History of the Buccaneers of America

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

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

1686. January. Chiriquita. In the beginning of January 1686, two hundred and thirty of these Buccaneers went in canoes from Quibo against Chiriquita, a small Spanish town on the Continent, between Point Burica and the Island Quibo. Chiriquita is situated up a navigable river, and at some distance from the sea-coast. 'Before this river are eight or ten Islands, and shoals on which the sea breaks at low water; but there are channels between them through which ships may pass85.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

River of Lavelia. The river of Lavelia is broad, but shallow. Vessels of forty tons can go a league and a half within the entrance. The landing-place is yet a league and a half farther up, and the town is a quarter of a mile from the landing-place86.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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