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THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN; OR, ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.
THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN; OR, ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.
"One foot on sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never." Much Ado about Nothing. IN THREE VOLUMES. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1855. LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET....
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
I claim for this book, at least originality. But this originality, unfortunately, if it attaches interest to an author's labours, adds also to his responsibilities. The history of the Buccaneers has hitherto remained unwritten. Three or four forgotten volumes contain literally all that is recorded of the wars and conquests of these extraordinary men. Of these volumes two are French, one Dutch, and one in English. The majority of our readers, therefore, it is probable, know nothing more of the fr
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CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF TORTUGA.
CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF TORTUGA.
The precursors of the Buccaneers—Description of Tortuga—Origin of the Buccaneers—Conquest of Tortuga by the French—The hunters, planters, and corsairs—Le Basque takes Maracaibo—War in Hispaniola—French West Indian Company buy Tortuga—The Governor, M. D'Ogeron. Drake, Cavendish, and Oxenham, indeed all the naval heroes of Elizabeth's reign, were the precursors of the Buccaneers. The captains of those "tall ships" that sailed from Plymouth Sound, and the green nooks of the sunny coast of Devon, to
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CHAPTER II. MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.
CHAPTER II. MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.
Derivation of the words Buccaneer and Flibustier—The three classes—Dress of the hunters—West Indian scenery—Method of hunting—Wild dogs—Anecdotes—Wild oxen, wild boars, and wild horses—Buccaneer food—Cow killing—Spanish method—Amusements—Duels—Adventures with the Spanish militia—The hunters driven to sea—The engagés , or apprentices—Hide curing—Hardships of the bush life—The planter's engagés —Cruelties of planters—The matelotage —Huts—Food. The hunters of the wild cattle in the savannahs of His
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CHAPTER III. THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.
CHAPTER III. THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.
Originated in the Spanish persecution of French Hunters—Customs—Pay and Pensions—The Mosquito Indians, their Habits—Food—Lewis Scott, an Englishman, first Corsair—John Davis: takes St. Francisco, in Campeachy—Debauchery—Love of Gaming—Religion—Class from which they sprang—Equality at Sea—Mode of Fighting—Dress. The Flibustiers first began by associating together in bands of from fifteen to twenty men. Each of them carried the Buccaneer musket, holding a ball of sixteen to the pound, and had gene
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CHAPTER IV. PETER THE GREAT, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.
CHAPTER IV. PETER THE GREAT, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.
Plunder of Segovia—Pierre-le-Grand—Pierre François—Barthelemy Portugues—His Escapes—Roche, the Brazilian—Fanatical hatred of Spaniards—Wrecks and Adventures. The date of the first organized Buccaneer expedition is uncertain. We only know that about the year 1654, a large party of Buccaneers, French and English, joined in an expedition to the continent. They ascended, in canoes, a river on the Mosquito Shore, a small distance on the south side of Cape Gracias à Dios, and after labouring for a mon
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CHAPTER V. LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.
CHAPTER V. LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.
Lolonnois—His stratagem—His cruelty—His partner, Michael le Basque—Takes Maracaibo—Tortures the citizens—Sacks the town—Takes Gibraltar—Attempt on Merida—Famine and pestilence—Division of spoil—Takes St. Pedro—Burns Veragua—Wrecked in Honduras—Attacked by Indians—Killed and eaten by the savages. The Spanish ships now decreased in number, merchants relinquishing a trade so uncertain and perilous. The consequence of this was that the Buccaneers, finding their sea cruises grow less profitable, bega
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CHAPTER VI. ALEXANDRE BRAS-DE-FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.
CHAPTER VI. ALEXANDRE BRAS-DE-FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.
Bras-de-Fer compared to Alexander the Great—His adventures and stratagems—Montbars—Anecdotes of his childhood—Goes to sea—His first fight—Meets and joins the Buccaneers—Defeats the Spanish Fifties—His uncle killed—His revenge—The negro vessel—Adam and Anne le Roux plunder Santiago. We now come to a class of Buccaneers who lived at we scarcely know what period, although they were probably contemporaries of Œxmelin. Their adventures, though on a narrower scale, are perhaps more interesting than th
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THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN; OR, ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.
THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN; OR, ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.
"One foot on sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never." Much Ado about Nothing. IN THREE VOLUMES. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1855. LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET....
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CHAPTER I. SIR HENRY MORGAN.
CHAPTER I. SIR HENRY MORGAN.
Son of a farmer—Runs to sea—Turns Buccaneer—Joins Mansvelt, and takes the Island of St. Catherine—Mansvelt dies—St. Catherine retaken by the Spaniards—Takes Port-au-Prince—Quarrel of French and English Buccaneers about a marrow-bone—Takes Porto Bello—Captures Le Cerf Volant , a French vessel—It blows up—Takes Maracaibo—City deserted—Tortures an Idiot—Le Picard—Storms Gibraltar—Also deserted—Tortures the Citizens—With a Fire-ship destroys Spanish fleet, and repasses the Bar—Escapes by stratagem—R
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CHAPTER II. CONQUEST OF PANAMA.
CHAPTER II. CONQUEST OF PANAMA.
March from Chagres—Famine—Ambuscade of Indians—Wild bulls driven down upon them—Victory—Battle of the Forts—Takes the City—Burns part of it—Cruelties—Debauchery—Retreat with prisoners—Virtue of the Spanish prisoner, and her sufferings—Ransom—Division of booty—Treason of Morgan—Escapes by night to Jamaica—Dispersion of the Fleet—Morgan's subsequent fate. The bodies of their comerades, who had died that they who survived might conquer, were buried, not without some tears even from these rude men,
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CHAPTER III. THE COMPANIONS AND SUCCESSORS OF MORGAN.
CHAPTER III. THE COMPANIONS AND SUCCESSORS OF MORGAN.
Dispersion of the fleet—Œxmelin's interview with the old Buccaneer—Adventure with Indians—Esquemeling's Escapes—1673. D'Ogeron's Escape from the Spaniards—1676. Buccaneers' Fight at Tobago against the Dutch—1678. Captain Cook captures a Spanish vessel—1679. Captains Coxen and Sharp begin their cruise. On the departure of Morgan, the Buccaneers, without food, and without leaders, underwent many sufferings, and remained uncertain what to do. Œxmelin and a few of his French friends being informed b
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CHAPTER IV. THE CRUISES OF SAWKINS AND SHARP.
CHAPTER IV. THE CRUISES OF SAWKINS AND SHARP.
Land at Darien—March Overland—Take Santa Maria—Sail to Panama—Ringrose is wrecked—Failure of Expedition—Driven off by Spanish Fleet—Coxen accused of cowardice—Sharp elected Commander—Plunder Hillo and take La Serena—Take Aries—Saved with difficulty—Conspiracy of slaves—Land at Antigua—Return to England—Sharp's trial—Seizes a French ship in the Downs, and returns to Jamaica. The cruises of Sawkins and Sharp are recorded in the travels of Ringrose, who was present at all their exploits. At this ti
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CHAPTER V. DAMPIER'S VOYAGES.
CHAPTER V. DAMPIER'S VOYAGES.
Leaves Captain Sharp—Land march over the Isthmus—Joins Captain Wright—Wreck of the French fleet—Returns to England—Second voyage with Captain Cook—Guinea coast—Juan Fernandez—Takes Ampalla—Takes Paita—Dampier's scheme of seizing the mines—Attacks Manilla galleon—Captain Swan—Death unknown. Van Horn—Captures galleons—Takes Vera Cruz—Killed in a duel by Le Graff. Dampier, one of the wisest and best of English travellers, was himself a Buccaneer. Son of a Somersetshire farmer, he went early to sea,
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THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN; OR, ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.
THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN; OR, ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.
"One foot on sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never." Much Ado about Nothing. IN THREE VOLUMES. LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1855. LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET....
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CHAPTER I. RAVENAU DE LUSSAN.
CHAPTER I. RAVENAU DE LUSSAN.
