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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
The accounts given by the Buccaneers who extended their enterprises to the Pacific Ocean , are the best authenticated of any which have been published by that class of Adventurers. They are interspersed with nautical and geographical descriptions, corroborative of the events related, and more worth being preserved than the memory of what was performed. The materials for this portion of Buccaneer history, which it was necessary should be included in a History of South Sea Navigations, could not b
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CHAP. II.
CHAP. II.
1492-3. Hayti, or Hispaniola, the first Settlement of the Spaniards in America. The first settlement formed by the Castilians in their newly discovered world, was on the Island by the native inhabitants named Hayti ; but to which the Spaniards gave the name of Española or Hispaniola . And in process of time it came to pass, that this same Island became the great place of resort, and nursery, of the European adventurers, who have been so conspicuous under the denomination of the Buccaneers of Ame
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CHAP. III.
CHAP. III.
1518. Adventure of an English Ship. In the year 1517 or 1518, some Spaniards in a caravela going from St. Domingo to the Island Porto Rico , to take in a lading of cassava, were surprised at seeing a ship there of about 250 tons, armed with cannon, which did not appear to belong to the Spanish nation; and on sending a boat to make enquiry, she was found to be English. The account given by the English Commander was, that two ships had sailed from England in company, with the intention to discover
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CHAP. IV.
CHAP. IV.
The increase of trade of the English and French to the West Indies , and the growing importance of the freebooters or adventurers concerned in it, who, unassisted but by each other, had begun to acquire territory and to form establishments in spite of all opposition from the Spaniards, attracted the attention of the British and French governments, and suggested to them a scheme of confederacy, in which some of the principal adventurers were consulted. The project adopted by them was, to plant a
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CHAP. V.
CHAP. V.
1630. The Spanish Government at length began to think it necessary to relax from their large pretensions, and in the year 1630 entered into treaties with other European nations, for mutual security of their West-India possessions. In a Treaty concluded that year with Great Britain , it was declared, that peace, amity, and friendship, should be observed between their respective subjects, in all parts of the world. But this general specification was not sufficient to produce effect in the West Ind
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CHAP. VI.
CHAP. VI.
1670. In July 1670, was concluded a Treaty between Great Britain and Spain , made expressly with the intention of terminating the Buccaneer war, and of settling all disputes between the subjects of the two countries in America . It has been with this especial signification entitled the Treaty of America , and is the first which appears to have been dictated by a mutual disposition to establish peace in the West Indies . The articles particularly directed to this end are the following:— Treaty be
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CHAP. VII.
CHAP. VII.
1673. Thomas Peche. In 1673, Thomas Peche, an Englishman, fitted out a ship in England for a piratical voyage to the South Sea against the Spaniards. Previous to this, Peche had been many years a Buccaneer in the West Indies , and therefore his voyage to the South Sea is mentioned as a Buccaneer expedition; but it was in no manner connected with any enterprise in or from the West Indies . The only information we have of Peche's voyage is from a Spanish author, Seixas y Lovera ; and by that it ma
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CHAP. VIII.
CHAP. VIII.
Immediately after the plundering of Porto Bello , a number of Buccaneer vessels, both English and French, on the report which had been made by Captain Bournano, assembled at the Samballas , or Isles of San Blas , near the coast of Darien . One of these vessels was commanded by Bournano. The Indians of Darien received them as friends and allies, but they now disapproved the project of going to Tocamoro . The way thither, they said, was mountainous, and through a long tract of uninhabited country,
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CHAP. IX.
CHAP. IX.
1680. April 5th, Buccaneers land on the Isthmus. On the 5th of April, 1680, three hundred and thirty-one Buccaneers, most of them English, passed over from Golden Island , and landed in Darien , 'each man provided with four cakes of bread called dough-boys, with a fusil, a pistol, and a hanger.' They began their journey marshalled in divisions, with distinguishing flags, under their several commanders, Bartholomew Sharp and his men taking the lead. Many Darien Indians kept them company as their
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CHAP. X.
CHAP. X.
