the two ships sailed together for the East Indies. After some successes
there they returned by separate routes to Madagascar, for the purpose of
revictualling and refitting, agreeing to meet again at St. John's and
lie in wait for the Moorish fleet. They did this, and one of the Moors
fell a prize to Bowen, but Howard did not come up with them till they
were anchored at the bay of Surat, where they waited to lighten.
Howard came up among them slowly, under shortened sail, and as he
concealed his men and kept his ports closed, they took him for an
English East-Indiaman and suffered him to approach. Howard suddenly
attacked the largest vessel, and after a desperate fight, in which he
lost thirty men, carried her by boarding.
On this vessel was a nobleman belonging to the court of the Great Mogul.
The prize itself was immensely valuable, and the nobleman's ransom
amounted to twenty thousand pounds, so by this time Howard's fortune was
well assured. He then ran down to Malabar, where he met Bowen and his
prize, a fine, stout ship of sixty guns. The two captains with their
quartermasters held a consultation (on the night of their meeting) in
the cabin of the _Speedy Return_, and their future plans were decided
upon over a rich banquet provided from the stores of the prizes.
The _Prosperous_ they sank and the _Speedy Return_ they burned, and in
Bowen's prize they continued their depredations, the two crews being
joined together. This made Howard's ninth change of vessels since he had
taken to piracy.
As they cruised down the coast of Madagascar they came in sight of
Howard's old haven, where he had buried his treasure. He became seized
with a desire for shore life, and with those of his men who had lived
there before with him, and with their share of the recent booty, he went
back to his old stamping-ground to settle down. He was received with
open arms by his old friends among the natives; he married a Malagasy
woman, and for a long time lived quietly and peaceably, shooting,
fishing, watching his herds, and cultivating his fields.
A missionary who was shipwrecked on the coast about a year after
Howard's return worked on the pirate's soft heart so successfully that
before being taken home on a trading-vessel that put in for water he had
brought the gallant buccaneer into the close folds of the Roman Catholic
Church and to a full realization of his unusually sinful state. After
the missionary's departure Howard missed the theological discourse and
dispute that had whiled away many a tropic twilight, and he knew not
where to turn for an outlet of his intellectual activities. Finally the
bright idea struck him that it would be both pleasing and beneficial to
evangelize the natives. In a fit of religious enthusiasm he proceeded to
this work with his usual prodigal hand. Unfortunately for himself, he
used a club in the process, and this, coupled with his brutal treatment
of his wife, made him unpopular among the Malagasy.
One night the docile aborigines fell upon him while he was asleep in his
hammock, and left mementos of their presence in the shape of
thirty-seven assagais stuck decoratively in various parts of his body.
When found he was very dead, and thus terminated the earthly career of a
treacherous and unworthy ruffian, whose only claims to our consideration
were his good seamanship and Anglo-Saxon pluck.
XI
TEW, OF RHODE ISLAND
A Fighter from the Seas
On a lovely morning in the early part of the eighteenth century two
vessels might have been seen approaching each other at that point where
the northern waters of the Mozambique Channel mingle with those of the
Indian Ocean. The day was mild and the wind light and variable. The
ships rolled lazily on the languid swell, and a couple of leagues to the
south and east of them the low, green shores of Madagascar were dimly
visible.
As the vessels drew near to each other the smaller of the two, a large
brig-sloop with raking masts and a narrow, speedy-looking hull, put down
her helm, rounded into the wind, and ran the black flag up to her main
peak. The other, a trim and sturdy ship-rigged craft, with something of
a man-of-war look about her lofty spars and graceful lines, seemed
little perturbed by this significant display of the pirate emblem. She
hove to, however, and the two vessels lay rolling idly on the blue water
a long musket-shot apart.
Before the sloop had time for any further demonstration one of the
ship's quarter-boats was lowered and brought to the starboard gangway,
and into her stepped a spare, dark, wiry-looking man of medium height,
evidently the Captain. The boat shoved off and made for the sloop, the
Captain steering, and the crew pulling with the long, regular stroke of
man-of-war's men.
