History of the Buccaneers of America Part 18

[Sidenote: 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 gra.s.s 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.

[Sidenote: 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 sh.o.r.e 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.s, 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 sh.o.r.e.

[Sidenote: 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 ash.o.r.e, 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.

[Sidenote: February, 1688.] The 20th of February they had pa.s.sed 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 t.i.tle 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: Captain Straiton.] In the Narrative of the loss of the Wager, by Bulkeley and c.u.mmins, 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.

[Sidenote: 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 pa.s.sage, 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.

[Sidenote: 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_. [Sidenote: 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 pa.s.s 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 quant.i.ty of treasure. The Buccaneers embarked in their prize, and proceeded Southward for the _Atlantic_, but were cast ash.o.r.e 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_.

[Sidenote: 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 _proteges_ 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, anch.o.r.ed 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 sh.o.r.e, 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.

[Sidenote: 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 pa.s.sing 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.

[Sidenote: 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. [Sidenote: 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 princ.i.p.al leaders of the Flibustiers, and giving them commissions of advanced rank, either in the land service or in the French marine. [Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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_.

[Sidenote: 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 t.i.tle 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.'

[Sidenote: 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_.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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. [Sidenote: 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_. [Sidenote: 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_.

[Sidenote: 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 Francois_ 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 princ.i.p.al 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=._

[Sidenote: 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 Ca.s.se) to raise 1200 men in _Tortuga_ and _Hispaniola_ to a.s.sist in the expedition. The king's regular force in M. du Ca.s.se's government was small, and the men demanded were to be supplied princ.i.p.ally 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_. [Sidenote: March.] De Pointis, however, did not arrive till the beginning of March, when he made _Cape Francois_, 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 Ca.s.se 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.

[Sidenote: 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 Ca.s.se, he expressed himself dissatisfied at the small number of men provided; 'but,' says he, 'M. du Ca.s.se a.s.sured 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 ent.i.tled, 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 Ca.s.se'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 Ca.s.se 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.