Chapter I · (continued 3)

Sharp and his men divided the small sum of money taken in their last prize, and sunk her. Ringrose relates, 'we also punished a Friar and shot him upon the deck, casting him overboard while he was yet alive. I abhorred such cruelties, yet was forced to hold my tongue.' It is not said in what manner the Friar had offended, and Sharp does not mention the circumstance in his Journal.

One of the two vessels in which the Buccaneers cruised, sailed badly, on which account she was abandoned, and they all embarked in the ship named the Trinidad.

September. On the 4th of September they took a vessel from Guayaquil bound for Lima, with a lading of timber, chocolate, raw silk, Indian cloth, and thread stockings. It appears here to have been a custom among the Buccaneers, for the first who boarded an enemy, or captured vessel, to be allowed some extra privilege of plunder. Ringrose says, 'we cast dice for the first entrance, and the lot fell to the larboard watch, so twenty men belonging to that watch, entered her.' They took out of this vessel as much of the cargo as they chose, and put some of their prisoners in her; after which they dismissed her with only one mast standing and one sail, that she should not be able to prosecute her voyage Southward. October. Sharp passed Callao at a distance from land, being apprehensive there might be ships of war in the road. October the 26th, he was near the town of Arica, when the boats manned with a large party of Buccaneers departed from the ship with intention to attack the town; but, on coming near the shore, they found the surf high, and the whole country appeared to be in arms. 28th. Ilo. They returned to the ship, and it was agreed to bear away for Ilo, a small town on the coast, in latitude about 17° 40′ S. Their stock of fresh water was by this time so reduced, that they had come to an allowance of only half a pint for a man for the day; and it is related that a pint of water was sold in the ship for 30 dollars. They succeeded however in landing at Ilo, and obtained there fresh water, wine, fruits, flour, oil, chocolate, sugar, and other provisions. The Spaniards would give neither money nor cattle to have their buildings and plantations spared, and the Buccaneers committed all the mischief they could.

December. Shoals of Anchovies. From Ilo they proceeded Southward. December the 1st, in the night, being in latitude about 31°, they found themselves in white water, like banks or breakers, which extended a mile or more in length; but they were relieved from their alarm by discovering that what they had apprehended to be rocks and breakers was a large shoal of anchovies.

On the Coast of Peru. La Serena plundered and burnt. December the 3d, they landed at the town of La Serena, which they entered without opposition. Some Spaniards came to negociate with them to ransom the town from being burnt, for which they agreed to pay 95,000 pieces of eight; but the money came not at the time appointed, and the Buccaneers had reason to suspect the Spaniards intended to deceive them. Attempt of the Spaniards to burn the Ship. Ringrose relates, that a man ventured to come in the night from the shore, on a float made of a horse's hide blown up like a bladder. 'He being arrived at the ship, went under the stern and crammed oakum and brimstone and other combustible matter between the rudder and the stern-post. Having done this, he fired it with a match, so that in a small time our rudder was on fire, and all the ship in a smoke. Our men, both alarmed and amazed with this smoke, ran up and down the ship, suspecting the prisoners to have fired the vessel, thereby to get their liberty and seek our destruction. At last they found out where the fire was, and had the good fortune to quench it before its going too far. After which we sent the boat ashore, and found both the hide afore-mentioned, and the match burning at both ends, whereby we became acquainted with the whole matter.'

By the La Serena expedition they obtained five hundred pounds weight of silver. One of the crew died in consequence of hard drinking whilst on shore. They released all their prisoners here, except a pilot; after which, they stood from the Continent for Juan Fernandez. In their approach to that Island, it is remarked by Ringrose, that they saw neither bird, nor fish; and this being noticed to the pilot, he made answer, that he had many times sailed by Juan Fernandez, and had never seen either fish or fowl whilst at sea in sight of the Island.

Island Juan Fernandez. On Christmas day, they anchored in a Bay at the South part of Juan Fernandez; but finding the winds SE and Southerly, they quitted that anchorage, and went to a Bay on the North side of the Island, where they cast anchor in 14 fathoms, so near to the shore that they fastened the end of another cable from the ship to the trees; being sheltered by the land from ESE round by the South and West, and as far as NbW[26]. Their fastenings, however, did not hold the ship against the strong flurries that blew from the land, and she was twice forced to sea; but each time recovered the anchorage without much difficulty.

1681. January. The shore of this bay was covered with seals and sea lions, whose noise and company were very troublesome to the men employed in filling fresh water. The seals coveted to lie where streams of fresh water ran into the sea, which made it necessary to keep people constantly employed to beat them off. Fish were in the greatest plenty; and innumerable sea birds had their nests near the shore, which makes the remark of Ringrose on approaching the Island the more extraordinary. Craw-fish and lobsters were in abundance; and on the Island itself goats were in such plenty, that, besides what they eat during their stay, they killed about a hundred for salting, and took away as many alive.

Sharp deposed from the Command. Watling elected Commander. Here new disagreements broke out among the Buccaneers. Some wished to sail immediately homeward by the Strait of Magalhanes; others desired to try their fortune longer in the South Sea. Sharp was of the party for returning home; but in the end the majority deposed him from the command, and elected for his successor John Watling, 'an old privateer, and esteemed a stout seaman.' Articles were drawn up in writing between Watling and the crew, and subscribed.

One Narrative says, 'the true occasion of the grudge against Sharp was, that he had got by these adventures almost a thousand pounds, whereas many of our men were scarce worth a groat; and good reason there was for their poverty, for at the Isle of Plate and other places, they had lost all their money to their fellow Buccaneers at dice; so that some had a great deal, and others, just nothing. Those who were thrifty sided with Captain Sharp, but the others, being the greatest number, turned Sharp out of his command; and Sharp's party were persuaded to have patience, seeing they were the fewest, and had money to lose, which the other party had not.' Dampier says Sharp was displaced by general consent, the company not being satisfied either with his courage or his conduct.

Watling began his command by ordering the observance of the Sabbath. 'This day, January the 9th,' says Ringrose, 'was the first Sunday that ever we kept by command since the loss and death of our valiant Commander Captain Sawkins, who once threw the dice overboard, finding them in use on the said day.'

11th. 12th. They sail from Juan Fernandez. The 11th, two boats were sent from the ship to a distant part of the Island to catch goats. On the following morning, the boats were seen returning in great haste, and firing muskets to give alarm. When arrived on board, they gave information that three sail, which they believed to be Spanish ships of war, were in sight of the Island, and were making for the anchorage. In half an hour after this notice, the strange ships were seen from the Bay; upon which, all the men employed on shore in watering, hunting, and other occupations, were called on board with the utmost speed; and not to lose time, the cable was slipped, and the ship put to sea. William, a Mosquito Indian, left on the island. It happened in this hurry of quitting the Island, that one of the Mosquito Indians who had come with the Buccaneers, and was by them called William, was absent in the woods hunting goats, and heard nothing of the alarm. No time could be spared for search, and the ship sailed without him. This it seems was not the first instance of a solitary individual being left to inhabit Juan Fernandez. Their Spanish pilot affirmed to them, that 'many years before, a ship had been cast away there, and only one man saved, who lived alone upon the Island five years, when another ship coming that way, took him off.'

The three vessels whose appearance caused them in such haste to quit their anchorage, were armed Spanish ships. They remained in sight of the Buccaneer ship two days, but no inclination appeared on either side to try the event of a battle. The Buccaneers had not a single great gun in their ship, and must have trusted to their musketry and to boarding.

13th. On the evening of the 13th after dark, they resigned the honour of the field to the Spaniards, and made sail Eastward for the American coast, with design to attack Arica, which place they had been informed contained great riches.

January 26th. Island Yqueque. River de Camarones. The 26th, they were close to the small Island named Yqueque, about 25 leagues to the South of Arica, where they plundered a small Indian village of provisions, and took two old Spaniards and two Indians prisoners. This Island was destitute of fresh water, and the inhabitants were obliged to supply themselves from the Continent, at a river named De Camarones, 11 Spanish leagues to the North of Yqueque. The people on Yqueque were the servants and slaves of the Governor of Arica, and were employed by him to catch and dry fish, which were disposed of to great profit among the inland towns of the Continent. The Indians here eat much and often of certain leaves 'which were in taste much like to the bay leaves in England, by the continual use of which their teeth were dyed of a green colour.'

27th. The 27th, Watling examined one of the old Spaniards concerning the force at Arica; and being offended at his answers, ordered him to be shot, which was done. The same morning they took a small bark from the River Camarones, laden with fresh water.

On the Coast of Peru. In the night of the 28th, Watling with one hundred men departed from the ship in the small prize bark and boats for Arica. They put ashore on the mainland about five leagues to the South of Arica, before it was light, and remained concealed among rocks all day. 30th. They attack Arica. At night, they again proceeded, and at daylight (on the 30th) Watling landed with 92 men, four miles from the town, to which they marched, and gained entrance, with the loss of three men killed, and two wounded. There was a castle or fort, which for their own security they ought immediately to have attacked; but Watling was only intent on making prisoners, until he was incommoded, with more than could be well guarded. This gave the inhabitants who had fled, time to recover from their alarm, and they collected in the Fort. To complete the mistake, Watling at length advanced to attack the fort, where he found resistance more than he expected. Are Repulsed. Watling put in practice the expedient of placing his prisoners in front of his own men; but the defenders of the fort were not a whit deterred thereby from firing on the Buccaneers, who were twice repulsed. The Spaniards without, in the mean time, began to make head from all parts; and in a little time the Buccaneers, from being the assailants, found themselves obliged to look to their defence. Watling killed. Watling their chief was killed, as were two quarter-masters, the boatswain, and some others of their best men; and the rest thought it necessary to retreat to their boats, which, though harassed the whole way by a distant firing from the Spaniards, they effected in tolerable order, and embarked.

