Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain: A Tale of The RevolutionBallou, Maturin M. (Maturin Murray)
History
Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain: A Tale of The Revolution
Ballou, Maturin M. (Maturin Murray)
Sea stories; United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Fiction; War stories; Women pirates -- Fiction
Young Lovell and his comrades were taken on board the piratical vessel,
and after a consultation among its leaders were told that their lives
would be spared them if they would join the now short handed crew--The
Bucaniers were induced to make this proposition partly because the
prisoners had proved themselves to be brave men, and partly because of
their own weakness, after the fierce and sanguinary encounter they had
just experienced, the crew of the Kent having actually killed nearly
twice their own number, leaving but about fifteen men alive of the
pirate crew. The love of life is strong within us all, and Lovell and
his companions agreed to the terms offered them, determining to seek an
early occasion to escape from the vessel, yet for many months were they
the witnesses of scenes of blood-shed and wickedness which they had not
the least power to avert.
The West Indian seas since the times of the earliest navigators have
ever been the resort of Bucaniers and reckless bands of freebooters, and
even to this day, notwithstanding the strong fleet of national vessels
kept upon the stations by the American and English governments, there
are still organized bands of these desperadoes now existing, engaged in
the ostensible occupation of fishermen, but only awaiting a favorable
opportunity to resume their old calling. It is rumored on very good
authority, that there now lies much wealth buried upon the Tortagos, an
island renowned in the early history of the new world, and celebrated
as being in former days the rendezvous of the bold rovers who frequented
the West Indies in those days. After capturing their prey in the
neighboring seas, the Bucaniers returned to their favorite haunt, and
there buried their surplus treasures, then departing again upon their
dangerous and bloody expeditions many must necessarily have perished. No
one knew where his companion’s treasure was buried, consequently it
may still remain hidden in its concealment, the spot known only to the
spirit of the departed Bucanier.
Tortagos is entirely uninhabited and separated from Hayti only by a
ship’s channel of about a league in width, and to which it belongs. The
laws have long forbidden its settlement, but for what reason we are not
informed. Here lay the bones of the rovers who used to rendezvous in
the island, side by side with their blood-bought and useless wealth. No
public search has ever been made for the hidden booty, and why may we
not look for some valuable disclosure in course of time?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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