the tide by this time
being spent, she immediately unmoored, and loosed her topsails, which,
as it happened, had been bent to the yards two days before; so with the
first of the ebb she weighed, and fell down about a league farther, by
which she was quite out of reach of the platform, and rid in the open
sea; and the brigantine did the same.
But by this means, they missed the occasion of the rest of the gunner's
men, who, having got together to the number of between seventy and
eighty, had followed him, and come down to the shore, and made the
signals, but were not understood by our ship, which put the poor men to
great difficulties; for they had broken away from the rest by force,
and had been pursued half a mile by the whole body, particularly at the
entrance into a very thick woody place, and were so hard put to it, that
they were obliged to make a desperate stand, and fire at their old
friends, which had exasperated them to the last degree. But, as the case
of these men was desperate, they took an effectual method for their own
security, of which I shall give a farther account presently.
The general body of the pirates were now up in arms, and the new ship
was, as it were, in open war with them, or at least they had declared
war against her: but as they had been disappointed in their attempt to
force her, and found they were not strong enough at sea to attack her,
they sent a flag of truce on board. Our men admitted them to come to the
ship's side; but as my mate, who now had the command, knew them to be a
gang of desperate rogues, that would attempt anything, though ever so
rash, he ordered that none of them should come on board the ship, except
the officer and two more, who gave an account that they were sent to
treat with us; so we called them the ambassadors.
When they came on board, they expostulated very warmly with my new
agent, the second mate, that our men came in the posture of friends, and
of friends too in distress, and had received favours from them, but had
abused the kindness which had been shown them; that they had bought a
ship of them, and had had leave and assistance to fit her up and furnish
her; but had not paid for her, or paid for what assistance and what
provisions had been given to them: and that now, to complete all, their
men had been partially and unfairly treated; and when a certain number
of men had been granted us, an inferior fellow, a gunner, was set to
call such and such men out, just whom he pleased, to go with us; whereas
the whole body ought to have had the appointing whom they would or would
not give leave to, to go in the ship: that, when they came in a
peaceable manner to have demanded justice, and to have treated amicably
of these things, our men had denied them admittance, had committed
hostilities against them, had fired at their men, and staved their boat,
and had afterward received their deserters on board, all contrary to the
rules of friendship. And in all these cases they demanded satisfaction.
Our new commander was a ready man enough, and he answered all their
complaints with a great deal of gravity and calmness. He told them, that
it was true we came to them as friends, and had received friendly usage
from them, which we had not in the least dishonoured; but that as
friends in distress, we had never pretended to be, and really were not;
for that we were neither in danger of anything, or in want of anything;
that as to provisions, we were strong enough if need were, to procure
ourselves provisions in any part of the island, and had been several
times supplied from the shore by the natives, for which we had always
fully satisfied the people who furnished us; and that we scorned to be
ungrateful for any favour we should have received, much less to abuse
it, or them for it.
That we had paid the full price of all the provisions we had received,
and for the work that had been done to the ship; that what we had
bargained for, as the price of the ship, had been paid, as far as the
agreement made it due, and that what remained, was ready to be paid as
soon as the ship was finished, which was our contract.
That as to the people who were willing to take service with us, and
enter themselves on board, it is true that the gunner and some other men
offered themselves to us, and we had accepted of them, and we thought it
was our part to accept or not to accept of such men as we thought fit.
As for what was among themselves, that we had nothing to do with: that,
if we had been publicly warned by them not to have entertained any of
their men, but with consent of the whole body, then indeed we should
have had reason to be cautious; otherwise, we were not in the least
concerned about it. That it is true, we refused to let their boats come
on board us, being assured that they came in a hostile manner, either to
take away the men by force, which had been entered in our service, or
perhaps even to seize the ship itself; and why else was the first boat
followed by two more, full of men, armed and prepared to attack us? That
we not only came in a friendly manner to them, but resolved to continue
in friendship with them, if they thought fit to use us as friends; but
that, considering what part of the world we were in, and what their
circumstances were, they must allow us to be upon our guard, and not put
ourselves in a condition to be used ill.
While he was talking thus with them in the cabin, he had ordered a can
of flip to be made, and given their men in the boat, and every one a
dram, but would not suffer them to come on board; however, one or two of
them got leave to get in at one of the ports, and got between decks
among our men; here they made terrible complaints of their condition,
and begged hard to be entertained in our service; they were full of
money, and gave twenty or thirty pieces of eight among our men, and by
this present prevailed on two men to speak to my mate, who appeared as
captain, to take the boat's crew on board.
