Note XXIX‑49 — Chapter XXIX · CORSAIRS IN THE SOUTH SEA. 1671-1682.

Ringrose expressly stated that they acted throughout without any commission. Bucaniers of Amer., ii.; Ringrose's Voy., 178, and Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 123. Burney says: 'From the defectiveness of the evidence produced, they escaped conviction.' Id., iv. 123. Three of Sharp's men were tried at Jamaica, and one was hanged. The narrator said this man was 'wheedled into an open confession: the other two stood it out, and escaped for want of witnesses to prove the fact against them.' Id., iv. 124. See also, for the execution of this man, Sharp's Voy., ii. One of the principal charges was the capture of the Rosario, and killing her captain and another man: 'but it was proved,' says the author of the anonymous narrative, who was one of the men brought to trial, 'that the Spaniards fired at us first, and it was judged that we ought to defend ourselves.' Id., iv. 123-124.