In this attack, the Buccaneers lost in killed, and taken prisoners by the Spaniards, 28 men; and of those who got back to the ship, eighteen were wounded. Among the men taken by the Spaniards were two surgeons, to whose care the wounded had been committed. 'We could have brought off our doctors,' says Ringrose, 'but they got to drinking whilst we were assaulting the fort, and when we called to them, they would not come with us.' The Spaniards gave quarter to the surgeons, 'they being able to do them good service in that country: but as to the wounded men taken prisoners, they were all knocked on the head.'

The whole party that landed at Arica narrowly escaped destruction; for the Spaniards learnt from the prisoners they took, the signals which had been agreed upon with the men left in charge of the boats; of which information they made such use, that the boats had quitted their station, and set sail to run down to the town; but some Buccaneers who had been most speedy in the retreat, arrived at the sea side just in time to call them back.

Sharp again chosen Commander. This miscarriage so much disheartened the whole Buccaneer crew, that they made no attempt to take three ships which were at anchor in the road before Arica. Sharp was reinstated in the command, because he was esteemed a leader of safer conduct than any other; and every one was willing to quit the South Sea, but which it was now proposed they should do by re-crossing the Isthmus. March. Huasco. They did not, however, immediately steer Northward; but continued to beat up against the wind to the Southward, till the 10th of March, when they landed at Guasco or Huasco (in lat. about 28½°) from which place they carried off 120 sheep, 80 goats, 200 bushels of corn, and filled their jars with fresh water.

From Huasco they stood to the North. On the 27th, they passed Arica. The Narrative remarks, 'our former entertainment had been so very bad, that we were no ways encouraged to stop there again.' Ylo. They landed at Ylo, of which Wafer says, 'the River Ylo is situated in a valley which is the finest I have seen in all the coast of Peru, and furnished with a multitude of vegetables. A great dew falls here every night.'

April. April the 16th, they were near the Island Plata. By this time new opinions and new projects had been formed. Many of the crew were again willing to try their fortune longer in the South Sea; but one party would not continue under the command of Sharp, and others would not consent to choosing a new commander. As neither party would yield, it was determined to separate, and agreed upon by all hands, 'that which party soever upon polling should be found to have the majority, should keep the ship.' The other party was to have the long-boat and the canoes. On coming to a division, Sharp's party proved the most numerous. The minority consisted of forty-four Europeans, two Mosquito Indians, and a Spanish Indian. Another Party of the Buccaneers return across the Isthmus. On the forenoon of the 17th, the party in the boats separated from the ship, and proceeded for the Gulf de San Miguel, where they landed, and returned over the Isthmus back to the West Indies. In this party were William Dampier, and Lionel Wafer the surgeon. Dampier afterwards published a brief sketch of the expedition, and an account of his return across the Isthmus, both of which are in the 1st volume of his Voyages. Wafer met with an accidental hurt whilst on the Isthmus, which disabled him from travelling with his countrymen, and he remained some months living with the Darien Indians, of whom he afterwards published an entertaining description, with a Narrative of his own adventures among them.

Further Proceedings of Sharp and his Followers. Sharp and his diminished crew sailed in their ship from the Island Plata Northward to the Gulf of Nicoya, where they met with no booty, nor with any adventure worth mentioning.

July. They returned Southward to the Island Plata, and in the way took three prizes: the first, a ship named the San Pedro, from Guayaquil bound for Panama, with a lading of cocoa-nuts, and 21,000 pieces of eight in chests, and 16,000 in bags, besides plate. The money in bags and all the loose plunder was divided, each man receiving for his share 234 pieces of eight; whence it may be inferred that their number was reduced to about 70 men. The rest of the money was reserved for a future division. Their second prize was a packet from Panama bound for Callao, by which they learnt that in Panama it was believed all the Buccaneers had returned overland to the West Indies. The third was a ship named the San Rosario, which did not submit to them without resistance, nor till her Captain was killed. She was from Callao, laden with wine, brandy, oil, and fruit, and had in her as much money as yielded to each Buccaneer 94 dollars. One Narrative says a much greater booty was missed through ignorance. 'Besides the lading already mentioned, we found in the San Rosario 700 pigs of plate, which we supposed to be tin, and under this mistake, they were slighted by us all, especially by the Captain, who would not by persuasions used by some few be induced to take them into our ship, as we did most of the other things. Thus we left them in the Rosario, which we turned away loose into the sea. This, it should seem, was plate, not thoroughly refined and fitted for coin, which occasioned our being deceived. We took only one pig of the seven hundred into our ship, thinking to make bullets of it; and to this effect, or what else our seamen pleased, the greatest part of it was melted and squandered away. Afterwards, when we arrived at Antigua, we gave the remaining part (which was about one-third thereof) to a Bristol man, who knew presently what it was; who brought it to England, and sold it there for 75l. sterling. Thus we parted with the richest booty we got in the whole voyage, through our own ignorance and laziness[27].'

The same Narrative relates, that they took out of the Rosario 'a great book full of sea charts and maps, containing an accurate and exact description of all the ports, soundings, rivers, capes, and coasts, of the South Sea, and all the navigation usually performed by the Spaniards in that ocean. This book was for its novelty and curiosity presented unto His Majesty on the return of some of the Buccaneers to England, and was translated into English by His Majesty's order[28].'

August. August the 12th, they anchored at the Island Plata, whence they departed on the 16th, bound Southward, intending to return by the Strait of Magalhanes or Strait le Maire, to the West Indies.

The 28th, they looked in at Paita; but finding the place prepared for defence, they stood off from the coast, and pursued their course Southward, without again coming in sight of land, and without the occurrence of any thing remarkable, till they passed the 50th degree of latitude.

October 12th. By the Western Coast of America, in 50° 50′ S. October the 11th, they were in latitude 49° 54′ S, and estimated their distance from the American coast to be 120 leagues. The wind blew strong from the SW, and they stood to the South East. On the morning of the 12th, two hours before day, being in latitude by account 50° 50′ S, they suddenly found themselves close to land. The ship was ill prepared for such an event, the fore yard having been lowered to ease her, on account of the strength of the wind. 'The land was high and towering; and here appeared many Islands scattered up and down.' They were so near, and so entangled, that there was no possibility of standing off to sea, and, with such light as they had, they steered, as cautiously as they could, in between some Islands, and along an extensive coast, which, whether it was a larger Island, or part of the Continent, they could not know. They enter a Gulf. As the day advanced, the land was seen to be mountainous and craggy, and the tops covered with snow. Sharp says, 'we bore up for a harbour, and steered in Northward about five leagues. On the North side there are plenty of harbours[29].' Shergall's Harbour. At 11 in the forenoon they came to an anchor 'in a harbour, in 45 fathoms, within a stone's cast of the shore, where the ship was landlocked, and in smooth water. As the ship went in, one of the crew, named Henry Shergall, fell overboard as he was going into the spritsail top, and was drowned; on which account this was named Shergall's Harbour.'

The bottom was rocky where the ship had anchored; a boat was therefore sent to look for better anchorage. They did not however shift their birth that day; and during the night, strong flurries of wind from the hills, joined with the sharpness of the rocks at the bottom, cut their cable in two, and they were obliged to set sail. Another Harbour. They ran about a mile to another bay, where they let go another anchor, and moored the ship with a fastening to a tree on shore.

They shot geese, and other wild-fowl. On the shores they found large muscles, cockles like those in England, and limpets: here were also penguins, which were shy and not taken without pursuit; 'they padded on the water with their wings very fast, but their bodies were too heavy to be carried by the said wings.'

15th. The first part of the time they lay in this harbour, they had almost continual rain. On the night of the 15th, in a high North wind, the tree to which their cable was fastened gave way, and came up by the root, in consequence of which, the stern of the ship took the ground and damaged the rudder. They secured the ship afresh by fastening the cable to other trees; but were obliged to unhang the rudder to repair.

18th. The 18th was a day of clear weather. The latitude was observed 50° 40′ S. The difference of the rise and fall of the tide was seven feet perpendicular: the time of high water is not noted. The Gulf is named the English Gulf. Duke of York's Islands. The arm of the sea, or gulf, in which they were, they named the English Gulf; and the land forming the harbour, the Duke of York's Island; 'more by guess than any thing else; for whether it were an Island or Continent was not discovered,' Ringrose says, 'I am persuaded that the place where we now are, is not so great an Island as some Hydrographers do lay it down, but rather an archipelago of smaller Islands. Our Captain gave to them the name of the Duke of York's Islands. Our boat which went Eastward, found several good bays and harbours, with deep water close to the shore; but there lay in them several sunken rocks, as there did also in the harbour where the ship lay. These rocks are less dangerous to shipping, by reason they have weeds lying about them.'