The mate very gravely told the two ambassadors of it, and added, that,
seeing they were come with a flag of truce, he would not stop their men
without their consent, but the men being so earnest, he thought they
would do better not to oppose them. The ambassadors, as I call them,
opposed it, however, vehemently, and at last desired to go and talk with
the men, which was granted them readily.
When they came into their boat, their men told them plainly, that, one
and all, they would enter themselves with their countrymen; that they
had been forced already to turn pirates, and they thought they might
very justly turn honest men again by force, if they could not get leave
to do it peaceably; and that, in short, they would go on shore no more;
that, if the ambassadors desired it, they would set them on shore with
the boat, but as for themselves, they would go along with the new
captain.
When the ambassadors saw this, they had no more to do but to be
satisfied, and so were set on shore where they desired, and their men
stayed on board.
During this transaction, my mate had sent a full account to me of all
that had passed, and had desired me to come on board and give farther
directions in all that was to follow; so I took our supercargo and
Captain Merlotte along with me, and some more of our officers, and went
to them. It was my lot to come on board just when the aforesaid
ambassadors were talking with my mate, so I heard most of what they had
to say, and heard the answer my mate gave them, as above, which was
extremely to my satisfaction; nor did I interrupt him, or take upon me
any authority, though he would very submissively have had me shown
myself as captain, but I bade him go on, and sat down, as not concerned
in the affair at all.
After the ambassadors were gone, the first thing I did, was, in the
presence of all the company, and, having before had the opinion of those
I brought with me, to tell my second mate how well we were all satisfied
with his conduct, and to declare him captain of the ship that he was in;
only demanding his solemn oath, to be under orders of the great ship, as
admiral, and to carry on no separate interests from us; which he
thankfully accepted, and, to give him his due, as faithfully performed,
all the rest of our very long voyage, and through all our adventures.
It was upon my seeming intercession, that he gave consent to the boat's
crew, who brought the ambassadors, to remain in our service, and set
their statesmen on shore; and in the end, I told him that as far as
about one hundred and fifty, or two hundred men, he should entertain
whom he thought fit. Thus having settled all things in the ship to our
satisfaction, we went back to our great ship the next day.
I had not been many hours on board, till I was surprised with the firing
of three muskets from the shore; we wondered what could be the meaning
of it, knowing that it was an unusual thing in that place, where we knew
the natives of the country had no fire-arms; so we could not tell what
to make of it, and therefore took no notice, other than, as I say, to
wonder at it. About half-an-hour after, we heard three muskets more, and
still, not knowing anything of the matter, we made them no return to the
signal. Some time after three muskets were fired again, but still we
took no notice, for we knew nothing of what return was to be made to it.
When night come on, we observed two great fires upon two several hills,
on that part of the shore opposite to us, and after that, three rockets
were fired, such as they were, for they were badly constructed; I
suppose their gunner was ill provided for such things: but all signified
nothing; we would have made any return to them that had been to be
understood, but we knew nothing of any agreed signal; however, I
resolved that I would send a boat on shore, well manned, to learn, if
possible, what the meaning of all this was; and, accordingly, in the
morning, I sent our long-boat and shallop on shore, with two-and-thirty
men in them both, to get intelligence; ordering them, if possible, to
speak with somebody, before they went on shore, and know how things
stood; that then, if it was a party of the pirates, they should by no
means come near them, but parley at a distance, till they knew the
meaning of their behaviour.
As soon as my men came near the shore, they saw plainly that it was a
body of above a hundred of the pirates; but seeing them so strong, they
stood off, and would not come nearer, nor near enough to parley with
them; upon this, the men on shore got one of the islanders' canvass
boats, or rather boats made of skins, which are but sorry ones at best,
and put off, with two men to manage the sail, and one sitter, and two
paddles for oars and away they came towards us, carrying a flag of
truce, that is to say, an old white rag; how they came to save so much
linen among them all, was very hard to guess.
Our men could do no less than receive their ambassador, and a flag of
truce gave no shadow of apprehension, especially considering the figure
they made, and that the men on shore had no other boats to surprise or
attack us with; so they lay by upon their oars till they came up, when
they soon understood who they were, viz.--that they were the gunner's
selected men; that they came too late to have their signal perceived
from the other ship, which was gone out of sight of the place they were
directed to; that they had with great difficulty, and five days and
nights' marching, got through a woody and almost impassable country to
come at us; that they had fetched a circuit of near a hundred miles to
avoid being attacked by their comrades, and that they were pursued by
them with their whole body, and therefore they begged to be taken on
board; they added, if they should be overtaken by their comrades, they
should be all cut in pieces, for that they had broke away from them by
force, and moreover had been obliged, at the first of their pursuit, to
face about and fire among them, by which they had killed six or seven of
them, and wounded others, and that they had sworn they would give them
no quarter, if they could come fairly up with them.
