24 chapters
11 hour read
Selected Chapters
24 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
There can scarcely anything be found in the literature of our language, more wild and wonderful, than the narrative contained in this volume. The extraordinary career of Captain Kidd, a New-York merchant, the demoniac feats of those fiends in human form, Bonnet, Barthelemy, and Lolonois; the romantic history of the innocent female pirate Mary Read, and of the termagant Anne Bonney; the amazing career of Sir Henry Morgan, and the fanaticism of Montbar, scarcely surpassed by that of Mohammed or Lo
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I. Origin of the Buccaneers.
CHAPTER I. Origin of the Buccaneers.
It was not always easy for the pirates to dispose of these treasures. They were sometimes pursued by men-of-war. Doubtless, as a measure of safety, they did at times bury their spoil, intending at a convenient hour to return and reclaim it. And it can hardly be questioned that, in some cases, pursued, harassed, cut up, they never did return. Therefore it may be that there is treasure still hidden in some secluded spot, which may remain, through all coming ages unless by some accident discovered.
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. William Kidd becomes a Pirate.
CHAPTER II. William Kidd becomes a Pirate.
This second consideration was doubtless the leading one in the movement. The king was in great need of money. His nobles were impoverished by extravagance. They were ready to resort to any measures to replenish their exhausted treasuries. This royal company was therefore organized, not as a national movement, sustained by national law, but as a piratic expedition against the pirates . The reclaimed treasure was not to be restored to its owners, nor to be placed in the treasury of the kingdom, bu
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III. Piratic Adventures.
CHAPTER III. Piratic Adventures.
The features of Kidd, and his words blended with oaths, convinced Mr. Le Roy that he was in the hands of a desperate man, who would shrink from no crime. He was silent. Kidd then added: “I seize this ship as my legitimate prize. It belongs to a French subject, and is sailing under the French flag. I have a commission from his majesty the King of England to seize all such ships in his name.” It seems strange that Kidd, after the many lawless acts of which he had already been guilty, should have d
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV Arrest, Trial, and Condemnation of Kidd.
CHAPTER IV Arrest, Trial, and Condemnation of Kidd.
To this place Kidd repaired to lay in supplies, of which he was greatly in need. Though he had heard of his proscription, he was not fully aware of the strength of hostility which was arrayed against him. He still clung to the hope that no evidence could be brought to prove that he had acted in any other capacity than that of a privateersman. But the very ship in which he sailed was evidence against him. The Quedagh Merchant, the property of the Great Mogul, was undeniably an East-Indian ship be
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. Kidd, and Stede Bonnet.
CHAPTER V. Kidd, and Stede Bonnet.
These scenes occurred one hundred and seventy-five years ago. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, while hundreds of other events of vastly greater moment have passed into oblivion, the name of Captain Kidd, from that hour to this, has been almost a household word in both England and America. Many believed that the Quedagh Merchant, instead of being burned at sea, was brought into the Hudson River at night, and sunk near the Highlands, with most of her treasure on board. Several circumstances
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. The Adventures of Edward Teach, or Blackbeard.
CHAPTER VI. The Adventures of Edward Teach, or Blackbeard.
“I want a chest of medicines. Send me such a chest, by the bearer. If you do not comply with this my demand immediately, without offering any violence to the persons of my ambassadors, I will cut off the heads of all the prisoners in my hands, and send them to you, and will burn all the ships.” Mr. Marks, one of the prisoners, was sent with Richards and the other pirates to present this demand. While Mr. Marks was making this application to the governor and council, Richards and his piratic gang
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII. The Close of Stede Bonnet’s Career.
CHAPTER VII. The Close of Stede Bonnet’s Career.
Bonnet threw off all restraint. Assuming the name of Captain Thomas, he ranged the seas, plundering every vessel he encountered. A few miles off from Cape Henry he captured two ships from Virginia, bound to Glasgow. They were comparatively valueless prizes, containing only tobacco. The next day he captured a small sloop. With the strange inconsistency which marked his character, he took from the sloop twenty barrels of pork, which he replaced by two barrels of rice and a hogshead of molasses. Fr
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. The Portuguese Barthelemy.