Sharp's English Gulf, the Brazo de la Conçepçion of Sarmiento. From all the preceding description, it appears, that they were at the South part of the Island named Madre de Dios in the Spanish Atlas, which Island is South of the Channel, or Arm of the Sea, named the Gulf de la S^ma Trinidada; and that Sharp's English Gulf is the Brazo de la Conçepçion of Sarmiento.

Ringrose has drawn a sketch of the Duke of York's Islands, and one of the English Gulf; but which are not worth copying, as they have neither compass, meridian line, scale, nor soundings. He has given other plan's in the same defective manner, on which account they can be of little use. It is necessary however to remark a difference in the plan which has been printed of the English Gulf, from the plan in the manuscript. In the printed copy, the shore of the Gulf is drawn as one continued line, admitting no thoroughfare; whereas, in the manuscript plan, there are clear openings leaving a prospect of channels through.

Natives. Towards the end of October, the weather settled fair. Hitherto they had seen no inhabitants; but on the 27th, a party went from the ship in a boat, on an excursion in search of provisions, and unhappily caught sight of a small boat belonging to the natives of the land. One of them killed by the Buccaneers. The ship's boat rowed in pursuit, and the natives, a man, a woman, and a boy, finding their boat would be overtaken, all leapt overboard and swam towards shore. This villainous crew of Buccaneers had the barbarity to shoot at them in the water, and they shot the man dead; the woman made her escape to land; the boy, a stout lad about eighteen years of age, was taken, and with the Indian boat, was carried to the ship.

The poor lad thus made prisoner had only a small covering of seal skin. 'He was squint-eyed, and his hair was cut short. The doree, or boat, in which he and the other Indians were, was built sharp at each end and flat bottomed: in the middle they had a fire burning for dressing victuals, or other use. They had a net to catch penguins, a club like to our bandies, and wooden darts. This young Indian appeared by his actions to be very innocent and foolish. He could open large muscles with his fingers, which our Buccaneers could scarcely manage with their knives. He was very wild, and would eat raw flesh.'

November. By the beginning of November the rudder was repaired and hung. Ringrose says, 'we could perceive, now the stormy weather was blown over, much small fry of fish about the ship, whereof before we saw none. The weather began to be warm, or rather hot, and the birds, as thrushes and blackbirds, to sing as sweetly as those in England.'

Native of Patagonia carried away. On the 5th of November, they sailed out of the English Gulf, taking with them their young Indian prisoner, to whom they gave the name of Orson. As they departed, the natives on some of the lands to the Eastward made great fires. At six in the evening the ship was without the mouth of the Gulf: the wind blew fresh from NW, and they stood out SWbW, to keep clear of breakers which lie four leagues without the entrance of the Gulf to the South and SSE. Many reefs and rocks were seen hereabouts, on account of which, they kept close to the wind till they were a good distance clear of the land.

Their navigation from here to the Atlantic was, more than could have been imagined, like the journey of travellers by night in a strange country without a guide. The weather was stormy, and they would not venture to steer in for the Strait of Magalhanes, which they had purposed to do for the benefit of the provision which the shores of the Strait afford of fresh water, fish, vegetables, and wood. They ran to the South to go round the Tierra del Fuego, having the wind from the NW, which was the most favourable for this navigation; but they frequently lay to, because the weather was thick. Passage round Cape Horn. On the 12th, they had not passed the Tierra del Fuego. The latitude according to observation that day was 55° 25′, and the course they steered was SSE. 14th. Appearance like Land. Latitude observed, 57° 50′ S. On the 14th, Ringrose says, 'the latitude was observed 57° 50′ S, and on this day we could perceive land, from which at noon we were due West.' They steered EbS, and expected that at daylight the next morning they should be close in with the land; but the weather became cloudy with much fall of snow, and nothing more of it was seen. No longitude or meridian distance is noticed, and it must remain doubtful whether what they took for land was floating ice; or their observation for the latitude erroneous, and that they saw the Isles of Diego Ramirez.

Ice Islands. Three days afterwards, in latitude 58° 30′ S, they fell in with Ice Islands, one of which they reckoned to be two leagues in circumference. A strong current set here Southward. They held on their course Eastward so far that when at length they did sail Northward, they saw neither the Tierra del Fuego nor Staten Island.

December. December the 5th, they divided the plunder which had been reserved, each man's share of which amounted to 328 pieces of eight. Their course was now bent for the West Indies.

1682. January. January the 15th, died William Stephens, a seaman, whose death was attributed to his having eaten three manchineal apples six months before, when on the coast of New Spain, 'from which time he wasted away till he became a perfect skeleton.'

Arrive in the West Indies. January the 28th, 1682, they made the Island of Barbadoes, but learnt that the Richmond, a British frigate, was lying in the road. Ringrose and his fellow journalists say, 'we having acted in all our voyage without a commission, dared not be so bold as to put in, lest the said frigate should seize us for pyrateering, and strip us of all we had got in the whole voyage.' They next sailed to Antigua; but the Governor at that Island, Colonel Codrington, would not give them leave to enter the harbour, though they endeavoured to soften him by sending a present of jewels to his lady, which, however, were not accepted. Sharp and his crew grew impatient at their uneasy situation, and came to a determination to separate. Some of them landed at Antigua; Sharp and others landed at Nevis, whence they got passage to England. Their ship, which was the Trinidad captured in the Bay of Panama, was left to seven men of the company who had lost their money by gaming. The Buccaneer journals say nothing of their Patagonian captive Orson after the ship sailed from his country; and what became of the ship after Sharp quitted her does not appear.

Bart. Sharp and some of his men tried for Piracy. Bartholomew Sharp, and a few others, on their arrival in England, were apprehended, and a Court of Admiralty was held at the Marshalsea in Southwark, where, at the instance of the Spanish Ambassador, they were tried for committing acts of piracy in the South Sea; but from the defectiveness of the evidence produced, they escaped conviction. One of the principal charges against them was for taking the Spanish ship Rosario, and killing the Captain and another man belonging to her; '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.' Three Buccaneers of Sharp's crew were also tried at Jamaica, one of whom was condemned and hanged, 'who,' the narrator says, 'was wheedled into an open confession: the other two stood it out, and escaped for want of witnesses to prove the fact against them.' Thus terminated what may be called the First Expedition of the Buccaneers in the South Sea; the boat excursion by Morgan's men in the Bay of Panama being of too little consequence to be so reckoned. They had now made successful experiment of the route both by sea and land; and the Spaniards in the South Sea had reason to apprehend a speedy renewal of their visits.

Carlos Enriquez Clerck, who went from England with Captain Narbrough, was at this time executed at Lima, on a charge of holding correspondence with the English of Jamaica; which act of severity probably is attributable more to the alarm which prevailed in the Government of Peru, than to any guilty practices of Clerck.

CHAP. XI.

Disputes between the French Government and their West-India Colonies. Morgan becomes Deputy Governor of Jamaica. La Vera Cruz surprised by the Flibustiers. Other of their Enterprises.

1680. Proceedings of the Buccaneers in the West Indies. Prohibitions against Piracy by the French Government; Whilst so many of the English Buccaneers were seeking plunder in the South Sea, the French Flibustiers had not been inactive in the West Indies, notwithstanding that the French government, after the conclusion of the war with Spain, issued orders prohibiting the subjects of France in the West Indies from cruising against the Spaniards. A short time before this order arrived, a cruising commission had been given to Granmont, who had thereupon collected men, and made preparation for an expedition to the Tierra Firma; and they did not choose that so much pains should be taken to no purpose. The French settlers generally, were at this time much dissatisfied on account of some regulations imposed upon them by the Company of Farmers, whose privileges and authority extended to fixing the price upon growth, the produce of the soil; and which they exercised upon tobacco, the article then most cultivated by the French in Hispaniola, rigorously requiring the planters to deliver it to the Company at the price so prescribed. Many of the inhabitants, ill brooking to live under such a system of robbery, made preparations to withdraw to the English and Dutch settlements; but their discontent on this account was much allayed by the Governor writing a remonstrance to the French Minister, and promising them his influence towards obtaining a suppression of the farming tobacco. Fresh cause of discontent soon occurred, by a monopoly of the French African Slave Trade being put into the hands of a new company, which was named the Senegal Company.

Disregarded by the French Buccaneers. Granmont and the Flibustiers engaged with him, went to the coast of Cumana, where they did considerable mischief to the Spaniards, with some loss, and little profit, to themselves.

1680-1. Sir Henry Morgan, Deputy Governor of Jamaica. His Severity to the Buccaneers. In the autumn of this same year, the Earl of Carlisle, who was Governor of Jamaica, finding the climate did not agree with his constitution, returned to England, and left as his Deputy to govern in Jamaica, Morgan, the plunderer of Panama, but who was now Sir Henry Morgan. This man had found favour with King Charles II. or with his Ministers, had been knighted, and appointed a Commissioner of the Admiralty Court in Jamaica. On becoming Deputy Governor, his administration was far from being favourable to his old associates, some of whom suffered the extreme hardship of being tried and hanged under his authority; and one crew of Buccaneers, most of them Englishmen, who fell into his hands, he sent to be delivered up (it may be presumed that he sold them) to the Spaniards at Carthagena. Morgan's authority as Governor was terminated the following year, by the arrival of a Governor from England[30].

