CHAPTER IV

THE BUCANEERS

Origin of the Bucaneers-Hostilities between the cattle hunters of Hispaniola and the Spaniards-Reprisals taken by the "Boucaniers❞— Dignity of the "Brethren of the Coast"-John Esquemeling on this subject-A remarkable community-Its socialistic laws-A comparison in this respect with Mission settlements of Paraguay-The laws of the bucaneers-Wild and savage pomp combined with careful business arrangements-Meticulous rules of partnership and insurance-"No prey, no pay!"-Respective results of a profitless and successful cruiseScenes in the bucaneers' town-Feats of the "Brethren of the Coast" -Reasons for their success- -Bravery of the Spaniards-Instances of predatory strategy and daring-Viscount Bury on the bucaneers-Their life and circumstances ashore-Food, costume, and customs-How men became bucaneers-Friendship between the Brethren of the Coast and the Indians-The Island of Juan Fernandez-A haven to the sea-rovers -A thieves' kitchen to the Spaniards-Official order for the extinction of the island goats-The step from a bucaneers' establishment to a British colony-British sections of the bucaneers-Lewis Scot-John Davis -The chronicles of Basil Ringrose-Drastic rules of life adopted by some of the crews- -The celebration of divine service-Prohibition of gambling and profanity-An instance of Captain Sharpe's merciful tendencies Occasional amenities between the bucaneers and SpaniardsSome notes from Ringrose's diary-Pregnant passages-Some prominent captains-Coxon, Sawkins, Sharpe, Watling, Lewis Scot, John Davis, Teach, Kidd, Cowley, Wafer-Dampier's youth-How he joined the Brethren of the Coast-A bucaneer merely by chance-His connection with the castaways of the Island of Juan Fernandez-Sir Henry Morgan -His treacherous and greedy character-A medley of the jackal and the lion-The last of the genuine bucaneers-Captains Woodes Rogers and Stephen Courtney-A voyage that was only partly of the bucaneer character-The expedition is cordially received by the inhabitants of a small Brazilian town-Some amazing toasts-The finding of Alexander Selkirk Captain Rogers' abstemious preparations for attack-The voyage of Captains Clipperton and Shelvock.

W

E now arrive at one of the wildest and most stormy of all South American periods, that of the bucaneers. There is no need to enter at any length here into the origin, history, or social causes

of these grim amphibious beings who at the height of their power pursued three principal callings: the tending of their own plantations, the hunting of ownerless wild cattle, and the capture of Spanish ships, towns, gold, and goods.

It is natural to suppose that the behavior of this utterly reckless and cosmopolitan set of men would have been wild enough in the most favorable circumstances. The effect, therefore, of the repressive and irritating policy of Spain on these desperate characters may be imagined. Without a doubt Spain brought most of her freebooter troubles on herself. The first men who on the Hispaniolan prairies smoked their meat over the Boucane, or woodfire, wondering by day at the gorgeous butterflies and at night marveling at the green-white flame of the passing fireflies, were hunters pure and simple-hunters, moreover, of the wild cattle whose enormous herds had only come into existence since the Spanish conquistadores themselves had depopulated the island and laid it waste. The Boucaniers, as a matter of fact, never entirely abandoned this first occupation of theirs, and even at the height of their later power they would continue their chase after the hides and meat, until the diminishing herds of cattle forced them to pay a less-divided attention to the profitable "pickings" afforded by their fellow men.

With these newcomers, the Boucaniers, the Spanish officials did not find the matter so easy. The hunters, as well as the smugglers of all nationalities, were well able to look after themselves. It is true that on many occasions they were attacked by the Spaniards. More than once their settlements were surprised by these, and their houses burned, and the blood of women and children sprinkled over the charred embers and the tobacco leaves of the young plantations. Among such treacherous attacks were some on the budding regular British colonies -deeds at which Oliver Cromwell growled with righteous

fierceness, and with difficulty was restrained from flying at the throat of the Spanish Empire.

But, so far as revenge was concerned, there was no need. The blood of the massacred welded together new and fiercer communities. Moreover, the fact that they faced death, torture, or the most terrible form of lifelong labor in the mines added a further zest and spice even to the bucaneers' racy recklessness. The "Brethren of the Coast" were only too willing, not only to fight their own battles, but to adapt themselves to the most merciless methods of warfare. In the end the Spaniards found themselves worsted at the inhuman game of reprisals, and most bitterly did they atone for their early barbarities. The instruments of revenge which their deeds forged against them may not have been highly tempered, but they served! The name of Morgan alone is synonymous with blood and tears for hundreds of leagues along the Spanish Main.