Our men told them they must be contented to remain on shore, where they
were, for some time, for that they could do nothing till they had been
on board, and acquainted their captain with all the particulars; so they
came back immediately to me for orders.
As to me, I was a little uneasy at the thoughts of taking them on board;
I knew they were a gang of pirates at best, and what they might do I
knew not, but I sent them this message, that though all their tale might
be very good for aught I knew, yet that I must take so much time as to
send an express to the captain of the other ship, to be informed of the
truth of it; and that if he brought a satisfactory answer, I would send
for them all on board.
This was very uncomfortable news to them, for they expected to be
surrounded every hour by their comrades, from whom they were to look for
no mercy; however, seeing no remedy, they resolved to march about twenty
miles farther south, and lie by in a place near the sea, where we agreed
to send to them; concluding that their comrades not finding them near
the place where we lay, would not imagine they could be gone farther
that way. As they guessed, so it proved, for the pirates came to the
shore, where they saw tokens enough of their having been there, but
seeing they could not be found, concluded they were all gone on board
our ship.
The wind proving contrary, it was no less than four days before our boat
came back, so that the poor men were held in great suspense: but when
they returned, they brought the gunner with them who had selected those
men from all the rest for our new ship; and who, when he came, gave me a
long account of them, and what care he had taken to pick them out for
our service, delivering me also a letter from my new captain to the same
purpose: upon all which concurring circumstances, we concluded to take
them on board; so we sent our boats for them, which, at twice, brought
them all on board, and very stout young fellows they were.
When they had been on board some days and refreshed themselves, I
concluded to send all on board the new ship; but, upon advice, I
resolved to send sixty of my own men joined to forty of these, and keep
thirty-four of them on board my ship; for their number was just
seventy-four, which with the gunner and his twenty-one men, and the
sixteen men who came with the worthy ambassadors, and would not go on
shore again, made one hundred and twelve men; and, as we all thought,
were enough for us, though we took in between forty and fifty more
afterwards.
We were now ready to go to sea, and I caused the new ship and the
brigantine to come away from the place where they lay, and join us;
which they did, and then we unloaded part of our provisions and
ammunition; of which, as I observed at first, we had taken in double
quantity; and, having furnished the new ship with a proportion of all
things necessary, we prepared for our voyage.
I should here give a long account of a second infernal conspiracy, which
my two remaining prisoners had formed among the men, which was to betray
the new ship to the pirates; but it is too long a story to relate here;
nor did I make it public among the ship's company: but as it was only,
as it were, laid down in a scheme, and that they had no opportunity to
put it in practice, I thought it was better to make as little noise
about it as I could. So I ordered my new captain, for it was he who
discovered it to me, to punish them in their own way, and, without
taking notice of their new villanies, to set them on shore, and leave
them to take their fate with a set of rogues whom they had intended to
join with, and whose profession was likely, some time or other, to bring
them to the gallows. And thus I was rid of two incorrigible mutineers;
what became of them afterwards I never heard.
We were now a little fleet, viz., two large ships and a brigantine, well
manned, and furnished with all sorts of necessaries for any voyage or
any enterprise that was fit for men in our situation to undertake; and,
particularly, here I made a full design of the whole voyage, to be again
openly declared to the men, and had them asked, one by one, if they were
willing and resolved to undertake it, which they all very cheerfully
answered in the affirmative.
Here we had an opportunity to furnish ourselves with a plentiful stock
of excellent beef, which, as I said before, we cured with little or no
salt, by drying it in the sun; and, I believe, we laid in such a store,
that, in all our three vessels, we had near a hundred and fifty tons of
it; and it was of excellent use to us, and served us through the whole
voyage. There was little else to be had in this place that was fit to be
carried to sea; except that, as there was plenty of milk, some of our
men, who were more dexterous than others, made several large cheeses;
nor were they very far short of English cheese, only that we were but
indifferent dairy folks. Our men made some butter also, and salted it to
keep, but it grew rank and oily, and was of little use to us.
It was on the 15th of December that we left this place, a country
fruitful, populous, full of cattle, large and excellent good beef, and
very fat; and the land able to produce all manner of good things; but
the people wild, naked, black, barbarous, perfectly untractable, and
insensible of any state of life being better than their own.