The impositions on planting and commerce in the French settlements, in the same degree that they discouraged cultivation, encouraged cruising, and the Flibustier party so much increased, as to have little danger to apprehend from any Governor's authority. 1683. The matter however did not come to issue, for in 1683, war again broke out between France and Spain. But before the intelligence arrived in the West Indies, 1200 French Flibustiers had assembled under Van Horn (a native of Ostend), Granmont, and another noted Flibustier named Laurent de Graaf, to make an expedition against the Spaniards.

Van Horn, Granmont, and de Graaf, go against La Vera Cruz. Van Horn had been a notorious pirate, and for a number of years had plundered generally, without shewing partiality or favour to ships of one nation more than to those of another. After amassing great riches, he began to think plain piracy too dangerous an occupation, and determined to reform, which he did by making his peace with the French Governor in Hispaniola, and turning Buccaneer or Flibustier, into which fraternity he was admitted on paying entrance.

The expedition which he undertook in conjunction with Granmont and de Graaf, was against La Vera Cruz in the Gulf of Mexico, a town which might be considered as the magazine for all the merchandise which passed between New Spain and Old Spain, and was defended by a fort, said to be impregnable. The Flibustiers sailed for this place with a fleet of ten ships. They had information that two large Spanish ships, with cargoes of cacao, were expected at La Vera Cruz from the Caraccas; and upon this intelligence, they put in practice the following expedient. They surprise the Town by Stratagem. They embarked the greater number of their men on board two of their largest ships, which, on arriving near La Vera Cruz, put aloft Spanish colours, and ran, with all sail set, directly for the port like ships chased, the rest of the Buccaneer ships appearing at a distance behind, crowding sail after them. The inhabitants of La Vera Cruz believed the two headmost ships to be those which were expected from the Caraccas; and, as the Flibustiers had contrived that they should not reach the port till after dark, suffered them to enter without offering them molestation, and to anchor close to the town, which they did without being suspected to be enemies. In the middle of the night, the Flibustiers landed, and surprised the fort, which made them masters of the town. The Spaniards of the garrison, and all the inhabitants who fell into their hands, they shut up in the churches, where they were kept three days, and with so little care for their subsistence that several died from thirst, and some by drinking immoderately when water was at length given to them. With the plunder, and what was obtained for ransom of the town, it is said the Flibustiers carried away a million of piastres, besides a number of slaves and prisoners.

Van Horn shorty after died of a wound received in a quarrel with De Graaf. The ship he had commanded, which mounted fifty guns, was bequeathed by him to Granmont, who a short time before had lost a ship of nearly the same force in a gale of wind.

Some quarrels happened at this time between the French Flibustiers and the English Buccaneers, which are differently related by the English and the French writers. The French account says, that in a Spanish ship captured by the Flibustiers, was found a letter from the Governor of Jamaica addressed to the Governor of the Havannah, proposing a union of their force to drive the French from Hispaniola. Story of Granmont and an English Ship. Also, that an English ship of 30 guns came cruising near Tortuga, and when the Governor of Tortuga sent a sloop to demand of the English Captain his business there, the Englishman insolently replied, that the sea was alike free to all, and he had no account to render to any one. For this answer, the Governor sent out a ship to take the English ship, but the Governor's ship was roughly treated, and obliged to retire into port. Granmont had just returned from the La Vera Cruz expedition, and the Governor applied to him, to go with his fifty gun ship to revenge the affront put upon their nation. 'Granmont,' says the Narrator, 'accepted the commission joyfully. Three hundred Flibustiers embarked with him in his ship; he found the Englishman proud of his late victory; he immediately grappled with him and put all the English crew to the sword, saving only the Captain, who he carried prisoner to Cape François.' On the merit of this service, his disobedience to the royal prohibitory order in attacking La Vera Cruz was to pass with impunity. The English were not yet sufficiently punished; the account proceeds, 'Our Flibustiers would no longer receive them as partakers in their enterprises, and even confiscated the share they were entitled to receive for the La Vera Cruz expedition.' Thus the French account.

If the story of demolishing the English crew is true, the fact is not more absurd than the being vain of such an exploit. If a fifty gun ship will determine to sink a thirty gun ship, the thirty gun ship must in all probability be sunk. The affront given, if it deserves to be called an affront, was not worthy being revenged with a massacre. The story is found only in the French histories, the writers of which it may be suspected were moved to make Granmont deal so unmercifully with the English crew, by the kind of feeling which so generally prevails between nations who are near neighbours. To this it may be attributed that Père Charlevoix, both a good historian and good critic, has adopted the story; but had it been believed by him, he would have related it in a more rational manner, and not with exultation.

English writers mention a disagreement which happened about this time between Granmont and the English Buccaneers, on account of his taking a sloop belonging to Jamaica, and forcing the crew to serve under him; but which crew found opportunity to take advantage of some disorder in his ship, and to escape in the night[31]. This seems to have been the whole fact; for an outrage such as is affirmed by the French writers, could not have been committed and have been boasted of by one side, without incurring reproach from the other.

The French Government was highly offended at the insubordination and unmanageableness of the Flibustiers in Hispaniola, and no one was more so than the French King, Louis XIV. Towards reducing them to a more orderly state, instructions were sent to the Governors in the West Indies to be strict in making them observe Port regulations; the principal of which were, that all vessels should register their crew and lading before their departure, and also at their return into port; that they should abstain from cruising in times of peace, and should take out regular commissions in times of war; and that they should pay the dues of the crown, one item of which was a tenth of all prizes and plunder.

Disputes of the French Governors with the Flibustiers of Saint Domingo. The number of the French Flibustiers in 1684, was estimated to be 3000. The French Government desired to convert them into settlers. A letter written in that year from the French Minister to the Governor General of the French West-India Islands, has this remarkable expression: 'His Majesty esteems nothing more important than to render these vagabonds good inhabitants of Saint Domingo.' Such being the disposition of the French Government, it was an oversight that they did not contribute towards so desirable a purpose by making some abatement in the impositions which oppressed and retarded cultivation, which would have conciliated the Colonists, and have been encouragement to the Flibustiers to become planters. But the Colonists still had to struggle against farming the tobacco, which they had in vain attempted to get commuted for some other burthen, and many cultivators of that plant were reduced to indigence. The greediness of the French chartered companies appears in the Senegal Company making it a subject of complaint, that the Flibustiers sold the negroes they took from the Spaniards to whomsoever they pleased, to the prejudice of the interest of the Company. It was unreasonable to expect the Flibustiers would give up their long accustomed modes of gain, sanctioned as they had hitherto been by the acquiescence and countenance of the French Government, and turn planters, under circumstances discouraging to industry. Their number likewise rendered it necessary to observe mildness and forbearance in the endeavour to reform them; but both the encouragement and the forbearance were neglected; and in consequence of their being made to apprehend rigorous treatment in their own settlements, many removed to the British and Dutch Islands.

The French Flibustiers were unsuccessful at this time in some enterprises they undertook in the Bay of Campeachy, where they lost many men: on the other hand, three of their ships, commanded by De Graaf, Michel le Basque, and another Flibustier named Jonqué, engaged and took three Spanish ships which were sent purposely against them out of Carthagena.

CHAP. XII.

Circumstances which preceded the Second Irruption of the Buccaneers into the South Sea. Buccaneers under John Cook sail from Virginia; stop at the Cape de Verde Islands; at Sierra Leone. Origin and History of the Report concerning the supposed Discovery of Pepys Island.

The Prohibitions being enforced, determined many, both of the English Buccaneers and of the French Flibustiers, to seek their fortunes in the South Sea, where they would be at a distance from the control of any established authority. This determination was not a matter generally concerted. The first example was speedily followed, and a trip to the South Sea in a short time became a prevailing fashion among them. Expeditions were undertaken by different bodies of men unconnected with each other, except when accident, or the similarity of their pursuits, brought them together.

Circumstances preceding the Second Irruption of the Buccaneers into the South Sea. Among the Buccaneers in the expedition of 1680 to the South Sea, who from dislike to Sharp's command returned across the Isthmus of Darien at the same time with Dampier, was one John Cook, who on arriving again in the West Indies, entered on board a vessel commanded by a Dutchman of the name of Yanky, which was fitted up as a privateer, and provided with a French commission to cruise against the Spaniards. Cook, being esteemed a capable seaman, was made Quarter-Master, by which title, in privateers as well as in buccaneer vessels, the officer next in command to the Captain was called. Cook continued Quarter-Master with Yanky till they took a Spanish ship which was thought well adapted for a cruiser. Cook claimed to have the command of this ship, and, according to the usage among privateers in such cases, she was allotted to him, with a crew composed of men who volunteered to sail with him. Dampier was of the number, as were several others who had returned from the South Sea; division was made of the prize goods, and Cook entered on his new command.

