In the wake of the buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

Returning to Jamaica, Mansvelt laid before the governor of Jamaica his plans for establishing a buccaneer stronghold at Old Providence, and asked for men and ships as well as supplies. Oddly enough, his Excellency failed to fall in with the old pirate’s plans, and Mansvelt, realizing he had bitten off a bigger slice than he could swallow by himself, sailed for Tortuga. Here, as Esquemelling says, “death suddenly surprised him and put a period to his wicked life,” and Morgan found himself sole chieftain of the pirate fleet.

In the meantime the governor of Jamaica had thought matters over, and, Mansvelt being gone, he despatched a ship-load of men and women to Old Providence. The governor’s underhand actions were, however, brought to naught, owing to the fact that the island had again been taken by the Spaniards, and the British ship and its people fell into their hands.

Morgan had not abandoned his predecessor’s [[288]]dreams of a buccaneer stronghold so near the Spanish Main, and had written to merchants in Virginia and New England, asking for cash and supplies to enable him to fortify and colonize the island. But before a response was received his plans were frustrated by the Dons’ again regaining possession of St. Catherine.

Morgan then turned his attention to other places. He sailed for Cuba, where with twelve ships and seven hundred men he prepared to sack the interior city of Puerto Principe. The Spaniards, having been warned, by an escaped prisoner of the pirates, of Morgan’s approach, had secreted the greater part of their valuables and had prepared for defense. As usual, however, despite the brave resistance of the Spanish, the town fell easily to the buccaneers, and Morgan at once began to put into practice the cruelties and inhuman behavior for which he became notorious. Shutting the people into the churches, and leaving them without food or water—“much to their discomfort and inconvenience,” as the historian naïvely informs us—Morgan and his men made merry, punctuating their feasting and drinking by torturing the Dons and striving by unspeakable cruelties to compel them to reveal their hiding-places for their money. At last, finding all their inhumanities in vain, the [[289]]buccaneers withdrew after obtaining a big herd of cattle which they accepted in lieu of a ransom for the town. Compelling the prisoners to drive these cattle overland to the port, and then forcing the unfortunates to kill and dress the beeves, Morgan at last departed from Cuba’s shores.

It was while the cattle were being slaughtered that an incident occurred which showed strikingly the curious combination of honor and rascality which went to form Morgan’s make-up. One of the French pirates was cutting up a carcass when an English buccaneer robbed him of the marrow-bones. In the dispute that arose the Englishman challenged the other to a duel, but treacherously wounded the French pirate in the back before he had time to draw his weapon. This murder seemed about to start a revolt of the French members of the expedition against the British, but Morgan at once ordered the treacherous Englishman to be manacled, and carried him to Jamaica in chains and had him hanged at Port Royal for his offense.

Much to the pirates’ disgust, the total receipts from the sack of Puerto Principe amounted to barely fifty thousand pieces of eight,—not enough to pay their debts in Jamaica,—and the French members of the company, still indignant at the murder of one of their number and disappointed [[290]]at the insignificance of the loot, withdrew, and hied themselves to Tortuga.

The success of this first great victory of Morgan as an independent pirate chieftain brought hundreds of men clamoring to join him, and within a short time he again sailed away with nine ships and nearly five hundred men bent on what was the most daring exploit of pirate history up to that time. This was nothing less than an attack on the supposedly impregnable fortress at Porto Bello. It met with phenomenal success, and the pirates found themselves the richer by over a quarter of a million dollars in ready cash, aside from vast quantities of merchandise.

By this victory, Morgan was raised to the pinnacle of fame as a pirate chieftain. Flushed with success, he set forth with a large fleet and a veritable army of pirates to undertake the sack of Maracaibo. Again fortune favored, and Morgan, exhibiting marvelous strategic ability, not only took the town but managed to destroy the Spanish fleet which had sought to block his escape, returning to Jamaica with nearly half a million dollars’ worth of loot.

Up to this time Morgan had been really within the pale of the law; for, Spain and England being at war, he and his men, as well as the other buccaneers, [[291]]were regarded as legitimate privateers. But soon after his sack of Maracaibo peace between the nations was declared, and Morgan, foreseeing that Jamaica might become unpleasant for him and his fellows, withdrew to Tortuga, where he planned his most famous exploit, the attack on Panama.

Upon his return from this astoundingly daring and successful expedition Morgan was promptly arrested when he reached Jamaica, and in company with the governor (who had favored the pirates) was sent to England for trial. By his wonderful personality, specious arguments, and probably a wise distribution of a part of his loot where it would do the most good, the redoubtable Harry managed to escape the penalties of the law provided for pirates and was looked upon as a hero rather than a malefactor. Indeed, instead of being hanged in chains, Morgan was knighted, and sent back to Jamaica as lieutenant-governor. No doubt the king believed that it took a pirate to catch a pirate, and realized that Sir Henry was unprincipled enough to turn traitor to his former associates as long as the government paid him well.