Chapter I · (continued 6)

People were seen on the land, and a boat was sent to endeavour to make acquaintance with them; but the natives did not wait. Their habitations were sought for, but none were found. The soil here was dry and sandy, yet fresh water was found by digging for it. They warped the ship into a small sandy cove, at a spring tide, as far as she would float, and at low water she was high aground, the sand being dry without her half a mile; for the sea rose and fell here about five fathoms perpendicularly. During the neap tides, the ship lay wholly aground, the sea not approaching nearer than within a hundred yards of her. Turtle and manatee were struck here, as much every day as served the whole crew.

Boats went from the ship to different parts of the bay in search of provisions. Natives. For a considerable time they met with no inhabitants; but at length, a party going to one of the Islands, saw there about forty natives, men, women, and children. 'The Island was too small for them to conceal themselves. The men at first made threatening motions with lances and wooden swords, but a musket was fired to scare them, and they stood still. The women snatched up their infants and ran away howling, their other children running after squeaking and bawling. Some invalids who could not get away lay by the fire making a doleful noise; but after a short time they grew sensible that no mischief was intended them, and they became quiet.' Those who had fled, soon returned, and some presents made, succeeded in rendering them familiar. Dampier relates, 'we filled some of our barrels with water at wells, which had been dug by the natives, but it being troublesome to get to our boats, we thought to have made these men help us, to which end we put on them some old ragged clothes, thinking this finery would make them willing to be employed. We then brought our new servants to the wells, and put a barrel on the shoulders of each; but all the signs we could make were to no purpose, for they stood like statues, staring at one another and grinning like so many monkies. These poor creatures seem not accustomed to carry burthens, and I believe one of our ship-boys of ten years old would carry as much as one of their men. So we were forced to carry our water ourselves, and they very fairly put off the clothes again and laid them down. They had no great liking to them at first, neither did they seem to admire any thing that we had.'

'The inhabitants of this country are the most miserable people in the world. The Hottentots compared with them are gentlemen. They have no houses, animals, or poultry. Their persons are tall, straight-bodied, thin, with long limbs: they have great heads, round foreheads, and great brows. Their eyelids are always half closed to keep the flies out of their eyes, for they are so troublesome here that no fanning will keep them from one's face, so that from their infancy they never open their eyes as other people do, and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold up their heads as if they were looking at something over them. They have great bottle noses, full lips, wide mouths: the two fore-teeth of their upper jaw are wanting in all of them: neither have they any beards. Their hair is black, short, and curled, and their skins coal black like that of the negroes in Guinea. Their only food is fish, and they constantly search for them at low water, and they make little weirs or dams with stones across little coves of the sea. At one time, our boat being among the Islands seeking for game, espied a drove of these people swimming from one Island to another; for they have neither boats, canoes, nor bark-logs. We always gave them victuals when we met any of them. But after the first time of our being among them, they did not stir for our coming.'

It deserves to be remarked to the credit of human nature, that these poor people, in description the most wretched of mankind in all respects, that we read of, stood their ground for the defence of their women and children, against the shock and first surprise at hearing the report of fire-arms.

March. The Cygnet remained at this part of New Holland till the 12th of March, and then sailed Westward, for the West coast of Sumatra.

28th. An Island in Lat. 10° 20′ S. On the 28th, they fell in with a small woody uninhabited Island, in latitude 10° 20′ S, and, by Dampier's reckoning, 12° 6′ of longitude from the part of New Holland at which they had been. There was too great depth of water every where round the Island for anchorage. A landing-place was found near the SW point, and on the Island a small brook of fresh water; but the surf would not admit of any to be taken off to the ship. Large craw-fish, boobies, and men-of-war birds, were caught, as many as served for a meal for the whole crew.

April. End of the Cygnet. April the 7th, they made the coast of Sumatra. Shortly after, at the Nicobar Islands, Dampier and some others quitted the Cygnet. Read, the Captain, and those who yet remained with him, continued their piratical cruising in the Indian Seas, till, after a variety of adventures, and changes of commanders, they put into Saint Augustine's Bay in the Island of Madagascar, by which time the ship was in so crazy a condition, that the crew abandoned her, and she sunk at her anchors. Some of the men embarked on board European ships, and some engaged themselves in the service of the petty princes of that Island.

Dampier returned to England in 1691.

CHAP. XXIII.

French Buccaneers under François Grogniet and Le Picard, to the Death of Grogniet.

The French Buccaneers, from July 1685. Having accompanied the Cygnet to her end, the History must again be taken back to the breaking up of the general confederacy of Buccaneers which took place at the Island Quibo, to give a connected narrative of the proceedings of the French adventurers from that period to their quitting the South Sea.

Under Grogniet. Three hundred and forty-one French Buccaneers (or to give them their due, privateers, war then existing between France and Spain) separated from Edward Davis in July 1685, choosing for their leader Captain François Grogniet.

They had a small ship, two small barks, and some large canoes, which were insufficient to prevent their being incommoded for want of room, and the ship was so ill provided with sails as to be disqualified for cruising at sea. They were likewise scantily furnished with provisions, and necessity for a long time confined their enterprises to the places on the coast of New Spain in the neighbourhood of Quibo. The towns of Pueblo Nuevo, Ria Lexa, Nicoya, and others, were plundered by them, some more than once, by which they obtained provisions, and little of other plunder, except prisoners, from whom they extorted ransom either in provisions or money.

November. In November, they attacked the town of Ria Lexa. Whilst in the port, a Spanish Officer delivered to them a letter from the Vicar-General of the province of Costa Rica, written to inform them that a truce for twenty years had been concluded between France and Spain. The Vicar-General therefore required of them to forbear committing farther hostility, and offered to give them safe conduct over land to the North Sea, and a passage to Europe in the galeons of his Catholic Majesty to as many as should desire it. This offer not according with the inclinations of the adventurers, they declined accepting it, and, without entering into enquiry, professed to disbelieve the intelligence.

Point de Burica. November the 14th, they were near the Point Burica. Lussan says, 'we admired the pleasant appearance of the land, and among other things, a walk or avenue, formed by five rows of cocoa-nut trees, which extended in continuation along the coast 15 leagues, with as much regularity as if they had been planted by line.'

1686. January. Chiriquita. In the beginning of January 1686, two hundred and thirty of these Buccaneers went in canoes from Quibo against Chiriquita, a small Spanish town on the Continent, between Point Burica and the Island Quibo. Chiriquita is situated up a navigable river, and at some distance from the sea-coast. 'Before this river are eight or ten Islands, and shoals on which the sea breaks at low water; but there are channels between them through which ships may pass[85].'

The Buccaneers arrived in the night at the entrance of the river, unperceived by the Spaniards; but being without guides, and in the dark, they mistook and landed on the wrong side of the river. They were two days occupied in discovering the right way, but were so well concealed by the woods, that at daylight on the morning of the third day they came upon the town and surprised the whole of the inhabitants, who, says Lussan, had been occupied the last two days in disputing which of them should keep watch, and go the rounds.

Lussan relates here, that himself and five others were decoyed to pursue a few Spaniards to a distance from the town, where they were suddenly attacked by one hundred and twenty men. He and his companions however, he says, played their parts an hour and a half 'en vrai Flibustiers,' and laid thirty of the enemy on the ground, by which time they were relieved by the arrival of some of their friends. They set fire to the town, and got ransom for their prisoners: in what the ransom consisted, Lussan has not said.

At Quibo. Their continuance in one station, at length prevailed on the Spaniards to collect and send a force against them. They had taken some pains to instil into the Spaniards a belief that they intended to erect fortifications and establish themselves at Quibo. Their view in this it is not easy to conjecture, unless it was to discourage their prisoners from pleading poverty; for they obliged those from whom they could not get money, to labour, and to procure bricks and materials for building to be sent for their ransom. On the 27th of January, a small fleet of Spanish vessels approached the Island Quibo. The buccaneer ship was without cannon, and lay near the entrance of a river which had only depth sufficient for their small vessels. The Buccaneers therefore took out of the ship all that could be of use, and ran her aground; and with their small barks and canoes took a station in the river. February. The Spaniards set fire to the abandoned ship, and remained by her to collect the iron-work; but they shewed no disposition to attack the French in the river; and on the 1st of February, they departed from the Island.

The Buccaneers having lost their ship, set hard to work to build themselves small vessels. In this month of February, fourteen of their number died by sickness and accidents.

March. They had projected an attack upon Granada but want of present subsistence obliged them to seek supply nearer, and a detachment was sent with that view to the river of Pueblo Nuevo. Some vessels of the Spanish flotilla which had lately been at Quibo, were lying at anchor in the river, which the Flibustiers mistook for a party of the English Buccaneers. Unsuccessful attempt at Pueblo Nuevo. In this belief they went within pistol-shot, and hailed, and were then undeceived by receiving for answer a volley of musketry. They fired on the Spaniards in return, but were obliged to retreat, and in this affair they lost four men killed outright, and between 30 and 40 were wounded.

