On the Spanish Main; Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of DarienMasefield, John
History
On the Spanish Main; Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien
Masefield, John
Buccaneers; Spanish Main
There was great fury among the buccaneers when Morgan's escape was
known. The French pirates were for putting to sea in pursuit, to blow
his ships out of the water, but Morgan had been sufficiently astute to
escape in the provision ships. The pirates left behind had not food
enough to stock their ships, and could not put to sea till more had been
gathered. While they cursed and raged at Chagres, Morgan sailed slowly
to Port Royal, where he furled his sails, and dropped anchor, after a
highly profitable cruise. The Governor received his percentage of the
profits, and Morgan at once began to levy recruits for the settling of
Santa Katalina.
As for his men, they stayed for some days in considerable misery at San
Lorenzo. They then set sail in companies, some for one place, some for
another, hoping to find food enough to bring them home. Some went to the
eastward, raiding the coast for food, and snapping up small coasting
vessels. Some went to the bay of Campeachy to cut logwood and to drink
rum punch. Others went along the Costa Rican coast to find turtle to
salt for victuals, and to careen their barnacled and wormy ships. One
strong company went to Cuba, where they sacked the Town of the Keys, and
won a good booty. Most of them came home, in time, but to those who
returned that home-coming was bitter.
Shortly after Morgan's return to Jamaica, a new Governor arrived from
England with orders to suppress the gangs of privateers. He had
instructions to proclaim a general pardon for all those buccaneers who
cared to take advantage of the proclamation within a given time. Those
who wished to leave "their naughty way of life" were to be encouraged by
grants of land (thirty-five acres apiece), so that they might not starve
when they forsook piracy. But this generous offer was merely a lure or
bait to bring the buccaneers to port, in order that the Governor might
mulct them "the tenths and fifteenths of their booty as the dues of the
Crown for granting them commissions." The news of the intended taxation
spread abroad among the pirates. They heard, too, that in future they
would find no rest in Port Royal; for this new Governor was earnest and
diligent in his governorship. They, therefore, kept away from Port
Royal, and made Tortuga their rendezvous, gradually allying themselves
with the French buccaneers, who had their stronghold there. Some of
them, who returned to Port Royal, were brought before the magistrate,
and hanged as pirates. Their old captain, Henry Morgan, left his former
way of life, and soon afterwards become Governor of Jamaica. He was so
very zealous in "discouraging" the buccaneers that the profession
gradually lost its standing. The best of its members took to logwood
cutting or to planting; the worst kept the seas, like water-Ishmaelites,
plundering the ships of all nations save their own. They haunted
Tortuga, the keys of Cuba, the creeks and inlets of the coast, and the
bays at the western end of Jamaica.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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