History of the Buccaneers of America

27th. The 27th, Watling examined one of the old Spaniards concerning the force at Arica; and being offended at his answers, ordered him to be shot, which was done. The same morning they took a small bark from the River Camarones, laden with fresh water.

On the Coast of Peru. In the night of the 28th, Watling with one hundred men departed from the ship in the small prize bark and boats for Arica. They put ashore on the mainland about five leagues to the South of Arica, before it was light, and remained concealed among rocks all day. 30th. They attack Arica. At night, they again proceeded, and at daylight (on the 30th) Watling landed with 92 men, four miles from the town, to which they marched, and gained entrance, with the loss of three men killed, and two wounded. There was a castle or fort, which for their own security they ought immediately to have attacked; but Watling was only intent on making prisoners, until he was incommoded, with more than could be well guarded. This gave the inhabitants who had fled, time to recover from their alarm, and they collected in the Fort. To complete the mistake, Watling at length advanced to attack the fort, where he found resistance more than he expected. Are Repulsed. Watling put in practice the expedient of placing his prisoners in front of his own men; but the defenders of the fort were not a whit deterred thereby from firing on the Buccaneers, who were twice repulsed. The Spaniards without, in the mean time, began to make head from all parts; and in a little time the Buccaneers, from being the assailants, found themselves obliged to look to their defence. Watling killed. Watling their chief was killed, as were two quarter-masters, the boatswain, and some others of their best men; and the rest thought it necessary to retreat to their boats, which, though harassed the whole way by a distant firing from the Spaniards, they effected in tolerable order, and embarked.

In this attack, the Buccaneers lost in killed, and taken prisoners by the Spaniards, 28 men; and of those who got back to the ship, eighteen were wounded. Among the men taken by the Spaniards were two surgeons, to whose care the wounded had been committed. 'We could have brought off our doctors,' says Ringrose, 'but they got to drinking whilst we were assaulting the fort, and when we called to them, they would not come with us.' The Spaniards gave quarter to the surgeons, 'they being able to do them good service in that country: but as to the wounded men taken prisoners, they were all knocked on the head.'

The whole party that landed at Arica narrowly escaped destruction; for the Spaniards learnt from the prisoners they took, the signals which had been agreed upon with the men left in charge of the boats; of which information they made such use, that the boats had quitted their station, and set sail to run down to the town; but some Buccaneers who had been most speedy in the retreat, arrived at the sea side just in time to call them back.

Sharp again chosen Commander. This miscarriage so much disheartened the whole Buccaneer crew, that they made no attempt to take three ships which were at anchor in the road before Arica. Sharp was reinstated in the command, because he was esteemed a leader of safer conduct than any other; and every one was willing to quit the South Sea, but which it was now proposed they should do by re-crossing the Isthmus. March. Huasco. They did not, however, immediately steer Northward; but continued to beat up against the wind to the Southward, till the 10th of March, when they landed at Guasco or Huasco (in lat. about 28½°) from which place they carried off 120 sheep, 80 goats, 200 bushels of corn, and filled their jars with fresh water.

From Huasco they stood to the North. On the 27th, they passed Arica. The Narrative remarks, 'our former entertainment had been so very bad, that we were no ways encouraged to stop there again.' Ylo. They landed at Ylo, of which Wafer says, 'the River Ylo is situated in a valley which is the finest I have seen in all the coast of Peru, and furnished with a multitude of vegetables. A great dew falls here every night.'