1680. April 19th. In the Bay of Panama. 22d. Island Chepillo. On the 19th of April, the Buccaneers, under the command of John Coxon, entered the Bay of Panama ; and the same day, at one of the Islands in the Bay , they captured a Spanish vessel of 30 tons, on board of which 130 of the Buccaneers immediately placed themselves, glad to be relieved from the cramped and crowded state they had endured in the canoes. The next day another small bark was taken. The pursuit of these vessels, and seeking
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CHAP. XI.
CHAP. XI.
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 cruisin
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CHAP. XII.
CHAP. XII.
The Prohibitions being enforced, determined many, both of the English Buccaneers and of the French Flibustiers, to seek their fortunes in the South Sea , where they would be at a distance from the control of any established authority. This determination was not a matter generally concerted. The first example was speedily followed, and a trip to the South Sea in a short time became a prevailing fashion among them. Expeditions were undertaken by different bodies of men unconnected with each other,
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CHAP. XIII.
CHAP. XIII.
1684. March 19th. Continuing their course for Juan Fernandez , on the 19th in the morning, a strange ship was seen to the Southward, standing after them under all her sail. The Buccaneers were in hopes she would prove to be a Spaniard, and brought to, to wait her coming up. The people on board the strange vessel entertained similar expectations, for they also were English, and were come to the South Sea to pick up what they could. This ship was named the Nicholas; her Commander John Eaton; she f
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CHAP. XIV.
CHAP. XIV.
1684. July. Coast of New Spain. Caldera Bay. Dampier describes the coast of New Spain immediately westward of the Cape Blanco last mentioned, to fall in to the NE about four leagues, making a small bay, which is by the Spaniards called Caldera [41] . Within the entrance of this bay, a league from Cape Blanco , was a small brook of very good water running into the sea. The land here is low, making a saddle between two small hills. The ships anchored near the brook, in good depth, on a bottom of c
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CHAP. XV.
CHAP. XV.
1685. May. Bay of Panama. The Viceroy of Peru judged the Fleet he had collected, to be strong enough to encounter the Buccaneers, and did not fear to trust the treasure to its protection; but he gave directions to the Commander of the Fleet to endeavour to avoid a meeting with them until after the treasure should be safely landed. In pursuance of this plan, the Spanish Admiral, as he drew near the Bay of Panama , kept more Westward than the usual course, and fell in with the coast of Veragua to
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CHAP. XVI.
CHAP. XVI.
1685. August. With Davis there remained the vessels of Knight and Harris, with a tender, making in all four sail. August the 27th, they sailed from the harbour of Ria Lexa , and as they departed Swan saluted them with fifteen guns, to which Davis returned eleven. Proceedings of the Buccaneers under Edw. Davis. Amapalla Bay. A sickness had broken out among Davis's people, which was attributed to the unwholesomeness of the air, or the bad water, at Ria Lexa . After leaving the place, the disorder
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CHAP. XVII.
CHAP. XVII.
1687. Davis sails to the Galapagos Islands. Davis again sailed to the Galapagos Islands , to victual and refit his ship. Lionel Wafer was still with him, and appears to have been one of those to whom fortune had been most unpropitious. Wafer does not mention either the joining company with the French Buccaneers, or the plunder of Guayaquil ; and particularises few of his adventures. He says, 'I shall not pursue all my coasting along the shore of Peru with Captain Davis. We continued rambling abo
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CHAP. XVIII.
CHAP. XVIII.
Swan and Townley. The South Sea adventures of the buccaneer Chief Davis being brought to a conclusion, the next related will be those of Swan and his crew in the Cygnet, they being the first of the Buccaneers who after the battle in the Bay of Panama left the South Sea . William Dampier who was in Swan's ship, kept a Journal of their proceedings, which is published, and the manuscript also has been preserved. 1685. August. Swan and Townley, the reader may recollect, were left by Edward Davis in
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CHAP. XIX.
CHAP. XIX.
