History of the Buccaneers of America

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Algatrane, a bituminous Earth. The pitch, which was the principal commodity produced at Sta Elena, was supplied from a hot spring, of which Dampier gives the following account. 'Not far from the Indian village, and about five paces within high-water mark, a bituminous matter boils out of a little hole in the earth. It is like thin tar; the Spaniards call it Algatrane. By much boiling, it becomes hard like pitch, and is used by the Spaniards instead of pitch. It boils up most at high water, and the inhabitants save it in jars44.'

A rich Ship formerly wrecked on Point Sta Elena. A report was current here among the Spaniards, 'that many years before, a rich Spanish ship was driven ashore at Point Sta Elena, for want of wind to work her; that immediately after she struck, she heeled off to seaward, and sunk in seven or eight fathoms water; and that no one ever attempted to fish for her, because there falls in here a great high sea45.'

Manta. Davis landed at a village named Manta, on the main-land about three leagues Eastward of Cape San Lorenzo, and due North of a high conical mountain called Monte Christo. The village was on a small ascent, and between it and the sea was a spring of good water. Sunken Rocks near it. 'About a mile and a half from the shore, right opposite the village, is a rock which is very dangerous, because it never appears above water, neither does the sea break upon it. A mile within the rock is good anchorage in six, eight or ten fathoms, hard sand and clear ground. And Shoal. A mile from the road on the West side is a shoal which runs out a mile into the sea46.'

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

October. Davis is joined by other Buccaneers. Whilst Davis and his men, in the Batchelor's Delight, were lying at the Island Plata, unsettled in their plans by the news they had received, they were, on October the 2d, joined by the Cygnet, Captain Swan, and by a small bark manned with a crew of buccaneers, both of which anchored in the road.

The Cygnet, Captain Swan. The Cygnet, as before noticed, was fitted out from London for the purpose of trade. She had put in at Baldivia, where Swan, seeing the Spaniards suspicious of the visits of strangers, gave out that he was bound to the East Indies, and that he had endeavoured to go by the Cape of Good Hope; but that meeting there with storms and unfavourable winds, and not being able to beat round that Cape, he had changed his course and ran for the Strait of Magalhanes, to sail by the Pacific Ocean to India. This story was too improbable to gain credit. Instead of finding a market at Baldivia, the Spaniards there treated him and his people as enemies, by which he lost two men and had several wounded. He afterwards tried the disposition of the Spaniards to trade with him at other places, both in Chili and Peru, but no where met encouragement. He proceeded Northward for New Spain still with the same view; but near the Gulf of Nicoya he fell in with some buccaneers who had come over the Isthmus and were in canoes; and his men (Dampier says) forced him to receive them into his ship, and he was afterwards prevailed on to join in their pursuits. Swan had to plead in his excuse, the hostility of the Spaniards towards him at Baldivia. These buccaneers with whom Swan associated, had for their commander Peter Harris, a nephew of the Peter Harris who was killed in battle with the Spaniards in the Bay of Panama, in 1680, when the Buccaneers were commanded by Sawkins and Coxon. Swan stipulated with them that ten shares of every prize should be set apart for the benefit of his owners, and articles to that purport were drawn up and signed. Swan retained the command of the Cygnet, with a crew increased by a number of the new comers, for whose accommodation a large quantity of bulky goods belonging to the merchants was thrown into the sea. Harris with others of the buccaneers established themselves in a small bark they had taken.

On their meeting with Davis, there was much joy and congratulation on all sides. They immediately agreed to keep together, and the separation of Eaton's ship was now much regretted. They were still incommoded in Swan's ship for want of room, therefore (the supercargoes giving consent) whatever part of the cargo any of the crews desired to purchase, it was sold to them upon trust; and more bulky goods were thrown overboard. Iron, of which there was a large quantity, was kept for ballast; and the finer goods, as silks, muslins, stockings, &c. were saved. At Isle de la Plata. Whilst they continued at La Plata, Davis kept a small bark out cruising, which brought in a ship from Guayaquil, laden with timber, the master of which reported that great preparations were making at Callao to attack the pirates. This information made a re-union with Eaton more earnestly desired, and a small bark manned with 20 men was dispatched to search along the coast Southward as far as to the Lobos Isles, with an invitation to him to join them again. The ships in the mean time followed leisurely in the same direction.

Cape Blanco, near Guayaquil; difficult to weather. On the 30th, they were off the Cape Blanco which is between Payta and the Bay of Guayaquil. Southerly winds prevail along the coast of Peru and Chili much the greater part of the year; and Dampier remarks of this Cape Blanco, that it was reckoned the most difficult to weather of any headland along the coast, the wind generally blowing strong from SSW or SbW, without being altered, as at other parts of the coast, by the land winds. Yet it was held necessary here to beat up close in with the shore, because (according to the accounts of Spanish seamen) 'on standing out to sea, a current is found setting NW, which will carry a ship farther off shore in two hours, than she can run in again in five.'