1683. This arrangement took place at Isla Vaca, or Isle a Vache, a small Island near the South coast of Hispaniola, which was then much resorted to by both privateers and Buccaneers. It happened at this time, that besides Yanky's ship, some French privateers having legal commissions, were lying at Avache, and their Commanders did not contentedly behold men without a commission, and who were but Buccaneers, in the possession of a finer ship than any belonging to themselves who cruised under lawful authority. The occasion being so fair, and remembering what Morgan had done in a case something similar, after short counsel, they joined together, and seized the buccaneer ship, goods, and arms, and turned the crew ashore. A fellow-feeling that still existed between the privateers and Buccaneers, and probably a want of hands, induced a Captain Tristian, who commanded one of the privateers, to receive into his ship ten of the Buccaneers to be part of his crew. Among these were Cook, and a Buccaneer afterwards of greater note, named Edward Davis. Tristian sailed to Petit Guaves, where the ship had not been long at anchor, before himself and the greatest part of his men went on shore. Cook and his companions thought this also a fair occasion, and accordingly they made themselves masters of the ship. Those of Tristian's men who were on board, they turned ashore, and immediately taking up the anchors, sailed back close in to the Isle a Vache, where, before notice of their exploit reached the Governor, they collected and took on board the remainder of their old company, and sailed away. They had scarcely left the Isle a Vache, when they met and captured two vessels, one of which was a ship from France laden with wines. Thinking it unsafe to continue longer in the West Indies, they directed their course for Virginia, where they arrived with their prizes in April 1683.

August, 1683. Buccaneers under John Cook sail for the South Sea. In Virginia they disposed of their prize goods, and two vessels, keeping one with which they proposed to make a voyage to the South Sea, and which they named the Revenge. She mounted 18 guns, and the number of adventurers who embarked in her, were about seventy, the major part of them old Buccaneers, some of whose names have since been much noted, as William Dampier, Edward Davis, Lionel Wafer, Ambrose Cowley, and John Cook their Captain. August the 23d, 1683, they sailed from the Chesapeak.

Dampier and Cowley have both related their piratical adventures, but with some degree of caution, to prevent bringing upon themselves a charge of piracy. Cowley pretended that he was engaged to sail in the Revenge to navigate her, but was kept in ignorance of the design of the voyage, and made to believe they were bound for the Island Hispaniola; and that it was not revealed to him till after they got out to sea, that instead of to the West Indies, they were bound to the coast of Guinea, there to seek for a better ship, in which they might sail to the Great South Sea. William Dampier, who always shews respect for truth, would not stoop to dissimulation; but he forbears being circumstantial concerning the outset of this voyage, and the particulars of their proceedings whilst in the Atlantic; supplying the chasm in the following general terms; "August the 23d, 1683, we sailed from Virginia under the command of Captain Cook, bound for the South Seas. I shall not trouble the reader with an account of every day's run, but hasten to the less known parts of the world."

Cape de Verde Islands. Whilst near the coast of Virginia they met a Dutch ship, out of which they took six casks of wine; and other provisions; also two Dutch seamen, who voluntarily entered with them. September. Some time in September they anchored at the Isle of Sal, where they procured fish and a few goats, but neither fruits nor good fresh water. Only five men lived on the Island, who were all black; but they called themselves Portuguese, and one was styled the Governor. Ambergris. These Portuguese exchanged a lump of ambergris, or what was supposed to be ambergris, for old clothes. Dampier says, 'not a man in the ship knew ambergris, but I have since seen it in other places, and am certain this was not the right; it was of a dark colour, like sheep's dung, very soft, but of no smell; and possibly was goat's dung. Some I afterwards saw sold at the Nicobars in the East Indies, was of lighter colour, and very hard, neither had that any smell, and I suppose was also a cheat. Mr. Hill, a surgeon, once shewed me a piece of ambergris, and related to me, that one Mr. Benjamin Barker, a man I have been long well acquainted with, and know to be a very sober and credible person, told this Mr. Hill, that being in the Bay of Honduras, he found in a sandy bay upon the shore of an Island, a lump of ambergris so large, that when carried to Jamaica, it was found to weigh upwards of 100 lbs. When he found it, it lay dry above the mark of the sea at high water, and in it were a great multitude of beetles. It was of a dusky colour, towards black, about the hardness of mellow cheese, and of a very fragrant smell. What Mr. Hill shewed me was some of it, which Mr. Barker had given him[32].'

The Flamingo. There were wild-fowl at Sal; and Flamingos, of which, and their manner of building their nests, Dampier has given a description. The flesh of the Flamingo is lean and black, yet good meat, 'tasting neither fishy nor any way unsavory. A dish of Flamingos' tongues is fit for a Prince's table: they are large, and have a knob of fat at the root which is an excellent bit. When many of them stand together, at a distance they appear like a brick wall; for their feathers are of the colour of new red brick, and, except when feeding, they commonly stand upright, exactly in a row close by each other.'

Cape de Verde Islands. From the Isle of Sal they went to other of the Cape de Verde Islands. At St. Nicholas they watered the ship by digging wells, and at Mayo they procured some provisions. They afterwards sailed to the Island St. Jago, but a Dutch ship was lying at anchor in Port Praya, which fired her guns at them as soon as they came within reach of shot, and the Buccaneers thought it prudent to stand out again to sea.

November. Coast of Guinea. They next sailed to the coast of Guinea, which they made in the beginning of November, near Sierra Leone. A large ship was at anchor in the road, which proved to be a Dane. On sight of her, and all the time they were standing into the road, all the Buccaneer crew, except a few men to manage the sails, kept under deck; which gave their ship the appearance of being a weakly manned merchant-vessel. When they drew near the Danish ship, which they did with intention to board her, the Buccaneer Commander, to prevent suspicion, gave direction in a loud voice to the steersman to put the helm one way; and, according to the plan preconcerted, the steersman put it the contrary, so that their vessel seemed to fall on board the Dane through mistake. By this stratagem, they surprised, and, with the loss of five men, became masters of a ship mounting 36 guns, which was victualled and stored for a long voyage. This achievement is related circumstantially in Cowley's manuscript Journal[33]; but in his published account he only says, 'near Cape Sierra Leone, we alighted on a new ship of 40 guns, which we boarded and carried her away.'

Sherborough River. They went with their prize to a river South of the Sierra Leone, called the Sherborough, to which they were safely piloted through channels among shoals, by one of the crew who had been there before. At the River Sherborough there was then an English factory, but distant from where they anchored. Near them was a large town inhabited by negroes, who traded freely, selling them rice, fowls, plantains, sugar-canes, palm-wine, and honey. The town was skreened from shipping by a grove of trees.

The Buccaneers embarked here all in their new ship, and named her the Batchelor's Delight. Their old ship they burnt, 'that she might tell no tales,' and set their prisoners on shore, to shift as well as they could for themselves.

They sailed from the coast of Guinea in the middle of November, directing their course across the Atlantic towards the Strait of Magalhanes. January, 1684. On January the 28th, 1684, they had sight of the Northernmost of the Islands discovered by Captain John Davis in 1592, (since, among other appellations, called the Sebald de Weert Islands.) From the circumstance of their falling in with this land, originated the extraordinary report of an Island being discovered in the Southern Atlantic Ocean in lat. 47° S, and by Cowley named Pepys Island; which was long believed to exist, and has been sought after by navigators of different European nations, even within our own time. The following are the particulars which caused so great a deception.

History of the Report of a Discovery named Pepys Island. Cowley says, in his manuscript Journal, 'January 1683: This month we were in latitude 47° 40′, where we espied an Island bearing West of us, and bore away for it, but being too late we lay by all night. The Island seemed very pleasant to the eye, with many woods. I may say the whole Island was woods, there being a rock above water to the Eastward of it with innumerable fowls. I sailed along that Island to the Southward, and about the SW side of the Island there seemed to me to be a good place for ships to ride. The wind blew fresh, and they would not put the boat out. Sailing a little further, having 26 and 27 fathoms water, we came to a place where we saw the weeds ride, and found only seven fathoms water and all rocky ground, therefore we put the ship about: but the harbour seemed a good place for ships to ride in. There seemed to me harbour for 500 sail of shipping, the going in but narrow, and the North side of the entrance shallow that I could see: but I think there is water enough on the South side. I would have had them stand upon a wind all night; but they told me they did not come out to go upon discovery. We saw likewise another Island by this, which made me to think them the Sibble D'wards[34].'

The latitude given by Cowley is to be attributed to his ignorance, and to this part of his narrative being composed from memory, which he acknowledges, though it is not so stated in the printed Narrative. His describing the land to be covered with wood, is sufficiently accounted for by the appearance it makes at a distance, which in the same manner has deceived other voyagers. Pernety, in his Introduction to M. de Bougainville's Voyage to the Malouines (by which name the French Voyagers have chosen to call John Davis's Islands) says, 'As to wood, we were deceived by appearances in running along the coast of the Malouines: we thought we saw some, but on landing, these appearances were discovered to be only tall bulrushes with large flat leaves, such as are called corn flags[35].'