So far the ship had displayed no colors, and the peculiar nonchalance
with which her crew had behaved towards the pirates excited the latter's
marked apprehension. Could she be a public ship in disguise? If so, then
farewell to the buccaneer's hopes of brave booty in the Indian seas, for
the wind had fallen and the vessels were drifting nearer together.
The dark man seized the life-lines as they were extended to him from the
pirates' gangway, and climbed up the ladder with catlike agility.
"What ship is this?" he asked, curtly, ignoring the crew that pressed
ominously about him, and addressing himself to a tall man of a quiet but
commanding appearance who stepped forward to meet him.
"This is the sloop _Hope_, sir, and I am her commander, Thomas Tew, at
your service."
"And I am Captain Misson of the ship _Victoire_, lately of his French
Majesty's service, but now from the seas."
The expression "from the seas" at once allayed the fears of Tew's
pirates, for the buccaneers of that day thus characterized themselves in
their answering hails.
The crew went about their duty, and the two captains entered the cabin,
where they began a friendly conversation, and informed each other of
their respective histories.
It seemed that Mr. Richier, the Governor of Bermuda, had fitted out two
sloops on the privateer account, one commanded by Captain George Drew,
and the other by Thomas Tew. They were instructed to make their way to
the river Gambia, in Africa, and to attempt the taking of the French
factory of Goree on that coast. The vessels sailed together and kept
company for some time, but, a violent storm coming up, Drew sprung his
mast and they lost each other.
Tew, separated from his consort, thought of providing for his future
with one bold stroke. Accordingly he summoned his crew to the mast, and
addressed them upon the subject of his plans.
He told them that they were afloat in a fine craft bent upon a dangerous
mission, with no prospect of advantage for themselves, but only for
their employers. That he was little inclined to risk his health and his
life except for some great personal gain, and finally he proposed
bluntly that they should throw off their allegiance to Governor Richier,
and go "on the account," as piracy was called in those days.
The crew listened eagerly, and at the conclusion of his speech sung out
as one man:
"A gold chain or a wooden leg. We'll stand by you, Captain."
Tew then made sail for and doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and as he
entered the Red Sea on his cruise northward came up with a ship bound
from the Indies to Arabia. She was richly laden, and carried three
hundred soldiers to aid the crew in defending her cargo; but,
notwithstanding her superior force, the pirates carried her with a dash,
and shared fifteen thousand dollars a man in plunder. They then stood
down the coast towards Madagascar, and the _Victoire_ was the first ship
they had sighted since leaving their prize.
Misson listened with interest to Captain Tew's story, and then gave him
a brief account of his own adventures. He said that, having gone to sea
as a sub-officer on the ship _Victoire_ of the French royal service, he
had participated in an engagement with an English man-of-war; that all
his superior officers had been killed in the action, and that he had
assumed command and sunk the Briton; and that after this his crew had
requested him to retain command and go "on the account" for himself. He
confessed that he had willingly acted upon their suggestion, had made
several prizes, and established a colony on a bay to the northward of
Diego Suariez, on the island of Madagascar. He informed Tew further that
he was much impressed with the courage with which the _Hope_ had borne
down to engage a vessel so much her superior in size and strength as the
_Victoire_, and that, as he could not have too many resolute fellows as
his allies, he would be glad to join forces with Tew's men.
Tew answered that before entering into an alliance with Misson he would
prefer to examine the workings of the latter's colony. Misson agreed to
this, and the _Victoire_ and the _Hope_ sailed in company for
Libertaita, as Misson called his new republic.
Just at sunrise the two ships passed between the fortified headlands
that guarded the entrance to the pirate stronghold, and Tew, standing on
his quarter-deck and following the motions of the _Victoire_, was
astonished at the strength of the harbor he entered, and the discipline
that seemed to prevail there.
