Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea Part 48

Suddenly a terrific roar sounded above the rattle of ropes and creak of hawsers--and a broadside cut into the _La Confidence_ with keen accuracy.

"Lie flat upon the deck," cried Lafitte, "and dodge the iron boys if you can see 'em."

His men obeyed, and, as the missiles pounded into the broad sides of their ship, the steersman ran her afoul of the Queen's East Indiaman.

When he did so, many sailors swarmed into the rigging, and from the yards and tops threw bombs and grenades into the forecastle of the enemy, so that death and terror made the Britishers abandon the portion of their vessel near the mizzen-mast.

"Forty of the crew will now board," cried Lafitte. "And let every mother's son strike home!"

With pistols in their hands and daggers held between their teeth, the wild sea-rovers rollicked across the gunwales like a swarm of rats.

Dancing up the deck of the Britisher they beat back all who opposed them, driving them below into the steerage. Shots rang out like spitting cats; dirks gleamed; and cutla.s.ses did awful execution. But the Captain of the Indiaman was rallying his men about him on the p.o.o.p, and, with a wild cheer, these precipitated themselves upon the victorious privateers.

"Board! Board!" cried Lafitte, at this propitious moment, and, cutla.s.s in hand, he leaped from his own vessel upon the deck of the East Indiaman. His crew followed with a yelp of defiant hatred, and beat the Captain's party back again upon the p.o.o.p, where they stood stolidly, cursing at the rough sea-riders from St. Thomas.

But Lafitte was a general not to be outdone by such a show of force.

He ordered a gun to be loaded with grape-shot; had it pointed towards the place where the crowd was a.s.sembled; and cried--

"If you don't give in now, I'll exterminate all of you at one discharge of my piece."

It was the last blow. Seeing that it was useless to continue the unequal struggle, the British Captain held up his long cutla.s.s, to which was bound a white handkerchief, and the great sea battle was over. Lafitte and his terrible crew had captured a boat of double the size of his own, and with twice his numbers.

Says an old chronicler of the period: "This exploit, hitherto unparalleled, resounded through India, and the name of Lafitte became the terror of English commerce in these lat.i.tudes. The British vessels now traversed the Indian Ocean under strong convoys, in order to beat off this harpy of South Africa."

"Egad," said Lafitte about this time, "these fellows are too smart for me. I'll have to look for other pickings. I'm off for France."

So he doubled the Cape of Good Hope, coasted up the Gulf of Guinea, and, in the Bight of Benin, took two valuable prizes loaded down with gold dust, ivory, and palm oil. With these he ran to St. Malo, where the people said:

"Tenez! Here is a brave fellow, but would you care to have his reputation, Monsieur?" And they shook their heads, shrugged their shoulders, and looked the other way when they saw him coming.

The privateersman, slaver, and pirate was not going to be long with them, however, for he soon fitted out a brigantine, mounted twenty guns on her, and with one hundred and fifty men, sailed for Guadaloupe, among the West Indies. He took several valuable prizes, but, during his absence upon a cruise, the island was captured by the British, so he started for a more congenial clime. He roved about for some months, to settle at last at Barrataria, near New Orleans, Louisiana. He was rich; he had ama.s.sed great quant.i.ties of booty; and he was a man of property. Lafitte, in fact, was a potentate.

"Now," said the privateer and pirate, "I will settle down and found a colony."

But can a man of action keep still?

It is true that Lafitte was not as bold and audacious as before, for he was now obliged to have dealings with merchants of the United States and the West Indies who frequently owed him large sums of money, and the cautious transactions necessary to found and to conduct a colony of pirates and smugglers in the very teeth of civilization, made the black-haired Frenchman cloak his real character under a veneer of supposed gentility. Hundreds of privateers, pirates, and smugglers gathered around the banner of this robber of the high seas.

But what is Barrataria?

Part of the coast of Louisiana is called by that name: that part lying between Bastien Bay on the east, and the mouth of the wide river, or bayou of La Fourche, on the west. Not far from the rolling, sun-baked Atlantic are the lakes of Barrataria, connecting with one another by several large bayous and a great number of branches. In one of these is the Island of Barrataria, while this sweet-sounding name is also given to a large basin which extends the entire length of the cypress swamps, from the Gulf of Mexico, to a point three miles above New Orleans. The waters from this lake slowly empty into the Gulf by two pa.s.sages through the Bayou Barrataria, between which lies an island called Grand Terre: six miles in length, and three in breadth, running parallel with the coast. To the West of this is the great pa.s.s of Barrataria, where is about nine to ten feet of water: enough to float the ordinary pirate or privateersman's vessel. Within this pa.s.s--about two miles from the open sea--lies the only safe harbor upon the coast, and this is where the cut-throats, pirates, and smugglers gathered under Lafitte. They called themselves _Barratarians_, and they were a G.o.dless crew.

