Privateers and Privateering Part 5

GEORGE SHELVOCKE AND JOHN CLIPPERTON

About seven years after Captain Woodes Rogers returned from his cruise another privateering expedition to the South Seas was started by some London merchants; but, as England was not then at war with Spain, it was to sail under commission from the Emperor Charles VI.--which was quite a legitimate proceeding.

The owners selected, as commanders of the two ships--named _Success_ and _Speedwell_--George Shelvocke, who had formerly served in the Navy as purser, and also probably as a lieutenant, and John Clipperton, who, it will be remembered, was with William Dampier on his disastrous voyage, and left his chief, with a number of men, to pursue his own fortunes. It was deemed politic and complimentary to give the vessels other names, and accordingly they were re-christened respectively _Prince Eugene_ and _Staremberg_.

Shelvocke, who was to command the expedition, went over to Ostend in the _Staremberg_ to receive the commission; but scarcely had it been drawn up and signed, when war was declared by England against Spain, and the owners then resolved to send the ships out under a commission from their own sovereign; and, being greatly dissatisfied with Shelvocke's dilatory and extravagant conduct while he was in Ostend, they gave Clipperton the chief command, with Shelvocke under him, in the other ship, the vessels now reverting to their English names.

Shelvocke, a jealous, pa.s.sionate, and somewhat unscrupulous man, was from the first at loggerheads with Clipperton and with several of his own officers, who all appear to have hated him; he was not, in fact, fitted for command, and all went wrong from the first. As his second captain, Shelvocke had Simon Hatley, who was with Rogers, and had some rough experiences, being captured and kept in prison at Lima for a considerable time; and as Captain of the Marines one William Betagh, of whom more anon.

After sailing from Plymouth on February 13th, 1719, the two ships got into bad weather; all the liquor for both ships had, by some stupid arrangement, been put on board Shelvocke's vessel, the _Speedwell_, and Shelvocke says that when they were two days out he hailed Clipperton, desiring him to send for his share, in order that the _Speedwell_ might be better trimmed; however, nothing was done in the matter, and on the night of the 19th they encountered a terrific storm, during which they separated; but this should have made no difference, as they had agreed to meet at the Canary Islands.

Shelvocke had, however, apparently determined from the first that he would not sail under Clipperton--at least, that is the only conclusion that can be arrived at, from the different accounts--and he took advantage of this storm to carry out his design. In his account of the voyage, he tries to make out that Clipperton deserted him; but, seeing that he himself records the fact that he steered next morning to the north-west, which certainly was not the course for the Canary Islands, while Clipperton steered south by east, which was, approximately, there would appear to be no question about the matter; in fact, Shelvocke deliberately wasted time, while Clipperton, waiting for him in vain at various rendezvous, proceeded on his voyage alone, and was in the South Seas before Shelvocke had got anywhere near Cape Horn.

The owners had stipulated that the expedition should proceed upon the lines of Rogers, and had provided each captain with a copy of his journal; but there was no attempt made to carry out these instructions.

We find no regular journal kept, no council meetings, no proper command over the crew; and, so far from emulating Rogers's scrupulous observation of the law, which brought him into conflict with his crew, Shelvocke did not refrain from acts of piracy when it suited him.

His first exploit was overhauling a Portuguese vessel off Cape Frio, in Brazil; and there is a very marked difference between his account and that of William Betagh, who published his own experiences some two years after Shelvocke's book came out. Shelvocke says: "On Friday, June 5th, in the afternoon, we saw a ship stemming with us, whom we spake with. I ordered the five-oared boat to be hoisted out and sent Captain Hatley in her to inquire what news on the coast, and gave him money to buy some tobacco; for the _Success_ had got our stock on board of that (as well as other things), which created a West-country famine amongst us. When Hatley returned he told me she was a Portuguese from Rio Janeiro, and bound to Pernambuco, that he could get no tobacco, and had therefore laid out my money in unnecessary trifles, viz. _china cups and plates_, _a little hand-nest of drawers, four or five pieces of china silk_, _sweetmeats_, _bananas_, _plantains_, _and pumpkins_, etc. I gave him to understand that I was not at all pleased with him for squandering away my money in so silly a manner. He answered that he thought what he did was for the best, that he had laid out his own money as well as mine, and in his opinion to a good advantage, and that, to his knowledge, the things he bought would sell for double the money they cost at the next port we were going to. However, I a.s.sured him I did not like his proceedings by any means."