With the timbers and guns of captured ships Misson had constructed and
armed two powerful forts which stood on the headlands at the entrance to
the harbor. On a little island, where the channel branched, a brown
earthwork pointed ten heavy cannon so as to rake the seaward approaches,
and far back of it, on the edge of the bay, the walls and roofs of a
fortified town reared themselves orderly amid the green of the tropical
foliage. Everywhere was the appearance of industry and discipline. On a
beach near the town a group of sailors was engaged careening a small
brig to scrape the sea-growths from her sides, another party was filling
water-casks at a well-constructed reservoir, and the rattling of echoes
of carpenters' hammers came from a couple of storehouses in process of
construction near the water's edge. From a citadel in the centre of the
town and from flag-staffs erected on both forts and the water-battery
the flag of Libertaita fluttered in the breeze, vigilant sentries walked
the ramparts with military tread, and as the _Victoire_ and the _Hope_
let go their anchors in the gentle ground-swell of the harbor, a battery
of eighteen-pounders roared out a welcome of nine guns.
Tew was charmed with the appearance of the place, and upon going ashore
with Misson had his favorable impressions strengthened and confirmed.
The captains were received with great respect by Caraccioli, Misson's
lieutenant, who admired not a little the courage that Tew had displayed
in capturing his prize and in giving chase to Misson.
The colony at this time was peopled by over one thousand men, many of
them having been captured by Misson in his prizes. Of these three
hundred had taken on with him, one hundred were natives of the island of
Mohilla, with whose queen Misson had formed a matrimonial and political
alliance, and the remainder were prisoners whom Misson intended to send
to their homes, and whom he employed in the mean time as laborers
around his fortifications.
The day after the arrival of the captains at Libertaita a formal council
was held. Tew promptly expressed his willingness to join forces with
Misson, and was made second in command.
The question of the disposition of Misson's numerous prisoners was
brought up at once. It was decided to tell them that Misson had formed
an alliance with a prince of the natives, and to propose to them that
they should either assist the new colony or be sent up the country as
prisoners. On this decision being imparted to them, seventy-three of the
prisoners took on, and the remainder desired that they be given any
other fate than that of being sent up into the wild and savage interior;
so one hundred and seventeen of them were set to work upon a dock near
the mouth of the harbor, and the other prisoners, lest they should
revolt, were forbidden, under pain of death, to pass certain prescribed
bounds. The _Hope_ lay in the harbor as a guard-ship, and the Johanna
men were armed and put on patrol duty; but while the pirates were
providing for their protection they did not forget their support, and
large quantities of Indian and European corn and other grain were sowed
in the fertile fields of Libertaita.
Soon after this it was decided to send away the prisoners, as they were
too much of a burden for the infant colony. They were accordingly
summoned before the captains and told that they were to be set at
liberty. Misson informed them that he knew the consequence of giving
them freedom; that he expected to be attacked as soon as the place of
his retreat was known, and had it in his hands to avoid further trouble
by putting them all to death; but that Captain Tew had agreed with him
to practise humanity, and that they were to have their property restored
to them, and were to sail for a friendly coast the next morning in a
ship that was well provisioned but unarmed. All he asked was that they
should never serve against him. An oath to this effect was cheerfully
taken, and away the prisoners sailed to the nearest European
settlement.
When they had gone Misson returned to the work of improving his town,
and gave the command of his ship, the _Victoire_, to Tew, who, with one
hundred and sixty picked fellows, set out to sweep the seas. He sailed
down the wind to the coast of Zanzibar, and off Quiloa made up to a
large ship which backed her main-topsail and laid by for him. Tew
engaged her for four hours, losing many men, but finding her a
Portuguese public ship of fifty guns and three hundred men, much more
than a match for the little _Victoire_, he attempted to make off. The
_Victoire_, however, was so foul from her long service that she could
not show her customary clean pair of heels, and the stranger, proving
fast and weatherly, drew up with her. The Portuguese Captain, a gallant
officer of great height and herculean strength, lay alongside the
_Victoire_ and boarded her at the head of his men; but the pirates, not
used to being attacked, and expecting no quarter, made so desperate a
resistance that they not only drove back the enemy with loss, but were
enabled to board in their turn. At first only a few followed the
Portuguese as they leaped back into their own ship; but Tew, perceiving
the desperate resolution of these, sang out, "Follow me, lads!" and
sprang over his enemy's rail. The Portuguese opposed the pirates firmly
for a time, but to Tew's cry, "She's our own! Board her! Board her!" his
men replied in continually augmenting numbers, and drove the defenders
back to the main-hatch. Here a bloody conflict ensued, for the
Portuguese Captain fought in the front rank of his men, and with voice
and example encouraged them to combat. Seeing this, Tew rushed forward
to meet him, and the two captains crossed swords with equal bravery. The
crews paused to observe the duel, and watched with fiercely excited eyes
the flashing sabres and shifting poises of their champions. The
Portuguese had a longer reach, and was much taller and stronger than the
pirate, but the latter had the agility of a panther, and was noted as
one of the best swordsmen of his day. Time and again the Portuguese
made a dash against his adversary with point or blade, only to be met
with an accurate parry or a quick return stroke that forced him backward
nearer and nearer to the open hatch. Finally Tew parried a furious lunge
and delivered his terrible return stroke on the neck of the Portuguese,
who threw up his hands and fell backward down the hatch. This ended the
fight, and the crew of the public ship called for quarter.
