In the wake of the buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

Furthermore, Esquemelling goes into details regarding the culinary phase of this leathern diet, evidently thinking that some future traveler on [[361]]the isthmus might find it of value in preparing an evening meal. He says:

Some persons who were never out of their mothers’ kitchens may ask how these Pyrates could eat, swallow and digest these pieces of leather so hard and dry. To whom I only answer: That could they once experiment with hunger, or rather famine, is that they would certainly find the manner, by their own necessity as the Pyrates did. For these first took the leather and sliced it in pieces. Then did they beat it between two stones and rub it, often dipping it in the water of the river to render it by these means supple and tender. Lastly they scraped off the hair and roasted or broiled it upon the fire. And being thus cooked they cut it into small morsels and eat it, helping it down with frequent gulps of water, which by good fortune they had near at hand.

Evidently there was some sustenance in the dried hides, for there is no mention of any one having died of starvation, but hunger was not the only trouble with which the company met. At every turn they were beset by ambuscades; they were harassed by Indian allies of the Dons, who shot poisoned arrows from the woods and hurled down rocks in narrow defiles, until on the sixth day they discovered a cave containing two sacks of meal, a few plantains, and two jars of wine. This providential find was distributed by Morgan among the weakest men, who were put into canoes; and, heartened and encouraged, the great troop pressed on and on the following day found a store of maize in [[362]]an Indian camp. On the seventh day they also captured some emaciated cats and dogs which had been deserted by the fleeing natives, and these they instantly killed and devoured. On the same day they found sixteen jars of wine which they gulped down, only to fall deathly sick as a result.

And yet not one man complained, not one thought of turning back. Ahead lay Panama and its vast treasure; and subsisting on stray dogs and cats and half-burnt corn, or going hungry, the company stumbled ever onward, until, on the ninth day after leaving San Lorenzo, they ascended a hill and saw the vast Pacific stretching to the horizon.

Filled with joy, shouting and laughing and cursing by turns, the pirates hurried down the hill and reached a vale where a herd of donkeys and horses and a few cattle were grazing. Falling upon these beasts, the pirates slaughtered them, half roasted the still quivering flesh over fires, and had their first full meal in more than a week. Esquemelling says of them:

“Such was their hunger that they more resembled cannibals than Europeans at this banquet, the blood many times running down from their beards to the middle of their bodies.”

Having finished the meal and satisfied themselves [[363]]with “these delicious morsels,” the men resumed the march, and a little later they came within sight of the tower of the cathedral—that same stone tower that to-day stands alone and in ruins beside the sea. Here they pitched camp for the night and, “sounding their trumpets and drums” (which are not usually associated with pirates), prepared to attack the city at break of day. That same evening a troop of fifty cavalry approached almost within musket shot, taunted the pirates with derisive shouts, and retired to the city, leaving a few scouts to watch the enemy’s movements. Soon after this the big guns of the city began to thunder, the shots falling about the pirates’ camp but doing no damage.

The following morning the buccaneers formed in columns, sounded their trumpets, and with drums beating marched toward the doomed town, choosing a trail through the woods to avoid attacks by the cavalry. In the meantime the governor of Panama had gathered two squadrons of cavalry, four regiments of infantry, a huge herd of wild bulls, and a number of Indians and negroes to resist the invaders. Coming from the woods and looking down upon the plain, the pirates were amazed at the forces arrayed against them, and for the first time became doubtful of their success. [[364]]Indeed, as their chronicler puts it: “Yea few or none there were but wished themselves at home, or at least free from the obligation of that engagement, wherein they perceived their lives must be narrowly concerned.”

But needs must when the devil drives, and the devil himself was there in the person of Morgan. Being ordered to advance, the company marched against the Dons. Fortunately for the pirates, heavy rains had rendered the ground soft and soggy, the cavalry could not manœuver, and the first squadron of two hundred pirates fired such a well-aimed volley of musketry that “the battle was instantly kindled very hot.” Although the fire was returned with vigor, and despite the Spaniards’ “valiant attempts,” the pirates succeeded in separating the various groups of soldiery and fell upon them tooth and nail. Thinking to demoralize the enemy, the Spaniards drove herds of bulls against them, but the cattle, frightened at the firing and the drums, scattered and ran away, while the few that broke through the pirates’ ranks were quickly killed and did no damage.

For two hours the battle raged, the Spanish cavalry suffering almost total annihilation. The infantry, seeing the tide of battle turning in favor of the enemy, threw down their arms and took to [[365]]their heels. But the exhausted pirates, after days of suffering and hours of fierce fighting, could not follow up the advantage. They contented themselves with hunting the wounded Spaniards down, murdering them in cold blood, and capturing some priests and taking them before Morgan, who had them instantly pistoled.