Betagh's version of the incident is somewhat otherwise: "On June 5th, 1719, we met a Portuguese merchantman near Cape Frio. Our captain ordered the Emperor's colours to be hoisted, which, without any reflection, look the most thief-like of any worn by honest men; those of his Imperial Majesty are a black spread-eagle in a yellow field, and those of the pirates a yellow field and black human skeleton; which at a small distance are not easily distinguished, especially in light gales of wind. So he brings her to, by firing a musket thwart her forefoot, sends aboard her the best busker (as he himself called Hatley), with a boat's crew; each man armed with a cutla.s.s and a case of pistols. The Portuguese not only imagines his ship made prize, but thinks also how he shall undergo that piece of discipline used by the merry blades in the West Indies, called blooding and sweating.... So Don Pedro, to save his bacon, took care to be very officious or yare-handed (as we say), with his present. For no sooner was Hatley on his quarter-deck but the Portuguese seamen began to hand into the boat the fruits and refreshments they had on board, as plantains, bananas, lemons, oranges, pomegranates, etc., three or four dozen boxes of marmalade and other sweetmeats, some Dutch cheeses, and a large quant.i.ty of sugars. If they had stopped here it was well enough, and might pa.s.s as a present; but after this there came above a dozen pieces of silk, several of which were flowered with gold and silver, worth at least three pounds a yard, by retail; several dozen of china plates and basins, a small j.a.pan cabinet, not to mention what the men took.... Among other things, Hatley brought the last and handsomest present of all, a purse of 300 moidores.

This convinced Shelvocke he was not deceived in calling Hatley the best busker; that is, an impudent sharp fellow, who, perhaps to reingratiate himself, did the devil's work, by whose laudable example our boat's crew robbed the man of more than I can pretend to say; but I remember the boat was pretty well laden with one trade or another, and none of the officers dared so much as peep into her till all was out. While these things were handing into the ship a sham kind of quarrel ensues between our chieftains."

Betagh's view is corroborated by the fact that, when Shelvocke returned to England, he was arraigned on a charge of piracy for this very incident.

Dawdling down the coast, they spent nearly two months at St. Catherine's Island, Brazil, where there was a great deal of trouble with the crew, who drew up new articles for the regulation of the distribution of spoil, which Shelvocke found himself eventually compelled to sign, having previously, according to his own account, quelled a mutiny with the a.s.sistance of M. de la Jonquiere, the captain of a French-manned ship which had been employed under Spanish colours--the whole of which is a most improbable, nay, incredible story, and is ridiculed by Betagh.

On rounding Cape Horn, Shelvocke got very nearly as far south as Rogers had done, and here there is mention of an incident which has a certain interest. Says Shelvocke: "We all observed that we had not had the sight of one fish of any kind, since we were come to the southward of the Straits of Le Mair, nor one sea-bird, except a disconsolate black albatross, who accompanied us for several days, hovering about us as if he had lost himself; till Hatley, observing, in one of his melancholy fits, that this bird was always hovering near us, imagined, from his colour, that it might be some ill omen. That which, I suppose, induced him the more to encourage his superst.i.tion, was the continued series of contrary tempestuous winds which had oppressed us ever since we had got into this sea. But be that as it would, he, after some fruitless attempts, at length shot the albatross, not doubting, perhaps, that we should have a fair wind after it."

Many years afterwards, in 1797, one English poet--Wordsworth--mentioned to another--Coleridge--that he had been reading Shelvocke's account of his voyage and related the albatross incident, which Coleridge introduced into "The Ancient Mariner" in the following year. It does not appear, however, that the crew of the _Speedwell_ expressed any indignation at Hatley's act, or proceeded to any such extreme measure as hanging the dead albatross--which was probably not recovered--round his neck; and, whatever may have been the superst.i.tious significance attached to the continual hovering of the solitary bird about the ship--not at all an unusual incident in that lat.i.tude--no change resulted from its death, the boisterous winds and huge mile-long seas continuing to buffet the ship without reprieve; and it was six weeks before they got fairly round the Horn and sighted the coast of Chili.

Shelvocke, still bent, apparently, upon killing time, put into Chiloe and Concepcion on trivial pretexts, and at the latter place captured one or two prizes of trifling value; but, a party being sent in a small prize which they had renamed _Mercury_ to capture a vessel laden with wine, etc., in a bay about six miles distant, were cleverly ambushed by the natives. They found the vessel, but she was hauled up on sh.o.r.e, and empty; seeing a small house near by, they imagined her cargo was stored there, and, running up to it, helter-skelter, out came the enemy, mounted, each man lying along his horse and driving before them a double rank of unbacked horses, linked together. The Englishmen were quite powerless to resist, so they fled for their ship, which had grounded, the hors.e.m.e.n pursuing with guns and la.s.sos. James Daniel, one of Shelvocke's foremast men, was la.s.soed just as he was wading out, and was dragged on sh.o.r.e, as he described it, "at the rate of ten knots."