April. April the 16th, they were near the Island Plata. By this time new opinions and new projects had been formed. Many of the crew were again willing to try their fortune longer in the South Sea; but one party would not continue under the command of Sharp, and others would not consent to choosing a new commander. As neither party would yield, it was determined to separate, and agreed upon by all hands, 'that which party soever upon polling should be found to have the majority, should keep the ship.' The other party was to have the long-boat and the canoes. On coming to a division, Sharp's party proved the most numerous. The minority consisted of forty-four Europeans, two Mosquito Indians, and a Spanish Indian. Another Party of the Buccaneers return across the Isthmus. On the forenoon of the 17th, the party in the boats separated from the ship, and proceeded for the Gulf de San Miguel, where they landed, and returned over the Isthmus back to the West Indies. In this party were William Dampier, and Lionel Wafer the surgeon. Dampier afterwards published a brief sketch of the expedition, and an account of his return across the Isthmus, both of which are in the 1st volume of his Voyages. Wafer met with an accidental hurt whilst on the Isthmus, which disabled him from travelling with his countrymen, and he remained some months living with the Darien Indians, of whom he afterwards published an entertaining description, with a Narrative of his own adventures among them.

Further Proceedings of Sharp and his Followers. Sharp and his diminished crew sailed in their ship from the Island Plata Northward to the Gulf of Nicoya, where they met with no booty, nor with any adventure worth mentioning.

July. They returned Southward to the Island Plata, and in the way took three prizes: the first, a ship named the San Pedro, from Guayaquil bound for Panama, with a lading of cocoa-nuts, and 21,000 pieces of eight in chests, and 16,000 in bags, besides plate. The money in bags and all the loose plunder was divided, each man receiving for his share 234 pieces of eight; whence it may be inferred that their number was reduced to about 70 men. The rest of the money was reserved for a future division. Their second prize was a packet from Panama bound for Callao, by which they learnt that in Panama it was believed all the Buccaneers had returned overland to the West Indies. The third was a ship named the San Rosario, which did not submit to them without resistance, nor till her Captain was killed. She was from Callao, laden with wine, brandy, oil, and fruit, and had in her as much money as yielded to each Buccaneer 94 dollars. One Narrative says a much greater booty was missed through ignorance. 'Besides the lading already mentioned, we found in the San Rosario 700 pigs of plate, which we supposed to be tin, and under this mistake, they were slighted by us all, especially by the Captain, who would not by persuasions used by some few be induced to take them into our ship, as we did most of the other things. Thus we left them in the Rosario, which we turned away loose into the sea. This, it should seem, was plate, not thoroughly refined and fitted for coin, which occasioned our being deceived. We took only one pig of the seven hundred into our ship, thinking to make bullets of it; and to this effect, or what else our seamen pleased, the greatest part of it was melted and squandered away. Afterwards, when we arrived at Antigua, we gave the remaining part (which was about one-third thereof) to a Bristol man, who knew presently what it was; who brought it to England, and sold it there for 75l. sterling. Thus we parted with the richest booty we got in the whole voyage, through our own ignorance and laziness27.'

The same Narrative relates, that they took out of the Rosario 'a great book full of sea charts and maps, containing an accurate and exact description of all the ports, soundings, rivers, capes, and coasts, of the South Sea, and all the navigation usually performed by the Spaniards in that ocean. This book was for its novelty and curiosity presented unto His Majesty on the return of some of the Buccaneers to England, and was translated into English by His Majesty's order28.'

August. August the 12th, they anchored at the Island Plata, whence they departed on the 16th, bound Southward, intending to return by the Strait of Magalhanes or Strait le Maire, to the West Indies.

The 28th, they looked in at Paita; but finding the place prepared for defence, they stood off from the coast, and pursued their course Southward, without again coming in sight of land, and without the occurrence of any thing remarkable, till they passed the 50th degree of latitude.

October 12th. By the Western Coast of America, in 50° 50′ S. October the 11th, they were in latitude 49° 54′ S, and estimated their distance from the American coast to be 120 leagues. The wind blew strong from the SW, and they stood to the South East. On the morning of the 12th, two hours before day, being in latitude by account 50° 50′ S, they suddenly found themselves close to land. The ship was ill prepared for such an event, the fore yard having been lowered to ease her, on account of the strength of the wind. 'The land was high and towering; and here appeared many Islands scattered up and down.' They were so near, and so entangled, that there was no possibility of standing off to sea, and, with such light as they had, they steered, as cautiously as they could, in between some Islands, and along an extensive coast, which, whether it was a larger Island, or part of the Continent, they could not know. They enter a Gulf. As the day advanced, the land was seen to be mountainous and craggy, and the tops covered with snow. Sharp says, 'we bore up for a harbour, and steered in Northward about five leagues. On the North side there are plenty of harbours29.' Shergall's Harbour. At 11 in the forenoon they came to an anchor 'in a harbour, in 45 fathoms, within a stone's cast of the shore, where the ship was landlocked, and in smooth water. As the ship went in, one of the crew, named Henry Shergall, fell overboard as he was going into the spritsail top, and was drowned; on which account this was named Shergall's Harbour.'

The bottom was rocky where the ship had anchored; a boat was therefore sent to look for better anchorage. They did not however shift their birth that day; and during the night, strong flurries of wind from the hills, joined with the sharpness of the rocks at the bottom, cut their cable in two, and they were obliged to set sail. Another Harbour. They ran about a mile to another bay, where they let go another anchor, and moored the ship with a fastening to a tree on shore.

They shot geese, and other wild-fowl. On the shores they found large muscles, cockles like those in England, and limpets: here were also penguins, which were shy and not taken without pursuit; 'they padded on the water with their wings very fast, but their bodies were too heavy to be carried by the said wings.'

15th. The first part of the time they lay in this harbour, they had almost continual rain. On the night of the 15th, in a high North wind, the tree to which their cable was fastened gave way, and came up by the root, in consequence of which, the stern of the ship took the ground and damaged the rudder. They secured the ship afresh by fastening the cable to other trees; but were obliged to unhang the rudder to repair.

18th. The 18th was a day of clear weather. The latitude was observed 50° 40′ S. The difference of the rise and fall of the tide was seven feet perpendicular: the time of high water is not noted. The Gulf is named the English Gulf. Duke of York's Islands. The arm of the sea, or gulf, in which they were, they named the English Gulf; and the land forming the harbour, the Duke of York's Island; 'more by guess than any thing else; for whether it were an Island or Continent was not discovered,' Ringrose says, 'I am persuaded that the place where we now are, is not so great an Island as some Hydrographers do lay it down, but rather an archipelago of smaller Islands. Our Captain gave to them the name of the Duke of York's Islands. Our boat which went Eastward, found several good bays and harbours, with deep water close to the shore; but there lay in them several sunken rocks, as there did also in the harbour where the ship lay. These rocks are less dangerous to shipping, by reason they have weeds lying about them.'

Sharp's English Gulf, the Brazo de la Conçepçion of Sarmiento. From all the preceding description, it appears, that they were at the South part of the Island named Madre de Dios in the Spanish Atlas, which Island is South of the Channel, or Arm of the Sea, named the Gulf de la Sma Trinidada; and that Sharp's English Gulf is the Brazo de la Conçepçion of Sarmiento.

Ringrose has drawn a sketch of the Duke of York's Islands, and one of the English Gulf; but which are not worth copying, as they have neither compass, meridian line, scale, nor soundings. He has given other plan's in the same defective manner, on which account they can be of little use. It is necessary however to remark a difference in the plan which has been printed of the English Gulf, from the plan in the manuscript. In the printed copy, the shore of the Gulf is drawn as one continued line, admitting no thoroughfare; whereas, in the manuscript plan, there are clear openings leaving a prospect of channels through.

Natives. Towards the end of October, the weather settled fair. Hitherto they had seen no inhabitants; but on the 27th, a party went from the ship in a boat, on an excursion in search of provisions, and unhappily caught sight of a small boat belonging to the natives of the land. One of them killed by the Buccaneers. The ship's boat rowed in pursuit, and the natives, a man, a woman, and a boy, finding their boat would be overtaken, all leapt overboard and swam towards shore. This villainous crew of Buccaneers had the barbarity to shoot at them in the water, and they shot the man dead; the woman made her escape to land; the boy, a stout lad about eighteen years of age, was taken, and with the Indian boat, was carried to the ship.