1686. January. Coast of Nuevo Galicia. Swan and his crew determined before they quitted the American coast, to visit some Spanish towns farther North, in the neighbourhood of rich mines, where they hoped to find good plunder, and to increase their stock of provisions for the passage across the Pacific to India . Point Ponteque. January the 7th, the Cygnet and her tender sailed from the Valley of Vanderas , and before night, passed Point Ponteque , the Northern point of the Vanderas Bay . Point P
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CHAP. XX.
CHAP. XX.
1686. March. The Cygnet quits the American Coast. March the 31st, they sailed from the American coast, steering at first SW, and afterwards more Westerly till they were in latitude 13° N, in which parallel they kept. 'The kettle was boiled but once a day,' says Dampier, 'and there was no occasion to call the men to victuals. All hands came up to see the Quarter-master share it, and he had need to be exact. We had two dogs and two cats on board, and they likewise had a small allowance given them,
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CHAP. XXI.
CHAP. XXI.
1687. January. South Coast of Mindanao. It was on the 14th of January the Cygnet sailed from before the River Mindanao . The crew chose one John Reed, a Jamaica man, for their Captain. They steered Westward along the coast of the South side of the Island, 'which here tends WbS, the land of a good height, with high hills in the country.' The 15th, they were abreast a town named Chambongo [in the charts Samboangan ] which Dampier reckoned to be 30 leagues distant from the River of Mindanao . The S
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CHAP. XXII.
CHAP. XXII.
1687. October. From the Bashee Islands , the Cygnet steered at first SSW, with the wind at West, and on that course passed 'close to the Eastward of certain small Islands that lie just by the North end of the Island Luconia .' Island near the SE end of Mindanao. Candigar. They went on Southward by the East of the Philippine Islands . On the 14th, they were near a small low woody Island, which Dampier reckoned to lie East 20 leagues from the SE end of Mindanao . The 16th, they anchored between th
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CHAP. XXIII.
CHAP. XXIII.
The French Buccaneers, from July 1685. Having accompanied the Cygnet to her end, the History must again be taken back to the breaking up of the general confederacy of Buccaneers which took place at the Island Quibo , to give a connected narrative of the proceedings of the French adventurers from that period to their quitting the South Sea . Under Grogniet. Three hundred and forty-one French Buccaneers (or to give them their due, privateers, war then existing between France and Spain ) separated
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CHAP. XXIV.
CHAP. XXIV.
1687. June. Le Picard and Hout. The party left by Davis consisted of 250 Buccaneers, the greater number of whom were French, the rest were English, and their leaders Le Picard and George Hout. They had determined to quit the South Sea , and with that view to sail to the coast of New Spain , whence they proposed to march over land to the shore of the Caribbean Sea . July. On the Coast of New Spain. About the end of July, they anchored in the Bay of Amapalla , and were joined there by thirty Frenc
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CHAP. XXV.
CHAP. XXV.
Whilst these matters were passing in the Pacific Ocean , small progress was made in the reform which had been begun in the West Indies . The English Governors by a few examples of severity restrained the English Buccaneers from undertaking any enterprise of magnitude. With the French, the case was different. The number of the Flibustiers who absented themselves from Hispaniola , to go to the South Sea , alarmed the French Government for the safety of their colonies, and especially of their settl
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CHAP. XXVI.
CHAP. XXVI.
1697. In 1697, at the suggestion of M. le Baron de Pointis, an officer of high rank in the French Marine, a large armament was fitted out in France , jointly at the expence of the Crown, and of private contributors, for an expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies . The chief command was given to M. de Pointis, and orders were sent out to the Governor of the French Settlements in Hispaniola (M. du Casse) to raise 1200 men in Tortuga and Hispaniola to assist in the expedition. The king'
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CHAP. XXVII.
CHAP. XXVII.
1697. May. The share which M. de Pointis had allotted of the plunder of Carthagena to the Buccaneers, fell so short of their calculations, and was felt as so great an aggravation of the contemptuous treatment they had before received, that their rage was excessive, and in their first transports they proposed to board the Sceptre, a ship of 84 guns, on board which M. de Pointis carried his flag. This was too desperate a scheme to be persevered in. After much deliberation, one among them exclaimed
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