The Editor of Cowley's Journal, William Hack, might possibly believe from the latitude mentioned by Cowley, that the land seen by him was a new discovery. To give it a less doubtful appearance, he dropped the 40 minutes of latitude, and also Cowley's conjecture that the land was the Sebald de Weerts; and with this falsification of the Journal, he took occasion to compliment the Honourable Mr. Pepys, who was then Secretary of the Admiralty, by putting his name to the land, giving as Cowley's words, 'In the latitude of 47°, we saw land, the same being an Island not before known. I gave it the name of Pepys Island.' Hack embellished this account with a drawing of Pepys Island, in which is introduced an Admiralty Bay, and Secretary's Point.

The account which Dampier has given of their falling in with this land, would have cleared up the whole matter, but for a circumstance which is far more extraordinary than any yet mentioned, which is, that it long escaped notice, and seems never to have been generally understood, that Dampier and Cowley were at this time in the same ship, and their voyage thus far the same.

Dampier says, 'January the 28th (1683-4) we made the Sebald de Weerts. They are three rocky barren Islands without any tree, only some bushes growing on them. The two Northernmost lie in 51° S, the other in 51° 20′ S. We could not come near the two Northern Islands, but we came close by the Southern; but we could not obtain soundings till within two cables' length of the shore, and there found the bottom to be foul rocky ground[36].' In consequence of the inattention, or oversight, in not perceiving that Dampier and Cowley were speaking of the same land, Hack's ingenious adulation of the Secretary of the Admiralty flourished a full century undetected; a Pepys Island being all the time admitted in the charts.

Shoals of small red Lobsters. Near these Islands the variation was observed 23° 10′ Easterly. They passed through great shoals of small red lobsters, 'no bigger than the top of a man's little finger, yet all their claws, both great and small, were like a lobster. I never saw,' says Dampier, 'any of this sort of fish naturally red, except here.'

The winds blew hard from the Westward, and they could not fetch the Strait of Magalhanes. February. On February the 6th, they were at the entrance of Strait le Maire, when it fell calm, and a strong tide set out of the Strait Northward, which made a short irregular sea, as in a race, or place where two tides meet, and broke over the waist of the ship, 'which was tossed about like an egg-shell.' They sail by the East end of Staten Island; and enter the South Sea. A breeze springing up from the WNW, they bore away Eastward, and passed round the East end of Staten Island; after which they saw no other land till they came into the South Sea. They had much rain, and took advantage of it to fill 23 casks with fresh water.

March. March the 17th, they were in latitude 36° S, standing for the Island Juan Fernandez. Variation 8° East.

CHAP. XIII.

Buccaneers under John Cook arrive at Juan Fernandez. Account of William, a Mosquito Indian, who had lived there three years. They sail to the Galapagos Islands; thence to the Coast of New Spain. John Cook dies. Edward Davis chosen Commander.

1684. March 19th. Continuing their course for Juan Fernandez, on the 19th in the morning, a strange ship was seen to the Southward, standing after them under all her sail. The Buccaneers were in hopes she would prove to be a Spaniard, and brought to, to wait her coming up. The people on board the strange vessel entertained similar expectations, for they also were English, and were come to the South Sea to pick up what they could. This ship was named the Nicholas; her Commander John Eaton; she fitted out in the River Thames under pretence of a trading, but in reality with the intention of making a piratical voyage.

Joined by the Nicholas of London, John Eaton Commander. The two ships soon joined, and on its being found that they had come on the same errand to the South Sea, Cook and Eaton and their men agreed to keep company together.

It was learnt from Eaton that another English ship, named the Cygnet, commanded by a Captain Swan, had sailed from London for the South Sea; but fitted out by reputable merchants, and provided with a cargo for a trading voyage, having a licence from the Duke of York, then Lord High Admiral of England. The Cygnet and the Nicholas had met at the entrance of the Strait of Magalhanes, and they entered the South Sea in company, but had since been separated by bad weather.

March 22d. March the 22d, the Batchelor's Delight and the Nicholas came in sight of the Island Juan Fernandez.

At Juan Fernandez. William the Mosquito Indian. The reader may remember that when the Buccaneers under Watling were at Juan Fernandez in January 1681, the appearance of three Spanish ships made them quit the Island in great haste, and they left behind a Mosquito Indian named William, who was in the woods hunting for goats. Several of the Buccaneers who were then with Watling were now with Cook, and, eager to discover if any traces could be found which would enable them to conjecture what was become of their former companion, but with small hope of finding him still here, as soon as they were near enough for a boat to be sent from the ship, they hastened to the shore. Dampier was in this first boat, as was also a Mosquito Indian named Robin; and as they drew near the land, they had the satisfaction to see William at the sea-side waiting to receive them. Dampier has given the following affecting account of their meeting: 'Robin, his countryman, was the first who leaped ashore from the boats, and running to his brother Moskito man, threw himself flat on his face at his feet, who helping him up and embracing him, fell flat with his face on the ground at Robin's feet, and was by him taken up also. We stood with pleasure to behold the surprise, tenderness, and solemnity of this interview, which was exceedingly affectionate on both sides: and when their ceremonies were over, we also that stood gazing at them, drew near, each of us embracing him we had found here, who was overjoyed to see so many of his old friends, come hither as he thought purposely to fetch him. He was named Will, as the other was Robin; which names were given them by the English, for they have no names among themselves, and they take it as a favour to be named by us, and will complain if we do not appoint them some name when they are with us.'

William had lived in solitude on Juan Fernandez above three years. The Spaniards knew of his being on the Island, and Spanish ships had stopped there, the people belonging to which had made keen search after him; but he kept himself concealed, and they could never discover his retreat. At the time Watling sailed from the Island, he had a musket, a knife, a small horn of powder, and a few shot. 'When his ammunition was expended, he contrived by notching his knife, to saw the barrel of his gun into small pieces, wherewith he made harpoons, lances, hooks, and a long knife, heating the pieces of iron first in the fire, and then hammering them out as he pleased with stones. This may seem strange to those not acquainted with the sagacity of the Indians; but it is no more than what the Moskito men were accustomed to in their own country.' He had worn out the clothes with which he landed, and was not otherwise clad than with a skin about his waist. He made fishing lines of the skins of seals cut into thongs. 'He had built himself a hut, half a mile from the sea-shore, which he lined with goats' skins, and slept on his couch or barbecu of sticks raised about two feet from the ground, and spread with goats' skins.' He saw the two ships commanded by Cook and Eaton the day before they anchored, and from their manœuvring believing them to be English, he killed three goats, which he drest with vegetables; thus preparing a treat for his friends on their landing; and there has seldom been a more fair and joyful occasion for festivity.

Stocked with Goats by its Discoverer. Dampier reckoned two bays in Juan Fernandez proper for ships to anchor in; 'both at the East end, and in each there is a rivulet of good fresh water.' He mentions (it may be supposed on the authority of Spanish information) that this Island was stocked with goats by Juan Fernandez, its discoverer, who, in a second voyage to it, landed three or four of these animals, and they quickly multiplied. Also, that Juan Fernandez had formed a plan of settling here, if he could have obtained a patent or royal grant of the Island; which was refused him[37].

The Buccaneers found here a good supply of provisions in goats, wild vegetables, seals, sea-lions, and fish. Dampier says, 'the seals at Juan Fernandez are as big as calves, and have a fine thick short fur, the like I have not taken notice of any where but in these seas. The teeth of the sea-lion are the bigness of a man's thumb: in Captain Sharp's time, some of the Buccaneers made dice of them. Both the sea-lion and the seal eat fish, which I believe is their common food.'

Coast of Peru. April the 8th, the Batchelor's Delight and Nicholas sailed from Juan Fernandez for the American coast, which they made in latitude 24° S, and sailed Northward, keeping sight of the land, but at a good distance. May. On May the 3d, in latitude 9° 40′ S, they took a Spanish ship laden with timber.

Appearance of the Andes. Dampier remarks that 'from the latitude of 24° S to 17°, and from 14° to 10° S, the land within the coast is of a prodigious height. It lies generally in ridges parallel to the shore, one within another, each surpassing the other in height, those inland being the highest. They always appear blue when seen from sea, and are seldom obscured by clouds or fogs. These mountains far surpass the Peak of Teneriffe, or the land of Santa Martha.'

Islands Lobos de la Mar. On the 9th, they anchored at the Islands Lobos de la Mar. 'This Lobos consists of two little Islands each about a mile round, of indifferent height, with a channel between fit only for boats. Several rocks lie on the North side of the Islands. There is a small cove, or sandy bay, sheltered from the winds, at the West end of the Easternmost Island, where ships may careen. There is good riding between the Easternmost Island and the rocks, in 10, 12, or 14 fathoms; for the wind is commonly at S, or SSE, and the Easternmost Island lying East and West, shelters that road. Both the Islands are barren, without fresh water, tree, shrub, grass, or herb; but sea-fowls, seals, and sea-lions were here in multitudes[38].'

On a review of their strength, they mustered in the two ships 108 men fit for service, besides their sick. They remained at the Lobos de la Mar Isles till the 17th, when three vessels coming in sight, they took up their anchors and gave chace. They captured all the three, which were laden with provisions, principally flour, and bound for Panama. They learnt from the prisoners that the English ship Cygnet had been at Baldivia, and that the Viceroy on information of strange ships having entered the South Sea, had ordered treasure which had been shipped for Panama to be re-landed. They sail to the Galapagos Islands. The Buccaneers, finding they were expected on the coast, determined to go with their prizes first to the Galapagos Islands, and afterwards to the coast of New Spain.

