History of the Buccaneers of America

The matter was consulted and determined upon without M. du Casse being present, and the ship in which he had embarked was left by the rest without company. When he perceived what they were bent upon, he sent orders to them to desist, which he accompanied with a promise to demand redress for them in France; but neither the doubtful prospect of distant redress held out, nor respect for his orders, had any effect in restraining them. M. du Casse sent an officer to M. de Pointis, who had not yet sailed from the entrance of Carthagena Harbour, to inform him that the Buccaneers, in defiance of all order and in breach of the capitulation which had been granted to the city, were returning thither to plunder it again; but M. de Pointis in sending the Commissary's account had closed his intercourse with the Buccaneers and with the Colonists, at least for the remainder of his expedition. M. du Casse's officer was told that the General was so ill that he could not be spoken with. The Officer went to the next senior Captain in command of the fleet, who, on being informed of the matter, said, 'the Buccaneers were great rogues, and ought to be hanged;' but as no step could be taken to prevent the mischief, without delaying the sailing of the fleet, the chief commanders of which were impatient to see their booty in a place of greater security, none was taken, and June. on the 1st of June the King's fleet sailed for France, leaving Carthagena to the discretion of the Buccaneers. M. de Pointis claims being ignorant of what was transacting. 'On the 30th of May,' he says, 'I was taken so ill, that all I could do, before I fell into a condition that deprived me of my intellect, was to acquaint Captain Levi that I committed the care of the squadron to him.'

If M. de Pointis acted fairly by the people who came from France and returned with him, it must be supposed that in his sense of right and wrong he held the belief, that 'to rob a rogue is no breach of honesty.' But it was said of him, 'Il etoit capable de former un grand dessein, et de rien epargner pour le faire réussir;' the English phrase for which is, 'he would stick at nothing.'

On the 1st of June, M. du Casse also sailed from Carthagena to return to St. Domingo. Thus were the Flibustiers abandoned to their own will by all the authorities whose duty it was to have restrained them.

The inhabitants of Carthagena seeing the buccaneer ships returning to the city, waited in the most anxious suspense to learn the cause. The Flibustiers on landing, seized on all the male inhabitants they could lay hold of, and shut them up in the great church. They posted up a kind of manifesto in different parts of the city, setting forth the justice of their second invasion of Carthagena, which they grounded on the perfidy of the French General De Pointis ('que nous vous permettons de charger de toutes les maledictions imaginables,') and on their own necessities. Finally, they demanded five millions of livres as the price of their departing again without committing disorder. It seems strange that the Buccaneers could expect to raise so much money in a place so recently plundered. Nevertheless, by terrifying their prisoners, putting some to the torture, ransacking the tombs, and other means equally abhorrent, in four days time they had nearly made up the proposed sum. It happened that two Flibustiers killed two women of Carthagena in some manner, or under some circumstances, that gave general offence, and raised indignation in the rest of the Flibustiers, who held a kind of trial and condemned them to be shot, which was done in presence of many of the inhabitants. The Buccaneer histories praise this as an act of extraordinary justice, and a set-off against their cruelties and robberies, such as gained them the esteem even of the Spaniards. The punishment, however merited, was a matter of caprice. It is no where pretended that they ever made a law to themselves to forbid their murdering their prisoners; in very many instances they had not refrained, and in no former instance had it been attended with punishment. The putting these two murderers to death therefore, as it related to themselves, was an arbitrary and lawless act. If the women had been murdered for the purpose of coming at their money, it could not have incurred blame from the rest. These remarks are not intended in disapprobation of the act, which was very well; but too highly extolled.

Having almost completed their collection, they began to dispute about the division, the Flibustiers pretending that the more regular settlers of the colony (being but landsmen) were not entitled to an equal share with themselves, when a bark arrived from Martinico which was sent expressly to give them notice that a fleet of English and Dutch ships of war had just arrived in the West Indies. This news made them hasten their departure, and shortened or put an end to their disputes; for previous to sailing, they made a division of the gold and silver, in which each man shared nearly a thousand crowns; the merchandise and negroes being reserved for future division, and which it was expected would produce much more.

The Commanders of the English and Dutch squadrons, on arriving at Barbadoes, learnt that the French had taken Carthagena. They sailed on for that place, and had almost reached it, when they got sight of De Pointis' squadron, to which they gave chase, but which escaped from them by superior sailing.