CHAPTER VIII. The Portuguese Barthelemy.
“We came out,” said he, “for prizes. Here is a splendid one. The opportunity must not be lost. Nothing great can be accomplished without risk.” They gave chase. The ship quietly awaited their approach; “as much astonished at the attack,” writes Thornbury, “as a swallow would be if it were pursued by a gnat.” The pirates made a desperate endeavor to board the ship. We are not informed of the particulars of the fight. The result only is known. After several repulses, and a long and bloody conflict
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX Francis Lolonois.
CHAPTER IX Francis Lolonois.
Lolonois, slowly recovering from his wounds, disguised in a Spanish habit, entered Campeachy. He made friends with a few slaves, stole a small boat, and, as his piratic biographer has it, “came to Tortugas, the common place of refuge of all sorts of wickedness, and the seminary, as it were, of all manner of pirates and thieves.” His reputation as a successful pirate was such, that he speedily obtained command of another vessel, manned by a crew of twenty-one desperadoes. On the south side of the
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. The Plunder; the Carousal; and the New Enterprise.
CHAPTER X. The Plunder; the Carousal; and the New Enterprise.
“If you will supply me with five hundred cows, and bring me thirty thousand dollars in coin, I will spare your city. If you do not yield to this demand, I will treat your city as I have served Gibraltar. Not one building shall be left standing.” The cows were driven in. The money was paid. The people, still trembling, and not daring to manifest their joy, saw these Goths and Vandals of modern times, spread their sails, and slowly disappear in the distant horizon. But who can imagine the conditio
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI. The End of Lolonois’s Career.
CHAPTER XI. The End of Lolonois’s Career.
About one hundred and fifty miles southwest of San Pedro was the rich old Spanish town of Guatemala, capital of the capacious province of that name. Lolonois, in his frenzied state of mind, was determined to send back to the ship for reënforcements, and then to march upon Guatemala. But his piratic crew refused to accede to so insane a proposal. For eighteen days these marauders lingered around San Pedro, before they applied the torch. They then, leaving only ruins and misery behind them, return
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII. The Female Pirate, Mary Read.
CHAPTER XII. The Female Pirate, Mary Read.
The mother was a young, light, trifling girl, of fair reputation, and not very careful habits, who ere long found that she was about to become a mother again. As the months advanced, in order to conceal her shame, she took leave of her husband’s relatives, informing them that she was going to visit her own friends at some distance in the country. Her little boy, who accompanied her, was then not a year old. Soon after her departure her son died; and she, ere long, gave birth to another child, wh
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII. Anne Bonny, the Female Pirate.
CHAPTER XIII. Anne Bonny, the Female Pirate.
The privateersman had been out but a few days when Rackam, who had many of his old confederates on board, formed a conspiracy, rose upon the officers, set them adrift, seized the ship, and turned to his old trade. Mary Read, in the character of Frank, was, as we have mentioned, a very handsome young fellow. The captain’s cabin-boy, Anne Bonney, fell desperately in love with Frank, and revealed to him , as she supposed, her sex. She approached Frank with all the seductions and allurements with wh
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV. Sir Henry Morgan
CHAPTER XIV. Sir Henry Morgan
Morgan was already a desperado. With a numerous crew and a well-armed vessel he set out to cruise along that portion of the Mexican coast called Campeachy. After an absence of a few months, he returned triumphantly to Jamaica, his ship laden with the spoil of many captures. This pirate took refuge beneath the flag of England and under the guns of her fort. At that time the British Government was the most atrocious pirate earth had ever known; for while at peace with Spain, the Government encoura
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV. The Capture of Puerto Velo, and its Results.
CHAPTER XV. The Capture of Puerto Velo, and its Results.
But the governor had already heard of the arrival of the pirates. He had collected an armed force, and was on the march to cut off their retreat. In the mean time the vessels were brought up into the harbor and were laden with the plunder. The ramparts were repaired, the guns remounted, and all things put in readiness to repel an attack. Every day many were put to the torture. Some died under the terrible infliction. Many were maimed for life. Hearing that the governor was on the march to attack
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI. The Expedition to Maracaibo.