November. Payta burnt. November the 3d, the Buccaneers landed at Payta without opposition, the town being abandoned to them. They found nothing of value, 'not so much as a meal of victuals being left them.' The Governor would not pay ransom for the town, though he fed the Buccaneers with hopes till the sixth day, when they set it on fire.

At most of the towns on the coast of Peru, the houses are built with bricks made of earth and straw kneaded together and dried in the sun; many houses have no roof other than mats laid upon rafters, for it never rains, and they endeavour to fence only from the sun. From the want of moisture, great part of the country near the coast will not produce timber, and most of the stone they have, 'is so brittle that any one may rub it into sand with their finger.'

Payta had neither wood nor water, except what was carried thither. The water was procured from a river about two leagues NNE of the town, where was a small Indian village called Colan. Part of the Peruvian Coast where it never rains. Dampier says, 'this dry country commences Northward about Cape Blanco (in about 4° S latitude) whence it reaches to latitude 30° S, in which extent they have no rain that I could ever observe or hear of.' In the Southern part of this tract however (according to Wafer) they have great dews in the night, by which the vallies are rendered fertile, and are well furnished with vegetables.

Eaton had been at Payta, where he burnt a large ship in the road, but did not land. He put on shore there all his prisoners; from which circumstance it was conjectured that he purposed to sail immediately for the East Indies; and such proved to be the fact.

The vessel commanded by Harris, sailed badly, and was therefore quitted and burnt. Lobos de Tierra. Lobos de la Mar. On the 14th, the other Buccaneer vessels, under Davis, anchored near the NE end of Lobos de Tierra, in four fathoms depth. They took here penguins, boobies, and seals. On the 19th, they were at Lobos de la Mar, where they found a letter left by the bark sent in search of Eaton, which gave information that he had entirely departed from the American coast. The bark had sailed for the Island Plata expecting to rejoin the ships there.

Eaton sails for the East Indies; Stops at the Ladrones. Eaton in his route to the East Indies stopped at Guahan, one of the Ladrone Islands, where himself and his crew acted towards the native Islanders with the utmost barbarity, which Cowley relates as a subject of merriment.

On their first arrival at Guahan, Eaton sent a boat on shore to procure refreshments; but the natives kept at a distance, believing his ship to be one of the Manila galeons, and his people Spaniards. Eaton's men served themselves with cocoa-nuts, but finding difficulty in climbing, they cut the trees down to get at the fruit. The next time their boat went to the shore, the Islanders attacked her, but were easily repulsed; and a number of them killed. By this time the Spanish Governor was arrived at the part of the Island near which the ship had anchored, and sent a letter addressed to her Commander, written in four different languages, to wit, in Spanish, French, Dutch, and Latin, to demand of what country she was, and whence she came. Cowley says, 'Our Captain, thinking the French would be welcomer than the English, returned answer we were French, fitted out by private merchants to make fuller discovery of the world. The Governor on this, invited the Captain to the shore, and at their first conference, the Captain told him that the Indians had fallen upon his men, and that we had killed some of them. He wished we had killed them all, and told us of their rebellion, that they had killed eight Fathers, of sixteen which were in a convent. He gave us leave to kill and take whatever we could find on one half of the Island where the rebels lived. We then made wars with these infidels, and went on shore every day, fetching provisions, and firing upon them wherever we saw them, so that the greatest part of them left the Island. The Indians sent two of their captains to us to treat of peace, but we would not treat with them47.' – 'The whole land is a garden. The Governor was the same man who detained Sir John Narbrough's Lieutenant at Baldivia. Our Captain supplied him with four barrels of gunpowder, and arms.'

Josef de Quiroga was at this time Governor at Guahan, who afterwards conquered and unpeopled all the Northern Islands of the Ladrones. Eaton's crew took some of the Islanders prisoners: three of them jumped overboard to endeavour to escape. It was easy to retake them, as they had been bound with their hands behind them; but Eaton's men pursued them with the determined purpose to kill them, which they did in mere wantonness of sport48. At another time, when they had so far come to an accommodation with the Islanders as to admit of their approach, the ship's boat being on shore fishing with the seine, some natives in canoes near her were suspected of intending mischief. Cowley relates, 'our people that were in the boat let go in amongst the thickest of them, and killed a great many of their number.' It is possible that thus much might have been necessary for safety; but Cowley proceeds, 'the others, seeing their mates fall, ran away. Our other men which were on shore, meeting them, saluted them also by making holes in their hides.'

From the Ladrones Eaton sailed to the North of Luconia, and passed through among the Islands which were afterwards named by Dampier the Bashee Islands. The account given by Cowley is as follows: 'There being half a point East variation, till we came to latitude 20° 30′ N, where we fell in with a parcel of Islands lying to the Northward of Luconia. On the 23d day of April, we sailed through between the second and third of the Northernmost of them. We met with a very strong current, like the Race of Portland. Nutmeg Island, North of Luconia. At the third of the Northernmost Islands, we sent our boat on shore, where they found abundance of nutmegs growing, but no people. They observed abundance of rocks and foul ground near the shore, and saw many goats upon the Island.'

