Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents
History
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents
Pirates; Privateering; United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Sources
wee Entred the towne and kept possession
of 4 dayes. wee askt the flagg of truce five hundred thousand peeces
of Eight for the randsome of thiss towne, and told him that the next
day by 10 of the clock, thay should bringe their money, otherwise wee
would burne the towne. the next day the flagg of Truce came downe by
12 of the clock, and tolde us thay would give no randsome. wee
understood thiss flagg of truce Had a suit of law in hand, and was
likely to be cast, as he afterwards told us, which would be the ruing
of him-self. he shew'd us his house and desier'd us to sett fier on
itt, whatever wee did. fa[r]ther told us that if we weare not gone the
next day thatt thay had gotten togather 600 men and most of them
Armed. wee gett the Plunder of the towne what wee could. Next morning,
setts most part of the towne on fier and Martches to the bay. their
our cannoes mett us and tooke in our things wee brought downe and
carried on borde the shipp, wheir she lay att Anchor within a Mile of
the Stoare house, Just within a Rockey Poynt. the land lay in the
winde 2 Points without her. the night before our Party came downe, Our
Shipp had likt to have beene burnt. A Hogg skyn being blown upp and
sowed tyte, some fellow of a Spaniard had Venterd off and laid itt on
the rudther and Stearn Post (itt stufft with powder), satt itt on
fier, and went away unseene by our Peopple. some of our men smelling a
strainge Smell, run to and thro' about the Shipp to see for itt,
lookeing every wheir. One man, seeing a light come into the Cabban,
lookes out att the Stern-Portes, and spies wheir itt was, cryes out
for more help, and by a providenc of God gott itt speedily out. some
Imagined itt to be a Plott of the Prissnars aborde against us. some
wear for killing capt. Barralto, because att that time he hid himself,
others for keepeing him alive till our capt. and party came on board,
which the next day thay all did, and being acquanted with what was
past concludes to sett them on shore here thatt wee had had 7 or 8
months, Don Juan and his Cossin, a fine younge man, capt. Juan and
capt. Barralto wee putt ashore, all att thiss storehouse in the bay of
Quoquemba. wee wear glad to be ridd of them butt thay much more glad
to be cleare of us; butt before thay went ashore thay understoode that
wee wear minded to goe to two keys that lieth from thiss Place S. and
b.W. and S.S.W. about 90 leagues off shoare in the lattd. of 33 deg. 45'
south lattd. These keys are called Don Juan Francisco's[56] keys,
because he found them out first, and Putt a parcell of goates on them,
and since have bredd to a mighty number. aboundance of Fish and
Seales; as fine keys as any in these seas to recruite att, being water
and wood Enough. all is on the Easterd most key. these keys lieth East
and west one of the other, 20 leagues distance by Relacion of some
Prissnars.[57] on the westermost key is no anchoring for Shipps
neither any cattle, so that wee did nott stop their att all, but went
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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