Preparatory to their intended expedition against Granada, they agreed upon some regulations for preserving discipline and order, the principal articles of which were, that cowardice, theft, drunkenness, or disobedience, should be punished with forfeiture of all share of booty taken.

On the evening of the 22d, they were near the entrance of the Gulf of Nicoya, in a little fleet, consisting of two small barks, a row-galley, and nine large canoes. A tornado came on in the night which dispersed them a good deal. At daylight they were surprised at counting thirteen sail in company, and before they discovered which was the strange vessel, five more sail came in sight. Grogniet is joined by Townley. They soon joined each other, and the strangers proved to be a party of the Buccaneers of whom Townley was the head.

Townley had parted company from Swan not quite two months before. His company consisted of 115 men, embarked in a ship and five large canoes. Townley had advanced with his canoes along the coast before his ship to seek provisions, he and his men being no better off in that respect than Grogniet and his followers. On their meeting as above related, the French did not forget Townley's former overbearing conduct towards them: they, however, limited their vengeance to a short triumph. Lussan says, 'we now finding ourselves the strongest, called to mind the ill offices he had done us, and to shew him our resentment, we made him and his men in the canoes with him our prisoners. We then boarded his ship, of which we made ourselves masters, and pretended that we would keep her. We let them remain some time under this apprehension, after which we made them see that we were more honest and civilized people than they were, and that we would not profit of our advantage over them to revenge ourselves; for after keeping possession about four or five hours, we returned to them their ship and all that had been taken from them.' The English shewed their sense of this moderation by offering to join in the attack on Granada, which offer was immediately accepted.

April. Expedition against the City of Granada. The city of Granada is situated in a valley bordering on the Lake of Nicaragua, and is about 16 leagues distant from Leon. The Buccaneers were provided with guides, and to avoid giving the Spaniards suspicion of their design, Townley's ship and the two barks were left at anchor near Cape Blanco, whilst the force destined to be employed against Granada proceeded in the canoes to the place at which it was proposed to land, directions being left with the ship and barks to follow in due time.

7th. The 7th of April, 345 Buccaneers landed from the canoes, about twenty leagues NW-ward of Cape Blanco, and began their march, conducted by the guides, who led them through woods and unfrequented ways. They travelled night and day till the 9th, in hopes to reach the city before they were discovered by the inhabitants, or their having landed should be known by the Spaniards.

The province of Nicaragua, in which Granada stands, is reckoned one of the most fertile in New Spain. The distance from where the Buccaneers landed, to the city, may be estimated about 60 miles. Yet they expected to come upon it by surprise; and in fact they did travel the greater part of the way without being seen by any inhabitant. Such a mark of the state of the population, corresponds with all the accounts given of the wretched tyranny exercised by the Spaniards over the nations they have conquered.

The Buccaneers however were discovered in their second day's march, by people who were fishing in a river, some of whom immediately posted off with the intelligence. The Spaniards had some time before been advertised by a deserter that the Buccaneers designed to attack Granada; but they were known to entertain designs upon so many places, and to be so fluctuating in their plans, that the Spaniards could only judge from certain intelligence where most to guard against their attempts.

9th. On the night of the 9th, fatigue and hunger obliged the Buccaneers to halt at a sugar plantation four leagues distant from the city. One man, unable to keep up with the rest, had been taken prisoner. 10th. The morning of the 10th, they marched on, and from an eminence over which they passed, had a view of the Lake of Nicaragua, on which were seen two vessels sailing from the city. These vessels the Buccaneers afterwards learnt, were freighted with the richest moveables that at short notice the inhabitants had been able to embark, to be conveyed for security to an Island in the Lake which was two leagues distant from the city.

Granada was large and spacious, with magnificent churches and well-built houses. The ground is destitute of water, and the town is supplied from the Lake; nevertheless there were many large sugar plantations in the neighbourhood, some of which were like small towns, and had handsome churches. Granada was not regularly fortified, but had a place of arms surrounded with a wall, in the nature of a citadel, and furnished with cannon. The great church was within this inclosed part of the town. The City of Nueva Granada taken; The Buccaneers arrived about two o'clock in the afternoon, and immediately assaulted the place of arms, which they carried with the loss of four men killed, and eight wounded, most of them mortally. The first act of the victors, according to Lussan, was to sing Te Deum in the great church; and the next, to plunder. Provisions, military stores, and a quantity of merchandise, were found in the town, the latter of which was of little or no value to the captors. 11th. The next day they sent to enquire if the Spaniards would ransom the town, and the merchandise. It had been rumoured that the Buccaneers would be unwilling to destroy Granada, because they proposed at some future period to make it their baiting place, in returning to the North Sea, and the Spaniards scarcely condescended to make answer to the demand for ransom. And Burnt. The Buccaneers in revenge set fire to the houses. 'If we could have found boats,' says Lussan, 'to have gone on the lake, and could have taken the two vessels laden with the riches of Granada, we should have thought this a favourable opportunity for returning to the West Indies.'

15th. On the 15th, they left Granada, to return to the coast, which journey they performed in the most leisurely manner. They took with them a large cannon, with oxen to draw it, and some smaller guns which they laid upon mules. The weather was hot and dry, and the road so clouded with dust, as almost to stifle both men and beasts. Sufficient provision of water had not been made for the journey, and the oxen all died. The cannon was of course left on the road. Towards the latter part of the journey, water and refreshments were procured at some villages and houses, the inhabitants of which furnished supplies as a condition that their dwellings should be spared.

On the 26th, they arrived at the sea and embarked in their vessels, taking on board with them a Spanish priest whom the Spaniards would not redeem by delivering up their buccaneer prisoner. Most of the men wounded in the Granada expedition died of cramps.

28th, At Ria Lexa. May. The 28th, they came upon Ria Lexa unexpectedly, and made one hundred of the inhabitants prisoners. By such means, little could be gained more than present subsistence, and that was rendered very precarious by the Spaniards removing their cattle from the coast. It was therefore determined to put an end to their unprofitable continuance in one place; but they could not agree where next to go. All the English, and one half of the French, were for sailing to the Bay of Panama. The other half of the French, 148 in number, with Grogniet at their head, declared for trying their fortunes North-westward. Division was made of the vessels and provisions. The whole money which the French had acquired by their depredations amounted to little more than 7000 dollars, and this sum they generously distributed among those of their countrymen who had been lamed or disabled.

Grogniet and Townley part Company. Buccaneers under Townley. May the 19th, they parted company. Those bound for the Bay of Panama, of whom Townley appears to have been regarded the head, had a ship, a bark, and some large canoes. Townley proposed an attack on the town of Lavelia or La Villia, at which place the treasure from the Lima ships had been landed in the preceding year, and this proposal was approved.

June. Tornadoes and heavy rains kept them among the Keys of Quibo till the middle of June. On the 20th of that month, they arrived off the Punta Mala, and during the day, they lay at a distance from the land with sails furled. At night the principal part of their force made for the land in the canoes; but they had been deceived in the distance. Finding that they could not reach the river which leads to Lavelia before day, they took down the sails and masts, and went to three leagues distance from the land, where they lay all the day of the 21st. Lussan, who was of this party of Buccaneers, says that they were obliged to practise the same manœuvre on the day following. In the middle of the night of the 22d, 160 Buccaneers landed from the canoes at the entrance of the river. 23d. Lavelia taken. They were some hours in marching to Lavelia, yet the town was surprised, and above 300 of the inhabitants made prisoners. This was in admirable conformity with the rest of the management of the Spaniards. The fleet from Lima, laden with treasure intended for Panama, had, more than a year before, landed the treasure and rich merchandise at Lavelia, as a temporary measure of security against the Buccaneers, suited to the occasion. The Government at Panama, and the other proprietors, would not be at the trouble of getting it removed to Panama, except in such portions as might be required by some present convenience; and allowed a great part to remain in Lavelia, a place of no defence, although during the whole time Buccaneers had been on the coast of Veragua, or Nicaragua, to whom it now became an easy prey, through indolence and a total want of vigilance, as well in the proprietors as in those whom they employed to guard it.

Three Spanish barks were riding in the river, one of which the crews sunk, and so dismantled the others that no use could be made of them; but the Buccaneers found two boats in serviceable condition at a landing-place a quarter of a league below the town. The riches they now saw in their possession equalled their most sanguine expectations, and if secured, they thought would compensate for all former disappointments. The merchandise in Lavelia was estimated in value at a million and a half of piastres. The gold and silver found there amounted only to 15,000 piastres.

The first day of being masters of Lavelia, was occupied by the Buccaneers in making assortments of the most valuable articles of the merchandise. The next morning, they loaded 80 horses with bales, and a guard of 80 men went with them to the landing-place where the two boats above mentioned were lying. In the way, one man of this escort was taken by the Spaniards. The two prize boats were by no means large enough to carry all the goods which the Buccaneers proposed to take from Lavelia; and on that account directions had been dispatched to the people in the canoes at the entrance of the river to advance up towards the town. These directions they attempted to execute; but the land bordering the river was woody, which exposed the canoes to the fire of a concealed enemy, and after losing one man, they desisted from advancing. For the same cause, it was thought proper not to send off the two loaded boats without a strong guard, and they did not move during this day. The Buccaneers sent a letter to the Spanish Alcalde, to demand if he would ransom the town, the merchandise, and the prisoners; but the Alcalde refused to treat with them. The Town set on fire. In the afternoon therefore, they set fire to the town, and marched to the landing-place where the two boats lay, and there rested for the night.