However, he appears to have escaped after all; but five of the party were overtaken and captured, three being killed and the others severely wounded. Another ship named _St. Fermin_, which they captured, Shelvocke eventually burned, after the Spaniards had repeatedly failed to send the money which had been agreed upon for her ransom.

And so they sailed for Juan Fernandez, "to see," as Shelvocke says, "if we could find by any marks that the _Success_ was arrived in these seas," and arrived off the island on January 12th, 1720. Shelvocke, however, would not go in and anchor at first; he appears to have been unwilling to seek any evidence of Clipperton's visit, and kept standing off and on, fishing and filling the water-casks; until one day, "some of my men accidentally saw the word 'Magee,' which was the name of Clipperton's surgeon, and 'Captain John,' cut out under it upon a tree, but no directions left, as was agreed on by him in his instructions to me."

Betagh says that Brook, the first lieutenant, "being the first officer that landed, immediately saw 'Captain John----' and 'W. Magee' cut in the tree-bark; upon the news of which everybody seemed to rejoice but our worthy captain, who would have it an invention of Brook's, for which he used him scurvily before all the company, telling him 'twas a lie....

Brook had hitherto been a great favourite with Shelvocke, but for this unwelcome discovery he is now put upon the black list."

It appears, however, from two different accounts, that the Viceroy at Lima had obtained from some of Clipperton's men, who became prisoners through the recapture of a prize, an account of the bottle hidden under the tree at Juan Fernandez, and of two men who had deserted there, and had despatched a vessel to bring both the men and the bottle; and Shelvocke, though he was not aware of this at the time, must have known it very well when he wrote his book; so his abuse of Clipperton is very disingenuous.

Even then, he went where he knew that Clipperton was not likely to be, sailing across to Arica, where he took a couple of small prizes, one of them "laden with cormorant's dung, which the Spaniards call _guano_, and is brought from the island of Iquique to cultivate the agi, or cod-pepper, in the Vale of Arica."

It was not until more than one hundred years later that we began regularly to ship guano to England as manure; Richard Dana describes a voyage for that purpose, in "Two Years before the Mast," published in 1840; this was probably one of the earliest ventures, though the existence of these huge deposits had been known for many years previously.

Then followed a plan for capturing the town of Payta--a matter which, Shelvocke says, had been considered in the scheme of the voyage as one of great importance. He landed there with forty-six men, to find the town almost deserted; but presently saw great bodies of men on the surrounding hills, who however, retreated before his forty-six. He demanded 10,000 pieces of eight as ransom for the town, and a small prize he had taken; the Spaniards temporised, because they could see from their look-outs that a Spanish Admiral's ship, carrying fifty guns, was just round the high bluff, and thought they had a nice rod in pickle for the English. Shelvocke threatened, failing immediate ransom, to burn the town; the Spaniards replied that he might do what he liked, as long as he spared the churches--an absurd stipulation, for fire, once started, is not discriminating as to sacred edifices--and eventually the town was set on fire in three places.

No sooner, however, was Payta fairly in a blaze, than Shelvocke became aware that urgent signals for his return were being made from the _Speedwell_, whose guns were blazing away towards the harbour mouth.

Ordering his crew on board, the captain preceded them in a canoe with three men, and, as he opened the point, became speedily aware of the significance of these doings; for there was a large ship, with the Spanish flag flying--a very much larger ship than the _Speedwell_.

"At this prospect," he says, "two of my three people were ready to sink, and had it not been for my boatswain, I should not have been able to fetch the ship. When I looked back on the town, I could not forbear wishing that I had not been so hasty."

The Spaniard did not, however, avail himself of his opportunities, being deterred by the bold tactics of Mr. Coldsea, master of the _Speedwell_, who, with only a dozen men on board, opened a hot fire.

It is an extraordinary story. The _Speedwell's_ men, delayed by embarking a gun which had been landed, did not get on board until the Spanish ship was within less than pistol-shot; then Shelvocke cut his cable, and, the ship not falling off the right way, "I had but just room enough to clear him." The men were so dismayed at the appearance of the enemy's ship that some of them had proposed to jump overboard on the way off, and swim ash.o.r.e--one actually did so.