Cowley concludes the narrative of his voyage with saying that he arrived home safe to England through the infinite mercy of God.

Coast of Peru. Davis attempts Guayaquil. Slave Ships captured. To return to Edward Davis: At Lobos de la Mar, the Mosquito Indians struck as much turtle as served all the crews. Shortly after, Davis made an attempt to surprise Guayaquil, which miscarried through the cowardice of one of his men, and the coldness of Swan to the enterprise. In the Bay of Guayaquil they captured four vessels; one of them laden with woollen cloth of Quito manufacture; the other three were ships coming out of the River of Guayaquil with cargoes of Negroes.

The number of Negroes in these vessels was a thousand, from among which Davis and Swan chose each about fifteen, and let the vessels go. Dampier entertained on this occasion different views from his companions. 'Never,' says he, 'was put into the hands of men a greater opportunity to enrich themselves. We had 1000 Negroes, all lusty young men and women, and we had 200 tons of flour stored up at the Galapagos Islands. With these Negroes we might have gone and settled at Santa Maria on the Isthmus of Darien, and have employed them in getting gold out of the mines there. All the Indians living in that neighbourhood were mortal enemies to the Spaniards, were flushed by successes against them, and for several years had been the fast friends of the privateers. Add to which, we should have had the North Sea open to us, and in a short time should have received assistance from all parts of the West Indies. Many thousands of Buccaneers from Jamaica and the French Islands would have flocked to us; and we should have been an overmatch for all the force the Spaniards could have brought out of Peru against us.'

The proposal to employ slaves in the mines leaves no cause to regret that Dampier's plan was not adopted; but that was probably not an objection with his companions. They naturally shrunk from an attempt which in the execution would have required a regularity and order to which they were unaccustomed, and not at all affected.

Description of the Harbour of Guayaquil. The Harbour of Guayaquil is the best formed port in Peru. In the river, three or four miles short of the town, stands a low Island about a mile long, on either side of which is a fair channel to pass up or down. The Western Channel is the wildest: the other is as deep. 'From the upper part of the Island to the town is about a league, and it is near as much from one side of the river to the other. In that spacious place ships of the greatest burthen may ride afloat; but the best place for ships is near that part of the land on which the town stands. The country here is subject to great rains and thick fogs, which render it very unwholesome and sickly, in the vallies especially; Guayaquil however is not so unhealthy as Quito and other towns inland; but the Northern part of Peru pays for the dry weather which they have about Lima and to the Southward.'

Island Sta Clara. Shoals near its North Side. 'Ships bound into the river of Guayaquil pass on the South side of the Island Santa Clara to avoid shoals which are on the North side, whereon formerly ships have been wrecked. A rich wreck lay on the North side of Santa Clara not far from the Island, and some plate which was in her was taken up: more might have been saved but for the cat-fish which swarm hereabouts.

Cat Fish. 'The Cat-fish is much like a whiting; but the head is flatter and bigger. It has a wide mouth, and certain small strings pointing out on each side of it like cats' whiskers. It hath three fins; one on the back, and one on either side. Each of these fins hath a sharp bone which is very venemous if it strikes into a man's flesh. Some of the Indians that adventured to search this wreck lost their lives, and others the use of their limbs, by these fins. Some of the cat-fish weigh seven or eight pounds; and in some places there are cat-fish which are none of them bigger than a man's thumb; but their fins are all alike venemous. They are most generally at the mouths of rivers (in the hot latitudes) or where there is much mud and ooze. The bones in their bodies are not venemous, and we never perceived any bad effect in eating the fish, which is very sweet and wholesome meat49.'

The 13th, Davis and Swan with their prizes sailed from the Bay of Guayaquil to the Island Plata, and found there the bark which had been in quest of Eaton's ship.

From Plata, they sailed Northward towards the Bay of Panama, landing at the villages along the coast to seek provisions. They were ill provided with boats, which exposed them to danger in making descents, by their not being able to land or bring off many men at one time; and they judged that the best places for getting their wants in this respect supplied would be in rivers of the Continent, in which the Spaniards had no settlement, where from the native inhabitants they might obtain canoes by traffic or purchase, if not otherwise. Dampier remarks that there were many such unfrequented rivers in the Continent to the Northward of the Isle de la Plata; and that from the Equinoctial to the Gulf de San Miguel in the Bay of Panama, which is above eight degrees of latitude, the coast was not inhabited by the Spaniards, nor were the Indians who lived there in any manner under their subjection, except at one part near the Island Gallo, 'where on the banks of a Gold River or two, some Spaniards had settled to find gold.'