CHAPTER XVI. The Expedition to Maracaibo.
Still the seven missing ships did not appear. After waiting a few days more, he decided to delay no longer. Spreading his sails, he steered his course for the Island of Savona. But none of the missing vessels were there. While waiting, he sent several boats, with crews amounting to one hundred and fifty well-armed men, to plunder several of the small towns upon the San Domingo coast. But in the capital city and all along the shore scouts were on the watch. Sentinels were placed upon every headla
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII. Adventures on the Shores of Lake Maracaibo.
CHAPTER XVII. Adventures on the Shores of Lake Maracaibo.
“Do not torture me any more, and I will show you my riches.” The pirates thought, or pretended to think, that he was some rich person assuming the disguise of poverty and semi-insanity. He led them to a miserable hovel containing only a few earthern pots. He dug up, from under the hearth, three dollars which he had buried there. Still they affirmed that he was a grandee in disguise, and commenced torturing him anew. In his agony he cried out: “In the name of Jesus; in the name of the Virgin Mary
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII. A New Expedition Planned.
CHAPTER XVIII. A New Expedition Planned.
“If you had been as loyal to the king in hindering the entrance of these pirates as I shall be in hindering their going out, you would never have caused these troubles either to yourselves or to our whole nation, which hath suffered so much through your pusillanimity. I shall not grant your request; but shall endeavor, according to my duty, to maintain that respect which is due to my king.” When Morgan heard of this reply he said: “Very well; if the admiral will not give me permission to pass, I
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX. Capture of St. Catherine and Chagres.
CHAPTER XIX. Capture of St. Catherine and Chagres.
Night came. The pirates were weary and hungry. No food had been brought from the ships. It was supposed that food would be found in abundance. But the Spaniards had destroyed all which they could not remove; and it took a very large quantity to satisfy the appetites of a thousand hungry men. Faint from hunger, they threw themselves unsheltered upon the grass to sleep. At midnight a tropical tempest arose. The glare of the lightning and the crashing peals of thunder were terrific. The windows of
27 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX. The March from Chagres to Panama.
CHAPTER XX. The March from Chagres to Panama.
The first day the little fleet ascended the river but eighteen miles, to a place called Bracos. The men on board his boats were greatly cramped in their limbs, having but little room to move, and none in which to lie down. They therefore found it necessary to land for the night, that they might enjoy a few hours of sleep. They also hoped to rob some of the neighboring plantations. Nearly all their food had disappeared in this one day’s sail. The cheer of camp-fires seems to be essential to all b
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI. The Capture of Panama.
CHAPTER XXI. The Capture of Panama.
In the evening two hundred mounted Spaniards rode out from the city, dashed along until they came within hailing distance of the pirates, and shouted out to them words which could not be understood. Morgan established double sentinels, and all his men slept upon their arms. At daybreak on the tenth day the Spaniards, from their walls, sounded with bugle-peal and drum-beat a challenge to their foes. The pirates were equally eager for the fight. Rapidly they advanced into the plain. The Spaniards,
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII. The Return from Panama.
CHAPTER XXII. The Return from Panama.
“This lady had formerly heard strange reports concerning the pirates, before their arrival at Panama, as if they were not men, but heretics, who did neither invoke the blessed Trinity, nor believe in Jesus Christ. But now she began to have better thoughts of them than ever before, having experienced the manifold civilities of Captain Morgan; especially as she heard him many times swear by the name of God and of Jesus Christ, in whom she had been persuaded that they did not believe. “Neither did
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII. Montbar the Fanatic.
CHAPTER XXIII. Montbar the Fanatic.
Partial Solution of a Mystery.—Montbar’s Birth.—His Education and Delusions.—Anecdote of the Dramatic Performance.—Montbar Runs Away from Home.—Enters the Navy.—His Ferocious Exploits.—Joins the Buccaneers.—Desperate Battles on the Land and on the Sea.—His Final Disappearance. In reading the narrative of the cruelties practised by the pirates upon the Spaniards, the mind is often oppressed with the thought that a God of infinite love and power should have allowed such scenes to have been enacted
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter