He managed to secure two earthen wine jars and plugged their necks with the idea of using them as floats
The buccaneers swarmed over the ship’s rails
“With the ship captured from the Spaniards, L’Ollonois cruised along the Spanish Main, took several ships and returned to Tortuga with the idea of fitting out a large company of ships and boldly attacking the Spanish towns and cities, as well as their vessels. The fleet he gathered together consisted of eight ships, the largest carrying ten guns, and with six hundred and sixty buccaneers. But long before they reached the South American coast they were flushed with success. Near Porto Rico they captured a ship of sixteen guns laden with cacao and with treasure consisting of forty thousand pieces of eight and over ten thousand dollars’ worth of jewels, and near the island of Saona they took the payship of the Dons and obtained nearly four tons of gunpowder, many muskets and twelve thousand pieces of eight. It would be tiresome to describe in detail their arrival at Maracaibo, their taking of the forts and their capture of the town. The Spaniards [[35]]resisted valiantly, but were beaten back and then commenced a series of orgies, of cruelties and of inhumanities which are almost without an equal. The people, as soon as they realized the town would fall to L’Ollonois and his freebooters, took to the outlying country, and these refugees the buccaneers hunted down and dragged before their chief. In order to make them confess where they had hidden their valuables—although L’Ollonois had already obtained vast plunder—they were put on the rack, broken on the wheel, cut to pieces, flayed alive and subjected to every cruelty and torture the corsairs could devise. For fifteen days the buccaneers occupied the town and butchered and tortured the inhabitants until, convinced that no more loot could be secured, they left Maracaibo, sailed up the Lake and took the town of Gibraltar. Here they were ambushed and many killed, but in comparison to the losses of the Dons the buccaneers suffered little, losing but forty men killed and about fifty wounded, while over five hundred Spaniards were killed and several hundred taken prisoners. Many of the captives died from starvation or illness under the buccaneers’ treatment, many more were butchered for pure sport and hundreds were put to the torture. [[36]]Then, not satisfied, L’Ollonois threatened to burn the town unless he was paid ten thousand pieces of eight and when this was not instantly forthcoming he actually set fire to the place. However, the money being eventually paid, the buccaneers had the decency to aid the inhabitants in putting out the conflagration, for, oddly enough, they usually kept to their promises, and after eighteen days set sail for Maracaibo again. Here they demanded a payment of thirty thousand pieces of eight under penalty of having the town destroyed, and the poor harassed and cowed Dons managed to raise the sum and with heartfelt thanks saw the fleet sail away. When Tortuga was reached and a division of spoils made it was found that over two hundred thousand pieces of eight had been taken in addition to immense stores of silks, gold and silver plate and jewels.
“Hardly had he landed when L’Ollonois prepared for another raid and with seven hundred men set sail with six ships for Honduras. Here the beastly buccaneer chief tortured and killed and robbed to his heart’s content, but finding comparatively little loot and thinking the inhabitants had secreted their wealth, he became mad with fury and outdid all his former inhuman acts. On [[37]]one occasion, when a prisoner insisted that he did not know the route to a certain town, L’Ollonois slashed open the fellow’s breast with his sword, tore out his still throbbing heart and bit and gnawed at it with his teeth, as Esquemeling says, ‘like a ravenous wolf,’ and threatened to serve the other prisoners in the same manner unless they showed him the way to San Pedro. This they did, but the Spaniards had placed ambuscades and the buccaneers were compelled to fight savagely every inch of the way. Finally the Dons agreed to deliver the town if the buccaneers would grant quarter for two hours, but no sooner was the time up than L’Ollonois hurried his men after the people, robbed them of what they had and slaughtered them without mercy. But L’Ollonois was too bestial and cruel even for his own men. A short time after the sack of San Pedro, dissensions arose and the party divided, the majority of the buccaneers leaving with Moses Vanclein to raid the coast towns of Costa Rica and Panama. From that time on L’Ollonois had nothing but ill luck and soon afterwards his ship was wrecked off Cape Gracias à Dios. With the remains of the wreck, the buccaneers set to work to construct a small boat, and to sustain themselves, planted [[38]]gardens. For six months they were marooned until the boat was completed, and L’Ollonois, with part of his crew, set out for the San Juan River in Nicaragua. But fate had turned against him which as Esquemeling naïvely remarks, ‘had long time been reserved for him as a punishment due to the multitude of horrible crimes which in his wicked life he had committed.’ Attacked by the Spaniards and their Indian allies, he was forced to retreat with heavy loss and, still hoping to retrieve his fortunes, headed southward for the coasts of Darien. And here the villain met with the end he so richly deserved. He was taken by the savage Indians of the district, was torn to pieces while alive and his limbs cast into a fire. Finally, that no trace or memory of him might remain, the savages scattered his ashes in the air.” [[39]]
CHAPTER III
MORGAN AND HIS ROAD TO FAME
“Ugh!” exclaimed Jack, as his father ceased speaking. “Wasn’t he the most awful creature! Gosh, I always thought the buccaneers were brave men and heroes.”
“There is no question of their bravery,” replied Mr. Bickford, “and L’Ollonois was an exceptionally cruel villain. But as a rule the buccaneers were no more cruel or bloodthirsty than the Spaniards or even their more respectable countrymen. You must remember that human standards have changed a great deal since the days of the buccaneers. In their time human life was held very cheaply. The theft of a few cents’ worth of merchandise was punishable by death. Men and women had their ears cut off, their tongues pierced or their eyes put out for most trivial crimes, and torture by rack, wheel or fire was considered a perfectly legitimate means of securing confessions of guilt from suspected persons. We must not therefore judge the buccaneers too harshly. To us they [[40]]appear inhuman monsters, but in their days they were no worse than the usual run of men. Moreover, you must remember that their crews were made up of the roughest, toughest element. Renegades, fugitives from justice, criminals, cut-throats and thieves, and that they looked upon the Spaniards as natural enemies and worthy of no more pity or consideration than wild beasts. Finally, consider the temptation that ever spurred them on and excited their passions and their worst instincts. Gold and riches were to be had for the taking, the Dons were legitimate prey, and they were beyond the pale of the law, if not actually protected by the authorities. Take a crowd of sailors to-day, give them arms and a ship, and license to kill, rob and destroy, and you would find them as reckless, as cruel and as devilish as the old buccaneers, if not more so. And much of their success depended upon the reputation they had for cruelty. The very mention of some of the more famous pirates’ names would create a panic among the Dons and make victory comparatively easy, and for this reason the buccaneers practiced cruelties that were absolutely uncalled for, but which they looked upon as a part of their profession.” [[41]]