River of Lavelia. The river of Lavelia is broad, but shallow. Vessels of forty tons can go a league and a half within the entrance. The landing-place is yet a league and a half farther up, and the town is a quarter of a mile from the landing-place[86].

25th. On the morning of the 25th, the two boats, laden as deep as was safe, began to fall down the river, having on board nine men to conduct them. The main body of the Buccaneers at the same time marched along the bank on one side of the river for their protection. A body of Spaniards skreened by the woods, and unseen by the Buccaneers, kept pace with them on the other side of the river, at a small distance within the bank. The Buccaneers had marched about a league, and the boats had descended as far, when they came to a point of land on which the trees and underwood grew so thick as not to be penetrated without some labour and expence of time, to which they did not choose to submit, but preferred making a circuit which took them about a quarter of a mile from the river. The Spaniards on the opposite side were on the watch, and not slow in taking advantage of their absence. They came to the bank, whence they fired upon the men in the laden boats, four of whom they killed, and wounded one; the other four abandoned the boats and escaped into the thicket. The Spaniards took possession of the boats, and finding there the wounded Buccaneer, they cut off his head and fixed it on a stake which they set up by the side of the river at a place by which the rest of the Buccaneers would necessarily have to pass.

The main body of the Buccaneers regained the side of the river in ignorance of what had happened; and not seeing the boats, were for a time in doubt whether they were gone forward, or were still behind. The first notice they received of their loss was from the men who had escaped from the boats, who made their way through the thicket and joined them.

Thus did this crew of Buccaneers, within a short space of time, win by circumspection and adroitness, and lose by negligence, the richest booty they had ever made. If quitting the bank of the river had been a matter of necessity, and unavoidable, there was nothing but idleness to prevent their conveying their plunder the remainder of the distance to their boats by land.

In making their way through the woods, they found the rudder, sails, and other furniture of the Spanish barks in the river; the barks themselves were near at hand, and the Buccaneers embarked in them; but the flood tide making, they came to an anchor, and lay still for the night.

June 26th. The next morning, as they descended the river, they saw the boats which they had so richly freighted, now cleared of their lading and broken to pieces; and near to their wreck, was the head which the Spaniards had stuck up. This spectacle, added to the mortifying loss of their booty, threw the Buccaneers into a frenzy, and they forthwith cut off the heads of four prisoners, and set them on poles in the same place. In the passage down the river, four more of the Buccaneers were killed by the firing of the Spaniards from the banks.

27th. The day after their retreat from the river of Lavelia, a Spaniard went off to them to treat for the release of the prisoners, and they came to an agreement that 10,000 pieces of eight should be paid for their ransom. Some among them who had wives were permitted to go on shore that they might assist in procuring the money; but on the 29th, the same messenger again went off and acquainted them that the Alcalde Major would not only not suffer the relations of the prisoners to send money for their ransom, but that he had arrested some of those whom the Buccaneers had allowed to land. On receiving this report, these savages without hesitation cut off the heads of two of their prisoners, and delivered them to the messenger, to be carried to the Alcalde, with their assurance that if the ransom did not speedily arrive, the rest of the prisoners would be treated in the same manner. The next day the ransom was settled for the remaining prisoners, and for one of the captured barks; the Spaniards paying partly with money, partly with provisions and necessaries, and with the release of the Buccaneer they had taken. In the agreement for the bark, the Spaniards required a note specifying that if the Buccaneers again met her, they should make prize only of the cargo, and not of the vessel.

After the destruction of Lavelia, it might be supposed that the perpetrators of so much mischief would not be allowed with impunity to remain in the Bay of Panama; but such was the weakness or negligence of the Spaniards, that this small body of freebooters continued several months in this same neighbourhood, and at times under the very walls of the City. On another point, however, the Spaniards were more active, and with success; for they concluded a treaty of peace and alliance with the Indians of the Isthmus, in consequence of which, the passage overland through the Darien country was no longer open to the Buccaneers; and some small parties of them who attempted to travel across, were intercepted and cut off by the Spaniards, with the assistance of the natives.

July. The Spaniards had at Panama a military corps distinguished by the appellation of Greeks, which was composed of Europeans of different nations, not natives of Spain. Among the atrocities committed by the crew under Townley, they put to death one of these Greeks, who was also Commander of a Spanish vessel, because on examining him for intelligence, they thought he endeavoured to deceive them; and in aggravation of the deed, Lussan relates the circumstance in the usual manner of his pleasantries, 'we paid him for his treachery by sending him to the other world.'

August. On the 20th of August, as they were at anchor within sight of the city of Panama, they observed boats passing and repassing between some vessels and the shore, and a kind of bustle which had the appearance of an equipment. Battle with Spanish armed Ships. The next day, the Buccaneers anchored near the Island Taboga; and there, on the morning of the 22d, they were attacked by three armed vessels from Panama. The Spaniards were provided with cannon, and the battle lasted half the day, when, owing to an explosion of gunpowder in one of the Spanish vessels, the victory was decided in favour of the Buccaneers. Two of the three Spanish vessels were taken, as was also one other, which during the fight arrived from Panama as a reinforcement. In the last mentioned prize, cords were found prepared for binding their prisoners in the event of their being victorious; and this, the Buccaneers deemed provocation sufficient for them to slaughter the whole crew. This battle, so fatal to the Spaniards, cost the Buccaneers only one man killed outright, and 22 wounded. Townley was among the wounded.

Two of the prizes were immediately manned from the canoes, the largest under the command of Le Picard, who was the chief among the French of this party.

They had many prisoners; and one was sent with a letter to the President of Panama, to demand ransom for them; also medicines and dressings for the wounded, and the release of five Buccaneers who they learnt were prisoners to the Spaniards. The medicines were sent, but the President would not treat either of ransom, or of the release of the buccaneer prisoners. The Buccaneers dispatched a second message to the President, in which they threatened that if the five Buccaneers were not immediately delivered to them, the heads of all the Spaniards in their possession, should be sent to him. The President paid little attention to this message, not believing that such a threat would be executed; but the Bishop of Panama, regarding what had recently happened at Lavelia as an earnest of what the Buccaneers were capable, was seriously alarmed. He wrote a letter to them which he sent by a special messenger, in which he exhorted them in the mildest terms not to shed the blood of innocent men, and promised if they would have patience, to exert his influence to procure the release of the buccaneer prisoners. His letter concluded with the following remarkable paragraph, which shews the great hopes entertained by the Roman Catholics respecting Great Britain during the Reign of King James the IId. 'I have information,' says the Bishop, 'to give you, that the English are all become Roman Catholics, and that there is now a Catholic Church at Jamaica.'

The good Prelate's letter was pronounced by the Buccaneers to be void of truth and sincerity, and an insult to their understanding. They had already received the price of blood, shed not in battle nor in their own defence; and now, devoting themselves to their thirst for gain, they would not be diverted from their sanguinary purpose, but came to the resolution of sending the heads of twenty Spaniards to the President, and with them a message purporting that if they did not receive a satisfactory answer to all their demands by the 28th of the month, the heads of the remaining prisoners should answer for it. Lussan says, 'the President's refusal obliged us, though with some reluctance, to take the resolution to send him twenty heads of his people in a canoe. This method was indeed a little violent, but it was the only way to bring the Spaniards to reason[87].'

What they had resolved they put into immediate execution. The President of Panama was entirely overcome by their inhuman proceedings, and in the first shock and surprise, he yielded without stipulation to all they had demanded. On the 28th, the buccaneer prisoners (four Englishmen and one Frenchman) were delivered to them, with a letter from the President, who said he left to their own conscience the disposal of the Spanish prisoners yet remaining in their hands.

To render the triumph of cruelty and ferocity more complete, the Buccaneers, in an answer to the President, charged the whole blame of what they had done to his obstinacy; in exchange for the five Buccaneers, they sent only twelve of their Spanish prisoners; and they demanded 20,000 pieces of eight as ransom of the remainder, which demand however, they afterwards mitigated to half that sum and a supply of refreshments. On the 4th of September, the ransom was paid, and the prisoners were released.

September. Death of Townley. September the 9th, the buccaneer commander, Townley, died of the wound he received in the last battle. The English and French Buccaneers were faithful associates, but did not mix well as comrades. In a short time after Townley's death, the English desired that a division should be made of the prize vessels, artillery, and stores, and that those of their nation should keep together in the same vessels: and this was done, without other separation taking place at the time.

November. In November, they left the Bay of Panama, and sailed Westward to their old station near the Point de Burica, where, by surprising small towns, villages, and farms, a business at which they had become extremely expert, they procured provisions; and by the ransom of prisoners, some money.

