The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII CenturyHaring, Clarence Henry
History
The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century
Haring, Clarence Henry
Buccaneers; West Indies -- History
"As soon as Captain Morgan arrived, upon his march, at the town called
Cruz, seated on the banks of the river Chagre, as was mentioned before,
he commanded an order to be published among the prisoners, that within
the space of three days every one of them should bring in their ransom,
under the penalty aforementioned, of being transported unto Jamaica. In
the meanwhile he gave orders for so much rice and maize to be collected
thereabouts as was necessary for the victualling all his ships. At this
place some of the prisoners were ransomed, but many others could not
bring in their moneys in so short a time. Hereupon he continued his
voyage ... carrying with him all the spoil that ever he could transport.
From this village he likewise led away some new prisoners, who were
inhabitants of the said place. So that these prisoners were added to
those of Panama who had not as yet paid their ransoms, and all
transported.... About the middle of the way unto the Castle of Chagre,
Captain Morgan commanded them to be placed in due order, according to
their custom, and caused every one to be sworn, that they had reserved
nor concealed nothing privately to themselves, even not so much as the
value of sixpence. This being done, Captain Morgan having had some
experience that those lewd fellows would not much stickle to swear
falsely in points of interest, he commanded them every one to be
searched very strictly, both in their clothes and satchels and
everywhere it might be presumed they had reserved anything. Yea, to the
intent this order might not be ill taken by his companions, he permitted
himself to be searched, even to the very soles of his shoes. To this
effect by common consent, there was assigned one out of every company to
be the searchers of all the rest. The French Pirates that went on this
expedition with Captain Morgan were not well satisfied with this new
custom of searching. Yet their number being less than that of the
English, they were forced to submit unto it, as well as the others had
done before them. The search being over, they re-embarked in their
canoes and boats, which attended them on the river, and arrived at the
Castle of Chagre.[314] ... Here they found all things in good order,
excepting the wounded men, whom they had left there at the time of their
departure. For of these the greatest number were dead, through the
wounds they had received.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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