The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3Whymper, Frederick
History
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3
Whymper, Frederick
Adventure and adventurers; Arctic regions; Ocean; Voyages around the world
Next day Captain Morgan despatched away two troops, of 150 men each, to
seek for the inhabitants who had escaped. Above 200 prisoners, men, women,
and slaves, were taken. Three other boats were also taken. But all these
prizes they would willingly have given for one galleon, which miraculously
escaped, richly laden with the king’s plate, jewels, and other precious
goods of the best and richest merchants of Panama; a number of nuns also
had embarked with them all the ornaments of their church, consisting of
gold, plate, and other things of great value. “The strength of this
galleon was inconsiderable, having only seven guns and ten or twelve
muskets, and very ill provided with victuals, necessaries, and fresh
water.” They subsequently took a tolerably rich prize, having on board
20,000 dollars in coin.
February 24th, 1671, Captain Morgan departed from Panama, or rather from
the place where Panama had once stood.(6) The spoils included 175 beasts
of burden, laden with silver and gold, besides about 600 prisoners, men,
women, children, and slaves.
When the march began, the cries and shrieks of the unfortunate prisoners
were renewed, which did not worry Captain Morgan. They marched in the same
order as before, one party of the pirates in the van, the prisoners in the
middle, and the rest of the pirates in the rear, by whom the miserable
Spaniards were abused, punched, and thrust in their backs and sides, to
make them walk faster. A beautiful and virtuous lady, the wife of a
merchant, was led prisoner by herself, between two pirates. Her
lamentations pierced the skies, seeing herself carried away into
captivity, often crying to the pirates, and telling them “that she had
given orders to two religious persons, in whom she had relied, to go to a
certain place, and fetch so much as her ransom did amount to; that they
had promised faithfully to do it, but having obtained the money, instead
of bringing it to her, they had employed it another way, to ransom some of
their own and particular friends.” This Captain Morgan found to be true,
and he gave the lady her liberty; otherwise he had designed to transport
her to Jamaica. But he detained the monks as prisoners in her place, using
them according to their deserts. Many of the prisoners ransomed themselves
later, while others were taken to Jamaica and sold. About half-way across
the Isthmus Morgan had his men searched, going through the form himself.
This was to see whether any one had secreted valuables for his own use.
The French pirates of Morgan’s expedition took great offence at this, but
they were forced to submit. At Chagres the dividend was made, and there
was a considerable amount of dissatisfaction, his own companions telling
him to his face that he had reserved the best jewels for himself. It
appears likely that he had done so, and at all events, at this period he
suddenly sailed away from the larger part of his pirate-associates, and
left them in the lurch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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