1687. January. In January (1687) they intercepted a letter from the Spanish Commandant at Sonsonnate addressed to the President of Panama, by which they learnt that Grogniet had been in Amapalla Bay, and that three of his men had been taken prisoners. The Commandant remarked in his letter, that the peace made with the Darien Indians, having cut off the retreat of the Buccaneers, would drive them to desperation, and render them like so many mad dogs; he advised therefore that some means should be adopted to facilitate their retreat, that the Spaniards in the South Sea might again enjoy repose. 'They have landed,' he says, 'in these parts ten or twelve times, without knowing what they were seeking; but wheresoever they come, they spoil and lay waste every thing.'

A few days after intercepting this letter, they took prisoner a Spanish horseman. Lussan says, 'We interrogated him with the usual ceremonies, that is to say, we gave him the torture, to make him tell us what we wanted to know.'

Many such villanies were undoubtedly committed by these banditti, more than appear in their Narratives, or than they dared to make known. Lussan, who writes a history of his voyage, not before the end of the second year of his adventures in the South Sea, relates that they put a prisoner to the torture; and it would have appeared as an individual instance, if he had not, probably through inadvertence, acknowledged it to have been their established practice. Lussan on his return to his native land, pretended to reputation and character; and he found countenance and favour from his superiors; it is therefore to be presumed, that he would suppress every transaction in which he was a participator, which he thought of too deep a nature to be received by his patrons with indulgence. A circumstance which tended to make this set of Buccaneers worse than any that had preceded them, was, its being composed of men of two nations between which there has existed a constant jealousy and emulation. They were each ambitious to outdo the other in acts of daringness, and were thereby instigated to every kind of excess.

Grogniet rejoins them. On the 20th, near Caldera Bay, they met Grogniet with sixty French Buccaneers in three canoes. Grogniet had parted from Townley at the head of 148 men. They had made several descents on the coast. At the Bay of Amapalla, they marched 14 leagues within the coast to a gold-mine, where they took many prisoners, and a small quantity of gold. Grogniet wished to return overland to the West-Indian Sea, but the majority of his companions were differently inclined, and 85 quitted him, and went to try their fortunes towards California. Grogniet nevertheless persevered in the design with the remainder of his crew, to seek some part of the coast of New Spain, thin of inhabitants, where they might land unknown to the Spaniards, and march without obstruction through the country to the shore of the Atlantic, without other guide than a compass. The party they now met with, prevailed on them to defer the execution of this project to a season of the year more favourable, and in the mean time to unite with them.

February. They divide. In February, they set fire to the town of Nicoya. Their gains by these descents were so small, that they agreed to leave the coast of New Spain and to go against Guayaquil; but on coming to this determination, the English and the French fell into high dispute for the priority of choice in the prize vessels which they expected to take, insomuch that upon this difference they broke off partnership. Both Parties sail for the Coast of Peru. Grogniet however, and about fifty of the French, remained with the English, which made the whole number of that party 142 men, and they all embarked in one ship, the canoes not being safe for an open sea navigation. The other party numbered 162 men, all French, and embarked in a small ship and a Barca longa. The most curious circumstance attending this separation was, that both parties persevered in the design upon Guayaquil, without any proposal being made by either to act in concert. They sailed from the coast of New Spain near the end of February, not in company, but each using all their exertions to arrive first at the place of destination. They meet again, and reunite. They crossed the Equinoctial line separately, but afterwards at sea accidentally fell in company with each other again, and at this meeting they accommodated their differences, and renewed their partnership.

April. April the 13th, they were near Point Santa Elena, on the coast of Peru, and met there a prize vessel belonging to their old Commander Edward Davis and his Company, but which had been separated from him. She was laden with corn and wine, and eight of Davis's men had the care of her. They had been directed in case of separation, to rendezvous at the Island Plata; but the uncertainty of meeting Davis there, and the danger they should incur if they missed him, made them glad to join in the expedition against Guayaquil, and the provisions with which the vessel was laden, made them welcome associates to the Buccaneers engaged in it.

Attack on Guayaquil. Their approach to the City of Guayaquil was conducted with the most practised circumspection and vigilance. On first getting sight of Point Santa Elena, they took in their sails and lay with them furled as long as there was daylight. In the night they pursued their course, keeping at a good distance from the land, till they were to the Southward of the Island Santa Clara. 15th. Two hundred and sixty men then (April the 15th) departed from the ships in canoes. They landed at Santa Clara, which was uninhabited, and at a part of the Island Puna distant from any habitation, proceeding only during the night time, and lying in concealment during the day.

18th. In the night of the 17th, they approached the River Guayaquil. At daylight, they were perceived by a guard on watch near the entrance, who lighted a fire as a signal to other guards stationed farther on; by whom, however, the signal was not observed. The Buccaneers put as speedily as they could to the nearest land, and a party of the most alert made a circuit through the woods, and surprised the guard at the first signal station, before the alarm had spread farther. They stopped near the entrance till night. 19th. 20th. All day of the 19th, they rested at an Island in the river, and at night advanced again. Their intention was to have passed the town in their canoes, and to have landed above it, where they would be the least expected; but the tide of flood with which they ascended the river did not serve long enough for their purpose, and on the 20th, two hours before day, they landed a short distance below the town, towards which they began to march; but the ground was marshy and overgrown with brushwood. Thus far they had proceeded undiscovered; when one of the Buccaneers left to guard the canoes struck a light to smoke tobacco, which was perceived by a Spanish sentinel on the shore opposite, who immediately fired his piece, and gave alarm to the Fort and Town. This discovery and the badness of the road caused the Buccaneers to defer the attack till daylight. The town of Guayaquil is built round a mountain, on which were three forts which overlooked the town. The City taken. The Spaniards made a tolerable defence, but by the middle of the day they were driven from all their forts, and the town was left to the Buccaneers, detachments of whom were sent to endeavour to bring in prisoners, whilst a chosen party went to the Great Church to chant Te Deum.

Nine Buccaneers were killed and twelve wounded in the attack. The booty found in the town was considerable in jewels, merchandise, and silver, particularly in church plate, besides 92,000 dollars in money, and they took seven hundred prisoners, among whom were the Governor and his family. Fourteen vessels lay at anchor in the Port, and two ships were on the stocks nearly fit for launching.

On the evening of the day that the city was taken, the Governor (being a prisoner) entered into treaty with the Buccaneers, for the City, Fort, Shipping, himself, and all the prisoners, to be redeemed for a million pieces of eight, to be paid in gold, and 400 packages of flour; and to hasten the procurement of the money, which was to be brought from Quito, the Vicar General of the district, who was also a prisoner, was released.

21st. The 21st, in the night, by the carelessness of a Buccaneer, one of the houses took fire, which communicated to other houses with such rapidity, that one third of the city was destroyed before its progress was stopped. It had been specified in the treaty, that the Buccaneers should not set fire to the town; 'therefore,' says Lussan, 'lest in consequence of this accident, the Spaniards should refuse to pay the ransom, we pretended to believe it was their doing.'

Many bodies of the Spaniards killed in the assault of the town, remained unburied where they had fallen, and the Buccaneers were apprehensive that some infectious disorder would thereby be produced. 24th. At the Island Puna. They hastened therefore to embark on board the vessels in the port, their plunder and 500 of their prisoners, with which, on the 25th, they fell down the River to the Island Puna, where they proposed to wait for the ransom.

May. Grogniet dies. On the 2d of May, Captain Grogniet died of a wound he received at Guayaquil. Le Picard was afterwards the chief among the French Buccaneers.

The 5th of May had been named for the payment of the ransom, from which time the money was daily and with increasing impatience expected by the Buccaneers. It was known that Spanish ships of war were equipping at Callao purposely to attack them; and also that their former Commander, Edward Davis, with a good ship, was near this part of the coast. They were anxious to have his company, and on the 4th, dispatched a galley to seek him at the Island Plata, the place of rendezvous he had appointed for his prize.

The 5th passed without any appearance of ransom money; as did many following days. The Spaniards, however, regularly sent provisions to the ships at Puna every day, otherwise the prisoners would have starved; but in lieu of money they substituted nothing better than promises. The Buccaneers would have felt it humiliation to appear less ferocious than on former occasions, and they recurred to their old mode of intimidation. They made the prisoners throw dice to determine which of them should die, and the heads of four on whom the lot fell were delivered to a Spanish officer in answer to excuses for delay which he had brought from the Lieutenant Governor of Guayaquil, with an intimation that at the end of four days more five hundred heads should follow, if the ransom did not arrive.

14th. On the 14th, their galley which had been sent in search of Davis returned, not having found him at the Island Plata; but she brought notice of two strange sail being near the Cape Santa Elena. Edward Davis joins Le Picard. These proved to be Edward Davis's ship, and a prize. Davis had received intelligence, as already mentioned, of the Buccaneers having captured Guayaquil, and was now come purposely to join them. He sent his prize to the Buccaneers at Puna, and remained with his own ship in the offing on the look-out.