The poor lad thus made prisoner had only a small covering of seal skin. 'He was squint-eyed, and his hair was cut short. The doree, or boat, in which he and the other Indians were, was built sharp at each end and flat bottomed: in the middle they had a fire burning for dressing victuals, or other use. They had a net to catch penguins, a club like to our bandies, and wooden darts. This young Indian appeared by his actions to be very innocent and foolish. He could open large muscles with his fingers, which our Buccaneers could scarcely manage with their knives. He was very wild, and would eat raw flesh.'

November. By the beginning of November the rudder was repaired and hung. Ringrose says, 'we could perceive, now the stormy weather was blown over, much small fry of fish about the ship, whereof before we saw none. The weather began to be warm, or rather hot, and the birds, as thrushes and blackbirds, to sing as sweetly as those in England.'

Native of Patagonia carried away. On the 5th of November, they sailed out of the English Gulf, taking with them their young Indian prisoner, to whom they gave the name of Orson. As they departed, the natives on some of the lands to the Eastward made great fires. At six in the evening the ship was without the mouth of the Gulf: the wind blew fresh from NW, and they stood out SWbW, to keep clear of breakers which lie four leagues without the entrance of the Gulf to the South and SSE. Many reefs and rocks were seen hereabouts, on account of which, they kept close to the wind till they were a good distance clear of the land.

Their navigation from here to the Atlantic was, more than could have been imagined, like the journey of travellers by night in a strange country without a guide. The weather was stormy, and they would not venture to steer in for the Strait of Magalhanes, which they had purposed to do for the benefit of the provision which the shores of the Strait afford of fresh water, fish, vegetables, and wood. They ran to the South to go round the Tierra del Fuego, having the wind from the NW, which was the most favourable for this navigation; but they frequently lay to, because the weather was thick. Passage round Cape Horn. On the 12th, they had not passed the Tierra del Fuego. The latitude according to observation that day was 55° 25′, and the course they steered was SSE. 14th. Appearance like Land. Latitude observed, 57° 50′ S. On the 14th, Ringrose says, 'the latitude was observed 57° 50′ S, and on this day we could perceive land, from which at noon we were due West.' They steered EbS, and expected that at daylight the next morning they should be close in with the land; but the weather became cloudy with much fall of snow, and nothing more of it was seen. No longitude or meridian distance is noticed, and it must remain doubtful whether what they took for land was floating ice; or their observation for the latitude erroneous, and that they saw the Isles of Diego Ramirez.

Ice Islands. Three days afterwards, in latitude 58° 30′ S, they fell in with Ice Islands, one of which they reckoned to be two leagues in circumference. A strong current set here Southward. They held on their course Eastward so far that when at length they did sail Northward, they saw neither the Tierra del Fuego nor Staten Island.

December. December the 5th, they divided the plunder which had been reserved, each man's share of which amounted to 328 pieces of eight. Their course was now bent for the West Indies.

1682. January. January the 15th, died William Stephens, a seaman, whose death was attributed to his having eaten three manchineal apples six months before, when on the coast of New Spain, 'from which time he wasted away till he became a perfect skeleton.'

Arrive in the West Indies. January the 28th, 1682, they made the Island of Barbadoes, but learnt that the Richmond, a British frigate, was lying in the road. Ringrose and his fellow journalists say, 'we having acted in all our voyage without a commission, dared not be so bold as to put in, lest the said frigate should seize us for pyrateering, and strip us of all we had got in the whole voyage.' They next sailed to Antigua; but the Governor at that Island, Colonel Codrington, would not give them leave to enter the harbour, though they endeavoured to soften him by sending a present of jewels to his lady, which, however, were not accepted. Sharp and his crew grew impatient at their uneasy situation, and came to a determination to separate. Some of them landed at Antigua; Sharp and others landed at Nevis, whence they got passage to England. Their ship, which was the Trinidad captured in the Bay of Panama, was left to seven men of the company who had lost their money by gaming. The Buccaneer journals say nothing of their Patagonian captive Orson after the ship sailed from his country; and what became of the ship after Sharp quitted her does not appear.