An English and Dutch Squadron fall in with the Buccaneers. On the 3d or 4th of June, the Flibustiers sailed from Carthagena in nine vessels, and had proceeded thirty leagues of their route towards Hispaniola, when they came in sight of the English and Dutch fleet. They dispersed, every one using his best endeavours to save himself by flight. The two richest ships were taken; two were driven on shore and wrecked, one of them near Carthagena, and her crew fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who would have been justified in treating them as pirates; but they were only made to work on the fortifications. The five others had the good fortune to reach Isle Avache. To conclude the history of the Carthagena expedition, a suit was instituted in France against M. de Pointis and the armateurs, in behalf of the Colonists and Flibustiers, and a decree was obtained in their favour for 1,400,000 livres; but the greater part of the sum was swallowed up by the expenses of the suit, and the embezzlements of agents.

The Carthagena expedition was the last transaction in which the Flibustiers or Buccaneers made a conspicuous figure. It turned out to their disadvantage in many respects; but chiefly in stripping them of public favour. September. Peace of Ryswick. In September 1697, an end was put to the war, by a Treaty signed at Ryswick. By this treaty, the part of the Island St. Christopher which had belonged to the French was restored to them.

In earlier times, peace, by releasing the Buccaneers from public demands on their services, left them free to pursue their own projects, with an understood license or privilege to cruise or form any other enterprise against the Spaniards, without danger of being subjected to enquiry; but the aspect of affairs in this respect was now greatly altered. Causes which led to the suppression of the Buccaneers. The Treaty of 1670 between Great Britain and Spain, with the late alliance of those powers against France, had put an end to buccaneering in Jamaica; the scandal of the second plunder of Carthagena lay heavy on the Flibustiers of St. Domingo; and a circumstance in which both Great Britain and France were deeply interested, went yet more strongly to the entire suppression of the cruisings of the Buccaneers, and to the dissolution of their piratical union; which was, the King of Spain, Charles the IId. being in a weak state of health, without issue, and the succession to the crown of Spain believed to depend upon his will. On this last account, the kings of Great Britain and France were earnest in their endeavours to give satisfaction to Spain. Louis XIV. sent back from France to Carthagena the silver ornaments of which the churches there had been stripped; and distinction was no longer admitted in the French Settlements between Flibustier and Pirate. The Flibustiers themselves had grown tired of preserving the distinction; for after the Peace of Ryswick had been fully notified in the West Indies, they continued to seize and plunder the ships of the English and Dutch, till complaint was made to the French Governor of Saint Domingo, M. du Casse, who thought proper to make indemnification to the sufferers. Fresh prohibitions and proclamations were issued, and encouragement was given to the adventurers to become planters. The French were desirous to obtain permission to trade in the Spanish ports of the Terra Firma. Charlevoix says, 'the Spaniards were charmed by the sending back the ornaments taken from the churches at Carthagena, and it was hoped to gain them entirely by putting a stop to the cruisings of the Flibustiers. The commands of the King were strict and precise on this head; that the Governor should persuade the Flibustiers to make themselves inhabitants, and in default of prevailing by persuasion, to use force.'

Many Flibustiers and Buccaneers did turn planters, or followed their profession of mariner in the ships of merchants. Attachment to old habits, difficulties in finding employment, and being provided with vessels fit for cruising, made many persist in their former courses. The evil most grievously felt by them was their proscribed state, which left them no place in the West Indies where they might riot with safety and to their liking, in the expenditure of their booty. Not having the same inducement as formerly to limit themselves to the plundering one people, they extended their scope of action, and robbed vessels of all nations. Most of those who were in good vessels, quitted the West Indian Seas, and went roving to different parts of the world. Mention is made of pirates or buccaneers being in the South Sea in the year 1697, but their particular deeds are not related; and Robert Drury, who was shipwrecked at Madagascar in the year 1702, relates, 'King Samuel's messenger then desired to know what they demanded for me? To which, Deaan Crindo sent word that they required two buccaneer guns.'

At the time of the Peace of Ryswick, the Darien Indians, having quarrelled with the Spaniards, had become reconciled to the Flibustiers, and several of the old Flibustiers afterwards settled on the Isthmus and married Darien women.

Providence Island. One of the Lucayas, or Bahama Islands, had been settled by the English, under the name of Providence Island. It afforded good anchorage, and the strength of the settlement was small, which were conveniencies to pirates that induced them to frequent it; and, according to the proverbial effect of evil communication, the inhabitants were tempted to partake of their plunder, and assist in their robberies, by purchasing their prize goods, and supplying them with all kinds of stores and necessaries. This was for several years so gainful a business to the Settlement, as to cause it to be proverbial in the West Indies; that 'Shipwrecks and Pirates were the only hopes of the Island Providence.'

1700-1. Accession of Philip Vth. to the Throne of Spain. In three years after the Peace of Ryswick, Charles the IId of Spain died, and a Prince of the House of Bourbon mounted the Spanish Throne, which produced a close union of interests between France and Spain. The ports of Spanish America, both in the West Indies and in the South Sea, were laid open to the merchants of France. The Noticia de las Expediciones al Magalhanes notices the great resort of the French to the Pacific Ocean, 'who in an extraordinary manner enriched themselves during the war of the Spanish succession.' In the French Settlements in the West Indies the name of Flibustier, because it implied enmity to the Spaniards, was no longer tolerated.

On the breaking out of the war between Great Britain and France which followed the Spanish succession, the English drove the French out of St. Christopher, and it has since remained wholly to Great Britain. M. le Comte de Gennes, a Commander in the French Navy, who a few years before had made an unsuccessful voyage to the Strait of Magalhanes, was the Governor of the French part of the Island at the time of the surrender90.

During this war, the Governors of Providence exercised their authority in granting commissions, or letters of reprisal; and created Admiralty Courts, for the condemnation of captured vessels: for under some of the Governors no vessels brought to the adjudication of the Court escaped that sentence. These were indirect acts of piracy.

The last achievement related of the Flibustiers, happened in 1702, when a party of Englishmen, having commission from the Governor of Jamaica, landed on the Isthmus near the Samballas Isles, where they were joined by some of the old Flibustiers who lived among the Darien Indians, and also by 300 of the Indians. They marched to some mines from which they drove the Spaniards, and took 70 negroes. They kept the negroes at work in the mines twenty-one days; but in all this exploit they obtained no more than about eighty pounds weight of gold.

Here then terminates the History of the Buccaneers of America. Their distinctive mark, which they undeviatingly preserved nearly two centuries, was, their waging constant war against the Spaniards, and against them only. Many peculiarities have been attributed to the Buccaneers in other respects, some of which can apply only to their situation as hunters of cattle, and some existed rather in the writer's fancy than in reality. Mariners are generally credited for being more eccentric in their caprices than other men; which, if true, is to be accounted for by the circumstances of their profession; and it happens that they are most subjected to observation at the times when they are fresh in the possession of liberty and money, earned by long confinement and labour.

It may be said of the Buccaneers that they were, in general, courageous according to the character of their leader; often rash, alternately negligent and vigilant, and always addicted to pleasure and idleness. It will help to illustrate the manners and qualifications of the Buccaneers in the South Sea, to give an extract from the concluding part of Dampier's manuscript journal of his Voyage round the World with the Buccaneers, and will also establish a fact which has been mentioned before only as a matter surmised91. Dampier says,

Extract from Dampier. 'September the 20th, 1691, arrived in the Downs to my great joy and satisfaction, having in my voyage ran clear round the Globe. – I might have been master of the ship we first sailed in if I would have accepted it, for it was known to most men on board that I kept a Journal, and all that knew me did ever judge my accounts were kept as correct as any man's. Besides, that most, if not all others who kept journals in the voyage, lost them before they got to Europe, whereas I preserved my writing. Yet I see that some men are not so well pleased with my account as if it came from any of the Commanders that were in the South Sea, though most of them, I think all but Captain Swan, were incapable of keeping a sea journal, and took no account of any action, neither did they make any observations. But I am only to answer for myself, and if I have not given satisfaction to my friends in what I have written, the fault is in the meanness of my information, and not in me who have been faithful as to what came to my knowledge.'

Countenanced as the Buccaneers were, it is not in the least surprising that they became so numerous. With the same degree of encouragement at the present time, the Seas would be filled with such adventurers. It was fortunate for the Spaniards, and perhaps for the other maritime Nations of Europe, that the Buccaneers did not make conquest and settlement so much their object as they did plunder; and that they took no step towards making themselves independent, whilst it was in their power. Among their Chiefs were some of good capacity; but only two of them, Mansvelt and Morgan, appear to have contemplated any scheme of regular settlement independent of the European Governments, and the time was then gone by. Before Tortuga was taken possession of for the Crown of France, such a project might have been undertaken with great advantage. The English and French Buccaneers were then united; England was deeply engaged and fully occupied by a civil war; and the jealousy which the Spaniards entertained of the encroachments of the French in the West Indies, kept at a distance all probability of their coalescing to suppress the Buccaneers. If they had chosen at that time to have formed for themselves any regular mode of government, it appears not very improbable that they might have become a powerful independent State.

In the history of so much robbery and outrage, the rapacity shewn in some instances by the European Governments in their West-India transactions, and by Governors of their appointment, appears in a worse light than that of the Buccaneers, from whom, they being professed ruffians, nothing better was expected. The superior attainments of Europeans, though they have done much towards their own civilization, chiefly in humanising their institutions, have, in their dealings with the inhabitants of the rest of the globe, with few exceptions, been made the instruments of usurpation and extortion.