The Spaniard at length attacked in earnest, and, according to Shelvocke's account, handled his ship cleverly, keeping the _Speedwell_ in a disadvantageous position, and battering her with his broadsides, Shelvocke making what return he could. Suddenly the Spaniards crowded on deck, shouting, and it was realised that the _Speedwell's_ colours had been shot away, giving the appearance of a surrender. Shelvocke immediately displayed his colours afresh; upon which, "designing to do our business at once, they clapped their helm well a-starboard, to bring the whole broadside to point at us; but their fire had little or no effect, all stood fast with us, and they muzzled themselves [_i.e._ got the ship stuck head to wind, or "in irons"], by which I had time to get ahead and to windward of him before he could fill again." And so the _Speedwell_ got off, their a.s.sailant being the _Peregrine_, of 56 guns and 450 men; and Shelvocke tells us that he had not a single man killed or wounded!

The _Speedwell_ was hulled repeatedly, and severely damaged aloft--but no casualties! There are, it must be admitted, too many tales of immunity in privateer accounts, in spite of the "tremendous fire," or "shattering broadsides" of the enemy; and, as a skipper cannot well manufacture casualties while all his crew are alive and well, one can only suppose that the terrible fire of the enemy is exaggerated.

Mr. Betagh--who had been detached with Hatley in a small prize, the _Mercury_, which was captured by the _Brilliant_, the _Peregrine's_ consort--gives another version of this fight, from details obtained from the Spaniards. The ship, he says, mounted only 40 guns, and out of her crew of 350 men there were not above a dozen Europeans, the remainder being negroes, Indians, and half-castes, with no training, who were so terrified by the first discharge from the _Speedwell_ that they ran below: "The commander and his officers did what they could to bring them to their duty: they beat them, swore at them, and p.r.i.c.ked them in the b.u.t.tocks; but all would not do, for the poor devils were resolved to be frighted. Most of them ran quite down into the hold, while others were upon their knees praying the saints for deliverance. The _Speedwell_ did not fire above eight or nine guns, and, as they were found sufficient, Shelvocke had no reason to waste his powder. However, this panic of theirs gave Shelvocke a fair opportunity to get his men aboard, cut his cable, and go away right afore the wind. This is the plain truth of the matter, which everybody was agreed in, for I heard it at several places; though Shelvocke has cooked up a formal story of a desperate engagement to deceive those who knew him not into a wondrous opinion of his conduct."

The reader can take his choice between these two versions; probably the truth lies somewhere midway, for, while Shelvocke was undoubtedly addicted at times to "drawing a long bow," Betagh was certainly a very bitter enemy of his, and all his statements are more or less coloured, no doubt, by animosity.

The _Speedwell's_ days were numbered; on May 11th, 1720, she arrived once more at Juan Fernandez, Shelvocke designing to remain there for a time and refit, giving the Spaniards to believe that he had quitted the cruising-ground. He had only been there a fortnight, however, when in a hard onsh.o.r.e gale with a heavy sea, the cable--a new one--parted, and the vessel drove on sh.o.r.e; the masts went by the board, and though only one life was lost, the _Speedwell_ was done for--a hopeless wreck.

Clipperton, meanwhile, having given up all hope of rejoining Shelvocke, had crossed the Atlantic and made his way, with much labour, through the Straits of Magellan, to the South Seas--it took them two months and a half to get through, and in September 1719 they visited Juan Fernandez, Clipperton being resolved to carry out his part of the bargain, and this being one of their appointed meeting-places. There the name of Magee, the doctor, was cut on the tree, and the instructions for Shelvocke buried in a bottle. Clipperton's name, we are told, was not cut in full, because he was well known out there, had been a prisoner for some time, and did not wish to advertise his return; but the precaution was futile, as we have seen.

Clipperton had great trouble with his crew, who declared that there would be no chance of much booty with a single ship, which might easily have the odds against her; and they cursed Shelvocke freely for running away with their liquor.

After leaving Juan Fernandez they took several prizes, one of them being the _Trinity_, of 400 tons, which had been taken by Woodes Rogers at Guayaquil, ten years before, and ransomed; one of the captains, however, being a sharp and intrepid fellow, got the better of Clipperton. His ship, the _Rosario_, being taken, he saw at once that, from the number of prizes the English privateer had in company, her crew must be already very much reduced, so he kept his eye open for an opportunity. He had about a dozen pa.s.sengers, whom he took into his confidence, hiding them in the hold. Clipperton sent a lieutenant and eight men to take possession, and all the crew they could find were confined in the cabin, with a sentry at the door. The ship was presently got under sail by the Englishmen, to join the _Success_, and the prize crew went down to see what plunder they could discover in the hold; upon which the concealed pa.s.sengers fell upon them and secured them, while those in the cabin, taking the sounds of the scuffle below as their signal, knocked the sentry on the head and broke out, the boatswain meanwhile flooring the lieutenant by a blow from behind. The captain then ran the vessel on sh.o.r.e, and, in spite of a heavy surf, both crews landed safely, the Englishmen being sent to Lima as prisoners; and it was one of these who was unsportsmanlike enough to let out about the bottle buried on Juan Fernandez.

