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
The fiasco of Arundell's attempt was not the only effort of the English
to recover the island. In answer to a memorial presented by Lord Windsor
before his departure for Jamaica, an Order in Council was delivered to
him in February 1662, empowering him to use his utmost endeavours to
reduce Tortuga and its governor to obedience.[200] The matter was taken
up by the Jamaican Council in September, shortly after Windsor's
arrival;[201] and on 16th December an order was issued by
deputy-governor Lyttleton to Captain Robert Munden of the "Charles"
frigate for the transportation of Colonel Samuel Barry and Captain
Langford to Tortuga, where Munden was to receive orders for reducing the
island.[202] The design miscarried again, however, probably because of
ill-blood between Barry and Munden. Clement de Plenneville, who
accompanied Barry, writes that "the expedition failed through
treachery";[203] and Beeston says in his Journal that Barry, approaching
Tortuga on 30th January, found the French armed and ready to oppose him,
whereupon he ordered Captain Munden to fire. Munden however refused,
sailed away to Corydon in Hispaniola, where he put Barry and his men on
shore, and then "went away about his merchandize."[204] Barry made his
way in a sloop to Jamaica where he arrived on 1st March. Langford,
however, was sent to Petit-Goave, an island about the size of Tortuga in
the _cul-de-sac_ at the western end of Hispaniola, where he was chosen
governor by the inhabitants and raised the first English standard.
Petit-Goave had been frequented by buccaneers since 1659, and after
d'Ogeron succeeded du Rausset as governor for the French in those
regions, it became with Tortuga one of their chief resorts. In the
latter part of 1664 we find Langford in England petitioning the king for
a commission as governor of Tortuga and the coast of Hispaniola, and for
two ships to go and seize the smaller island.[205] Such a design,
however, with the direct sanction and aid of the English government,
might have endangered a rupture with France. Charles preferred to leave
such irregular warfare to his governor in Jamaica, whom he could support
or disown as best suited the exigencies of the moment. Langford,
moreover, seems not to have made a brilliant success of his short stay
at Petit-Goave, and was probably distrusted by the authorities both in
England and in the West Indies. When Modyford came as governor to
Jamaica, the possibility of recovering Tortuga was still discussed, but
no effort to effect it was ever made again.
Footnotes:
[Footnote 189: Dutertre, t. iii. p. 126; Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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