The four days allowed for the payment of the ransom expired, and no ransom was sent; neither did the Buccaneers execute their sanguinary threat. It is worthy of remark, that intreaty or intercession made to this set of Buccaneers, so far from obtaining remission or favour, at all times produced the opposite effect, as if reminding them of their power, instigated them to an imperious display of it. The Lieutenant Governor of Guayaquil was in no haste to fulfil the terms of the treaty made by the Governor, nor did he importune them with solicitations, and the whole business for a time lay at rest. The forbearance of the Buccaneers may not unjustly be attributed to Davis having joined them.

23d. On the 23d, the Spaniards paid to the Buccaneers as much gold as amounted in value to 20,000 pieces of eight, and eighty packages of flour, as part of the ransom. The day following, the Lieutenant Governor sent word, that they might receive 22,000 pieces of eight more for the release of the prisoners, and if that sum would not satisfy them, they might do their worst, for that no greater would be paid them. Upon this message, the Buccaneers held a consultation, whether they should cut off the heads of all the prisoners, or take the 22,000 pieces of eight, and it was determined, not unanimously, but by a majority of voices, that it was better to take a little money than to cut off many heads.

Lussan, his own biographer and a young man, boasts of the pleasant manner in which he passed his time at Puna. 'We made good cheer, being daily supplied with refreshments from Guayaquil. We had concerts of music; we had the best performers of the city among our prisoners. Some among us engaged in friendships with our women prisoners, who were not hard hearted.' This is said by way of prelude to a history which he gives of his own good fortune; all which, whether true or otherwise, serves to shew, that among this abandoned crew the prisoners of both sexes were equally unprotected.

26th. On the 26th, the 22,000 pieces of eight were paid to the Buccaneers, who selected a hundred prisoners of the most consideration to retain, and released the rest. The same day, they quitted their anchorage at Puna, intending to anchor again at Point Santa Elena, and there to enter afresh into negociation for ransom of prisoners: but in the evening, two Spanish Ships of War came in sight.

The engagement which ensued, and other proceedings of the Buccaneers, until Edward Davis parted company to return homeward by the South of America, has been related. See pp. 196 to 200. It remains to give an account of the French Buccaneers after the separation, to their finally quitting the South Sea.

CHAP. XXIV.

Retreat of the French Buccaneers across New Spain to the West Indies. All the Buccaneers quit the South Sea.

1687. June. Le Picard and Hout. The party left by Davis consisted of 250 Buccaneers, the greater number of whom were French, the rest were English, and their leaders Le Picard and George Hout. They had determined to quit the South Sea, and with that view to sail to the coast of New Spain, whence they proposed to march over land to the shore of the Caribbean Sea.

July. On the Coast of New Spain. About the end of July, they anchored in the Bay of Amapalla, and were joined there by thirty French Buccaneers. These thirty were part of a crew which had formerly quitted Grogniet to cruise towards California. Others of that party were still on the coast to the North-West, and the Buccaneers in Amapalla Bay put to sea in search of them, that all of their fraternity in the South Sea might be collected, and depart together.

In the search after their former companions, they landed at different places on the coast of New Spain. Among their adventures here, they took, and remained four days in possession of, the Town of Tecoantepeque, but without any profit to themselves. At Guatulco, they plundered some plantations, and obtained provisions in ransom for prisoners. Whilst they lay there at anchor, they saw a vessel in the offing, which from her appearance, and manner of working her sails, they believed to contain the people they were seeking; but the wind and sea set so strong on the shore at the time, that neither their vessels nor boats could go out to ascertain what she was; and after that day, they did not see her again.

December. In Amapalla Bay. In the middle of December they returned to the Bay of Amapalla, which they had fixed upon for the place of their departure from the shores of the South Sea. Their plan was, to march by the town of Nueva Segovia, which had before been visited by Buccaneers, and they now expected would furnish them with provisions. According to Lussan's information, the distance they would have to travel by land from Amapalla Bay, was about 60 leagues, when they would come to the source of a river, by which they could descend to the Caribbean Sea, near to Cape Gracias a Dios.

Whilst they made preparation for their march, they were anxious to obtain intelligence what force the Spaniards had in their proposed route, but the natives kept at a distance. On the 18th, seventy Buccaneers landed and marched into the country, of which adventure Lussan gives the account following. They travelled the whole day without meeting an inhabitant. They rested for the night, and next morning proceeded in their journey, but all seemed a desert, and about noon, the majority were dissatisfied and turned back. Twenty went on; and soon after came to a beaten road, on which they perceived three horsemen riding towards them, whom they way-laid so effectually as to take them all. Chiloteca. By these men they learnt the way to a small town named Chiloteca, to which they went and there made fifty of the inhabitants prisoners. Massacre of Prisoners. They took up their quarters in the church, where they also lodged their prisoners, and intended to have rested during the night; but after dark, they heard much bustle in the town, which made them apprehensive the Spaniards were preparing to attack them, and the noise caused in the prisoners the appearance of a disposition to rise; upon which, the Buccaneers slew them all except four, whom they carried away with them, and reached the vessels without being molested in their retreat.

The prisoners were interrogated; and the accounts they gave confirmed the Buccaneers in the opinion that they had no better chance of transporting themselves and their plunder to the North Sea, than by immediately setting about the execution of the plan they had formed. The Buccaneers burn their Vessels. To settle the order of the march, they landed their riches and the stores necessary for their journey, on one of the Islands in the Bay; and that their number might not suffer diminution by the defection of any, it was agreed to destroy the vessels, which was executed forthwith, with the reserve of one galley and the canoes, which were necessary for the transport of themselves and their effects to the main land. They made a muster of their force, which they divided into four companies, each consisting of seventy men, and every man having his arms and accoutrements. Whilst these matters were arranging, a detachment of 100 men were sent to the main land to endeavour to get horses.

They had destroyed their vessels, and had not removed from the Island, when a large Spanish armed ship anchored in Amapalla Bay; but she was not able to give them annoyance, nor in the least to impede their operations. 1688. January. On the 1st of January, 1688, they passed over, with their effects, to the main land, and the same day, the party which had gone in search of horses, returned, bringing with them sixty-eight, which were divided equally among the four companies, to be employed in carrying stores and provisions, as were eighty prisoners, who besides being carriers of stores, were made to carry the sick and wounded. Every Buccaneer had his particular sack, or package, which it was required should contain his ammunition; what else, was at his own discretion.

Many of these Buccaneers had more silver than themselves were able to carry. There were also many who had neither silver nor gold, and were little encumbered with effects of their own: these light freighted gentry were glad to be hired as porters to the rich, and the contract for carrying silver, on this occasion, was one half; that is to say, that on arriving at the North Sea, there should be an equal division between the employer and the carrier. Carriage of gold or other valuables was according to particular agreement. Lussan, who no doubt was as sharp a rogue as any among his companions, relates of himself, that he had been fortunate at play, and that his winnings added to his share of plunder, amounted to 30,000 pieces of eight, the whole of which he had converted into gold and jewels; and that whilst they were making ready for their march, he received warning from a friend that a gang had been formed by about twenty of the poorer Buccaneers, with the intention to waylay and strip those of their brethren, who had been most fortunate. On considering the danger and great difficulty of having to guard against the machinations of hungry conspirators who were to be his fellow-travellers in a long journey, and might have opportunities to perpetrate their mischievous intentions during any fight with the Spaniards, Lussan came to the resolution of making a sacrifice of part of his riches to insure the remaining part, and to lessen the temptation to any individual to seek his death. To this end he divided his treasure into a number of small parcels, which he confided to the care of so many of his companions, making agreement with each for the carriage.

Retreat of the Buccaneers over land to the West Indian Sea. January the 2d, in the morning, they began their march, an advanced guard being established to consist of ten men from each company, who were to be relieved every morning by ten others. At night they rested at four leagues distance, according to their estimation, from the border of the sea.

The first part of Lussan's account of this journey has little of adventure or description. The difficulties experienced were what had been foreseen, such as the inhabitants driving away cattle and removing provisions, setting fire to the dry grass when it could annoy them in their march; and sometimes the Buccaneers were fired at by unseen shooters. They rested at villages and farms when they found any in their route, where, and also by making prisoners, they obtained provisions. When no habitations or buildings were at hand, they generally encamped at night on a hill, or in open ground. Very early in their march they were attended by a body of Spanish troops at a small distance, the music of whose trumpets afforded them entertainment every morning and evening; 'but,' says Lussan, 'it was like the music of the enchanted palace of Psyche, which was heard without the musicians being visible.'

On the forenoon of the 9th, notwithstanding their vigilance, the Buccaneers were saluted with an unexpected volley of musketry which killed two men; and this was the only mischance that befel them in their march from the Western Sea to Segovia, which town they entered on the 11th of January, without hindrance, and found it without inhabitants, and cleared of every kind of provisions.