With his rich prize, which yielded him one hundred thousand pounds in
Spanish gold, Tew put back to port, where, notwithstanding his severe
loss, his courage and dash were loudly acclaimed by the colony.
Caraccioli persuaded two hundred and ten of the Portuguese to join the
Libertaitans, and among them, to Misson's great pleasure, was found a
school-master, whose services he at once devoted to the instruction of
his negroes.
Two sloops of eighty tons each had been built in a creek, and when they
were finished they were armed with eight guns apiece out of a Dutch
prize, and sent on a trial trip. They proved to be fast, weatherly
vessels, and on their return from their first trip to sea Misson
proposed to send them out on a voyage of survey to lay down a chart of
the shoals and deep water around the coast of Madagascar. As Tew was an
excellent navigator he was given command of the expedition and of one of
the sloops, while the school-master, who proved to be a good seaman and
skilful surveyor, commanded the other. The sloops were manned with a
crew of fifty blacks and fifty whites each, and their four months'
voyage enabled the negroes not only to learn how to handle the
boarding-pike, but, as they were anxious to learn and be useful, to pick
up a fair knowledge of French and seamanship. They returned with an
excellent chart and three prizes. Misson now determined to make a foray
in force, and, dividing five hundred men, white and black, between the
_Victoire_ and the _Hope_, he and Tew set out for the high seas; of
course a strong force was left behind as a garrison.
Off the coast of Arabia Felix they fell in with a ship of one hundred
and ten guns belonging to the Great Mogul. This ship carried a crew of
seven hundred men and nine hundred passengers, and towered monstrously
above the low sides of the pirate vessels; but Tew on the starboard
quarter and Misson on the port bore up gallantly, and engaged her. To
the opening broadsides of the pirates she thundered an awful response.
Soon the wind died out, and thick clouds of smoke lay motionless on the
water; under its cover Tew brought the little _Hope_ alongside, and,
with his cutlass between his teeth and his pistol in his hand, clambered
up the lofty side. He had barely reached the rail when he was severely
wounded and knocked overboard by a pike-thrust. However, he soon came to
the surface, and managed, at the head of a few of his men, to enter one
of his enemy's lower-deck ports. In the mean time Misson had boarded the
Mussulman on the port quarter, and a hand-to-hand fight was going on
over the rail. Misson was hard pressed by numbers when Tew appeared from
the fore-hatch. One glance at this murderous-looking figure, with bloody
and smoke-grimed garments, rushing at them sword in hand from behind,
was enough for the Mussulmans, and with a wild shriek of "Allah!" they
broke and fled down the hatches, leaving the pirates in possession.
[Illustration: HE WAS KNOCKED OVERBOARD BY A PIKE-THRUST]
This proved a most valuable capture, as over one million pounds, besides
many rich silks, spices, valuable carpets, and diamonds were stored in
the prize's hold and strong-boxes.
The prisoners were landed at a point between Ain and Aden, and the
captured ship brought back to Libertaita, where, as she had proved a
slow and unwieldly craft, she was taken to pieces. Her cordage and
knee-timbers were preserved with all the bolts, eyes, chains, and other
iron-work, and her guns were used in two strong water-batteries as an
additional support to the forts on the headlands.