Bart. Sharp and some of his men tried for Piracy. Bartholomew Sharp, and a few others, on their arrival in England, were apprehended, and a Court of Admiralty was held at the Marshalsea in Southwark, where, at the instance of the Spanish Ambassador, they were tried for committing acts of piracy in the South Sea; but from the defectiveness of the evidence produced, they escaped conviction. One of the principal charges against them was for taking the Spanish ship Rosario, and killing the Captain and another man belonging to her; 'but it was proved,' says the author of the anonymous Narrative, who was one of the men brought to trial, 'that the Spaniards fired at us first and it was judged that we ought to defend ourselves.' Three Buccaneers of Sharp's crew were also tried at Jamaica, one of whom was condemned and hanged, 'who,' the narrator says, 'was wheedled into an open confession: the other two stood it out, and escaped for want of witnesses to prove the fact against them.' Thus terminated what may be called the First Expedition of the Buccaneers in the South Sea; the boat excursion by Morgan's men in the Bay of Panama being of too little consequence to be so reckoned. They had now made successful experiment of the route both by sea and land; and the Spaniards in the South Sea had reason to apprehend a speedy renewal of their visits.

Carlos Enriquez Clerck, who went from England with Captain Narbrough, was at this time executed at Lima, on a charge of holding correspondence with the English of Jamaica; which act of severity probably is attributable more to the alarm which prevailed in the Government of Peru, than to any guilty practices of Clerck.

CHAPTER XI

Disputes between the French Government and their West-India Colonies. Morgan becomes Deputy Governor of Jamaica. La Vera Cruz surprised by the Flibustiers. Other of their Enterprises

1680. Proceedings of the Buccaneers in the West Indies. Prohibitions against Piracy by the French Government; Whilst so many of the English Buccaneers were seeking plunder in the South Sea, the French Flibustiers had not been inactive in the West Indies, notwithstanding that the French government, after the conclusion of the war with Spain, issued orders prohibiting the subjects of France in the West Indies from cruising against the Spaniards. A short time before this order arrived, a cruising commission had been given to Granmont, who had thereupon collected men, and made preparation for an expedition to the Tierra Firma; and they did not choose that so much pains should be taken to no purpose. The French settlers generally, were at this time much dissatisfied on account of some regulations imposed upon them by the Company of Farmers, whose privileges and authority extended to fixing the price upon growth, the produce of the soil; and which they exercised upon tobacco, the article then most cultivated by the French in Hispaniola, rigorously requiring the planters to deliver it to the Company at the price so prescribed. Many of the inhabitants, ill brooking to live under such a system of robbery, made preparations to withdraw to the English and Dutch settlements; but their discontent on this account was much allayed by the Governor writing a remonstrance to the French Minister, and promising them his influence towards obtaining a suppression of the farming tobacco. Fresh cause of discontent soon occurred, by a monopoly of the French African Slave Trade being put into the hands of a new company, which was named the Senegal Company.

Disregarded by the French Buccaneers. Granmont and the Flibustiers engaged with him, went to the coast of Cumana, where they did considerable mischief to the Spaniards, with some loss, and little profit, to themselves.

1680-1. Sir Henry Morgan, Deputy Governor of Jamaica. His Severity to the Buccaneers. In the autumn of this same year, the Earl of Carlisle, who was Governor of Jamaica, finding the climate did not agree with his constitution, returned to England, and left as his Deputy to govern in Jamaica, Morgan, the plunderer of Panama, but who was now Sir Henry Morgan. This man had found favour with King Charles II. or with his Ministers, had been knighted, and appointed a Commissioner of the Admiralty Court in Jamaica. On becoming Deputy Governor, his administration was far from being favourable to his old associates, some of whom suffered the extreme hardship of being tried and hanged under his authority; and one crew of Buccaneers, most of them Englishmen, who fell into his hands, he sent to be delivered up (it may be presumed that he sold them) to the Spaniards at Carthagena. Morgan's authority as Governor was terminated the following year, by the arrival of a Governor from England30.