Town of New Segovia. 'The town of Segovia is situated in a vale, and is so surrounded with mountains that it seems to be a prisoner there. The churches are ill built. The place of arms, or parade, is large and handsome, as are many of the houses. It is distant from the shore of the South Sea forty leagues: The road is difficult, the country being extremely mountainous.'

On the 12th, they left Segovia and without injuring the houses, a forbearance to which they had little accustomed themselves; but present circumstances brought to their consideration that if it should be their evil fortune to be called to account, it might be quite as well for them not to add the burning of Segovia to the reckoning.

The 13th, an hour before sunset, they ascended a hill, which appeared a good station to occupy for the night. When they arrived at the summit, they perceived on the slope of the next mountain before them, a great number of horses grazing (Lussan says between twelve and fifteen hundred), which at the first sight they mistook for horned cattle, and congratulated each other on the near prospect of a good meal; but it was soon discovered they were horses, and that a number of them were saddled: intrenchments also were discerned near the same place, and finally, troops. This part of the country was a thick forest, with deep gullies, and not intersected with any path excepting the road they were travelling, which led across the mountain where the Spaniards were intrenched. On reconnoitring the position of the Spaniards, the road beyond them was seen to the right of the intrenchments. The Buccaneers on short consultation, determined that they would endeavour under cover of the night to penetrate the wood to their right, so as to arrive at the road beyond the Spanish camp, and come on it by surprise.

This plan was similar to that which they had projected at Guayaquil, and was a business exactly suited to the habits and inclinations of these adventurers, who more than any other of their calling, or perhaps than the native tribes of North America, were practised and expert in veiling their purpose so as not to awaken suspicion; in concealing themselves by day and making silent advances by night, and in all the arts by which even the most wary may be ensnared. Here, immediately after fixing their plan, they began to intrench and fortify the ground they occupied, and made all the dispositions which troops usually do who halt for the night. This encampment, besides impressing the Spaniards with the belief that they intended to pass the night in repose, was necessary to the securing their baggage and prisoners.

Rest seemed necessary and due to the Buccaneers after a toilsome day's march, and so it was thought by the Spanish Commander, who seeing them fortify their quarters, doubted not that they meant to do themselves justice; but an hour after the close of day, two hundred Buccaneers departed from their camp. The moon shone out bright, which gave them light to penetrate the woods, whilst the woods gave them concealment from the Spaniards, and the Spaniards kept small lookout. Before midnight, they were near enough to hear the Spaniards chanting Litanies, and long before daylight were in the road beyond the Spanish encampment. They waited till the day broke, and then pushed for the camp, which, as had been conjectured, was entirely open on this side. Two Spanish sentinels discovered the approach of the enemy, and gave alarm; but the Buccaneers were immediately after in the camp, and the Spanish troops disturbed from their sleep had neither time nor recollection for any other measure than to save themselves by flight. They abandoned all the intrenchments, and the Buccaneers being masters of the pass, were soon joined by the party who had charge of the baggage and prisoners. In this affair, the loss of the Buccaneers was only two men killed, and four wounded.

In the remaining part of their journey, they met no serious obstruction, and were not at any time distressed by a scarcity of provisions. Lussan says they led from the Spanish encampment 900 horses, which served them for carriage, for present food, and to salt for future provision when they should arrive at the sea shore.

Rio de Yare, or Cape River. On the 17th of January, which was the 16th of their journey, they came to the banks of a river by which they were to descend to the Caribbean Sea. This river has its source among the mountains of Nueva Segovia, and falls into the sea to the South of Cape Gracias a Dios about 14 leagues, according to D'Anville's Map, in which it is called Rio de Yare. Dampier makes it fall into the sea something more to the Southward, and names it the Cape River.

The country here was not occupied nor frequented by the Spaniards, and was inhabited only in a few places by small tribes of native Americans. The Buccaneers cut down trees, and made rafts or catamarans for the conveyance of themselves and their effects down the stream. On account of the falls, the rafts were constructed each to carry no more than two persons with their luggage, and every man went provided with a pole to guide the raft clear of rocks and shallows.

In the commencement of this fresh-water navigation, their maritime experience, with all the pains they could take, did not prevent their getting into whirlpools, where the rafts were overturned, with danger to the men and frequently with the loss of part of the lading. When they came to a fall which appeared more than usually dangerous, they put ashore, took their rafts to pieces, and carried all below the fall, where they re-accommodated matters and embarked again. The rapidity of the stream meeting many obstructions, raised a foam and spray that kept every thing on the rafts constantly wet; the salted horse flesh was in a short time entirely spoilt, and their ammunition in a state not to be of service in supplying them with game. Fortunately for them the banks of the river abounded in banana-trees, both wild and in plantations.

When they first embarked on the river, the rafts went in close company; but the irregularity and violence of the stream, continually entangled and drove them against each other, on which account the method was changed, and distances preserved. This gave opportunity to the desperadoes who had conspired against their companions to commence their operations, which they directed against five Englishmen, whom they killed and despoiled. The murderers absconded in the woods with their prey, and were not afterwards seen by the company.

February, 1688. The 20th of February they had passed all the falls, and were at a broad deep and smooth part of the river, where they found no other obstruction than trees and drift-wood floating. As they were near the sea, many stopped and began to build canoes. Some English Buccaneers who went lower down the river, found at anchor an English vessel belonging to Jamaica, from which they learnt that the French Government had just proclaimed an amnesty in favour of those who since the Peace made with Spain had committed acts of piracy, upon condition of their claiming the benefit of the Proclamation within a specified time. A similar proclamation had been issued in the year 1687 by the English Government; but as it was not clear from the report made by the crew of the Jamaica vessel, whether it yet operated, the English Buccaneers would not embark for Jamaica. They sent by two Mosquito Indians, an account of the news they had heard to the French Buccaneers, with notice that there was a vessel at the mouth of the river capable of accommodating not more than forty persons. Immediately on receiving the intelligence, above a hundred of the French set off in all haste for the vessel, every one of whom pretended to be of the forty. Those who first arrived on board, took up the anchor as speedily as they could, and set sail, whilst those who were behind called loudly for a decision by lot or dice; but the first comers were content to rest their title on possession.

The English Buccaneers remained for the present with the Mosquito Indians near Cape Gracias a Dios, 'who,' says Lussan, 'have an affection for the English, on account of the many little commodities which they bring them from the Island of Jamaica.' The greater part of the French Buccaneers went to the French settlements; but seventy-five of them who went to Jamaica, were apprehended and detained prisoners by the Duke of Albemarle, who was then Governor, and their effects sequestrated. They remained in prison until the death of the Duke, which happened in the following year, when they were released; but neither their arms nor plunder were returned to them.

The South Sea was now cleared of the main body of the Buccaneers. A few stragglers remained, concerning whom some scattered notices are found, of which the following are the heads.

La Pava. Seixas mentions an English frigate named La Pava, being wrecked in the Strait of Magalhanes in the year 1687; and that her loss was occasioned by currents[88]. By the name being Spanish (signifying the Hen) this vessel must have been a prize to the Buccaneers.

Captain Straiton. In the Narrative of the loss of the Wager, by Bulkeley and Cummins, it is mentioned that they found at Port Desire cut on a brick, in very legible characters, "Captain Straiton, 16 cannon, 1687." Most probably this was meant of a Buccaneer vessel.

Le Sage. At the time that the English and French Buccaneers were crossing the Isthmus in great numbers from the West Indies to the South Sea, two hundred French Buccaneers departed from Hispaniola in a ship commanded by a Captain Le Sage, intending to go to the South Sea by the Strait of Magalhanes; but having chosen a wrong season of the year for that passage, and finding the winds unfavourable, they stood over to the coast of Africa, where they continued cruising two years, and returned to the West Indies with great booty, obtained at the expence of the Hollanders.

Small Crew of Buccaneers at the Tres Marias. The small crew of French Buccaneers in the South Sea who were a part of those who had separated from Grogniet to cruise near California, and for whom Le Picard had sought in vain on the coast of New Spain, were necessitated by the smallness of their force, and the bad state of their vessel, to shelter themselves at the Tres Marias Islands in the entrance of the Gulf of California. Their Adventures, and Return to the West Indies. It is said that they remained four years among those Islands, at the end of which time, they determined, rather than to pass the rest of their lives in so desolate a place, to sail Southward, though with little other prospect or hope than that they should meet some of their former comrades; instead of which, on looking in at Arica on the coast of Peru, they found at anchor in the road a Spanish ship, which they took, and in her a large quantity of treasure. The Buccaneers embarked in their prize, and proceeded Southward for the Atlantic, but were cast ashore in the Strait of Magalhanes. Part of the treasure, and as much of the wreck of the vessel as served to construct two sloops, were saved, with which, after so many perils, they arrived safe in the West Indies.