They arrived in sight of the Galapagos on the 31st; but were not enough to the Southward to fetch the Southern Islands, the wind being from SbE, which Dampier remarks is the common trade-wind in this part of the Pacific. Many instances occur in South Sea navigations which shew the disadvantage of not keeping well to the South in going to the Galapagos.

Duke of Norfolk's Island. The two ships anchored near the North East part of one of the Easternmost Islands, in 16 fathoms, the bottom white hard sand, a mile distant from the shore.

It was during this visit of the Buccaneers to the Galapagos, that the chart of these Islands which was published with Cowley's voyage was made. Considering the small opportunity for surveying which was afforded by their track, it may be reckoned a good chart, and has the merit both of being the earliest survey known of these Islands, and of having continued in use to this day; the latest charts we have of the Galapagos being founded upon this original, and (setting aside the additions) varying little from it in the general outlines.

Where Cook and Eaton first anchored, appears to be the Duke of Norfolk's Island of Cowley's chart. They found there sea turtle and land turtle, but could stop only one night, on account of two of their prizes, which being deeply laden had fallen too far to leeward to fetch the same anchorage.

June. King James's Island. The day following, they sailed on to the next Island Westward (marked King James's Island in the chart) and anchored at its North end, a quarter of a mile distant from the shore, in 15 fathoms. Dampier observed the latitude of the North part of this second Island, 0° 28′ N, which is considerably more North than it is placed in Cowley's chart. The riding here was very uncertain, 'the bottom being so steep that if an anchor starts, it never holds again.'

Mistake made by the Editor of Dampier's Voyages. An error has been committed in the printed Narrative of Dampier, which it may be useful to notice. It is there said, 'The Island at which we first anchored hath water on the North end, falling down in a stream from high steep rocks upon the sandy bay, where it may be taken up.' Concerning so essential an article to mariners as fresh water, no information can be too minute to deserve attention. Concerning Fresh Water at King James's Island. In the manuscript Journal, Dampier says of the first Island at which they anchored, 'we found there the largest land turtle I ever saw; but the Island is rocky and barren, without wood or water.' At the next Island at which they anchored, both Dampier and Cowley mention fresh water being found. Cowley says, 'this Bay I called Albany Bay, and another place York Road. Here is excellent sweet water.' Dampier also in the margin of his written Journal where the second anchorage is mentioned, has inserted the note following: 'At the North end of the Island we saw water running down from the rocks.' The editor or corrector of the press has mistakenly applied this to the first anchorage.

Herbage on the North end of Albemarle Island. Cowley, after assigning names to the different Islands, adds, 'We could find no good water on any of these places, save on the Duke of York's [i. e. King James's] Island. But at the North end of Albemarle Island there were green leaves of a thick substance which we chewed to quench our thirst: and there were abundance of fowls in this Island which could not live without water, though we could not find it[39].'

Animal food was furnished by the Galapagos Islands in profusion, and of the most delicate kind; of vegetables nothing of use was found except the mammee, the leaves just noticed and berries. The name Galapagos which has been assigned to these Islands, signifies Turtle in the Spanish language, and was given to them on account of the great numbers of those animals, both of the sea and land kind, found there. Guanoes, an amphibious animal well known in the West Indies, fish, flamingoes, and turtle-doves so tame that they would alight upon the men's heads, were all in great abundance; and convenient for preserving meat, salt was plentiful at the Galapagos. Some green snakes were the only other animals seen there.

Land Turtle. The full-grown land turtle were from 150 to 200 lbs. in weight. Dampier says, 'so sweet that no pullet can eat more pleasantly. They are very fat; the oil saved from them was kept in jars, and used instead of butter to eat with dough-boys or dumplings.'—'We lay here feeding sometimes on land turtle, sometimes on sea turtle, there being plenty of either sort; but the land turtle, as they exceed in sweetness, so do they in numbers: it is incredible to report how numerous they are.'

Sea Turtle. The sea turtle at the Galapagos are of the larger kind of those called the Green Turtle. Dampier thought their flesh not so good as the green turtle of the West Indies.

Dampier describes the Galapagos Isles to be generally of good height: 'four or five of the Easternmost Islands are rocky, hilly, and barren, producing neither tree, herb, nor grass; but only a green prickly shrub that grows 10 or 12 feet high, as big as a man's leg, and is full of sharp prickles in thick rows from top to bottom, without leaf or fruit. In some places by the sea side grow bushes of Burton wood (a sort of wood which grows in the West Indies) which is good firing. Mammee Tree. Some of the Westernmost of these Islands are nine or ten leagues long, have fertile land with mold deep and black; and these produce trees of various kinds, some of great and tall bodies, especially the Mammee. The heat is not so violent here as in many other places under the Equator. The time of year for the rains, is in November, December, and January.'

At Albany Bay, and at other of the Islands, the Buccaneers built storehouses, in which they lodged 5000 packs of their prize flour, and a quantity of sweetmeats, to remain as a reserved store to which they might have recourse on any future occasion. Part of this provision was landed at the Islands Northward of King James's Island, to which they went in search of fresh water, but did not find any. They endeavoured to sail back to the Duke of York's Island, Cowley says, 'there to have watered,' but a current setting Northward prevented them.

12th. They sail from the Galapagos. On June the 12th, they sailed from the Galapagos Islands for the Island Cocos, where they proposed to water. The wind at this time was South; but they expected they should find, as they went Northward, the general trade-wind blowing from the East; and in that persuasion they steered more Easterly than the line of direction in which Cocos lay from them, imagining that when they came to the latitude of the Island, they would have to bear down upon it before the wind. Contrary however to this expectation, as they advanced Northward they found the wind more Westerly, till it settled at SWbS, and they got so far Eastward, that they crossed the parallel of Cocos without being able to come in sight of it.

July. Coast of New Spain. Cape Blanco. Missing Cocos, they sailed on Northward for the coast of New Spain. In the beginning of July, they made the West Cape of the Gulf of Nicoya. 'This Cape is about the height of Beachy Head, and was named Blanco, on account of two white rocks lying about half a mile from it, which to those who are far off at sea, appear as part of the mainland; but on coming nearer, they appear like two ships under sail[40].'

John Cook, Buccaneer Commander, dies. Edward Davis chosen Commander. The day on which they made this land, the Buccaneer Commander, John Cook, who had been some time ill, died. Edward Davis, the Quarter-Master, was unanimously elected by the company to succeed in the command.

CHAP. XIV.

Edward Davis Commander. On the coast of New Spain and Peru. Algatrane, a bituminous earth. Davis is joined by other Buccaneers. Eaton sails to the East Indies. Guayaquil attempted. Rivers of St. Jago, and Tomaco. In the Bay of Panama. Arrivals of numerous parties of Buccaneers across the Isthmus from the West Indies.

1684. July. Coast of New Spain. Caldera Bay. Dampier describes the coast of New Spain immediately westward of the Cape Blanco last mentioned, to fall in to the NE about four leagues, making a small bay, which is by the Spaniards called Caldera[41]. Within the entrance of this bay, a league from Cape Blanco, was a small brook of very good water running into the sea. The land here is low, making a saddle between two small hills. The ships anchored near the brook, in good depth, on a bottom of clean hard sand; and at this place, their deceased Commander was taken on shore and buried.

The country appeared thin of inhabitants, and the few seen were shy of coming near strangers. Two Indians however were caught. Some cattle were seen grazing near the shore, at a Beef Estançian or Farm, three miles distant from where the ships lay. Two boats were sent thither to bring cattle, having with them one of the Indians for a guide. They arrived at the farm towards evening, and some of the Buccaneers proposed that they should remain quiet till daylight next morning, when they might surround the cattle and drive a number of them into a pen or inclosure; others of the party disliked this plan, and one of the boats returned to the ships. Twelve men, with the other boat, remained, who hauled their boat dry up on the beach, and went and took their lodgings for the night by the farm. When the morning arrived, they found the people of the country had collected, and saw about 40 armed men preparing to attack them. The Buccaneers hastened as speedily as they could to the sea-side where they had left their boat, and found her in flames. 'The Spaniards now thought they had them secure, and some called to them to ask if they would be pleased to walk to their plantations; to which never a word was answered.' Fortunately for the Buccaneers, a rock appeared just above water at some distance from the shore, and the way to it being fordable, they waded thither. This served as a place of protection against the enemy, 'who only now and then whistled a shot among them.' It was at about half ebb tide when they took to the rock for refuge; on the return of the flood, the rock became gradually covered. They had been in this situation seven hours, when a boat arrived, sent from the ships in search of them. The rise and fall of the tide here was eight feet perpendicular, and the tide was still rising at the time the boat came to their relief; so that their peril from the sea when on the rock was not less than it had been from the Spaniards when they were on shore.