In the eyes of many the scale on which the bucaneers conducted their operations raised these from the status of mere plunderings to the dignity and pomp of actual warfare since after all the chief moral distinction between the two seems to lie in the point of numbers! This, at all events, was the view taken by the seventeenthcentury translator of John Esquemeling's bucaneer reminiscences. In his enthusiasm he claims that this work, in itself vastly interesting: "informs us (with huge novelty) of as great and bold attempts in point of military conduct and valor as ever were performed by mankind; without excepting here either Alexander the Great or Julius Cæsar or the rest of the Nine Worthies of Fame."

Now here is a wholehearted apologist of the bucaneers. "Walk up!" he cries, standing on the step of his promisingly reddened booth. "Walk up, my peaceful amateurs of vicarious slaughterings! Presently I will pull the curtain back and show you rapine and bloody gold on

a scale such as you never dreamed of! If you don't find the thing as wholesale as an American beef-trust you shall have your money back, on my word as a bucaneer's translator!"

Decidedly at the height of their power the bucaneers made up one of the most extraordinary communities that the world has ever seen. At this period the South American atmosphere would seem to have been peculiarly ripe in socialistic experiments. At the same time that the socialist republic of the Jesuits flourished in Paraguay, the bucaneer island settlements in the Caribbean Sea began to adopt the policy of sharing all things, including plunder, in common. It is true that nothing could have differed more widely than the actual existence of these two peoples. Where the white-shirted Indian converts went out in a chaunting procession to till the fields, the bucaneers, their garments dyed the approved scarlet by means of the blood of cattle, sailed out over the bright blue swell to sink and burn in search of plunder, and those who resisted were made to feel the force of the armory of cutlasses, knives, and pistols stuck in each freebooter's belt. And, if they landed, woe to the town that heard the tramp of the advancing brethren, each ship's company under some fanciful flag designed by its captain, the homely bunting occasionally adorned with the mocking gaiety of fluttering ribbons!

But it must not be imagined that such expeditions were conducted on the mere rollicking and licentious lines of pillage, riot, and murder. Though they usually abounded in all three, the bucaneers' voyages were only undertaken after the most careful, exact, and businesslike preparations. It is curious to reflect that that grim but picturesque object, a bucaneers' ship under a full press of sail, with the Brethren of the Coast in their caps, buskins, and blood-hued garments disposed about the deck, resembled in its ethics nothing so much as a modern limited liability company, with its articles of association meticu

lously drawn out, with its officers and surgeon as directors, and with its captain as chairman!

Yet it was so. Afloat, the association of the men who went partners ashore in tobacco-planting and cooking was carried to further lengths. Not a single bucaneer vessel, provisioned with pork and salt turtle, pulled her anchor up through the warm and shining waters of Jamaica or Tortuga, but had the respective shares of profit of the ships' company accurately arranged, as well as the salaries of the captain, the surgeon, and the carpenter the paid servants of the crew, who ate and lived with the rest, and shared all else alike. Then there was the insurance against the accidents of the cruise, and the risks of round-shot, bullet, and cutlass. So many pieces-of-eight for a right arm shot off, so many dollars for a pierced eye, and so on throughout the entire category of maimed members. There was just one if on which the entire basis of pay, profit, and insurance rested. "No prey, no pay," was the immutable law of the Brethren of the Coast. A profitless cruise meant empty pockets and hunger for all, from captain to cabin-boy, and probably a lapse into a period of slavery into which a debtor was forced by his creditor ashore in order to discharge his liability. So these rovers on the tropical seas took particular pains that no cruise should be fruitless, and saw to it that no consideration for life or limb should stand in the way. Among themselves there was no mercy extended to a breaker of the fraternity's laws. Marooned on a bare yellow strand surrounded by the mocking blue sea, they died of thirst and their bones grew bleached among the shining shells-objects seen by very few beyond the gulls, the flying-fish, and the now incurious sharks.

The reverse of this picture heaves with the wildest and most bizarre life. On their own mountainous and wooded island of Tortuga some hints of the bucaneer celebrations of a successful cruise have been given by