There was no occasion for bloodshed, however, for the handful of settlers upon Tortuga were peaceable and friendly folk, and instead of resisting the Kittefonians they welcomed them, and aided them in every way. Thus for six months the French and Spanish dwelt together on the best of terms in Tortuga. But this state of affairs did not endure for long. The French, finding Tortuga an [[220]]agreeable spot, well stocked with game as well as wild hogs and cattle, crossed and recrossed the sea to French settlements and brought scores of their countrymen to the new land, until the Dons, feeling that the place would soon become wholly French, repented of their former friendliness and sent word of the newcomers’ presence to the Spanish at Santo Domingo.
As a result, a strong force of Spanish troops was despatched to Tortuga, and the French, realizing the futility of resistance, promptly took to the woods and later secretly made their way in their canoes to the neighboring island of Hispaniola. Here they lived in the jungle and carried on a guerrilla warfare against the Dons, who were ever seeking to eliminate their unwelcome guests. Finding no French at Tortuga, the Spanish soon withdrew the bulk of the troops, to use them to better advantage on the larger island, whereupon the tactful French hied themselves once more to Tortuga, massacred the few Spaniards left there, and, taking possession, threw up hastily constructed fortifications. Then, aware that they could not hope to resist the mighty power of Spain for long, they despatched a boat to St. Kitts, begging the French governor of that island to send aid.
Being only too glad to add to the possessions of [[221]]France, the governor immediately responded by sending over a good-sized ship with a large complement of men, a plentiful store of arms, cannon and ammunition, and a quantity of supplies. The new arrivals at once began constructing a fort upon the summit of a rocky hill which overlooked the harbor, and which was so situated that it could be reached only by means of a defile barely wide enough to permit the passage of two persons abreast. Here a battery of two guns was erected, a house was built, and a natural cavern was transformed into a magazine, and, as a finishing touch, the natural passway was destroyed and the fort rendered accessible only by means of ladders.
Feeling that they were now quite secure, the French colonists set diligently to work, cultivating tobacco and other crops, fishing, hunting the wild cattle and swine, and, most lucrative of all, robbing the Spanish settlements on the coasts of the near-by Spanish islands.
At that time one of the principal articles of food and of export was the smoke-dried flesh of cattle and hogs, a product peculiar to Hispaniola and the neighboring islands and known by the Carib name of boucan or bucan. Tortuga, with limited agricultural resources but innumerable wild animals, was particularly well adapted to the bucanning industry, [[222]]and a very large proportion of the settlers devoted virtually all their time to hunting and curing meat. As a result, the inhabitants soon became known as boucaniers, bucaneers or buccaneers, a name which was to become famed throughout the world. The original significance of “buccaneer” was wholly lost and, becoming synonymous with “pirate,” it was destined to carry terror to the hearts of the Spaniards far and near. To Tortuga, the home of the buccaneers, flocked malcontents, adventurers, real pirates, seamen, and all sorts of wild rovers of the sea and land, until the island became headquarters for the most lawless of French and British wanderers and outlaws. But all were bound together by a common hatred of the Spaniards; all were willing to enter into any wild enterprise that promised loot; all were absolutely fearless, unprincipled, ruthless, and daring; and all took unto themselves the common name of buccaneers.
Do not imagine, however, that the Dons upon the neighboring island stood idly by and saw Tortuga fall into the buccaneers’ hands without making any effort to prevent it. On the contrary, they did their best to recover the island, though without success. Upon a hill overlooking the French fort they established a battery of their own, and were [[223]]about to make matters very uncomfortable for the buccaneers when the latter surprised them at midnight and took their fort by storm, slaughtering the defenders without mercy and throwing the survivors over the beetling cliffs. After this the buccaneers had it pretty much their own way for about thirty years, or until 1664, when the French West India Company was granted a royal charter to Tortuga, by the French crown.
But the West India Company soon found that to be granted a charter to the headquarters of the buccaneers was one thing and to secure their rights and privileges and bend the lawless rascals to their will was quite a different matter. Sending out their own factors and employees, the company established stores and plantations, but this effort was a failure; for no nation dared trade with Tortuga, so close to Spanish territory, and even the company’s own ships were often seized and lost. Then the company sought to carry on trade with the buccaneers themselves, agreeing to supply them with goods and necessities on credit, the buccaneers to pay as they could from the fruits of their forays. But the company’s factors soon discovered that the buccaneers were as inclined to questionable methods when dealing with their own country as when dealing with the Dons; and they received [[224]]merely rude jests and laughter, or even blows at times, in place of money, when they sought to collect their accounts. Even when armed men were sent out to enforce a settlement, the buccaneers flatly refused to pay; and those of the guards who did not desert and throw in their lot with the freebooters cast aside their weapons and left the company at the first opportunity.
At last, convinced that these were far from desirable customers or neighbors, the French West India Company made the best of a bad bargain and, disposing of their few remaining possessions for what they would bring, withdrew from Tortuga and left it in undisputed control of the buccaneers.
This, then, was the beginning of that vast, all but unconquerable, incredibly valiant, and unspeakably cruel and unprincipled organization known as the “Brethren of the Main.” Here in Tortuga the buccaneers came into existence; from a handful of despoiled Frenchmen from St. Kitts the band grew to thousands; from robbing Spanish corrals and chicken roosts along the shores of Hispaniola they progressed to the destruction of Spanish fleets, the sacking of towns, the capture of fortresses, and to unparalleled feats of bravery. From Tortuga they spread far and near, and the dugouts in which they were wont to make their first raids gave [[225]]place to swift ships bristling with cannon and manned by hundreds of well-armed men; while from the harmless and peaceful occupation of drying meat, which gave them their name, they turned to bloodshed and piracy. [[226]]