Story related by Le Sieur Froger. Le Sieur Froger, in his account of the Voyage of M. de Gennes, has introduced a narrative of a party of French Buccaneers or Flibustiers going from Saint Domingo to the South Sea, in the year 1686; which is evidently a romance fabricated from the descriptions which had been given of their general courses and habits. These protegés of Le Sieur Froger, like the Buccaneer crew from the Tres Marias Islands just mentioned, were reduced to great distress,—took a rich prize afterwards on the coast of Peru,—were returning to the Atlantic, and lost their ship in the Strait of Magalhanes. They were ten months in the Strait building a bark, which they loaded with the best of what they had saved of the cargo of their ship, and in the end arrived safe at Cayenne[89]. Funnel also mentions a report which he heard, of a small crew of French Buccaneers, not more than twenty, whose adventures were of the same cast; and who probably were the Tres Marias Buccaneers.

It has been related that five Buccaneers who had gamed away their money, unwilling to return poor out of the South Sea, landed at the Island Juan Fernandez from Edward Davis's ship, about the end of the year 1687, and were left there. In 1690, the English ship Welfare, commanded by Captain John Strong, anchored at Juan Fernandez; of which voyage two journals have been preserved among the MSS in the Sloane Collection in the British Museum, from which the following account is taken.

The Farewell arrived off the Island on the evening of October the 11th, 1690. In the night, those on board were surprised at seeing a fire on an elevated part of the land. Early next morning, a boat was sent on shore, which soon returned, bringing off from the Island two Englishmen. These were part of the five who had landed from Davis's ship. They piloted the Welfare to a good anchoring place.

Buccaneers who lived three years on the Island Juan Fernandez. In the three years that they had lived on Juan Fernandez, they had not, until the arrival of the Welfare, seen any other ships than Spaniards, which was a great disappointment to them. The Spaniards had landed and had endeavoured to take them, but they had found concealment in the woods; one excepted, who deserted from his companions, and delivered himself up to the Spaniards. The four remaining, when they learnt that the Buccaneers had entirely quitted the South Sea, willingly embarked with Captain Strong, and with them four servants or slaves. Nothing is said of the manner in which they employed themselves whilst on the Island, except of their contriving subterraneous places of concealment that the Spaniards should not find them, and of their taming a great number of goats, so that at one time they had a tame stock of 300.

CHAP. XXV.

Steps taken towards reducing the Buccaneers and Flibustiers under subordination to the regular Governments. War of the Grand Alliance against France. The Neutrality of the Island Saint Christopher broken.

Whilst these matters were passing in the Pacific Ocean, small progress was made in the reform which had been begun in the West Indies. The English Governors by a few examples of severity restrained the English Buccaneers from undertaking any enterprise of magnitude. With the French, the case was different. The number of the Flibustiers who absented themselves from Hispaniola, to go to the South Sea, alarmed the French Government for the safety of their colonies, and especially of their settlements in Hispaniola, the security and defence of which against the Spaniards they had almost wholly rested on its being the place of residence and the home of those adventurers. To persist in a rigorous police against their cruising, it was apprehended would make the rest of them quit Hispaniola, for which reason it was judged prudent to relax in the enforcement of the prohibitions; the Flibustiers accordingly continued their courses as usual.

1686. In 1686, Granmont and De Graaf prepared an armament against Campeachy. M. de Cussy, who was Governor of Tortuga and the French part of Hispaniola, applied personally to them to relinquish their design; but as the force was collected, and all preparation made, neither the Flibustiers nor their Commanders would be dissuaded from the undertaking, and De Cussy submitted. Campeachy burnt. Campeachy was plundered and burnt.

A measure was adopted by the French Government which certainly trenched on the honour of the regular military establishments of France, but was attended with success in bringing the Flibustiers more under control and rendering them more manageable. This was, the taking into the King's service some of the principal leaders of the Flibustiers, and giving them commissions of advanced rank, either in the land service or in the French marine. Granmont. A commission was made out for Granmont, appointing him Commandant on the South coast of Saint Domingo, with the rank of Lieutenant du Roy. But of Granmont as a Buccaneer, it might be said in the language of sportsmen, that he was game to the last. Before the commission arrived, he received information of the honour intended him, and whilst yet in his state of liberty, was seized with the wish to make one more cruise. He armed a ship, and, with a crew of 180 Flibustiers in her, put to sea. This was near the end of the year 1686; and what afterwards became of him and his followers is not known, for they were not again seen or heard of.

1687. In the beginning of 1687, a commission arrived from France, appointing De Graaf Major in the King's army in the West Indies. He was then with a crew of Flibustiers near Carthagena. In this cruise, twenty-five of his men who landed in the Gulf of Darien, were cut off by the Darien Indians. De Graaf on his return into port accepted his commission, and when transformed to an officer in the King's army, became, like Morgan, a great scourge to the Flibustiers and Forbans.

Proclamation against Pirates. In consequence of complaints made by the Spaniards, a Proclamation was issued at this time, by the King of Great Britain, James the IId, specified in the title to be 'for the more effectual reducing and suppressing of Pirates and Privateers in America, as well on the sea as on the land, who in great numbers have committed frequent robberies, which hath occasioned great prejudice and obstruction to Trade and Commerce.'

1688. A twenty years truce had, in the year 1686, been agreed upon between France and Spain, but scarcely a twentieth part of that time was suffered to elapse before it was broken in the West Indies. Danish Factory robbed by the Buccaneers. The Flibustiers of Hispaniola did not content themselves with their customary practice: in 1688 they plundered the Danish Factory at the Island St. Thomas, which is one of the small Islands called the Virgins, near the East end of Porto Rico. This was an aggression beyond the limits which they had professed to prescribe to their depredatory system, and it is not shewn that they had received injury at the hands of the Danes. Nevertheless, the French West-India histories say, 'Our Flibustiers (nos Flibustiers), in 1688, surprised the Danish Factory at St. Thomas. The pillage was considerable, and would have been more if they had known that the chief part of the cash was kept in a vault under the hall, which was known to very few of the house. They forgot on this occasion their ordinary practice, which is to put their prisoners to the torture to make them declare where the money is. It is certain that if they had so done, the hiding-place would have been revealed to them, in which it was believed there was more than 500,000 livres.' Such remarks shew the strong prepossession which existed in favour of the Buccaneers, and an eagerness undistinguishing and determined after the extraordinary. Qualities the most common to the whole of mankind were received as wonderful when related of the Buccaneers. One of our Encyclopedias, under the article Buccaneer, says, 'they were transported with an astonishing degree of enthusiasm whenever they saw a sail.'

In this same year, 1688, war broke out in Europe between the French and Spaniards, and in a short time the English joined against the French.

1689. July. England and France had at no period since the Norman conquest been longer without serious quarrel. On the accession of William the IIId. to the crowns of Great Britain, it was generally believed that a war with France would ensue. The English driven from St. Christopher. The French in the West Indies did not wait for its being declared, but attacked the English part of St. Christopher, the Island on which by joint agreement had been made the original and confederated first settlements of the two Nations in the West Indies. See p. 38. The English inhabitants were driven from their possessions and obliged to retire to the Island Nevis, which terminated the longest preserved union which history can shew between the English and French as subjects of different nations. In the commencement it was strongly cemented by the mutual want of support against a powerful enemy; that motive for their adherence to each other had ceased to exist: yet in the reigns of Charles the IId. and James the IId. of England, an agreement had been made between England and France, that if war should at any time break out between them, a neutrality should be observed by their subjects in the West Indies.

This war continued nearly to the end of King William's reign, and during that time the English and French Buccaneers were engaged on opposite sides, as auxiliaries to the regular forces of their respective nations, which completely separated them; and it never afterwards happened that they again confederated in any buccaneer cause. They became more generally distinguished by different appellations, not consonant to their present situations and habits; for the French adventurers, who were frequently occupied in hunting and at the boucan, were called the Flibustiers of St. Domingo, and the English adventurers, who had nothing to do with the boucan, were called the Buccaneers of Jamaica.

1690. July. The English retake St. Christopher. The French had not kept possession of St. Christopher quite a year, when it was taken from them by the English. This was an unfortunate year for the French, who in it suffered a great defeat from the Spaniards in Hispaniola. Their Governor De Cussy, and 500 Frenchmen, fell in battle, and the Town of Cape François was demolished.

The French Flibustiers at this time greatly annoyed Jamaica, making descents, in which they carried off such a number of negroes, that in derision they nicknamed Jamaica 'Little Guinea.' The principal transactions in the West Indies, were, the attempts made by each party on the possessions of the other. In the course of these services, De Graaf was accused of misconduct, tried, and deprived of his commission in the army; but though judged unfit for command in land service, out of respect to his maritime experience he was appointed Captain of a Frigate.

No one among the Flibustiers was more distinguished for courage and enterprise in this war than Jean Montauban, who commanded a ship of between 30 and 40 guns. He sailed from the West Indies to Bourdeaux in 1694. In February of the year following, he departed from Bourdeaux for the coast of Guinea, where in battle with an English ship of force, both the ships were blown up. Montauban and a few others escaped with their lives. This affair is not to be ranked among buccaneer exploits, Great Britain and France being at open War, and Montauban having a regular commission.

CHAP. XXVI.

Seige and Plunder of the City of Carthagena on the Terra Firma, by an Armament from France in conjunction with the Flibustiers of Saint Domingo.