Joins De Graff—Cruises round Carthagena—Crosses the Isthmus—Hardships—Joins Buccaneer fleet—Grogniet—Previous history of the vessels—Fight with Greek mercenaries—Take La Seppa—Engagement off Panama—Take Puebla Nueva—Separate from English—Take Leon—Take Chiriquita—Take Granada—Capture Villia—Surprised by ambuscade—Treachery of Greek spy—Capture vessels—Behead prisoners—Burn the savannahs—Quarrel between French and English—Take Guayaquil—Love adventure of De Lussan—Retreat by land from North to So
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CHAPTER II. THE LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS.
CHAPTER II. THE LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS.
Sieur de Montauban—Wonderful escape from an explosion—Life in Africa—Laurence de Graff—His victories—Enters French service—Treachery—Buccaneers join in French expedition and take Carthagena—Buccaneer sharpshooters—Treachery of French—Buccaneers return and retake the city—Captured in return by English and Dutch fleets—1698—Buccaneers wrecked with French—Grammont takes Santiago—Sacks Maracaibo, Gibraltar, and Torilla—Lands at Cumana—Enters French service—Lost in his last cruise. Of all the motley
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CHAPTER III. FALL OF THE FLOATING EMPIRE.
CHAPTER III. FALL OF THE FLOATING EMPIRE.
Peace of Ryswick—Attempts to settle—Buccaneers turn pirates—Last expedition to the Darien mines, 1702. The English were the first to attempt to put down Buccaneering, but the last to succeed in doing it. When the freebooters had served their purpose, the English government would have thrown them by as a soldier would his broken sword. In 1655, after Morgan returned from Panama, Lord John Vaughan, the new governor of Jamaica, had strict orders to enforce the treaty concluded with Spain in the pre
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CHAPTER IV. THE PIRATES OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND THE KINGS OF MADAGASCAR.
CHAPTER IV. THE PIRATES OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND THE KINGS OF MADAGASCAR.
Laws and dress—Government—Blackbeard—His enormities—Captain Avery and the Great Mogul—Davis—Lowther—Low—Roberts—Major Bonnet—Captain Gow—the Guinea coast. The last refugee Buccaneers turned pirates, and settled in the island of New Providence. The African coast, and not the main, was now their cruising ground, and Madagascar was their new Tortuga. They no longer warred merely against the Spaniard—their hands were raised against the world. Their cruelty was no longer the cruelty of retaliation, b
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CHIEF AUTHORITIES. BUCCANEER WRITERS.
CHIEF AUTHORITIES. BUCCANEER WRITERS.
John (Joseph?) Esquemeling's [1] Bucaniers of America; or, an Account of the most Remarkable Assaults committed on the Coasts of the West Indies by the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga; with the Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan. Translated into English from the Dutch, with a Portrait of Sir H. Morgan, a Map and Plates, with a Table. 4to. London. 1684. [1] Rich, in his "Bibliotheca Americana Nova," 1835, confounds Esquemeling, the Dutchman, with Œxmelin, the Frenchman. The English translation of 1684
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JESUIT HISTORIANS.
JESUIT HISTORIANS.
Pierre François Xavier Charlevoix —Histoire de l'Isle Espagnole, ou de St. Domingue, écrite sur des Mémoires Manuscrits du P. Jean Baptiste le Tertre, Jésuite Missionaire à St. Domingue, et sur les Pièces Originales qui se conservent au Dépôt de la Marine; avec des Cartes, des Plans, et des Tables. 2 vols. 4to. Paris. 1730-31. Piratas de la America y Luz à la Defensa de las Costas de Indias Occidentales. Traducida del Flamenco en Espanol, por el Doctor Buena Maison, Medico Practico en la Ampliss
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LIST OF BUCCANEER CHIEFS,
LIST OF BUCCANEER CHIEFS,
FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THEIR EMPIRE TO ITS DOWNFALL. Louis Scott. Pierre le Grand. Pierre François. Roc the Brazilian. Barthelemy Portugues. Lolonnois the Cruel. Alexandre Bras de Fer. Montbars the Exterminator. Moses Van Vin. Pierre le Picard. Tributor. Captain Champagne. Le Basque. Sir Henry Morgan. Captain Swan. Captain Sharp. Captain Bradley. Captain Coxen. Captain Betsharp. Dampier. Captain Grogniet. Captain Yankey. Laurent de Graff. Sieur de Grammont. Sieur de Montauban. De Lisle. Anne l
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