At a place called Grand Terre, the privateers would often make public sale of their cargoes and prizes by auction. And the most respectable inhabitants of the State were accustomed to journey there in order to purchase the goods which the _Barratarians_ had to offer. They would smile, and say,

"We are going to get some of the treasure of Captain Kidd."

But the Government of the United States did not take so kindly to the idea of a privateer and pirate colony within its borders. And--with malice aforethought--one Commodore Patterson was sent to disperse these marauders at Barrataria, who, confident of their strength and fighting ability, defiantly flaunted their flag in the faces of the officers of the Government. "We can lick the whole earth," chuckled the piratical followers of Lafitte.

Patterson was a good fighter. On June the eleventh he departed from New Orleans with seventy members of the 44th regiment of infantry. On the sixteenth he made for the Island of Barrataria, with some six gun-boats, a launch mounting one twelve pound carronade; the _Sea Horse_ (a tender carrying one six-pounder) and the schooner _Carolina_.

"We must fight, Boys," cried Lafitte to his ill-a.s.sorted mates. "Come, take to our schooners and show these officers that the followers of Lafitte can battle like Trojans."

A cheer greeted these n.o.ble sentiments.

"Lead on!" yelled his cut-throats. "Lead on and we'll sink these c.o.c.ky soldiers as we've done to many an East Indiaman!"

So, about two o'clock in the afternoon, the privateers and pirates formed their vessels, ten in number (including their prizes) near the entrance of the harbor.

_Crash!_

A sh.e.l.l from the forward gun of the leading gun-boat spun across the bows of Lafitte's flagship and buried itself in the gray water with a dull sob.

Up went a huge white flag upon the foremost mast-head of the king pirate and these words could be plainly seen:

"Pardon for all Deserters."

"Ah, ha," chuckled Patterson. "The arch ruffian has heard that some of my men are ash.o.r.e and this is the way he would hire them."

_Crash!_

Another sh.e.l.l ricochetted across the still surface of the harbor and sunk itself in the side of a piratical brig.

"h.e.l.lo!" cried a Lieutenant, running up to the United States Commander. "They're giving up already. See! The beggars are hastening ash.o.r.e in order to skip into the woods."

"I'm afraid so," answered the disappointed Commodore. "All my pains for nothing. The fellows are getting away."

Sure enough--afraid to remain and fight it out--the craven followers of Lafitte now turned their schooners to the sh.o.r.e--ran their bows into the sand, and, leaping overboard, made into the forest as fast as their legs could carry them. Thus--without firing a shot--the cowardly pirates of Barrataria "took to the bush."

"The enemy had mounted on their vessels, twenty pieces of cannon of different calibre," wrote Patterson, after this tame affair. "And, as I have since learnt, they had from eight hundred to one thousand men of all nations and colors. When I perceived the pirates forming their vessels into a line of battle I felt confident, from their fleet and very advantageous position, and their number of men, that they would have fought me. Their not doing so I regret; for had they, I should have been enabled more effectually to destroy or make prisoners of them and their leaders; but it is a subject of great satisfaction to me, to have effected the object of my enterprise, without the loss of a man. On the afternoon of the 23rd, I got under way with my whole squadron, in all seventeen vessels, but during the night one escaped and the next day I arrived at New Orleans with my entire command."

Thus ended the magnificent (?) attempt of the vainglorious Lafitte to stem the advance of the Government of the United States. In the parlance of the camp, "He was a fust-cla.s.s quitter."

But he did not show himself to be a "quitter" in the battle of New Orleans.

The English and Americans, in fact, were soon at each other's throats in the ungentle game of war. At different times the British had sought to attack the pirates of Barrataria, in the hope of taking their prizes and armed vessels. On June 23rd, 1813, while two of Lafitte's privateers were lying to off of Cat Island, an English sloop-of-war came to anchor at the entrance of the pa.s.s, and sent out two boats in the endeavor to capture the rakish sea-robbers. But they were repulsed with severe and galling loss.

On the 2nd of September, 1814, an armed brig appeared on the coast, opposite the famous pa.s.s to the home of the rangers of the sea. She fired a gun at a smuggler, about to enter, and forced her to poke her nose into a sand-bar; she then jibed over and came to anchor at the entrance to the shallows.

"That vessel means business, sure," said one of the pirates to Lafitte. "She has spouted one gun, but now she's lyin' to. Better see what's up."

"You're right," answered the famous sea-rover. "We'll go off in a boat and look out for what's going to happen."

So, starting from the sh.o.r.e, he was soon on his way to the brig, from which a pinnace was lowered, in which could be seen two officers, one of whom had a flag of truce. The two boats rapidly neared each other.

"Where is Mr. Lafitte?" cried one of the Britishers, as the pinnace neared the sh.o.r.e. "I would speak with the Laird of Barrataria."

But Lafitte was not anxious to make himself known.

"He's ash.o.r.e," said he. "But, if you have communications for him, these I can deliver."

"Pray, give him these packages, my good man," spoke the English tar, handing him a bundle of letters, tied up in tarpaulin.