1697. In 1697, at the suggestion of M. le Baron de Pointis, an officer of high rank in the French Marine, a large armament was fitted out in France, jointly at the expence of the Crown, and of private contributors, for an expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies. The chief command was given to M. de Pointis, and orders were sent out to the Governor of the French Settlements in Hispaniola (M. du Casse) to raise 1200 men in Tortuga and Hispaniola to assist in the expedition. The king's regular force in M. du Casse's government was small, and the men demanded were to be supplied principally from the Flibustiers. The dispatches containing the above orders arrived in January. It was thought necessary to specify to the Flibustiers a limitation of time; and they were desired to keep from dispersing till the 15th of February, it being calculated that M. de Pointis would then, or before, certainly be at Hispaniola. March. De Pointis, however, did not arrive till the beginning of March, when he made Cape François, but did not anchor there; preferring the Western part of Hispaniola, 'fresh water being better and more easy to be got at Cape Tiburon than at any other part.' M. du Casse had, with some difficulty, kept the Flibustiers together beyond the time specified, and they were soon dissatisfied with the deportment of the Baron de Pointis, which was more imperious than they had been accustomed to from any Commander.

Character of the Buccaneers by M. de Pointis. M. de Pointis published a history of his expedition, in which he relates that at the first meeting between him and M. du Casse, he expressed himself dissatisfied at the small number of men provided; 'but,' says he, 'M. du Casse assured me that the Buccaneers were at this time collected, and would every man of them perform wonders. It is the good fortune of all the pirates in these parts to be called Buccaneers. These freebooters are, for the most part, composed of those that desert from ships that come upon the coast: the advantage they bring to the Governors, protects them against the prosecution of the law. All who are apprehended as vagabonds in France, and can give no account of themselves, are sent to these Islands, where they are obliged to serve for three years. The first that gets them, obliges them to work in the plantations; at the end of the term of servitude, somebody lends them a gun, and to sea they go a buccaneering.' It is proper to hint here, that when M. de Pointis published his Narrative, he was at enmity with the Buccaneers, and had a personal interest in bringing the buccaneer character into disrepute. Many of his remarks upon them, nevertheless, are not less just than characteristic. He continues his description; 'They were formerly altogether independent. Of late years they have been reduced under the government of the coast of St. Domingo: they have commissions given them, for which they pay the tenth of all prizes, and are now called the King's subjects. The Governors of our settlements in Saint Domingo being enriched by them, do mightily extol them for the damages they do to the Spaniards. This infamous profession which an impunity for all sorts of crimes renders so much beloved, has within a few years lost us above six thousand men, who might have improved and peopled the colony. At present they are pleased to be called the King's subjects; yet it is with so much arrogance, as obliges all who are desirous to make use of them, to court them in the most flattering terms. This was not agreeable to my disposition, and considering them as his Majesty's subjects which the Governor was ordered to deliver to me, I plainly told them that they should find me a Commander to lead them on, but not as a companion to them.'

The expedition, though it was not yet made known, or even yet pretended to be determined, against what place it should be directed, was expected to yield both honour and profit. The Buccaneers would not quarrel with a promising enterprise under a spirited and experienced commander, for a little haughtiness in his demeanour towards them; but they demanded to have clearly specified the share of the prize money and plunder to which they should be entitled, and it was stipulated by mutual agreement 'that the Flibustiers and Colonists should, man for man, have the same shares of booty that were allowed to the men on board the King's ships.' As so many men were to embark from M. du Casse's government, he proposed to go at their head, and desired to know of M. de Pointis what rank would be allowed him. M. du Casse was a mariner by profession, and had the rank of Captain in the French Navy. De Pointis told him that the highest character he knew him in, was that which he derived from his commission as Capitaine de Vaisseau, and that if he embarked in the expedition, he must be content to serve in that quality according to his seniority.

M. du Casse nevertheless chose to go, though it was generally thought he was not allowed the honours and consideration which were his due as Governor of the French Colonies at St. Domingo, and Commander of so large a portion of the men engaged in the expedition. It was settled, that the Flibustiers should embark partly in their own cruising vessels, and partly on board the ships of M. de Pointis' squadron, and should be furnished with six weeks provisions. A review was made, to prevent any but able men of the Colony being taken; negroes who served, if free, were to be allowed shares like other men; if slaves and they were killed, their masters were to be paid for them.

Two copies of the agreement respecting the sharing of booty were posted up in public places at Petit Goave, and a copy was delivered to M. du Casse, the Governor. M. de Pointis consulted with M. du Casse what enterprise they should undertake, but the determination wholly rested with M. de Pointis. 'There was added,' M. de Pointis says, 'without my knowledge, to the directions sent to Governor du Casse, that he was to give assistance to our undertaking, without damage to, or endangering, his Colony. This restriction did in some measure deprive me of the power of commanding his forces, seeing he had an opportunity of pretending to keep them for the preservation of the Colony.' M. du Casse made no pretences to withhold, but gave all the assistance in his power. He was an advocate for attacking the City of San Domingo. This was the wish of most of the colonists, and perhaps was what would have been of more advantage to France than any other expedition they could have undertaken. But the armament having been prepared principally at private expence, it was reasonable for the contributors to look to their own reimbursement. To attack the City of San Domingo was not approved; other plans were proposed, but Carthagena seems to have been the original object of the projectors of the expedition, and the attack of that city was determined upon. Before the Flibustiers and other colonists embarked, a disagreement happened which had nearly made them refuse altogether to join in the expedition. The officers of De Pointis' fleet had imbibed the sentiments of their Commander respecting the Flibustiers or Buccaneers, and followed the example of his manners towards them. The fleet was lying at Petit Goave, and M. de Pointis, giving to himself the title of General of the Armies of France by Sea and by Land in America, had placed a guard in a Fort there. M. du Casse, as he had received no orders from Europe to acknowledge any superior within his government, might have considered such an exercise of power to be an encroachment on his authority which it became him to resist; but he acted in this, and in other instances, like a man overawed. The officer of M. de Pointis who commanded the guard on shore, arrested a Flibustier for disorderly behaviour, and held him prisoner in the fort. The Flibustiers surrounded the fort in a tumultuous manner to demand his release, and the officer commanded his men to fire upon them, by which three of the Flibustiers were killed. It required some address and civility on the part of M. de Pointis himself, as well as the assistance of M. du Casse, to appease the Flibustiers; and the officer who had committed the offence was sent on board under arrest.

The force furnished from M. du Casse's government, consisted of nearly 700 Flibustiers, 170 soldiers from the garrisons, and as many volunteer inhabitants and negroes as made up about 1200 men. The whole armament consisted of seven large ships, and eleven frigates, besides store ships and smaller vessels; and, reckoning persons of all classes, 6000 men.

April. Siege of Carthagena by the French. The Fleet arrived off Carthagena on April the 13th, and the landing was effected on the 15th. It is not necessary to relate all the particulars of this siege, in which the Buccaneers bore only a part. That part however was of essential importance.

M. de Pointis, in the commencement, appointed the whole of the Flibustiers, without any mixture of the King's troops, to a service of great danger, which raised a suspicion, of partiality and of an intention to save the men he brought with him from Europe, as regarding them to be more peculiarly his own men. An eminence about a mile to the Eastward of the City of Carthagena, on which was a church named Nuestra Senora de la Poupa, commands all the avenues and approaches on the land side to the city. 'I had been assured,' says M. de Pointis, 'that if we did not seize the hill de la Poupa immediately on our arrival, all the treasure would be carried off. To get possession of this post, I resolved to land the Buccaneers in the night of the same day on which we came to anchor, they being proper for such an attempt, as being accustomed to marching and subsisting in the woods.' M. de Pointis takes this occasion to accuse the Buccaneers of behaving less heroically than M. du Casse had boasted they would, and that it was not without murmuring that they embarked in the boats in order to their landing. It is however due to them on the score of courage and exertion, to remark, though in some degree it is anticipation, that no part of the force under M. de Pointis shewed more readiness or performed better service in the siege than the Buccaneers.

There was uncertainty about the most proper place for landing, and M. de Pointis went himself in a boat to examine near the shore to the North of the city. The surf rolled in heavy, by which his boat was filled, and was with difficulty saved from being stranded on a rock. The proposed landing was given up as impracticable, and M. de Pointis became of opinion that Carthagena was approachable only by the lake which makes the harbour, the entrance to which, on account of its narrowness, was called the Bocca-chica, and was defended by a strong fort.

The Fleet sailed for the Bocca-chica, and on the 15th some of the ships began to cannonade the Fort. The first landing was effected at the same time by a corps of eighty negroes, without any mixture of the King's troops. This was a second marked instance of the Commander's partial attention to the preservation of the men he brought from France. M. de Pointis despised the Flibustiers, and probably regarded negroes as next to nothing. He was glad however to receive them as his companions in arms, and it was an honour due from him to all under his command, as far as circumstances would admit without injury to service, to share the dangers equally, or at least without partiality.