After the suppression of the Buccaneers, and partly from their relicks, arose a race of pirates of a more desperate cast, so rendered by the increased danger of their occupation, who for a number of years preyed upon the commerce of all nations, till they were hunted down, and, it may be said, exterminated. Of one crew of pirates who were brought before a Court of Justice, fifty-two men were condemned and executed at one time, in the year 1722.

FINIS

1

Lebreles de pressa.

2

The name Saint Domingo was afterwards applied to the whole Island by the French, who, whilst they contested the possession with the Spaniards, were desirous to supersede the use of the name Española or Hispaniola.

3

Historia General de las Indias, por Gonç. Hernandez de Oviedo, lib. 19. cap. 13. Also Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 499, edit. 1600.

4

Camden's Elizabeth, A. D. 1680.

5

Hist. des Antilles, par P. du Tertre. Paris, 1667. Tome I. p. 415.

6

La Rochefort, sur le Repas des Carribes.

7

History of Brasil, by Robert Southey, p. 17.

8

In some of the English accounts the name is written Bucanier; but uniformity in spelling was not much attended to at that time. Dampier wrote Buccaneer, which agrees with the present manner of pronouncing the word, and is to be esteemed the best authority.

9

The French account says, that after taking possession of Tortuga, the Adventurers divided into three classes: that those who occupied themselves in the chase, took the name of Boucaniers; those who went on cruises, the name of Flibustiers; and a third class, who cultivated the soil, called themselves Habitans (Inhabitants.) See Histoire des Avanturiers qui se sont signalez dans les Indes. Par. Alex. Ol. Oexmelin. Paris 1688, vol. i. p. 22.

10

The Governor or Admiral, who granted the commission, claimed one tenth of all prizes made under its authority.

11

It is proper to mention, that an erroneously printed date, in the English edition of the Buccaneers of America, occasioned a mistake to be made in the account given of Narbrough's Voyage, respecting the time the Buccaneers kept possession of Panama. See Vol. III. of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea, p. 374.

12

Theatro Naval Hydrographico. Cap. xi. See also of Peche, in Vol. III. of South Sea Voyages and Discoveries, p. 392.

13

Not. de las Exp. Magal. p. 268, of Ult. Viage al Estrecho.

14

Buccaneers of America, Part III. Ch. xi.

15

'They never forfeit their word. The King has his commission from the Governor of Jamaica, and at every new Governor's arrival, they come over to know his pleasure. The King of the Mosquitos was received by his Grace the Duke of Portland (Governor of Jamaica, A. D. 1722-3) with that courtesy which was natural to him, and with more ceremony than seemed to be due to a Monarch who held his sovereignty by commission.' – 'The Mosquito Indians had a victory over the Spanish Indians about 30 years ago, and cut off a number; but gave a Negro who was with them, his life purely on account of his speaking English.' History of Jamaica. London 1774. Book i. Ch, 12. And British Empire in America, Vol. II. pp. 367 & 371.

16

Case of His Majesty's Subjects upon the Mosquito Shore, most humbly submitted, &c. London, 1789.

17

Narrative by Basil Ringrose, p. 5.

18

De Rochfort describes this animal under the name Javaris. Hist. Nat. des Isles Antilles, p. 138, edit. 1665. It is also described by Pennant, in his Synopsis of Quadrupeds, Art. Mexican Wild Hog.

19

Ringrose. Buccaneers of America, Part IV. p. 10. The early morning drum has, in our time, been called the Reveiller. Either that or a travailler seems applicable; for according to Boyer, travailler signifies to trouble, or disturb, as well as to work; and it is probable, from the age of the authority above cited, that the original term was à travailler.

20

Narrative by Basil Ringrose, p. 3.

21

Ringrose, p. 11.

22

Ringrose, Chap. ix.

23

No. 48 in the same collection is a manuscript copy of Ringrose's Journal, but varied in the same manner from the Original as the printed Narrative.

24

Ringrose, p. 44.

25

Ringrose and Sharp.

26

Sharp's Journal, p. 72.

27

Buccaneers of America, Part III, p. 80.

28

Nos. 239. and 44. in the Sloane Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum, are probably the charts and translation spoken of above. No. 239. is a book of Spanish charts of the sea-coast of New Spain, Peru, and Chili, each chart containing a small portion of coast, on which is drawn a rude likeness of the appearance of the land, making it at the same time both landscape and chart. They are generally without compass, latitude, or divisions of any kind by lines, and with no appearance of correctness, but apparently with knowledge of the coast. – No. 44. is a copy of the same, or of similar Spanish charts of the same coast, and is dedicated to King Charles II. by Bartholomew Sharp.