The Viceroy of Peru, we are told, immediately ordered a new ship to be built for the plucky and resourceful captain of the _Rosario_, and imposed a tax on all the traders to pay for her.

While watering at the island of Lobos de la Mar, a plot was discovered among the crew to seize the ship, but was suppressed; later on another misfortune befell them, for, capturing a good prize, laden with tobacco, sugar, and cloth off Coquimbo, they discovered, on entering that port, three Spanish men-of-war, which were on the station for the express purpose of looking after the English privateers. These, of course, immediately cut their cables and made sail in chase, the _Success_ and her prize hauling their wind to escape; the latter, however, was soon recaptured, with a lieutenant and twelve men of the _Success_, which contrived to escape.

This was a great blow to the already discontented and half mutinous crew. To make matters worse, Clipperton began to solace himself with liquor, and was frequently more or less drunk. Provisions began to run short, so that they were glad to land all their Spanish prisoners.

At the island of Cocoas--one of the Galapagos Islands--they built a place for their sick and rested a little; when they prepared to sail, on January 21st, 1721, eleven of the crew--three whites and eight negroes--hid themselves and deserted, preferring to live as they could on a fertile island to braving the privations and disappointments of the sea again.

On January 25th, having arrived at the island of Quibo, off the coast of Mexico, a great surprise was in store. The pinnace being sent in chase of a sail, came up with her about eleven o'clock at night, and found her to be a Spanish vessel, the _Jesu Maria_; but not in Spanish hands, for she was manned by Shelvocke and what remained of the _Speedwell's_ crew.

They had contrived to build some crazy sort of craft out of the wreck of their ship at Juan Fernandez, and had eventually taken this vessel, a very good and sound one, of two hundred tons.

Thus they met, after two years; and it was not a pleasant nor cordial meeting. Clipperton called Shelvocke to account for the plunder which he had taken, and the portion set aside for the owners; but no account was forthcoming, of course, for Shelvocke and his crew were by that time on a sort of piratical footing, with no attempt at discipline or regularity of proceedings. They met several times, and Clipperton supplied the other with some articles; eventually, Clipperton sent a sort of ultimatum to Shelvocke, that if he and his crew would refund all the money shared among themselves, contrary to the original articles with the owners, and put it into a common stock, the past should be forgiven, and they would cruise together for the rich ship from Acapulco. This proposal was not, of course, entertained by Shelvocke and his men; and so they parted.

Clipperton eventually sailed for China, and, after many difficulties, came home to Ireland in a Dutch East Indiaman. He did not long survive his return; his ill-success, and probably his intemperate habits, broke down his health, and he died a few weeks later.

Shelvocke, meanwhile, had captured, at Sansonate, a vessel named the _Santa Familia_; and, finding her a better ship than the _Jesu Maria_, he exchanged.

When he was on the point of sailing, however, he received a letter from the Governor notifying the conclusion of peace between Spain and England, and demanding the return of the ship. He demanded a copy of the articles of peace, which the Governor promised to obtain for him; but there was evidently a strong conviction on sh.o.r.e that Shelvocke was not ingenuous in the matter. A lieutenant and five men whom he sent on sh.o.r.e were seized, and eventually he sailed with his capture, leaving behind a protest, signed by all the crew.

They were, however, getting very sick of the cruise, and contemplated surrendering themselves at Panama; but meanwhile they took another vessel, the _Conception_--the doubt which existed as to the establishment of peace not troubling them very much--and eventually, abandoning the idea of surrender, they sailed for China.

Shelvocke had some queer and suspicious dealings with the Chinese authorities at Whampoa, disposing of his ship for 700, after having, as he alleges, paid more than 2,000 for port dues. Betagh says he cleared some 7,000 out of the cruise, and he gives figures which go far towards proving his a.s.sertion; the owners did not make much out of the venture, though Clipperton endeavoured to act honestly towards them; and when Shelvocke, returning in an East Indiaman, presented himself before them, he was immediately arrested--Betagh says on the strength of a letter which he had written while a prisoner at Lima--and put in prison.

He was charged with two acts of piracy--to wit, the affair off Cape Frio, and the capture of the _Santa Familia_; but there was not adequate legal proof against him. On the further charge of defrauding his owners he was detained, but contrived to escape, and left England.

This was in 1722. Four years later he published his book, "A Voyage Round the World," which was followed in two years by that of his late officer, William Betagh.