In the wake of the buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

Of course there is many a tale of treasure hidden on the island; of vast stores of pirate loot secreted in the subterranean caverns and hewn underground recesses; and one hair-raising story they relate of a treasure-chest in the sea close to the island’s shores, which is plainly visible through the transparent water. Many times, if we are to believe the natives, some unusually brave and covetous man has grappled for this chest, only to find, when he tediously hauled it to the surface, that a hideous demon was seated upon it, who grimaced and leered, and, throwing his slimy, misshapen body upon the terrified man, carried him to the depths of the sea along with the chest of gold he guards so well.

And after all, who can say what treasures may not be concealed upon this Gibraltar of the buccaneers? [[201]]Countless chests of loot have been carried from triumphant pirate ships to the strip of white sand upon the cay. Many a bale of wondrous silk and cloth of gold and velvet damask has been slashed open with blood-stained cutlasses and flung to the pirates’ mistresses who swarmed about the incoming ships’ cargoes. Here, in the shade of the gnarled sea-grape thickets, scores of the most notorious rascals have lounged and plotted and yarned while quaffing priceless wines from the holy golden chalices snatched from profaned altars. Under the very trees that still rear their green crowns above the ruins the groans of tortured men, the screams of ravished women, and the drunken shouts of rum-crazed rioters have rent the air.

As far as is known, no one has ever salvaged any treasure from Trade Wind Cay. The limestone rock is honeycombed with cavities and caverns wherein whole ships’ cargoes might be stored and none the wiser. But if the pirates hid it here, they hid it well indeed, although so superstitiously afraid of the place are the natives that they would never dare to search.

But probably the buccaneers never secreted loot upon the isle. Indeed, from what we know of the lives and characters of these men, it is pretty safe [[202]]to assume that they never hid their treasure, but no sooner put foot on dry land than they spent their gold in drinking and debauchery. Of course many of the leaders put away tidy sums for a rainy day, for, as we have seen, more than one of them retired from the wild life and settled down in the islands or in their native land well provided with the wherewithal to live as gentlemen to the end of their days. But it is far more likely that these canny pirate chiefs placed their loot in the keeping of some trusted merchant ashore than that they buried it on wave-washed bits of land, and all our searching among the ruins of Cayo Levantado resulted in the finding of but three corroded pieces of the quaint cross money of the old Spanish padres.

Joseph, who made the discovery, was as pleased as though he had unearthed a chest of pieces of eight, and Trouble and the others of the crew, including even Sam, delved and dug like navvies in the hopes of finding more. No doubt, by going carefully over all the ruins and sifting the earth and mold, one might find many relics of the buccaneers, but aside from a few gun flints, some broken clay pipes curiously ornamented with high-pooped ships upon their bowls, some bits of old crockery and a lead button, the labors of my men resulted in little.

This is scarcely to be wondered at. Unless [[203]]made of precious metal, bronze, lead, or brass, any small weapons, ornaments, or appurtenances of the pirates would long since have disappeared, for steel and iron corrode and go to pieces in a few years near salt water in a tropical climate, and even the three big cannon that I found below the embrasures of the pirates’ fort were little more than flakes and scales of rust, and were so thoroughly rotten that they could be kicked to pieces.

Moreover, for many years after the buccaneers were at last driven from the island, the place was occupied by the Spanish, then by the French, then by the Haitians, and even by the British (for Samana Bay has belonged to all of these in turn), and no doubt the soldiers, and civilians as well, passed many an hour searching for any treasures or keepsakes they might find. Certain it is that they carried off the old guns, at any rate those of bronze, which the pirates left behind, as well as the stores of shot, for such is a matter of historical record. Some of the very cannon that roared defiance from the buccaneers’ fort—bell-muzzled, highly decorated affairs, with handles on their barrels and elaborate scrollwork over their breeches, are still scattered over Santo Domingo, clumsily mounted on the toy forts or used as posts at street corners in the cities. [[204]]

And what of the pirates who built this impregnable fastness and fortified this isle in Samana Bay? Were they British, French, or Dutch? And who were the leaders who made their headquarters here? Mainly they were French, members of that great buccaneer colony at Tortuga; for in the days when Cayo Levantado became a buccaneer lair the majority of the British pirates had parted company with their former French associates and had made their headquarters at Port Royal, Jamaica. Unquestionably Samana Bay knew the ships and the ensigns of nearly all the most notorious pirate chieftains, both French and British, and the great Morgan himself, Bartholomew Sharp of Most Blessed Trinity fame, Sawkins and Wafer, Red Legs and Watling, Ringrose and Esquemelling, Bartholomew Portugues, Rock Brasiliano, and even that most execrable and bloodthirsty fiend of all, Francis Lolonais, made Samana Bay their rendezvous and spent many a day at Trade Wind Cay.

We know from Esquemelling’s chronicles that in 1673 this isle was a stronghold of the French pirates, for, as we have seen, Monsieur Ogeron also landed here after escaping from his captivity in Porto Rico and recruited a large body of pirates to join him in a second attack on that island. A [[205]]few years later, too, Le Sieur Maintenon and his corsairs set sail from Samana Bay for Trinidad, which they sacked, afterward accepting for it a ransom of ten thousand pieces of eight; and hence they went forth on their ill-starred attempt to pillage the city of Caracas.

Unfortunately, the history of the buccaneers is very incomplete, and such accounts as were left by Esquemelling, Dampier, Ringrose, and others are mainly concerned with the pirates’ deeds and defeats, rather than with their home life, and dates are woefully lacking. Moreover, the writers were so familiar with the comparatively uninteresting life and doings in the corsairs’ haunts that it never occurred to them that such matters might interest others, while, in addition, few had any fixed abode, but were quite equally at home in Tortuga, Jamaica, Samana Bay, or the Virgin Islands. They were a restless lot, veritable gipsies of the sea; and while certain islands were associated with certain pirate leaders, as Jamaica with Morgan, St. Barts with Montbars, and Tortuga with Ogeron, most of their refuges welcomed any or all of them, and the common run of those who thronged these places owed allegiance to no particular leader, but gladly threw in their lot with any one who proposed an undertaking that promised loot and adventure. [[206]]Hence we cannot say definitely what great pirate conceived the idea of fortifying Trade Wind Cay, but the chances are that several united to make it what it was, and it certainly was the den of many during the heyday of the freebooters.