From Caldera Bay, they sailed for Ria-lexa. Volcan Viejo. Ria-lexa Harbour. The coast near Ria-lexa is rendered remarkable by a high peaked mountain called Volcan Viejo (the Old Volcano.) 'When the mountain bears NE, ships may steer directly in for it, which course will bring them to the harbour. Those that go thither must take the sea wind, which is from the SSW, for there is no going in with the land wind. The harbour is made by a low flat Island about a mile long and a quarter of a mile broad, which lies about a mile and a half from the main-land. There is a channel at each end of the Island: the West channel is the widest and safest, yet at the NW point of the Island there is a shoal of which ships must take heed, and when past the shoal must keep close to the Island on account of a sandy point which strikes over from the main-land. This harbour is capable of receiving 200 sail of ships. The best riding is near the main-land, where the depth is seven or eight fathoms, clean hard sand. Two creeks lead up to the town of Ria-lexa, which is two leagues distant from the harbour[42].'

The Spaniards had erected breastworks and made other preparation in expectation of such a visit as the present. The Buccaneers therefore changed their intention, which had been to attack the town; and sailed on for the Gulf of Amapalla.

Bay of Amapalla. 'The Bay or Gulf of Amapalla runs eight or ten leagues into the country. On the South side of its entrance is Point Casivina, in latitude 12° 40′ N; and on the NW side is Mount San Miguel. There are many Islands in this Gulf, all low except two, named Amapalla and Mangera, which are both high land. These are two miles asunder, and between them is the best channel into the Gulf[43].'

The ships sailed into the Gulf through the channel between Point Casivina and the Island Mangera. Davis went with two canoes before the ships, and landed at a village on the Island Mangera. The inhabitants kept at a distance, but a Spanish Friar and some Indians were taken, from whom the Buccaneers learnt that there were two Indian towns or villages on the Island Amapalla; upon which information they hastened to their canoes, and made for that Island. On coming near, some among the inhabitants called out to demand who they were, and what they came for. Davis answered by an interpreter, that he and his men were Biscayners sent by the King of Spain to clear the sea of Pirates; and that their business in Amapalla Bay, was to careen. No other Spaniard than the Padre dwelt among these Indians, and only one among the Indians could speak the Spanish language, who served as a kind of Secretary to the Padre. The account the Buccaneers gave of themselves satisfied the natives, and the Secretary said they were welcome. The principal town or village of the Island Amapalla stood on the top of a hill, and Davis and his men, with the Friar at their head, marched thither.

At each of the towns on Amapalla, and also on Mangera, was a handsome built church. The Spanish Padre officiated at all three, and gave religious instruction to the natives in their own language. The Islands were within the jurisdiction of the Governor of the Town of San Miguel, which was at the foot of the Mount. 'I observed,' says Dampier, 'in all the Indian towns under the Spanish Government, that the Images of the Virgin Mary, and of other Saints with which all their churches are filled, are painted of an Indian complexion, and partly in an Indian dress: but in the towns which are inhabited chiefly by Spaniards, the Saints conform to the Spanish garb and complexion.'

The ships anchored near the East side of the Island Amapalla, which is the largest of the Islands, in 10 fathoms depth, clean hard sand. On other Islands in the Bay were plantations of maize, with cattle, fowls, plantains, and abundance of a plum-tree common in Jamaica, the fruit of which Dampier calls the large hog plum. This fruit is oval, with a large stone and little substance about it; pleasant enough in taste, but he says he never saw one of these plums ripe that had not a maggot or two in it.

The Buccaneers helped themselves to cattle from an Island in the Bay which was largely stocked, and which they were informed belonged to a Nunnery. The natives willingly assisted them to take the cattle, and were content on receiving small presents for their labour. The Buccaneers had no other service to desire of these natives, and therefore it must have been from levity and an ambition to give a specimen of their vocation, more than for any advantage expected, that they planned to take the opportunity when the inhabitants should be assembled in their church, to shut the church doors upon them, the Buccaneers themselves say, 'to let the Indians know who we were, and to make a bargain with them.' In executing this project, one of the buccaneers being impatient at the leisurely movements of the inhabitants, pushed one of them rather rudely, to hasten him into the church; but the contrary effect was produced, for the native being frightened, ran away, and all the rest taking alarm 'sprang out of the church like deer.' As they fled, some of Davis's men fired at them as at an enemy, and among other injury committed, the Indian Secretary was killed.

Cowley relates their exploits here very briefly, but in the style of an accomplished Gazette writer. He says, 'We set sail from Realejo to the Gulf of St. Miguel, where we took two Islands; one was inhabited by Indians, and the other was well stored with cattle.'

September. Davis and Eaton part Company. Davis and Eaton here broke off consortship. The cause of their separating was an unreasonable claim of Davis's crew, who having the stouter and better ship, would not agree that Eaton's men should share equally with themselves in the prizes taken. Cowley at this time quitted Davis's ship, and entered with Eaton, who sailed from the Bay of Amapalla for the Peruvian coast. Davis also sailed the same way on the day following (September the 3d), first releasing the Priest of Amapalla; and with a feeling of remorse something foreign to his profession, by way of atonement to the inhabitants for the annoyance and mischief they had sustained from the Buccaneers, he left them one of the prize vessels, with half a cargo of flour.

Tornadoes near the Coast of New Spain. Davis sailed out of the Gulf by the passage between the Islands Amapalla and Mangera. In the navigation towards the coast of Peru, they had the wind from the NNW and West, except during tornadoes, of which they had one or more every day, and whilst they lasted the wind generally blew from the South East; but as soon as they were over, the wind settled again, in the NW. Tornadoes are common near the Bay of Panama from June to November, and at this time were accompanied with much thunder, lightning, and rain.

Cape San Francisco. When they came to Cape San Francisco, they found settled fair weather, and the wind at South. On the 20th, they anchored by the East side of the Island Plata. The 21st, Eaton's ship anchored near them. Eaton had been at the Island Cocos, and had lodged on shore there 200 packages of flour.

Eaton's Description of Cocos Island. According to Eaton's description, Cocos Island is encompassed with rocks, 'which make it almost inaccessible except at the NE end, where there is a small but secure harbour; and a fine brook of fresh water runs there into the sea. The middle of the Island is pretty high, and destitute of trees, but looks green and pleasant with an herb by the Spaniards called Gramadiel. All round the Island by the sea, the land is low, and there cocoa-nut trees grow in great groves.'

Coast of Peru. At La Plata they found only one small run of fresh water, which was on the East side of the Island, and trickled slowly down from the rocks. The Spaniards had recently destroyed the goats here, that they might not serve as provision for the pirates. Small sea turtle however were plentiful, as were men-of-war birds and boobies. The tide was remarked to run strong at this part of the coast, the flood to the South.

Eaton and his crew would willingly have joined company again with Davis, but Davis's men persisted in their unsociable claim to larger shares: the two ships therefore, though designing alike to cruise on the coast of Peru, sailed singly and separately, Eaton on the 22d, and Davis on the day following.

Point S^ta Elena. Davis went to Point S^ta Elena. On its West side is deep water and no anchorage. In the bay on the North side of the Point is good anchorage, and about a mile within the Point was a small Indian village, the inhabitants of which carried on a trade with pitch, and salt made there. The Point S^ta Elena is tolerably high, and overgrown with thistles; but the land near it is sandy, low, and in parts overflowed, without tree or grass, and without fresh water; but water-melons grew there, large and very sweet. When the inhabitants of the village wanted fresh water, they were obliged to fetch it from a river called the Colanche, which is at the innermost part of the bay, four leagues distant from their habitations. The buccaneers landed, and took some natives prisoners. A small bark was lying in the bay at anchor, the crew of which set fire to and abandoned her; but the buccaneers boarded her in time to extinguish the fire. A general order had been given by the Viceroy of Peru to all ship-masters, that if they should be in danger of being taken by pirates, they should set fire to their vessels and betake themselves to their boats.

Algatrane, a bituminous Earth. The pitch, which was the principal commodity produced at S^ta Elena, was supplied from a hot spring, of which Dampier gives the following account. 'Not far from the Indian village, and about five paces within high-water mark, a bituminous matter boils out of a little hole in the earth. It is like thin tar; the Spaniards call it Algatrane. By much boiling, it becomes hard like pitch, and is used by the Spaniards instead of pitch. It boils up most at high water, and the inhabitants save it in jars[44].'

A rich Ship formerly wrecked on Point S^ta Elena. A report was current here among the Spaniards, 'that many years before, a rich Spanish ship was driven ashore at Point S^ta Elena, for want of wind to work her; that immediately after she struck, she heeled off to seaward, and sunk in seven or eight fathoms water; and that no one ever attempted to fish for her, because there falls in here a great high sea[45].'

Manta. Davis landed at a village named Manta, on the main-land about three leagues Eastward of Cape San Lorenzo, and due North of a high conical mountain called Monte Christo. The village was on a small ascent, and between it and the sea was a spring of good water. Sunken Rocks near it. 'About a mile and a half from the shore, right opposite the village, is a rock which is very dangerous, because it never appears above water, neither does the sea break upon it. A mile within the rock is good anchorage in six, eight or ten fathoms, hard sand and clear ground. And Shoal. A mile from the road on the West side is a shoal which runs out a mile into the sea[46].'

The only booty made by landing at Manta, was the taking two old women prisoners. From them however, the Buccaneers obtained intelligence that many of their fraternity had lately crossed the Isthmus from the West Indies, and were at this time on the South Sea, without ships, cruising about in canoes; and that it was on this account the Viceroy had given orders for the destruction of the goats at the Island Plata.