The colony was now in prime condition; a number of acres had been
enclosed, and afforded pasturage for three hundred head of cattle--a
purchase from the natives, who had begun to manifest a most friendly
spirit--the grain was ripening finely, the storehouses and magazines
were well under way, and the dock was finished.
As the _Victoire_ was foul from long service and very loose from recent
storms, she was docked and practically rebuilt. When she was floated
again she was provisioned for a long cruise, and was about to set out
for the Guinea coast when one of the sloops came in, schooner-rigged,
with the news that she had been driven to port by five lofty ships,
Portuguese, of fifty guns each and full of men.
The alarm was given, the forts and batteries manned, and the men put
under arms. Tew was given command of the English and Portuguese, while
Misson directed the French and one hundred disciplined negroes. Slowly
and majestically the fleet swept on towards the pirate stronghold; as
they came within easy gun-shot Tew leaped to the side of his
water-battery, and with both arms outstretched stood waving in one hand
the black flag, and in the other the banner of Libertaita, with its
white albatross on a blue field. A storm of solid shot greeted the
daring figure, but he leaped down unharmed, as battery after battery
and fort after fort opened with a steady roar against the invader. The
Portuguese dashed by the forts triumphantly, but wavered as they came
under the fire at close range of the heavy guns of the water-batteries.
They had thought to carry all before them with one bold dash, and after
passing the headlands had deemed victory assured, but here they were in
a hornets' nest. Under the dreadful fire from Tew's and Misson's skilful
gunners two of the Portuguese vessels were speedily sunk. The others
turned to flee; but they were not to get off so easily. No sooner were
they clear of the forts than the pirates manned both ships and sloops,
gave them chase, and engaged them in the open sea. The Portuguese
defended themselves gallantly, and one of them, which was attacked by
the two sloops, beat off the Libertaitans twice; two made a running
fight and got off, and the third was left to shift as she could. This
last, a fifty-gun ship of three hundred and twenty men, defended herself
till the greater number of her crew were killed. Finally, finding that
she was left to an unequal fight, she asked for quarter, and good
quarter was given. Thus ended Admiral X's "holiday jaunt to wipe out a
nest of pirates," as the Portuguese Commander-in-Chief had described his
expedition in advance.
None of the prisoners were plundered, but, on the contrary, the pirate
captains invited to their table the officers of the captured ship, and
congratulated them upon their courage and ability.
For some months after this nothing occurred to interrupt the quiet of
the colony. Finally, wearying of inactivity, Tew took the _Victoire_ and
three hundred men and sailed in search of prizes. Sixty miles from
Libertaita he found a strange colony of buccaneers. The ship hove to and
the Captain went ashore alone to make the acquaintance of the strangers.
While he was absent from the ship a great gale rose and blew the
_Victoire_ ashore on a dangerous reef; she went down before his eyes,
carrying with her every man of the crew.
This was not the end of misfortune, for a few nights afterwards the two
Libertaitan sloops appeared, and from one of them Misson came ashore
with disastrous news. The same night that the _Victoire_ went down the
natives had risen and destroyed Libertaita; Misson had saved a quantity
of diamonds and bar gold, and fled in the sloops with the remnant of his
band; they were now without a ship and without a haven.
The plunder and the men were equally divided between the sloops, and the
two captains sailed in company for the coast of America. Misson's vessel
went down with all hands in a gale off Cape Infantes, but Tew made a
peaceful voyage to the British colonies. He settled in Rhode Island,
dispersed his crew, and lived for a time unquestioned with his wealth.
He might have reached an honored old age, with nothing to recall the
memories of his past, but at the end of a few years he was persuaded to
go once more "on the account." In the Red Sea he engaged a ship of the
Great Mogul, vastly his superior in size and armament. During the
action Tew received a mortal wound, but fought on as long as he could
stand. When he fell his men became terrified, and suffered themselves to
be taken without resistance. They were all hanged; and so ended the last
of the Libertaitans.
XII
THE VROUW VAN TWINKLE'S KRULLERS
A Story of Old New York